How Digital Marketing Is Shaping The Future Of Luxury Brands

Thanks to the constantly evolving nature of technology, digital marketing is constantly upgrading. The habits of consumers change over time, enterprises rely on market trends. There is a lot of importance laid upon data, which ultimately minimizes risk when it comes to important business decisions.

The following article discusses how strategies and trends in marketing are changing with regards to luxury brands, which now focus on digital marketing to push their products and services, making higher conversions and bringing more brand awareness!

Luxury brands in the market

Within the last 10 years, luxury brands have been reluctant to change their marketing strategies. Their names are already established in the market, and previous marketing efforts have worked great. Most customers have also made up their mind, and are in the “decision stage” of the buyer’s journey.

In the past, such brands have known what their demographic was and have, therefore, applied marketing strategies to target them. However, times have changed thanks to the digital era. 

For instance, luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel have always pulled customers in by placing a lot of their marketing budget in advertisements for huge magazines like Vogue. In the past, their customers were successful women in their late 20s and upwards.

However, wealthy teens and women in their early 20s are buying such brands now thanks to brand awareness through social media and other forms of digital marketing. 

Luxury Brand Shops

Luxury brands are a different industry in the market. They have an established name and hold trust in the public eye. People desire to be seen with these products, and they’ll usually post themselves wearing these products or using such services on social media. 

In the past luxury brands relied on traditional marketing to raise brand awareness. Their marketing budget went on TV, radio, and print ads. However, everything has changed now.

In 2018, a study was done by McKinsey showing that luxury brands are currently very involved in digital marketing and really pay attention to what their consumers are engaged in. This study also showed that personal luxury goods, such as perfume and apparel, take up 8% of the global luxury market, and as much as almost 80% of sales are influenced through digital marketing. 

Relevance is now more important than reach, and influencer marketing is really being applied! For instance, Calvin Klein is an enormously established luxury brand, and has used the Kardashian and Jenner sisters to help influence their relevance!

How does digital marketing work?

Digital marketing refers to all marketing efforts that are pursued through digital means. According to HubSpot, businesses use digital marketing to interact with and nurture connections with current and potential customers. 

The biggest difference between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing can be very personalized through emails, social media advertisements, and blogs and videos that may capture your attention.

Digital marketing offers businesses the opportunity to target their audiences through many exciting channels that hit them directly. No longer do they have to wait for their customers to open a magazine or listen to the radio to see or hear their ad – all their customers have to do is take a look at their digital devices.

Digital marketing

Luxury sales are predicted to triple by 2025 since one-fifth of all personal luxury sales occur online, and all luxury brand marketers have taken notice of this!

Whether you are creating a brand-new marketing campaign or revamping previous marketing campaigns, here are the things you need to know to garner more attention for your luxury brand:

1. Know your market

Luxury brands have a very specific audience – after all, luxury brands are based more on wants than needs. Not everyone wants a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes costing thousands of dollars. However, everyone needs a normal pair of shoes to get them around. Those wants, those desires, are what luxury brands are all about – they represent a lifestyle. 

Therefore, such brands target both high net-worth individuals (HNWI), as well as ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI). These, of course, are very specific audiences that are comprised of celebrities and individuals with top-level jobs that bring in a very high income.

In a 2016 study conducted by PwC, 98% of wealthy people use the internet, as well as mobile applications, daily. Also, 85% of HNWIs own three or more digital devices.

In a report conducted by Deloitte in 2019, it was discovered that luxury brands are keeping a close eye on the new consumer classes that have been born due to the digital era. Out of these new consumer classes, high-earners-not-rich-yet (HENRYs) were predicted to be the wealthiest people in society.  

You have to know your target market to be successful, and once you do, you will know their online behaviour and spending habits. Once you know where they shop, the content that appeals to them, and what type of marketing campaigns they respond to, you will have all the vital information you need in creating your luxury brand’s digital marketing strategy.

2. Take apart your data

Data Analysis

Once you know your target market, you need to collect as much data as possible. Once you have accurate data on your audience, you’ll be able to offer a more personalized approach for a smooth buying experience. 

Deloitte also picked up in their report that the demands of consumers are the number one priority of businesses. Due to this, enterprises are becoming more reliant on other types of digital technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data. 

With such digital technologies, businesses can personalize customer engagement through data analysis. Luxury brands now understand that they get a better ROI through engagement, compared to previous efforts that focused on reach.

All the information and data collected from previous and current digital marketing campaigns will allow you to gain access to all the factors that affect lower conversions and response rates and therefore allow you to tweak your campaigns accordingly. 

3. Focus on your goals

You have your target market, and have collected all your data, so what’s next? Well, you need to focus on the goals for your brand.

Are you possibly a startup offering new and exciting luxury services or products? Then your goal would be public awareness. 

Do you possibly have an established enterprise focusing on one area and want to expand into a brand new market? Your number one goal would then be to capture market share.

Are you attracting a lot of traffic to your website and social media sites that aren’t turning into sales? Then your main focus and goal would be to improve your conversion rates.

All your marketing campaigns must align with what your luxury brand is wanting to attain, and you need to set clear objectives. By having relevant, specific, and measurable goals, you’ll be able to create budget-friendly and highly targeted digital marketing campaigns.  

4. Let your company’s story be known

Company story

A product or service is just a product or service until its background is revealed. By letting the public know what inspired you to create such luxury products or services, you form a connection with current and potential customers. It’s important to reveal your company’s humble beginnings, as well as what sets it apart from other companies that sell similar luxury products or offer luxury services. In doing this, you give the public an enjoyable brand experience while promoting your unique selling proposition (USP). 

One of the most important roles of digital marketing is to convert the leads that engage with your luxury brand through several marketing channels. A successful, growing business is made from high conversion rates, and there are several ways to encourage current and potential customers to engage with your luxury brand, which is discussed in the following.

5. Use content marketing

Content marketing refers to marketing through content that can be applied to website landing pages, social media posts, as well as articles written for your brand’s blog. Content marketing will help your brand connect with, and reach, targeted demographics in a highly effective and efficient manner. 

 After taking all the above steps necessary to create the ideal marketing campaign, there are certain things you need to look into, to make sure your marketing campaigns are delivered in the most effective way possible. These things are:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is one of the best ways of attracting your specific audience through organic traffic. It’s all about getting quality leads that show enough interest in your luxury products or services to purchase them. SEO works exceptionally well for luxury brands, as the customer demographic is highly specific.  

It’s important to have a digital specialist in SEO that knows exactly what they’re doing, to help boost your ROI most effectively. Your SEO digital specialist will know how to create SEO-friendly content, will be able to research and analyze keywords, will be able to provide quality backlinks, audit your website, and maintain your web page.

Email Marketing

A study by McKinsey & Company revealed that email marketing is, in fact, up to 40 times more effective than social media. Email is a very intimate way of connecting with both existing and potential customers. You will have a bank of high-quality leads which you can contact any time there is a new product launch or exciting news about your luxury brand or service.

Website Design 

Having a great website is non-negotiable, especially when promoting a luxury brand. You need a strong online presence, and that is all made up of a website that has all the necessary SEO keywords, loads quickly (around 53% of all mobile users lose interest in web pages that take more than three seconds to load), and is fully optimized to work well on all digital devices. User experience and interface also need to be taken into consideration. 

Social Media 

Social Media

Another study conducted by Deloitte showed that most people with mobile devices check their social media accounts first thing in the morning. Social media marketing has a huge influence on personalized marketing today and influencer marketing has an enormous effect on the way people buy. You need social media accounts that are polished and are branded in such a way that really reflects your brand.  

The wonderful aspect of social media is the fact that your reach is virtually endless. However, you will need to target those quality leads that turn into conversions!

Conclusion

You want your marketing campaigns to work for your luxury brand or service in the most successful way possible, and applying the best digital marketing strategies will help accomplish this! Speak to one of our expert Digital Strategists today to lead you in the right direction and help your luxury brand grow!