The sector of the big luxury brands is one of the few that not only remains immune to the crisis, but also draws a striking upward trajectory with a growth of 25% in the last year. However, its leap to the digital terrain continues to be a pending issue, as there are still brands that see in the democratization offered by the Internet a threat to the exclusivity values that these products represent.
That is why rare brands are interested in moving this physical experience with the consumer, from the store to the network, limiting in most cases its digital presence to the international profile of the parent company on Facebook or a mere sample of articles, far from establishing a more empathetic relationship and dialogue with his followers.
These are some of the recommendations that the advertising agency 101 proposes to luxury emblems to make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet.
1. Do not miss any appointments. Although there are those who think that the digital strategy is limited to social networks, the truth is that it should cover all Internet channels: from an impeccable corporate website to your own channel on YouTube, through video blogs, corporate blogs and a good relationship. with specialized bloggers. The idea is to be always present where the Internet user, that is, the consumer, wants to meet us.
3. The ‘luxury way of life’. The value of a luxury brand is not its price, but the lifestyle it represents; That is why the key is to transmit this feeling coherently in the different channels. At the end of the day, everything communicates, especially in a medium with users as receptive as digital.
4. More than satisfied. The objective of the luxury market is to retain the customer, something that involves much more than just satisfaction. You have to get the buyer to take a step further and actively recommend the product to their environment, something in which social networks can (and should) have a leading role.
6. To the smallest detail. As in physical stores, the luxury brand should pamper its visitors ‘online’: in addition to always maintaining the first-class treatment, it is convenient to be a retailer with our followers, with exclusive gifts and invitations so that each and every one feels special
7. An invitation to dream. Faced with the concept of traditional luxury, focused on status and social prestige, today the consumer wants to approach or at least dream of a unique experience, feel it so close that it can almost touch it. In short, to turn into reality those small indulgences or luxuries that we rarely allow ourselves.
8. Luxury is not bought, it is felt. All digital communication must value the intangible part of the product: the pleasure it conveys to buy it, use it, the almost magical ritual of “unboxing”, to open the packaging for the first time.
9. The value of surprise. Originality and innovation are the keys. For a lot of tradition and history that has a luxury brand can not do without the surprise effect. Not everything is discovered, there must always be a halo of mystery that surrounds the consumer and the prescribers of the brand.
10. The flash of the brand. In this sector, exclusive events and celebrity relationships predominate. An adequate digital strategy must take advantage of the potential of these resources, acting as a speaker so that all Internet users can “share” and even live that experience. The bloggers, prescribers of first line, can be, for example, objective of that strategy in which they are made partakers of that special moment, of that luxury.
According to the director general of 101, Gustavo Entrala, “some brands think that the democratization of the access to the information of their products is going to devalue them, to break with their idea of status, forgetting that half of the consumers look for information of the brands and products in blogs or social networks, regardless of whether they are luxury or not. For this outdated vision, those who make the leap to the web with an adequate digital strategy not only make luxury an option for all and, at the same time, different for each one ‘, but they can even enhance the differentiating value associated with their brand if they know how to do it well “.