Luxury Marketing: Tips for Selling and Promoting High-End Products
Luxury marketing is the term that encompasses the marketing and promotion of luxury goods. Luxury is the very definition of quality and prestige. Better yet, to a small part of the world’s population – it’s rather a way of life.
Thus, only a few industries can deliver what this specific audience requires of them. Not many brands create and sell products of high quality that are considered luxurious. Of course, high-end products cost more to make, which only adds up to their value.
Luxury car manufacturers use hand-sewn leather seats for a more delicate experience. Famous luxury clothing brands create premium clothing, using the finest materials. In this article, we will discuss particularly the process of luxury marketing. To learn how to promote luxury products, first, you need to understand which products are considered luxury.
So, which products fall under the category of luxury goods? In fact, there aren’t many products out there, defined as high-end, so you’ve most likely seen the majority of brands and industries.
Examples of high-end luxury products:
- Selling high fashion clothing
- Dropshipping luxury watches, expensive jewelry, and accessories
- Offering cars, such as Ferrari or Rolls Royce
- Yachts
- Food and drinks
- Working in luxury real estate
When it comes to doing luxury marketing, retailers willing to sell more luxury products simply need to be looking from a wealthy customer’s perspective. To this type of customer, even luxury products are an investment. In other words, most customers with deeper pockets tend to shop more wisely, because they consider everything an investment. Now, let’s explain how luxury product marketing works.
What is luxury product marketing?
Basically, luxury marketing is the practice of promoting and selling luxury products. Moreover, it’s not just about attracting customers to buy the items, but maintaining their hard-earned high-level reputation. Now, like in any industry, the competition is there, even when manufacturing and selling luxury products.
Bentley Motors Ltd. is known for its century-old battle with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. They are both the definition of luxury cars and use their famous names to practice luxury brand marketing.
Armani and Versace is yet another famous example of a luxury products competition. In recent times, both fashion clothing companies have been racing over increasing revenues, selling fragrances, clothing, accessories, etc. This is nothing more than a healthy competitive situation, where the desire to be better than your rival means focusing on more quality products. In numbers, by the end of 2025, the global luxury products industry will rise to US$382.6 billion.
Luxury 4.0
With the 4th industrial revolution happening in the past (and next) few years, many industries need to act fast to become more sustainable. In fact, manufacturers of all industries are now hiring professionals to help them digitize and integrate their products on the Internet. Since eCommerce as a phenomenon expands exponentially on a global scale, luxury product manufacturers and retailers have no other choice but to replace their brick-and-mortar stores with online shops.
Since the only logical thing for all famous luxury brands is to be involved in the creation of Luxury 4.0, there’s a big issue that needs to be resolved. Namely, customers visiting brick-and-mortar stores create a rather strong bond with the brand. For instance, if you’re buying a $100.000 wedding dress, sales clerks at a luxury store will make you feel like a queen. Champagne, trying on multiple dresses, and eating strawberries with your best friends is just a part of the amazing experience. Vice versa, none of this is available online. It creates a gap between the customer and the brand.
What is important for luxury product marketing?
Since Luxury 4.0 is primarily identified with the technological changes of Industry 4.0, there will be positive and negative effects to it. Since we tend to shop online now more than ever, luxury product marketing is learning to adapt itself to our shopping behavior. Many luxury brands create and promote ads in a way that we slowly begin to identify with them.
You have most likely seen a famous celebrity on TV, saying how much they love wearing an elegant Dolce & Gabbana dress, or how happy they are with their new Michael Kors handbag or a pair of designer sunglasses. The words ‘love’ and ‘happy’ market the products in a very subtle way, sparking a desire among the rest of the wealthy consumers.
Providing a seamless and safe shopping experience, as well as having 24/7 customer support is a big plus. Every luxury product manufacturer needs to have constant phone, email, and live chat support, with multiple communication channels available for its customers. It goes to show how much value and attention they place on communication and attention toward customers.
What do luxury customers want?
Like all other customers, luxury customers have their needs, requirements, and preferences. As a seller of high-end products, it’s vital to know what your potential shoppers want from your services. From a seamless online experience to timely customer service, luxury customers want to be convinced that your services and products are unbeatable. Even on their first visit to your online store, you need to deliver them a unique shopping experience, so the entire process goes smoothly, without any errors.
Swift delivery
First and foremost, luxury customers, just like every other customer, want fast product delivery. Generally speaking, the majority of customers, no matter if they paid $5 or $5000, want their products to be delivered as soon as possible. But when customers buy a high-end product, they expect a premium and fast delivery.
Store experience
Any online customer who spends thousands of dollars needs to be offered more than just browsing products and credit card information. In fact, some luxury product manufacturers have already switched to UX design and luxury design.
In other words, luxury customers expect to see a premium online store design, so choose your store’s layout carefully. Your store’s design plays a central role in improving your luxury product marketing because it can increase your brand’s reputation.
Advertise on Bing
You might be wondering why we chose Bing over Google AdWords. While Google Adwords is way more popular, there’s a perfectly logical explanation for it. Namely, Bing is often visited by a rich clientele, which is the perfect audience for placing ads. Over 26% of its monthly visitors have a household income that is positioned in the top 25% in the U.S. These households make a minimum of $100.000 per year. Out of 638 million unique searchers, this counts to around 165 million luxury customers.
The best part is, Bing is often underrated in terms of ad pricing. Not only is it cheaper than Google’s AdWords, but it can provide much better results. For example, you can reach a more specific audience that is partnered with Yahoo and Bing’s partner advertising networks. This is definitely worth checking out.
Bonus advertising tips
Of course, you can choose between the audience’s interests, location, and most importantly – demographics. The last one is the most important, but why? Let’s say you want to show your ads in New York. Next, you select the interests, such as luxury products, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. Finally, you head on to the most important section – demographics. There is an ‘average household income’ option to select, for the top X percentage of New York’s population. According to reports, New York City tops the list of cities with the most millionaires. In numbers, that’s around 1 million people with at least one mill in the bank.
Just imagine the chances of getting seen by part of these wealthy citizens of the Big Apple. These are the facts you need to start focusing on. Even better, by opting to serve ads like this, you will most likely see a sharp increase in profits. Better yet, many online boutique owners have positive results by the end of the week.
Use Pinterest for social media advertising
Luxury marketing can become even more effective with the use of social media. When a social network is as “visually attractive” as it gets, you need to take advantage of it. Pinterest is the perfect source for organic and paid visitors, i.e. potential customers. Every pin that is pinned on someone’s board has the potential to become shared or seen by someone else. And, if it contains your store’s URL in it, chances to get a sale increase exponentially.
For instance, fashion brands without official Pinterest profiles get thousands of pins shared by visitors on a daily basis. Imagine the increase in sales if they had been more active on this social network. This just gives many options for using Pinterest, creating hundreds of boards with personalized pins. Best of it all, hashtags and descriptions will just boost your sales organically.
The potential of SEO
Marketing goes hand in hand with SEO. In essence, SEO can play a crucial part in your luxury marketing and getting your store on the first page of any search engine. Many online stores rely mostly on ads, but why? Simply because the profit margins are larger and few sales can cover the expenses of the ads alone.
Thus, there’s much to be done in terms of optimizing content for potential visitors. From product descriptions to website content, you can play with keywords until getting it right. This especially applies to original manufacturers. It seems they are unintentionally letting retailers take part in the sales. Overall, SEO can provide a major impact on your store’s monthly income, so pay attention to it.
Start a blog
The benefits of including blogging in your luxury marketing strategy are endless. Online stores with just one perfect article make thousands of dollars every month, by ranking it on the first page of search engines. This is the perfect opportunity to create educational and informative content, above all. You can create shopping guides or select and showcase the top-viewed products of the month. Anything you create can increase sales. The best part is – it’s completely free of charge.
Since luxury product marketing mainly consists of visuals, it’s best to include eye-catching images with the help of photo editing apps and list tons of products. This will give any future visitor enough time to look around, before choosing. Find the best-selling products from each product category and make a list (e.g. Top 10 Trending High-Ticket Products Right Now). You can even advertise some of the top-ranking articles, for increased visibility.
Email marketing
Any visitor coming to your site is a potential customer. Since you already know this, it’s best to take advantage of the situation. In fact, this benefits online stores in more than one way. Let’s explain this more thoroughly.
- Recurring customers
Imagine you’ve got millions in the bank and love wearing the latest fashion clothing. You come across a perfectly-designed online boutique store, and decide to shop. Visibly satisfied, wouldn’t you sign up for their newsletter upon purchase? It’s a win-win situation. You get brand new clothes at great prices, while the website owner gains a new recurring customer. It also increases the level of loyalty and trust between a customer and a retailer.
- Loyal audience
The second, equally important part of email marketing includes acquiring a loyal audience. These customers will help spread your brand’s awareness to their friends, coworkers, and family members. Practically, they are doing all the free advertising, or ‘word of mouth’ marketing. Thus, you can often see how the most loyal customers are often being rewarded. Various giveaways, discount coupons, and other loyalty program awards will certainly be seen on many social media profiles.
To sum up
Now that you’ve gathered much more knowledge about luxury marketing, it’s time to put it to practice and cover the famous 5cs in marketing. High-end products might be more difficult to market and sell, but fortune favors the bold. If you’d like to make it simpler, just write up a plan on what needs to be done, and follow it step by step. If you need more technically-skilled workers (developers, marketers) to fix something, don’t hesitate to hire some. Consider every dime spent on your high-end online store to be an investment. This way, you’ll be more motivated and confident in making the right decisions. Lastly, don’t forget to read about the latest industry news, to avoid being ‘destroyed’ by the competition. It won’t happen overnight, but with a little time and patience, you can get there.
About the Author
Kristina Gjorgievska
Kristina, Head of Content at BrandsGateway. Eternal inspiration: The Doors music and lyrics, Bernardo Bertolucci's timeless “Stealing Beauty”, and the dynamic and meditative Ashtanga Yoga.
