Content Marketing for Luxury Brands
Content marketing is a buzzword in the marketing world and has become more and more important in the luxury industry over the past years, as high end brands compete for new customers in a global market.
Content Marketing is a strategy that focuses on creating and sharing valuable and relevant content to attract and retain a specific audience. Although content marketing is not a channel itself, it’s part of a larger conversation across multiple channels. This can include a brand’s website, physical stores or third-party platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. For luxury brands, the main value of content marketing lies in its ability to attract, persuade and convert the most demanding public with the language and elevated aesthetics that are typical of luxury.
In a world where consumers are receiving thousands of different messages a day from mass market brands, luxury brands need to stand out in this new competitive market. Their content must fit a certain criteria in order for them to maintain their image of prestige and reach a complex target audience. It is for this reason that luxury marketing strategies don’t follow the same rules as others.
CREATING A SENSE OF BELONGING
One of the greatest benefits we can glean from the digital world is data. Data allows companies to understand the marketplace and specifically, their target market. They can readily access every consumer’s needs, wants, desires and even behavioural patterns. For luxury marketers this data is key. It allows them to create personalised, targeted and seamless content giving the customer the sensation of exclusivity and belonging they are looking for.
By creating tailored experiences, high-end brands can make the customer feel more valued and understood. This enhances the customer experience and therein further strengthens the “Brand-Customer” bond giving it that very personal touch. After all, luxury is always personal, even in the digital world.
QUALITY CONTENT IS KEY
For luxury brands the chief value of content marketing lies in high quality. From aesthetic visuals to perfectly worded text, it is the attention to detail that impacts a brand’s reputation, drives consumers to the company and improves the customers’ experience. The desired result is an increase in both loyalty from existing customers and excitement from new ones.
HOW CAN LUXURY BRANDS USE CONTENT MARKETING?
As technology and consumer habits evolve, luxury brands must be willing to innovate and respond quickly to new digital trends in order to stand out from mass brands. To do so, they must incorporate rich media into their marketing strategies, providing the customer a richer online experience. Luxury marketers are focusing on new formats of content marketing, from long-form videos and podcasts to interactive personalised content.
According to Mckinsey & Co, personalisation is not only beneficial to the customer, but has proved to boost revenue by between five and 15%. Creating tailored experiences helps to remove the sense of anonymity for digital visitors and encourages them to engage with the brand, differentiating them from others. For example, Cartier launched an appointment platform that allowed their most exclusive customers to have a sales assistant come directly to their home to show them the latest products in their own home.
Many high-end retailers are also focusing their content, especially video, on digital storytelling. Although storytelling is nothing new to luxury brands, digital media allows storytelling to shine across various platforms in various forms. It has become a great opportunity for luxury brands to raise brand awareness and engage with consumers by providing them value and entertainment on a whole new level.
An example of luxury brand storytelling is “The Tale of Thomas Burberry”. A story inspired by the pioneering discoveries of the founder, Thomas Burberry, reimagining key events that have shaped Burberry’s history.
As this form of content becomes increasingly important, new approaches to content are being incorporated, such as virtual reality. Gucci, for example, partnered with Snapchat to promote their new sneaker collection. To do so, they created AR try-on lenses to let Snapchat users see how Gucci sneakers look on their feet.
Like Cartier and Gucci, many high-end brands have found innovative ways to maintain the personalisation of their offer, exceeding consumers expectations.
As the content marketing surge continues, new and creative ways of reaching a specific audience will be required. As stated in Forbes, the luxury market is constantly changing, and now, more than ever it is imperative that ultra luxury brands embrace the latest marketing trends in order to attract and drive the world’s wealthiest to action.
At Glitz, we have vast experience creating effective Content Marketing strategies for luxury brands enabling them to fit into the luxury market and meet the demands of the most demanding public. Contact us now and let us show you how we can help your brand integrate into the marketplace.