Bringing Retro Marketing to Your Business

Ok I am in love with Retro Marketing and I keep falling for it myself.  The whole theory behind Retro Marketing is to show people things from their past to not only spark an emotion and cause a reaction, but also to give them a connection to the product or service that is either positive or negative.

Most people are using Retro Marketing to help to create a feeling of security and safety in a down economy to remind people of why they know the product, that they were safe and secure back when they remember the product and also buy it to remember a time when they had less worried and everything was good.  Creating a feeling like this is key in a down economy when people are more spend cautious and it seems like the people that can create these emotions in consumers are the ones who are really getting to see a nice boost in their sales and helping to pull business away from their competitors.

Now, before I get into the post, you may ask why you want to cause negative emotions and bad reactions to increase sales and the main example I will share of this is to try to make the consumer remember someone who died.  Maybe from lung cancer or from something else.  Make them remember why the immigrated to the USA from their old Country for a better life and more opportunities and when you do this effectively, show them the message about what you want them to do.

If you are a non profit, you may want them to donate money or if you are trying to get the message out or get people to mentor or take new Immigrants into their houses, make them remember how hard it was for them to move and how they could have used the help and would not have been successful without the help of other people who have already gone through what they are going through.  Anyways, enough about the negative Retro Marketing campaigns I have created and lets go into how you can use positive emotions and tie Retro Marketing into your own Marketing Campaigns.

Companies love Retro Marketing and compaies are trying Retro Marketing more often, but even if you want to try Retro Marketing, you still have to figure out the hardest part, how to do it and what to try.  You have an even harder time figuring out how to use Retro Marketing for your own company if you have a new brand, if you have a new product or service, or even if you have something that was never around 4 and 5 years ago.  This is where consultants like me come in.

You need someone creative that can also help you think of other ways to spark emotions and if you think about it, site is only one sense that you can use.  You also have to remember that site is only so strong and you still have other senses like Smell, Sound and Taste which in my opinion are even stronger.

So here is an example I thought of while I was cooking a snack for TV this evening.

Real Estate Agents and Retro Marketing.

Ok, Real Estate Agents you would think would have a hard time using Retro Marketing, or maybe you think it is simple.  Throw up a Christmas Tree and some family photos.  The thing though is that Family photos don’t mean much for people of different races, single children, split families and single parent homes and for people who had lost a parent or two.  It can cause a negative emotion, at least subconciously in the potential home buyer and you don’t want any negative thoughts in the home, especially coming from the buyer or other Agents.  The Christmas tree, well unless you are only catering to people who celebrate Christmas and always celebrated Christmas, don’t even try it.  Sure you can try to argue out that you are showing they can build new memories like the ones they remembered, but at the same time, lets focus on how we can include everyone and not just people who celebrate Christmas.

So how can a Real Estate Agent use Retro Marketing without photos and pictures, paintings to remind them of Grandma (because if they are young hip and trendy, you don’t want them to think the house is old or for old people), you don’t want to exclude people who celebrate different holidays or don’t celebrate holidays at all, etc…  Use the Oven!

Cooking something like Chocolate Chip cookies or Brownies or even reheating a Pumpkin Pie or a Pie that is very Aromatic is a great way to spark a memory for many people and will not exclude a vast majority of potential home buyers.

Smelling a pastry or something home made not only reminds most of us when we are in home buying mode of our childhood or a better time, but also encourages us that we can repeat and recreate and these memories and give them to our families by using people’s sense of smell and by using their subconcious memories and thoughts.  One thing I do recommend being careful of is to pick something that has a large appeal for your demographic and audience.  Not everyone likes the smell of Meatloaf or Turkey just like not everyone likes the smell of Apple Pie.  Pick something that is local and overly popular with the local market and the lifestyle of the target audience you are trying to Market to.  Some Markets prefer the smells and have memories of fried food vs. baked food etc…

SDo a little bit of research on your Target Audience and then if you cannot use old packages or packaging and logos, then try using other senses and tying that into creating emotions and bringing back good memories from your Target Audience and you are on your way to using Retro Marketing to help not only sell your products and services, but help to build a new and keep a current and existing user base more loyal to your brands and products.

I love Retro Marketing and love the ideas, thoughts and creativity that go into it.  If you haven’t given it a shot yet and want to try it, I highly recommend trying it and if you need help with everything from brainstorming an idea to executing a campaign, feel free to write me at adamr (at) adamriemer (dot) me (not .com).