Particularly with a faltering national economy, many marketers have thrown up their hands in frustration at the prospect of marketing a luxury brand. Marketing luxury can be a tall order, as many traditional strategies (such as competitive pricing) no longer apply. This is only compounded by a country struggling to move to recovery – there are those in the business world that assume luxury is the commodity of the past, and the first to go.

However, the luxury market remains vital and alive even today, for savvy marketers with talent and a strong strategy.

Understanding Motivation

Knowing the demographic in the luxury market means understanding the motivation of why a consumer would buy luxury. Rohit Arora, Strategic Planning Director for the BPG Group in Dubai, has worked with luxury brands including De Beers, Ford-Lincoln, and Omega watches. He writes about three motivations research has unveiled between high-price purchases. They are: self assertion, differentiation, and appreciation for product quality. He writes:

“Is it the physical / functional attributes like the product quality, craftsmanship, design, technology? As one respondent in one of the qualitative research in UAE said “When you buy something with really high-quality, you can genuinely feel the difference. It is in the touch, the feel of the material; it’s in the smoothness, it’s in its minute details…”

Or is it the self-asserting emotional stimulation of letting the others know that I’ve arrived & I have a penchant for finer things in life not common to many? A respondent said “I bought my BMW, just to keep my key on the table during the meeting.” Another respondent said “If I stop at a signal I feel I will attract attention of people”.

Or is it that luxury brands are just the stepladder to move to the right circle or an appropriate thing to have or wear in that circle? A respondent said ‘There is a proverb which says if you wear nice shoes you enter nice place’.”

An ideal luxury brand marketing strategy can embrace all three of these motivations: quality and craftsmanship, emotional stimulation, and the consumer’s presentation of self.

Quality Product and the Investment-Minded Consumer

In the eyes of this consumer demographic, there is a different worldview: one that is often investment-minded and financially savvy. However, this demographic can also possess the same core value of any consumer: one centered on family and children.

Patek Phillipe illustrates this principle.  “High-end watchmaker Patek Philippe adopted the slogan “You never really own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” The words are meant to provoke family feelings rather than status anxiety,” writes Christine Rosen of the Wall Street Journal inThe Bare Necessities: Marketing Luxury Goods in a Bad Economy.  “But the DeBeers diamond company has adopted the most creative strategy. Its recent ads attempt to convince us that expensive diamonds are not luxuries but thoughtful investments — better, in fact, than putting your money in the stock market.”

Consumer Behavior

Business Insidersuggests that luxury brands are losing the interest of the highly-educated and soon to be affluent Millenials (“Luxury Brands Are Dangerously Close To Losing A Generation Of Customers,” October 2012). Essentially, many market strategies don’t factor in the different ways this generation operates, and part of that means adapting to a digitally connected world.

Burberry is one luxury brand embracing this new way of doing business. In “Burberry: The Best of British Digital Innovation” in the Huffington Post comes this description, from Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer of Burberry. “Burberry is now as much a media-content company as we are a design company, because it’s all part of the overall experience. It’s very important to consider new technologies with a light approach. Facebook, for example, is not just a mailbox. You need to keep it going, add content, create a genuine, non-deceptive relationship.” Burberry’s results demonstrate its success in the digital and social media world: a 32% profit increase leading into 2011 was followed by a 29% increase at beginning of 2012.

Years of experience with luxury real estate marketing has demonstrated to me that the most important asset to a marketer in this industry is the network. A digital network is one strong way to reach out to the traditional luxury consumer as well as the younger Millenial. For a successful luxury brand marketing strategy, the nurturing of the online (and offline) network is imperative to reach this financially and technically savvy demographic, along with understanding the motivation of this consumer, and how to market the quality product they seek.

Julie Miller is the eMarketing Coordinator for a corporate brokerage headquartered in the Minneapolis area. A Master in Business Administration, she maintains the blog ADMIRE: Advertising & Marketing in Real Estate.

On Facebook, it’s the Share. On Twitter, it’s the Retweet. Every user is familiar with these, whether they use these sites for marketing, branding, or personal use. It is the envy of every business to go viral, to have their message spread like wildfire across the internet through a flurry of clicks, comments and shares. Recognizing that viral material is the sustaining force of their businesses, both Facebook and Twitter have developed tools to make it even easier—one-click sharing. With one click of the mouse, users can re-broadcast stories, videos, photos or tweets to their entire network.  But beware, while one-click sharing may seem exciting for marketers, it is actually suffocating the life out of social media and should be avoided.

Facebook

Facebook’s Frictionless Sharing is by design. Without thought or sometimes even without knowledge, Facebook users and companies add to the noise with one click of the mouse, broadcasting songs they are listening to, suggestive videos they are watching, or internet memes replicated and reposted indefinitely.

However, what we give up is control of our brand. A picture or article shared via Facebook’s one-click sharing option links to the original poster’s page, loading their comment bar, perhaps even siphoning response from your own users. It is a simple way to get your name on a user’s newsfeed by seemingly generating engaging content, but businesses are giving up control of their own branding. As Laurie Segall writes for CNN Money: “In the Web’s increasingly loud world, all of us want to control our online identity. Oversharing erodes those efforts.”

Further, users and marketers are adding to the noise of Facebook. Rather than adding something new, thought provoking or engaging, and truly reaching their customers, they are just replicating material users have already seen. “Sharing and recommendation shouldn’t be passive. It should be conscious, thoughtful, and amusing,” writes Molly Wood of CNET. “Frictionless sharing … making it more about recommending and archiving than about sharing and communicating … That’s a potentially dangerous strategy–not just because oversharing diminishes our interest in sharing but also because it’s tweaking the formula that made the site a winner in the first place.”

Users are starting to notice and be turned off by all the static on Facebook, that moves away from the content that really applies to them. “The Facebook algorithms prioritize who’s in my Newsfeed and now it’s filled with memes, reshares and fluff,” writes one blogger. “Instead of seeing real updates from my friends, I see content that doesn’t even remotely relate to me.”

Twitter

Seeing how many users would share content from their network with the “RT @name” formula, Twitter developed the one-click Retweet. Now users can instantly and easily rebroadcast a tweet of another user to their network. However, many marketers are starting to latch on to serious flaws in this new tool.

Attorney and social media blogger Ray Beckerman wrote an influential post earlier in the year discouraging use of the new one-click Retweet. He outlined a host of problems with the new Retweet. Among them:

-       You cannot add a comment to a Retweet

-       The Retweet will show the name and image of the original poster [your name will be an after note in a light color]

-       You will not know if someone Retweeted your Retweet, and

-       Retweets are not searchable, like regular Tweets are.

Once again, branding ability is diminished, if followers are receiving an impression from another source. A tweet with no comment, preface to, or debate doesn’t contribute meaningful information to the conversation; it just demonstrates laziness. Not knowing if a follower Retweeted your Retweet revokes your ability to engage and interact with that user. All of these scenarios should be considered poisonous to marketers.

What to Do

There is no reason to stop sharing material that is informative, engaging, and amusing. There are just smarter ways to do it than through one-click sharing. “Keep copy-paste alive, I beg you,” writes Molly Wood. “Troll the Web as you usually do, and post the links you want to share.”

On Twitter, the “Traditional Retweet” is recommended. Copy and paste the Tweet you want to share, add “RT @_____”, and add your own comment or spin. The user will see you remarked on their post, and is likely to even engage or thank you.

Using social media smartly can enhance branding and marketing efforts. But remember, “smartly” is the key word.

Now feel free to share.

Further Reading

Facebook and the age of accidental oversharing by Laurie Segall

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/technology/facebook-oversharing-airtime/index.htm

How Facebook is ruining sharing by Molly Wood

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57324406-256/how-facebook-is-ruining-sharing/

Retweet the old fashioned way, using ‘classic’ or ‘traditional’ retweets only by Ray Beckerman

http://rays20.blogspot.com/2010/06/traditional-retweet-tr-key-to.html

Goodbye Facebook

http://techsavvybutterfly.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/goodbye-facebook/

With a tip of the hat to Texas, Mitt Romney has claimed the number of delegates needed to win his nomination. Now the presidential candidates turn their attention towards each other, ending the opening act and moving to the main event. For some, politics may look like a messy knock-down, drag-out fight. But for the savvy professional, much can be learned about strategic marketing from politics and the entire election process.

1. Identifying Audiences and Tailoring the Message

There is a reason it seems like politicians make promises to everyone. To a group of small business owners, a candidate may pledge support and promote economic growth. To a group of soldiers later that same day, the candidate might pledge increased resources and increased benefits. It’s a matter of identifying a demographic, and tailoring the message to that group.

However, it is not enough to court groups like business owners, students, or women. For instance, a network of business owners will have different, specialized interests if they are corporate business owners, small business owners, or minority business owners. Women may have different interests if they are mothers of children, young professionals facing high student loan debt and workplace discrimination, or all of the above. The more specifically an audience can be identified, the more specifically a message can be tailored, and the more effective it will be – whether in politics or marketing.

2. Review, Reassess and Repeat

Political polling is more than a “how are we doing?” check-in, serving the same purpose as a mid game sports score. Rather, polling is a way to constantly monitor results of campaign strategies, and adapt them as needed. Even more than that, political polling is extensive, breaking down week-by-week results down to the very specific demographics outlined above. Strategies are constantly designed around which groups a candidate wants to (and is realistically able to) win over. From there, campaigning is a constant process of experimenting, attempting tried-and-true methods, and monitoring all results.

When Mitt Romney was polled by 18 points lower than Barack Obama among women, the campaign began utilizing wife Ann Romney to court female voters. Current polls still show the president in the lead among female voters, though the gap has narrowed considerably. Campaign managers on both sides have undoubtedly noted this, and are adjusting the best they know how. A good marketer knows how well their company or client is doing compared to major competitors, and consistently relies on market research to assess and adjust marketing strategies.

3. Image and Personal Branding

In almost all cases, what is ultimately being marketed is an image. In many industries, such as is real estate, the image being marketed is one primary person. A notorious point of view (that many have found success in) is that clients “buy” the individual agent – based on likeability, competency, ease in working with, and general knowledge.

Politics is a matter of selling an individual to the public. Teams of advisors, campaign managers, strategists, committees, writers and assistants come together to make one person look appealing to voters – in beliefs and values, in likeability, in ability, as a whole package. Obama’s 2008 campaign branding, with the rising sun imagery and use of “hope” tagline, was an effective example of personal branding and creative marketing.

In the end, there is more to the political election than just marketing strategy. However, it is one example of how marketing principles help steer and shape everyday culture.

Julie is a marketing, digital media, public relations and social networking specialist for corporate brokerages, multi-million dollar real estate teams, and as a trainer for regional brokerage offices. A Master’s student in Business Administration, she currently works as an independent consultant and maintains her own practice, ADMIRE: Advertising & Marketing in Real Estate, http://www.admirerealestate.com.

You reach into your old board game, past the battleship and the shoe and Community Chest cards, and pull out a smooth white and black-spotted die. You give it a roll. You roll a six. On the second roll, you roll a six again! Perhaps you have the lucky touch?

Before you pack your bags for Vegas, roll once more. This time it’s a two.

Of course, despite what the superstitious may believe, there’s no rhyme or reason to dice rolling. Every time you roll a die, you have an equal 1/6 chance of rolling any number, the same chance as the roll before. However, consumer behavior does not produce results in this same random way. Careful and smart statistical analysis of company data and consumer trends can produce not only insight into how the company is performing, but the ability to play fortune-teller, projecting forward and adapting proactively. No crystal ball required.

Imagine if you knew which consumer demographics were the biggest, and which were growing. If you knew where people were spending their money. Where your buyers and clients were coming from and how they are finding you. Many smart marketers already know these things. But now imagine if you could project and predict into the future, with near-perfect accuracy. This is what research, statistical analysis, and past trend analytics can achieve.

The concept is best illustrated with an example. Recently research of MLS data revealed that condominiums in the past year throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul have outsold multi-family and twin/townhomes combined. Analysis of US Census data and projections for Minnesota revealed that the population of young adults (18-24) was at a 20-year high in 2005 to 2010. Concurrently, the population of children (under 17) saw a 20-year low in 2005. As far as social and cultural trends go, the young adult population is generally marrying and having families later in life. Females especially are receiving higher education and upper-level employment opportunities at numbers rarely seen before, postponing child-rearing. It is also a reflection of the economic conditions, as fewer people, particularly younger populations, are able to afford or receive approved lending for larger single-family homes. This population of young professionals still needs to be housed; thus, the rise of the Urban Condo.

But don’t reach for your wallets and investment savings just yet. The Census Bureau predicts for this area a sharp rise in children and a definite decline in the young adult population over the next eight years. This trend is similar all over the country. Condos are often sitting vacant. In Sacramento, a condo can be purchased for the same price as a car: $24,000. Often these condos were produced by overzealous developers, reacting to a trend, and not projecting forward whatsoever.

There is a great image by SAS which defines a lot of marketing tools currently used, like reports, queries and alerts, as predecessors to statistical analysis, forecasting, predictive modeling and optimization. The latter four are considered to be a new level of competitive advantage and intelligence than the prior three. It is clear that if marketers and business executives can move from past to future analysis, they will achieve new levels of competitive advantage and business success.

Sources:

Condos and Cars Selling for the Same Price

Fortune Teller Image Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos. Image cropped for size.

SAS Report

The ad features three children, two girls and a boy. The young girls gaze demurely down and off to the side, dressed in subdued colors and ruffles. Only the boy’s eyes meet the camera. He stands taller than the others, dressed in dark denim, a flannel shirt, hood, and fitted leather jacket, like a collision between Ralph Lauren and James Dean. Sandy-blonde hair frames his face as, chin up, he executes the perfect high fashion supermodel pout. This budding young male model has another distinguishing feature: he has Down syndrome.

Nordstrom (as described above) and Target have both received national attention and accolades recently for featuring 6-year-old Ryan Langston in advertisements and circulars, and other children with disabilities, like St. Louis Park girl Estelle Fitzgerald, who also has Down syndrome. Says a statement from Target corporate headquarters: “Target is committed to diversity and inclusion in every aspect of our business, including our advertising campaigns.” More than just a gesture of goodwill or an example of marketing with heart, however, this is good business.

One of the first questions a smart marketer will ask a business owner is: “who is your target audience?” A very typical response that I hear nearly every time is, “anyone and everyone!” But marketing is not done by accident. Much time and effort is spent identifying potential (and multiple) audiences to direct a message at. There are reasons that email and phone databases are kept, commercials run during certain shows and at certain times of day, and companies donate in big ways to certain charities in the public eye. These are all calculated attempts to reach specific audiences.

“I love what this ad says: kids with disabilities wear clothes!” says one parent. By using models from different backgrounds and of color (the youngest girl in the Nordstrom ad was African-American), a business captures the attention of different audiences.

Another piece of this equation is the question of ROI; Return on Investment. Take, for instance, a specialty women’s retailer. If a commercial is run nation-wide during prime time, a large audience will be reached, but it is expensive, and only a small percentage may be customers who could use the product or service. Running an ad in a women’s magazine will reach a smaller audience, but the audience will be more specific and it will be cheaper to do. Placing an ad in a specialized women’s magazine, perhaps one directed towards women of color or professional women, and tailoring the ad to that specific audience, will be the cheapest option and perhaps have the highest rate of capture and conversion (turning a potential customer into a buying customer), with likely the highest return on investment dollars. By opening their minds to some of these under-tapped and lesser targeted markets, businesses open themselves to higher returns.

The trick to all this is inclusion, but not to the point of exclusion. Superbowl ads, for instance, are notorious for being sexist, and this year was no exception. Women in bikinis and lingerie sold all sorts of unrelated goods. Miss Representation, a popular feminist movement driven by the highly acclaimed documentary, launched the social media campaign “Not Buying It,” for women to share their grievances and join in boycotts. Further, Nielsen and Reuters both report female NFL viewership steadily increasing year to year. Near half of this year’s Superbowl viewers were female, a demographic traditionally with a lot of buying power. So while the NFL itself increases marketing towards women (such as the 2010 introduction of NFL apparel “Fit for Her”), the decision by companies to alienate female audiences is a dangerous one.

But a large, unmistakable piece of Marketing with Heart is the brand image, public relations, and general goodwill of a company. “I saw the ad’s young model with Down syndrome, and I was sold,” writes columnist Molly Guthrey in the January 15 Pioneer Press. As another writer adds, “corporate policies like these definitely influence my purchasing decisions.” A large part, Guthrey writes, is that the companies are not drawing attention to their use of these models. They are merely reflecting the diverse world as it is, quietly and effectively.

As the calendar page turns over into the new year, everyone from business executives, to marketing department directors, to the Twitterati and social media gurus of the world are hotly anticipating what 2012’s marketing trends are going to be. The marketing field is a fast, intemperate, microevolutionary environment where “adapt or die” takes a particularly unique meaning. For this reason, all eyes are on the prize when it comes to 2012 and what technological and other marketing field advancements it may hold. As trends are a constantly evolving process, there are already clues to what these may be.

1. Online Marketing Dominates

There has been a slow although clear transition to internet-based marketing for businesses. When it comes to “Internet Advertising,” in 2009, an average of 25% of an advertising budget was spent on internet methods. That number is now 40%, and estimations are that it will climb to 70% in the next three years. While print and traditional marketing methods do remain relevant, it is important to note that many things from newspapers to television shows to shopping continue to move online, and savvy marketing plans will adjust for that.

2. The Internet Mobilizes

With smartphones and iPads, more and more people are relying on these devices over desktop computer systems or even laptops. Businesses will need to address the mobile compatibility of their web presences. Splash-y, Flash-y pages that are not supported by non-Android technology need to be reassessed, or paired with a compatible version, or businesses will lose a percentage of their mobile audience. Further, Google Places has introduced click-to-call, an auto-dialing system that makes use of their service increasingly important.

3. Social Media Personalizes

Amazon.Com has bested Borders and tops others like Barnes&Noble in large part by employing this technology. Based on recent searches a customer has conducted, the site will suggest “more items to consider”: similar items based on what other shoppers have viewed in conjunction with that item. Facebook offers advertisements directed at users based on demographic information, the very information these users entered themselves onto their page.

Portfolio envisions a world in 2020 where a customer will walk into a store, and the business will know that they recently RSVP’d to a friend’s party, suggesting a present based on that person’s interests. It will know a customer’s favorite foods and alert them to specials on those items. Along with carbon footprints, the talk will be digital footprints. And the future is coming now: 82% of children under the age of two already have digital footprints.

4. Local Business Globalizes

The exciting news is that even small, local businesses can utilize these technologies. Social media for instance requires only a small piece of the marketing budget and, used well, can have a high return on investment. Once considered an “extra,” these technologies are now part of the foundation of effective marketing, “integrated into the fabric of a business.” Net-based technology will level the playing field with larger corporations, and allows a local business to carve out their own corner of the market by carving out their own corner of the web. In an environment where we long to see local businesses thrive and create jobs, that’s the great news for 2012.

Sources and further reading:

Portfolio’s “Ask Shama: Online Marketing Trends for 2012?”

DexOne’s “6 Must-Know Marketing Trends for Your 2012 Ad Budget”

MN AMA www.mnama.org

But, as with almost anything, a dog in the house doesn’t have to be a marketing challenge. In fact, it can be an asset.

I’ve seen some clever solutions to the doggie dilemma. Zeus was a large and imposing (although very friendly) pooch who the owners would send to the backyard for showings and open houses. The owners used the dog as a chance to call attention to the new playscape and improvements they made to the backyard, causing families who tour the house to stay and linger longer.

Bianca was small and, well, yappy. But her owners were able to use the dog for what is known as an Emotional Appeal, as you see in the picture.

The way to succeed in marketing is not to have the perfect product, but to take the challenges you are presented with and come up with smart, creative solutions!