Welcome to the Sound In Marketing podcast. I'm your host, Jeanna Isham, owner, and founder of Dreamr Productions and Sound in Marketing Learning. I create, consult and educate individuals and brands on the power of sound in marketing. The Sound In Marketing Podcast exists as a resource for those wanting to up their marketing game exponentially by simply thinking a little differently.
My real heart is focusing on my fellow small to medium sized businesses, and the potential sound strategy has for their brand marketing. Sound can give that extra boost needed to effectively compete with bigger business competitors, especially within the newness of sensorial marketing. Everyone will figure this out eventually. Hopefully this podcast helps you get ahead of the crowd. If the content in these episodes inspire ideas for your company, don't hesitate to give me a call.
Dreamr Productions helps brands make sound on purpose. We'd love to help you too. Now on to the show. In this episode, we'll be talking about sound strategy and why it is so important for current brand marketing as a Sonic brander. I get asked a lot of questions. What is Sonic branding? What is sound in marketing? Why can't I just find a catchy song here and there? Throw it in my latest campaign and call that branding.
Why should I budget for sonic branding and sound advertising when my current marketing is going just fine? Most of the time people think of sound as a secondary thing in marketing that it's not as important as what a brand looks like. Or they simply don't stop to take in the idea. They might think once my video campaign is done, then I'll find some catchy, upbeat, and or emotionally appropriate track and tag it onto the video.
Not designing the sound and music alongside the video is a missed opportunity. We are in the age of voice first and voice only. Smart speakers and other smart technology voice ads and voice responsive ads screens are disappearing. They are less relevant and less necessary. What happens when no one is looking at your brand? How will you stand out? People are busy and want to be left to their day. Sound enables them to do just that. Sound doesn't get in your way. All it asks is for you to listen.
And unless you take an action of either covering your ears or turning off the sound, you will hear. Keep in mind, I'm not saying all sound is good sound. In fact, there's a lot of noise out there. That noise comes from a lack of organized thought about how to make said noise less noisy. Sound marketing and sonic branding is curated and custom built. It's a premeditated thought on a brand's end.
(sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) It's a sound that is made on purpose. Sonic branding is sound on purpose. As humans, we love to tell stories and we love to hear stories. We love to gossip and converse and build community. We learn and grow from those communicative moments. We thrive on it to help process things and absorb information. We use rhythm.
(sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) Patterns and repetition. (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos and themes playing) (sonic logos spoken word and themes playing) All to ingrain our message into the listener, whoever that may be. It's not just about what we see. We have five senses sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Sound is one fifth of that story that we love generally, in marketing, we only pay attention to sight.
But what about the other five senses? Where is the rest of the story? The more senses we have at work, the more of an emotional response and lasting impression we will give and get from our consumer. Here's proof. According to a 2019 study by the HAVAS group, an estimated 83% of advertising relies almost exclusively on the sense of sight.
Despite the fact that sound has been shown to prompt recall, solidify brand associations, transcend barriers of language and culture, and significantly impact business results. Aren't those kind of important aspects of brand marketing? According to a 2020 Ipsos study, only 8% of marketing assets included sonic cues and or music. However, when distinctive brand assets were used, those with sound were eight and a half times more likely to be high performers.
For perspective, visuals were ranked as only three times as likely, with sound having such power. Why are we still so heavily focused on site based advertising? By nature, we are sensorial creatures. It's what separates us from robots. It makes us unique and sentient and human. When we are missing that sensorial perspective, we are missing that human connection. If we need to connect as humans through the senses, then why wouldn't that be true?
With our connections through brand messaging, when we experience something, it's never just what we're listening to or seeing. Think about it for a second. (music playing) Say you're listening to your favorite song and you close your eyes. (music playing) Is that all you're experiencing? (music playing) Just the sound. (music playing) Try it. (music playing) Close your eyes and focus on just one thing. (music playing) Didn't work, did it?
When I do this, I also feel the breeze coming in from the window. I smell the cookies my husband just baked in the kitchen. If I squeeze my eyes tight enough, I might even see some colors. I'll also probably get a replay taste of the coffee I sipped on earlier. Five senses equals five experiences in one. With that being said, when I talk about using sound in marketing, I'm never saying just use sound in your marketing.
Sound is an enhancement, a tool to help fully realize your brand sensorial potential. So what does sound specifically have to do with branding and marketing? Here's an example. You have a brick and mortar business, say a coffee shop. You want to convey a mellow mood for people to linger or grab a refill of a beverage, buy a pastry, maybe even a sandwich to go. Would you play metal music to get that vibe? (metal music playing) Absolutely not.
Let's say you have a gaming app, and it's one of those bubble popping games. For each bubble popped, you want to emote a feeling of satisfaction and encourage the player to keep playing and buy your bonus coins or something. For more ad free play, would you want the pops to sound like a gunshot or a bubble? I actually don't know the answer to that one, but if this were your product, you would definitely know and you most definitely wouldn't want the opposite choice.
Sound in marketing is just one more way for you to relate to and be genuine with your audience. So what does your brand sound like? Thank you to Pixabay and Art list for that extra sound effects flavor. And thank you to mudflow from Art list for that stirring example of music I would not play in a mellow coffee shop. I also stuck in one of my own tracks for that popular track. Lastly, thank you to HAVAS and Ipsos for their studies on sound that helped to make what I talk about legitimized.
Did you like what you heard? Great. Leave a review. Tell a friend and spread the word. More people should know about this stuff. I know you know that now. Want to explore your sound strategy further? I'd love to help. Send me an email at Jeanna@DreamrProductions.com and we can continue this off platform. For further resources, learning and content. Check out Sound In Marketing Learning for your one stop sound shop. All links will be provided in the show notes.
Let's make this world of sound more intriguing, more unique, and more and more on brand.