Luxury is not about money; it’s about lifestyle.
Imagine walking down the evening ball entrance wearing an haute couture dress from Louis Vuitton with a Gucci bag and a beautiful neckpiece from Tiffany. You are a celeb in your world, a showstopper turning all eyes at the party!
When you think of comfort, it comes with luxury; such is the image the luxury brands have imprinted in the minds of the Millenials.
Did it ever cross your mind how luxury brands are in the epitome of success? Is it famous just because the affluent class can afford them? Or is it because of the strategies they have utilized to build a brand image in the buyers’ minds? Can you imagine Tifanny without its gorgeous iconic packaging featuring robin’s egg blue, satin ribbon, and a unique logo or a Gucci product without its name imprinted in golden letters?
Other than focusing on price, luxury business branding depends mostly on implementing innovative digital marketing strategies to entice the audience.
Selecting a niche segment
One of the fundamental strategies of luxury branding is to diligently select a niche segment to cater to its target audience with a gamut of unique services. While this is applicable for any business, luxury brands promise a high symbolic value to selective strata of the society that are poised towards high social association other than the underlying price. Hence identifying a niche segment based on which they design their offerings.
Bolstering the differentiating strategy
Do you want to know the secret in which global brands have up their sleeves? It’s either a cost-effective strategy or a differentiating strategy. However, the differentiation is not confined to mere products but on a large scale differentiation of brand experience. The key features and influential association with central intermediaries define the brand image for luxury brands. Hence, they are focused on featuring high symbolic value that it offers to the customers.
Emphasis on the symbolic value
Every brand offers—functional and symbolic value. While the functional values represent the basic features every customer expects from a brand, the symbolic value bolsters the social strata that the brand holds in the market. Hence every strategy of luxury brands is poised to emphasize their brand name through enhanced customer engagement. Storytelling and longstanding heritage are usually beneficial for luxury brands.
Using social media to reinforce product desirability
In a digital world, e-commerce websites owning luxury brands cannot overlook the power of social media. From Facebook, Instagram, to Twitter, using social media luxury brands can have a vast reach to showcase an affluent lifestyle to its target audience. Sharing images of the newly launched products or curating a style diva look can entice the global audience towards the brand.
Creating the perception of exclusivity
Envisage having an exclusive Rolex wristwatch in your closet! Can you imagine the amount of attention you will get at your next office party? Such is the power of exclusivity, which comes with luxury brands. So if you want to take your brand to new heights, you must create a perception of exclusivity in terms of limited demography, unattainable price, limited supply, or possession barriers. This will create a pseudo sense of demand for the brand and patronize a special status for society.
Investing in aspirational content marketing
Not all belong to the affluent class, but even then, luxury brands have ample followers, who may not have the budget to possess them but can covet the feel and look of the luxury brands. Targeting this segment with aspirational marketing is a strategic move. Such content may be in the form of blogs, behind-the-scene interviews, videos, or ebooks that will help retain their interest in the brand and encourage them to possess it.
Leveraging digital media to tell a story
A compelling brand story is what makes luxury brands distinct from other brands. So if your brand has a story with beliefs and value along with a legend attached or a hint of mystery, it will surely catch the eyes of the potential customers. Sharing a story about the brand on a digital platform will have a global reach that will help the brand earn exponential growth.
Empowering the power of SEO
Luxury brands are equivalent to normal brands only with a higher price tag. While planning business branding for luxury brands, e-commerce websites must not forget the power of SEO as it improves the brand’s performance on the Google Search list. Feature a good SEO with a trendy website that will offer a seamless shopping experience for the users.
Leveraging a renowned website design agency, plan your e-commerce website to portray style and functionality with enticing graphics and color combinations, which will make it look vicious in the eyes of the users.
Channelize sensory branding to drive emotions
For the luxury retail and hospitality sector, sensory branding has gained immense popularity. Impregnating the power of scent, premium car brands like Rolls Royce diffuses an amalgamation of oil, wood, leather, and mahogany that captures the old model’s essence in its newly launched cars. Even luxury Swedish Shirtmaker infuses the smell of freshly laundered cotton in the fabrics. Hence taping the senses of the customers with luxury brands creates a deep connection.
Complement digital marketing with unique mails
Email marketing has been the heart of business branding most branding agency follows. Direct mail works like a magic wand for enhancing the digital marketing reach of the luxury brand. From creating personalized catalogs, event invitation, to thank you notes featuring the brand logo is an epitome of sophisticated branding means for the premium brands.
Implement cutting-edge technological novelties
Although the two secretive weapons of digital marketing are web resources and social media, the technological upheaval has opened a new spectrum for branding luxury items. Leveraging the expertise of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, or the presence of a virtual advisor will enhance the customer experience in both online e-commerce websites and brick and mortar stores. Analyzing customer shopping patterns, you can even create a personalized luxury brand shopping experience for your customers.
Bottom-line
Establish a luxury brand is a daunting task that goes beyond designing a unique logo or creating sophisticated products. To gain a competitive advantage amidst your peers, you will have to invest in digital marketing and leverage innovative branding solutions for maximized customer engagement.
Source: Luxury Branding: Strategize Rather Than Competing On the Price – TechStory
