We won’t disclose a secret: today’s digital world is noisy.
Everywhere you look, someone’s trying to grab your attention with flashing ads, bold headlines, or the latest trend.
But here’s the real outcome: the brands that win aren’t the ones shouting the loudest. They’re the ones that make you feel something.
Our senses help us decide what we trust, remember, and respond to.
And when communication is honest, clear, and well-designed to tap into those senses, people pay attention.
At our Growth Marketing Agency, we’ve seen how tapping into the five senses can transform a message from background noise into something people actually care about.
In this post, we’ll explore which approaches truly engage the five senses in a busy digital world.
Let’s get into it.
Sight Isn’t Just Visual: It’s How You Frame Reality
We all rely on visuals to process the world around us. Our brains are wired for it.
In fact, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, and that makes sight the most dominant sensory input in most digital marketing experiences.
But let’s get something straight: looking at something isn’t the same as experiencing it.
Which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? It’s the one that doesn’t just show you something but pulls you into it. And that’s where multisensory marketing begins.
Instead of defaulting to high-resolution product shots or flashy hero banners, growth marketers can think in terms of:
- Visual hierarchy: guiding attention to what truly matters
- Motion cues: using animation to reflect mood or urgency
- Color contrast: improving clarity and reinforcing emotion
- Personalization: swapping static visuals with tailored imagery
For example, an e-commerce brand could create a branded AR filter that lets customers see how a piece of home décor fits their own space before purchasing.
A Fintech startup might use interactive visual stories to help explain complex products, turning financial education into a scrollable narrative.
User-generated visuals are another simple but powerful tactic. People are far more likely to trust a product when they see others using it. That’s not design; that’s experience.
Ultimately, which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? It’s one that asks: What does this visual make someone feel, think, or do?
Sound You Can See And Feel
Sound is subtle, but powerful. It’s one of the most emotional senses we have. A familiar tune can calm us, excite us, or even bring tears. Brands often miss the chance to use this sense thoughtfully.
Which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? It’s the one that uses sound not to distract, but to connect.
We’ve also seen the rise of sound-reactive visuals. These marry sight and sound, such as data dashboards that pulse with audio feedback or onboarding animations timed to ambient tones.
Podcasts, audio snippets, and binaural content offer even deeper potential for storytelling. They’re intimate, often consumed solo, and they make people listen, not just hear.
And again, which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? The one that speaks, literally, to the part of the brain where memory and emotion live.
Smell: The Emotional Shortcut Most Marketers Ignore
You might not think of smell as a marketing tool, especially in digital channels, but it’s arguably the most memorable sense we have.
75% of daily emotions are triggered by smell, and we’re 100 times more likely to recall a scent than a visual. So yes, smell matters. A lot.
So, what is sensory branding doing with this? And which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses through scent?
Let’s break it down.
Physical products and packaging can be your entry point. For example:
- A subscription-based skincare brand could scent its packaging with essential oils that align with the product’s mood (calming lavender for night creams).
- A growth marketing agency could mail printed strategy guides with subtle natural scents to make unboxing feel premium and memorable.
- Retail and e-commerce brands often include branded candles, sachets, or even scratch-and-sniff inserts in packaging.
But digital content can tap into smell too, through suggestion.
Words trigger memory. Storytelling triggers emotion.
It’s not about forcing scent where it doesn’t belong. It’s about understanding how memory is built. That’s the essence of multisensory marketing, tapping into multiple points of contact that feel human, not mechanical.
Taste: The Flavor of Your Brand Experience
Taste is personal, emotional, and unforgettable. It’s the only sense that requires direct physical contact to be triggered, and that alone makes it powerful. It also links closely to memory and emotion.
That’s why marketers across industries are exploring how taste can spark connection and recall.
So, which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? One that lets people actually taste the brand, even if it’s not in the food business.
Here’s how non-food brands are using taste in creative, meaningful ways:
- Fintech brands sending out branded cocktail kits or premium chocolate boxes to reward top users or partners during milestone moments.
- Home services companies offer seasonal tea blends or artisan snacks in “welcome kits” to first-time clients.
- SaaS startups include local gourmet items in their virtual onboarding boxes to build trust and warmth early on.
This kind of sensory marketing works especially well at events, during high-value gifting moments, or in hybrid brand activations. Imagine a virtual demo that arrives with a tasting box, letting attendees experience your brand through flavor while they learn.
Want people to remember your pitch? Let them associate it with something they can taste.
In multisensory marketing, taste might be the quietest sense, but it’s often the most memorable.
Touch Isn’t Optional: It’s Emotional
Touch is how people build physical trust. We judge quality with our hands, without even thinking.
A material that’s soft, cool, or textured leaves an impression, often stronger than visuals or words.
So, which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? It’s the one that treats touch like a core design choice.
Tactile design also plays a huge role in printed brand materials. A matte finish on a mailer or a raised print on a thank-you card feels considered, and that feeling builds trust.
What is sensory branding if not a way to build emotions through design choices people physically experience?
Digital or physical, multi-sensory marketing works best when touch is treated not as a feature, but as a feeling.
And again, which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses? The one that makes people stop scrolling, start touching, and remember the moment.
Final Thought: Make Them Feel, Not Just Notice
Noise is everywhere. Pop-ups, ads, scrolls, and swipes.
It all blends together. But our senses? They still know how to pay attention. Which approach is likely to engage the audience’s five senses?
[A] Growth Agency will create the moment.
We design marketing that people don’t just see, they feel.
That means blending thoughtful visuals, intentional sounds, real textures, flavors, and even scents into campaigns that actually mean something.
We go beyond impressions and we build impressions that last.
