Luxury lifestyle marketing has changed. No longer can you simply market an image of your brand and expect that it will make a great impression on a lifestyle consumer. Today’s luxury buyers purchase items that act as an extension of their values and identity. Let’s explore how best to appeal to them.
What is luxury lifestyle marketing?
Luxury lifestyle marketing is the process of high-end brands forming a relationship with a targeted group on the basis of their shared values and interests. High-end brands use their products as a means of communicating and forging deep emotional connections with their consumers.
Each brand has an identity. For example, Jeep’s identity is the “adventurer”. Adidas’ identity is “athletic”. Each brand has an identity that’s connected to a specific set of attitudes, values, and interests. Consumers, then, want to engage with brands that have a similar identity to theirs. So, when a brand with a particular set of values appeals to a consumer with a similar set of values, that process of influence is an example of luxury brand marketing.
Appealing to the Lifestyle Consumer
No lifestyle consumer is the same. Think about your circle of friends: do all of you hold the same interests? Do you all hold the same values? Today’s lifestyle consumers engage with brands that allow them, or give them the tools, to connect with their ideal selves. In that sense, not every luxury brand will appeal to every lifestyle consumer. That is why it is important to find and forge relationships with consumers whose ideals align with your own, and vice-versa.
In general, lifestyle consumers don’t want to be “sold” anything. They want to resonate with high-end brands on an emotional level, and feel that they’re part of a community that they support, and that supports them.
In order to appeal to the lifestyle consumer, you have to ask yourself two questions:
- What values do we want to promote?
- What type of emotional connection do we want to have with our consumers?
By determining what type of relationship you want to have with your consumer, you’re better able to cater to their evolving needs.
3 Keys to Building a Successful Lifestyle Brand
Your consumers’ needs and values is the foundation. So, what can we lay on top of this foundation to create something sustainable and influential? Here are the 3 keys to building a successful lifestyle brand:
1. Understand your Lifestyle Identity
Adidas’ identity is athletic. All Saints’ identity is edgy. What’s yours? Being able to clarify your identity allows you to narrow your focus, and understand what kinds of customers you’ll be forming deeper connections with. In luxury lifestyle marketing, knowing your identity helps you identify the values and products your customers will feel most connected to. By determining your identity as a lifestyle brand, you’ve just opened the door to all the necessary information you’ll need, not only to become successful, but to become influential!
2. Be Personal
If you want to forge emotional connections with potential and existing consumers, you need to know who you’re talking to. You may have people walking through your door with differing needs, yet all of them likely share similar values. It is important to create targeted messaging using hyper-personalization so that you focus on their interests. Each consumer is an influencer. You want to articulate that you hear and see them—and that you are not simply trying to sell them your product.
It’s also important to show them that you’re receptive to their perspectives and ideals. The way they are, and who they are, is of value to you, and you want to cater to that. You can also forge these emotional connections by creating novel experiences for your consumers. When your offerings and your overall branding is striking, the experiences that you’re offering to your existing and potential consumers, will stay with the people who believe in your values.
3. Leverage Wealth Screenings
Correct data tells a story about an individual. Instead of trusting that each of your consumers will find what they need from you, you have to get to know more about them. This all starts with a wealth screening.
With a screening, you can identify, divide, and prioritize your customers and prospects. This can be done based on demographics or their propensity and capacity to spend. Instead of looking up people one by one in search, you can entire an entire list of people you want insights on which we’ll return to you all at once. This will help inform and enrich your luxury lifestyle marketing strategy.
When you look at the wealth, age, behaviors, and demographics of individual customers, you are better able to anticipate their needs based on their values. Using a screening, we can then identify their propensity to stay with your brand, and understand what they may want to see or purchase in the future that you could create. Becoming attuned to this information allows you to create a loyal customer base. More than that, you’ve now created something even more integral: community.