How Can Senior Care Facilities Benefit from Scent Marketing?

When it comes time to place the care of an elderly loved in someone else’s hands, it’s not always and easy task. You want your loved one to be well cared for, so finding the right senior care facility can often times be a daunting task. You want to find a modern, beautiful facility, a warm and caring staff, and a place that well, feels homey.

However, if you’ve ever visited a senior care facility, you’ll quickly discover that not all of them are up to par, and even if look beautiful, often times they may not smell beautiful due to the reek of certain odors we would rather forget about in a hurry.

The transition from home to a senior care facility is hard enough without having negative experiences. And there can be many of those – some that can’t be helped and others that can be avoided. For this reason, plus many others below, we will show you how ambient scenting creates a more inviting atmosphere, and helps guests,  and “prospective” residents feel like they’ve made the right choice with your facility.

Welcome to Ambient Scenting Technology

These state-of-the-art systems atomize essential oils, converting them into invisible molecules and dispersing them throughout the facility. Specific essential oils are chosen to achieve certain effects. For example, lavender relaxes, citrus energizes, and cinnamon promotes focus and a sense of purpose. And those are just a few examples. There are thousands more.

If your senior care facility has not yet introduced a cold fusion scenting machine into the environment – or if you’re using the older less effective methods of candles or wall-mounted dispensers – below are five reasons why you should be utilizing scent marketing at your senior care facility.

Reason #1: Scenting improves perception

Did you know that you have 15 seconds to create a winning first impression when seniors and their family members enter your senior care facility for the first time? Marketing studies have proven that the first 15 seconds of a shopper’s experience set the tone for their overall perception.

A pleasant and inviting scent can create a powerful first impression that paves the way for a promising interaction with facility administration and staff. An unpleasant scent can move the conversation to a downward spiral. The last thing you want is an unwelcome odor sending potential residents down the road to a facility that does nothing more than smell better. Remember, bad smells are bad for business!

Reason #2: Scenting improves the interior

If your senior care facility needs a cosmetic lift and your budget is limited, try scenting. It offers a more economical update than fresh paint and new decor.

Some scents can even influence how a room’s size is perceived. For example, light scents such as green apple, cucumber, aloe vera or citrus have been proven to make spaces feel larger and more open while spicy, woodsy or sweet scents can have the opposite affect.

Reason #3: Scenting enhances mood and helps control physical challenges

Due to the inherent factors of aging, senior care facility residents often experience negative emotions such as anxiety and agitation as well as physical challenges such as poor appetite, memory loss, and insomnia. Scent can serve to function as a sort of ongoing ‘clinical aromatherapy’, helping to calm residents, encourage healthy behaviors and even recall pleasant memories.

For example, while recent memory may be impaired in Alzheimer residents, a specific scent may bring back memories of events and emotions locked away for years. Can you imagine the joy an Alzheimer patient might feel sharing a favorite memory with a family member just because he or she experienced a scent from bygone days?

Reason #4: Scenting helps fight malnutrition

Malnutrition is a big problem for the health and well-being of many elderly people. A new study by Consumatics on malnutrition and quality of life in seven nursing homes examined the effect of distributing the scent of bread before and during meals. Results show that this had a positive impact on the experience by 9%. Besides that, the studied residents of nursing homes felt 12% happier after their bread meal (in comparison to when there is no bread scent) and felt that their quality of life increased by 10%.

Not only the meal itself contributes to the meal experience. There are a lot of other, related factors. Environmental cues, for example scent, have a positive effect on the state of mind and consumption behavior of residents. Positive feelings ensure that the residents will eat more; negative feelings have the opposite effect. So it is important to create a happy ambiance during meals in nursing homes. scent can strongly contribute to the quality of life for residents of a nursing home!

Reason #5: Scenting motivates staff

Studies prove that certain scents have the power to lift staff morale and keep them motivated. In fact, some healthcare facilities have seen a marked reduction in levels of stress – from 40 percent of staff feeling stressed to only three percent feeling stressed – after introducing citrus scents into their workplace environments.

Other scents such as cinnamon promote alertness and focus, while peppermint is associated with increased performance.

Final Thoughts … Scent: A Powerful Tool

If you’re not yet using the powerful tool of scenting  in your senior care facility, you may be wondering about how do you get started?

First, take some very careful time to consider the following:

• Who is your target demographic? Think age and geographical location.
• What responses would you like to achieve with scenting?
• What types of location(s) are you going to scent: the lobby and halls, soiled utility rooms, staff areas or all of them?

Contact Scentsational Impressions today to get answers to these questions and more, and we’ll help you with boosting buyer perception, improving your facility’s interior, motivating your staff, enhancing resident mood and helping control physical challenges.