Top 6 Digital Marketing Ideas for Luxury Brands

Luxury Brands.

It is not the same feeling to have a Zara handbag as one from Chanel. Both purses have the same function, but there is a feeling, a "jeu ne se quoi" that only gives you the more expensive bag.

Luxury brands are a market niche that moves the expectations of their audience and gives their buyers the status they so desire to be desired and glamorous people.

Buying one of these items makes them feel like they've moved up a notch on the class ladder, giving them a massive boost in self-esteem, though the hit on their wallets can be a bit heavy.

The experience of entering a luxurious shop is unique. Just going inside makes you feel like you are in a mansion where everything is aesthetic and expensive, and it feels great to be there, which is aspirational. Nevertheless, it is crucial that your luxury brand feels the same way on the internet, more so because the digital medium is impulsing almost half of the total purchases for luxury brands, 45% of all luxury sales, according to a report by McKinsey.

So, if you want to increase those sales for your luxury brand on digital marketing channels, look at this luxurious article and check out the top 5 digital marketing ideas for luxury brands.

Shall we begin?

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Who is your audience?

Associating luxury brands with only a wealthy audience is entirely wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You see, we'll explain this by getting into the psyche of consumers.

Luxury brands - beyond their quality and durability - are a status symbol, and those who most want to show status aren't the upper classes but the middle class that wants to belong to the upper class.

We're social, relationship-driven creatures, and when you can use something to your advantage to command respect, you'll use it. Your customers achieve this goal through luxury items, which show that they are successful people, although buying one of these items is worth almost the full payment.

So, the middle class usually spends a lot on these items to get into the higher spheres. Meanwhile, the upper middle buys cars, appliances, and perhaps houses at best to boost their egos. The upper class - people at a level where they no longer need to pretend - purchases become more eccentric, like real estate. Most millionaires demonstrate their status by showing what they do: charitable foundations, and shopping malls, among others.

Source: YouTube.

The reality is that luxury brands are consumed mainly by people who cannot afford them so comfortably. Even so, those with higher salaries will continue to consume high-end products.

Now, talking about all this stratification of what they buy and how your audience behaves, you might think that your buyers are only 40+ people who are already quite wealthy. Well, this is not the case.

In a Mediaboom article, we found that people between 25 to 44 represent 64% of the luxury audience. Meanwhile, younger audiences that belong to late Millenials and gen z also take up another big chunk of your audience.

Gen z, born between 1997 and 2003, is a generation that grew up with technology and saw the rise of social media in their childhood and teenage years. We know that adolescence is a difficult era for all humans, and belonging to famous groups is crucial for these young women and men. So 33% of this generation alleged that they buy these as gifts for others. They are joining the workforce to spend some of their first salaries on your luxury products.

Millennials, born between 1983 and 1996, come in second place, representing 23% of your buyers, but differently to gen z, they tend to buy these goods for themselves. The data shows that men spend more than women on these goods, which comprise 62% of the total data.

In the end, different than you may have thought, older audiences like gen x only represent 7% of your audience, while 23% said they had bought one of these goods occasionally. 

So, now that you know whom you should target, let's find out the best ways to do it.

Create an exclusive community online.

As a luxury brand on Internet, you want to be exclusive; this is what makes you unique and aspirational.

Not everyone can go into a Balenciaga store and buy whatever they like, and this is something earned and quite an expensive investment in your looks.

And while the Internet is free and anyone with wi-fi can access it, that doesn't mean you can't make your brand exclusive within the internet realm.

When people enter the elite group of your luxury customers, they want to feel part of a community that differentiates your brand from cheaper ones.

This doesn't mean paying a membership to enter your website. You must be exclusive without excluding those who are curious or aspire to belong to your group of elite buyers. For this, the best way to be exclusive is through your content. This way, when buying from your brand, customers can access an exclusive app, content such as videos or interviews, private member groups, concierge services, or digitally-delivered loyalty perks for regular customers.

Digital marketing for luxury brands.

Create content that stimulates the desire to excel. 

When we go through social networks like Instagram, it is not strange to see how people seek to show how successful they are, either with photos in luxurious places or with solemn captions that make them look like happy people or that they are resilient during hard times. 

Word of mouth expands more than anything due to the need to show parts of their personality that they admire. That is why it is a good idea that your content helps them share that pride that it feels to be part of your buyers, publications showing that your clients are classy, stylish and intelligent. This will make them feel superior and cause those who follow them to want to reach this aspiring place, thus increasing your brand awareness.

Use Influencer Marketing to have a role model.

Having a celebrity model wear your luxury product is a mirror in which your audience wants to reflect. When they see Johnny Depp in a Dior SAUVAGE commercial or Emma Stone in Louis Vuitton, their fans want to smell and feel like them.

If hiring an elite star is not profitable for your budget, there is an option that is even more effective than these top celebrities, who are the influencers.

An absurd number of influencers have only become famous on the networks for flaunting an aspirational lifestyle, and their followers are always aware of all their updates. Using one of these internet celebrities will serve as a ring to your campaign, as people place their judgment as to whether it is a good product based on what the influencers recommend.

And since we talked about Millennials and gen z in your target audience, we have to say that influencer marketing is a very effective strategy to attract them to your brand. Businesswire confirms that 66% of consumers between 18-29 and 61% of 30-44 ages trust more on influencer reviews more than even celebrities. The reason behind this may be its closeness to audiences and that they even review brands as part of its content, not because companies pay them. So it's good to take a look at these influencer reviewers.

The power of these social media celebrities is such that according to a Twitter survey, 40% of consumers had purchased something online after watching a YouTube or other social media review.

Look at this article to learn how to choose the right influencer for your luxury brand.

Source: YouTube.

Appeal to Ultra-High-Net-Worth women 

In a Forbes note, we found that the number of women with a high net worth is growing; according to Wealth-X, there are up to 39,000 UHNW worldwide. And while they don't represent over 14% of the market, it is well to know that the number has grown significantly over the last decade. 

These women are 50+, although almost one in five of every Ultra High Net Worth Individual (UHNWI) is younger. But unlike their male counterparts, the personality of a UHNW is that they tend to be more empathetic, philanthropic, and open-minded about the brands they consume.

For example, regarding climate change, these women place this struggle of humanity as one of their priorities and will exclusively support these brands that demonstrate these ecological values. This trend is just as important for millennials and gen z since they have been educated in a constantly changing climate. Therefore they place more importance on your luxury brand supporting causes that help combat this.

As a curiosity, extra about the consumption habits of women, The Plumb Club said that women between 25-40 ages represent a third of US diamond sales, and 50% of them are millennials with a household income of $75,000. Women's power is shown in this niche, which makes us happy as an overall society, but it also should make you realize how your luxury brand can attend to their needs.

Source: YouTube.

SEO For Luxury Brands

We deal with one of the most important digital marketing pillars for this digital marketing idea: Search Engine Optimization.

As a brand, having a website that feels like entering one of your stores is mandatory: luxurious and comfortable to see everything you offer. If your web domain already looks like a "digital palace," now the important thing is how you direct your audience to this place.

SEO seeks to send your audience by creating content that answers those key questions of your audience. The more visits and traffic you bring to your website, the higher Google or other search engines like Bing will show you.

Use Facebook Ads to target wealthy clients.

With Facebook ads, you can target suitable candidates for your brand thanks to the platform's high level of segmentation.

As a luxury brand, sending ads to people who can't afford your products would waste time. So, with these ads, you can personalize campaigns to something specific, such as 40-year-old men married from Germany, like brands like Gucci, Versace or Dolce&Gabanna. This personalization goes even further as you can target customers by their job, what music they like and many more.

Final thoughts

Consumers have an urgent need to show that they have status and class, so luxury brands like yours come to fill that need with high-quality and durable products.

This business is quite profitable considering the number of people who want these items; you only need an excellent digital marketing team to take your brand to those who have the money to buy it. At Codedesign, we specialize in exploiting your potential in the digital world, giving your brand luxury treatment so that it reaches its full potential. Contact us for more information.

Feel free to contact us to see the unprecedented growth of your business.

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