Luxury brands hold a unique place in the apparel market. These are brands that make people wait months to purchase a single article of clothing or pay prices hundreds of times higher than the regular market price. To even come close to this level of acclaim, however, you have to possess a strong understanding of luxury brand marketing.
Unlike regular consumerist merchandise, luxury brands thrive off of a scarce market that prioritizes quality over quantity. This means that many of the popular axioms of marketing need to be shifted when marketing higher-end items–for example, frequently engaging on social media platforms without thought can show off a friendly, but too widely available image for a luxury brand.
Luxury Brand Marketing Strategy
If you’re looking to upgrade your brand’s image to something a little closer to Hermes or Dolce & Gabanna, take a look at the following tips to raise your luxury brand marketing strategy:
Shape your brand story and symbolism
Story and identity are some of the biggest drivers of a luxury brand. The most famous luxury brands of today have decades of history behind them, driven by strongly admirable traits like ingenuity, innovation, detailed craftsmanship, and more.
Think of Rolex: it once started out as one of the first popular wristwatch makers in the early 1900s, inspired by founder Hans Wildorf’s idea to make an affordable watch that could be tied to the wrist. Now it’s one of the most luxurious companies in the world, selling specialized wristwatches renowned all across the world for their precision and expertise.
While you don’t necessarily need decades of history to be a luxury brand, you still need to have strong understanding of your brand story and what your services or products symbolize. Consider these questions:
- Where does your brand come from? Who started your brand? What were their struggles? What was their vision?
- What great quality does your audience associate with your brand?
- What do you strive for when making each and every one of your products, or completing your service?
Craft an elegant visual brand identity
Once you understand your brand story and symbolism, you can begin crafting a strong visual identity to go along with it. While all luxury brands have their own distinguishing traits, it’s true that most have developed a kind of signature ‘luxury look.’
Consider the following when you’re crafting your brand visuals:
- Serif fonts
Something about a good serif always boldly announces ‘high-class’. Serif fonts like Garamond, Libre, and Times New Roman are usually associated with detail and formality, which are great indicators of luxury brand marketing.
You’ll find examples of serif fonts in any department store selling luxury goods: Dior, Gucci, Burberry, and many others use unique variations of a serif font. You may also elect to use a few script fonts, though they aren’t as popular in luxury circles and have a more feminine connotation.
- Monochromatic color schemes
Simple colors are often key foundations in luxury brand marketing. Monochromatic colors, often in blacks or whites, convey a sense of purity and confidence, something strongly memorable without any pretension or gaudy presentation. You’ll likely find that saying less can often mean much more in luxury branding.
With that being said, there have been recent conversations on whether this approach is always effective. For instance–
- Minimalist or Maximalist?
Although most luxury brands do stick to monochromatic schemes and simple serif fonts, they can also show off different styles in their products or other forms of branding. The conversation in luxury brand marketing circles is between the benefits of minimalist or maximalist approaches.
Stylistically, minimalism focuses on subtle details and the essence of craft. Instead of being muddled by ornamentation and gaudy tones or textures, minimalism strives to have a clear purpose with every product or brand marketing scheme. Brands like St Agni or the Row communicate this concept well, focusing on color and silhouettes in their clothing lines. However, this comes at the risk of appearing repetitive and lacking in innovation.
On the other hand, maximalism embraces the extravagance and uniqueness that comes with luxury. Brands like Dolce & Gabanna have shown off maximalist clothing lines with bold art direction and splashy textures, colors, and silhouettes. While it’s much more outgoing and eye-catching, maximalism also sets up an expectation of ‘more’ in those who sell it, which can be troublesome for production reasons.
Focus on quality and exclusivity
The most important aspect of your luxury brand marketing is the actual quality of your products. Luxury brands are, by design, exclusive. Many are one-of-a-kind products that are hand-crafted and completely unique to each buyer.
This distinct quality gives luxury brands the power of differentiation. When clients buy your luxury brand, they automatically distinguish themselves as being from a higher social class compared to others–more refined, more regal, and more worthy of class and value.
As such, you’ll want to stick to higher-quality products and items for your business. Shirtual’s access to premium manufacturers and distribution models gives a good way to start shaping the quality of your products. Contact us here for more info!
Market to specific spaces
An underrated aspect of luxury brand marketing is the setting where you actually market your services or products. Marketing it in public spaces too easily accessed by the mainstream market–for example, social media–can often be less effective due to the exclusive nature of luxury brands.
While it’s still possible, these kinds of spaces should also be used alongside higher-end marketing spaces. For example:
- Billboards: Larger billboard advertisements in business areas attract a lot of eyes from higher class society.
- TV or online advertisements: Short videos showcasing the style and glamor of luxury products are the bread and butter of the industry. Many also feature high-class figures or celebrities to lend even more credence to their image, like Robert Pattinson’s contribution to the 2023 Dior campaign.
- Magazines: Fashion magazines are one of the best sources of advertisement for luxury brands. Their readers are likely to have the refined taste and character that defines many luxury brands.
- Luxury brand influencers: While a little more modern and less traditional, there have been a few luxury brand influencers that move mountains for fashion culture. Many own blogs and advice accounts that can bring a lot of attention to new luxury brands with the right sponsorship deals.
While certainly not easy to maintain, borrowing a few tips from luxury brand marketing can pay dividends for smaller brands. Looking to upgrade your own brand story? Contact our Shirtual brand services for more advice on how you can boost your brand image this year!
GET IN TOUCH
