Although print advertising has tanked, Luxury brands have been slow to showcase their goods and services online. Rather than buying a copy of Vogue magazine, fashionistas today are more likely to follow fashion trends on Instagram.

High-end brands can take advantage of digital marketing from high fashion to luxury travel. But, the fact is, luxury shoppers, spend a lot of time online, and Luxury Brands need to boost their online presence.

In this post, let’s touch on what luxury brands can do to boost their digital presence.

1. Use Visual Social Media

Social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have largely replaced fashion magazines. These sites are where people pin and share photos of their favorite designs; in essence, ordinary people put together their fashion magazines.

Luxury fashion brands are not the only ones that can benefit from Instagram and Pinterest. Everything from luxury cars to gourmet food brands benefits from visual social media.

Marketing luxury products with photos is a proven technique for tapping into aspirational emotions. People can imagine themselves wearing a fabulous designer gown or driving a luxury sports car. It feeds into the desire for status, success, and prestige.

It’s not only luxury goods that benefit from visual social media, but luxury travel social media campaigns are also highly successful. A measure of status, success, and prestige is by what you drive or wear and the ability to travel the world.

Luxury fashion brands need to create their presence on these sites and engage influencers. Encourage users on these platforms to share photos of your goods and services.

2. The Brand Website needs to Combine Style and Functionality, With a Great User Experience

While high-quality photos play well on sites like Instagram and Pinterest, they can seriously slow website load time. The same is true of video. It’s tempting for a luxury brand to go all out with visuals to the point that the pages barely load. This delay is an excellent way to make visitors leave.

Moreover, navigation must be straightforward and intuitive; for example, the Chanel website requires 4-5 clicks to find the page to buy a ready-to-wear item. Slow-loading photos challenge someone who wants to browse the clothing and numerous click-throughs to find the buy pages. An ordinary page of thumbnails could serve this fashion brand better.

Do not sacrifice the user experience for what seems edgy. Sometimes, ordinary is the way to go.

3. Play on Brand Heritage

Telling the story behind a luxury brand is central to luxury marketing. Establishing a brand’s lineage as “royalty” in its market is key to its aura of superiority.

For example, Hermes began in 1837 as a harness and saddle shop to the French nobility. Eventually, Hermes began making leather feed bags for horses and expanding to riding boots and hats.

Hermes repurposed their leather feed bags as luxury handbags, and automobiles replaced horses. It’s an exciting story illustrating its ability to innovate and ties the brand to royalty.

By demonstrating that your brand has a long history of luxury, quality, and style, you’ll not only reassure consumers of its value but also foster an aura of exclusivity.

4. Don’t Ignore Facebook Ads

Everyone is on Facebook, including wealthy buyers, and Facebook Ads can target affluent demographics.

For example, you could target ads to 45-year-old women in Washington DC who like Chanel suits. You can even target people by the university they graduated from, where they work, their job, and more. Thus, you could target women 35 to 45 years old, who like Chanel suits, graduated from Yale or Harvard, and work as an attorney for the government.

5. Website SEO is Essential

Don’t let your luxury brand lose the top slot on Google to a knock-off brand. SEO for luxury travel sites is crucial since they may not have the same name recognition as luxury brands.

While luxury brands often have slow-loading websites with poor navigation, they often have poor SEO. As a result, they have not used keywords properly, and their stylish, flashy websites are poorly structured. These issues can cause a luxury brand to lose the top search engine spots to more tech-savvy brands.

According to Digital Authority Partners, luxury brands should not take it for granted that their name will automatically pull up their website. If a website is not SEO-friendly, you could lose traffic, and valuable customers, to a knock-off brand.

6. Create Aspirational Content That Appeals to a Desire for Status

Among other things, people share on social media to influence how others see them. Since the primary motivation for acquiring luxury products is to display status, create content that makes your prospective customers look intelligent, stylish, and trendy. This technique is a sure way to have them share it with others.

For example, a luxury wine brand could publish a guide on wine tasting. This companion is not only attractive, but it’s also shareable. It educates the reader about the qualities that define fine wine, thus, making them feel innovative. If they want to impress their friends, they might share it.

7. Exclusivity Defines Luxury

Exclusivity is key to luxury brand marketing. It enforces the impression that what you have to offer is rare, and thus, valuable. If anyone could afford a Maserati, it would have no more appeal than a Ford or a Toyota. The sheer expense and limited build make a Maserati exclusive.

Luxury brands need to understand that widely spreading their brand across the internet is not the same as widely distributing their products. On the contrary, it can enforce exclusivity when the products are made in limited numbers by increasing competition.

Create online exclusivity with concierge services, private groups, or loyalty gifts exclusively for existing customers.

8. Build Your List

Craft your email marketing message to luxury brands for project exclusivity. Targeted emails are an excellent way to announce a fashion brand’s trunk show. Luxury travel agents can send seasonal travel offers to exotic destinations, and luxury car brands promote new models. Moreover, use email marketing to extend exclusive offers to your clientele. Of course, sending too many emails can destroy the impression of exclusivity and work against you.

9. Merge In-person Shopping with Your Social Media Campaign

Status involves wearing a designer brand and going to an exclusive shop. There’s a reason why Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles is a luxury travel destination in itself. Invite shoppers to take selfies in your stores, and post them on social media. Additionally, this doesn’t cost anything, and your customers will be thrilled to show off their upscale shopping experience.

Luxury brands already understand the importance of status and exclusivity in marketing. However, they need to merge that knowledge with sound SEO practices and social media marketing.

The post 9 Tips for Marketing a Premium or Luxury Brand appeared first on MoneyMiniBlog.