In our last post, we tried to convey the importance of an effective Brand Strategy for connecting with clients of a higher income bracket. If you haven’t already, we recommend taking a quick look at that article before diving into this one.

This week, we want to get a little more specific and examine the differences between developing a “luxury brand” and simply elevating your brand to assume a little more class and possibly to justify a little increase in your prices. Leveling up your brand is probably easier than you think. And chances are, it won’t require a complete overhaul. With some helpful tricks and a little imagination, you can step up your brand without necessarily breaching the Rolex realm of outright luxury.

Know your market

Whether you’re starting from scratch or just refining an existing brand strategy, the first step is to understand your audience. You can only dazzle your customers by giving them exactly what they want. And you can’t do that until you know what they want, down to a granular level. This means studying who they are, what they have, what they lack, and how they feel about each of those things.

But it also requires a wide angle view, and a broader understanding of your community at large. Especially if you’re hoping to appeal to the top one percent in your community, you need to know what separates them from the other 99 percent.

From the city to the country, the East Coast to the West Coast, the demographics and psychographics can vary wildly from one community to another. So if you’re serving a local clientele, your strategy for going upscale will depend on the specific make-up of your market.

Do the top one percent in your area reside in penthouse apartments overlooking the financial district? Or do they live on a rural estate with sweeping views of the undulating pastures? Or somewhere in suburbia? Do they wear Armani suits and get around in a black Mercedes? Or are they driving a Tesla and covered with tattoos?

Different communities have their own standards and definitions of luxury. And pursuing that image requires more than a modicum of finesse. A rushed attempt to go high-end could just as easily come across as sloppy and tasteless.

How much luxury do they need?

When you understand your market and your target audience, you can zero in on what they really value. Maybe they need a red carpet and the ambience of a Rolls Royce show room. But maybe they have other interests. Maybe a tray of fair trade chocolates to nibble from, or a therapeutic massage chair to wait in.

These days, a lot of businesses are looking for ways to save money and reduce overhead. Try going the other direction, and shock your customers with a pleasant surprise. Maybe not everyone will be willing to pay extra for it, but those who can afford it are hungry for frills.

Think outside the box. Some sophisticated office decor is your basic starting point, with free wi-fi and and a charging station for their devices. But how can you really stand out? Offer glasses of champagne in the waiting room, or build an oxygen bar? Again, it’s all about knowing your audience. So ask them what they’d like.

Maybe all they need is a friendly face, someone to make their visit a little more enjoyable and less robotic. An extra staff member to entertain the kids will make the waiting room a happier place for everyone. Or consider a personal assistant to make everyone’s paperwork as quick and hassle-free as possible.

It’s not always about leveling up the products and services you sell, but just adding a little more convenience to the process. Make it more of an experience and less of a transaction. Give them something to look forward to.

Many ways to elevate your image

When we say the word luxury, the first reaction is probably something related to the price. Yes, luxury sounds expensive. And that’s sort of the idea. Of course, Walmart and other low-cost leaders have made billions by racing to the bottom to serve the highest number of customers.

But luxury branding is about serving smaller numbers of high-end clients rather than the largest possible number of low-end clients. In the end, if you’re a small business, it’s probably a lot more fun and a lot less work to focus on just a small coterie of quality customers.

So let’s quit beating around the bush.

Pricing

Many business advisors insist that pricing is everything, that it’s the cornerstone of your business. How you price your services could be the determining factor between making it and breaking it. And the bottom line, more often than not, is that higher prices ensure greater success.

It’s not just about making people think they’re getting more by charging them more. But that’s part of it. People take your products and services more seriously when they pay more. Why do more expensive things last longer? Maybe they’re better, but people also take better care of them.

From years of personal experience, we can tell you that the customers who pay less are always more work. It took forever to accept this fact, and we still struggle with it. But every time we try to do a favor and offer a special deal, the customer ends up not valuing our work. They change their minds throughout the project, make constant revisions, and demand all kinds of extra services at no additional cost. The higher-paying customers are happier, trust us to do our job, stay out of the way, and end up with a better product.

And it’s not just the customer’s perception that changes. When you charge more, you also take yourself more seriously. You hold yourself to a higher standard, put more effort into what you do, and ultimately do a better job.

How prices change

These days, prices seem to be going up everywhere. I hate to be part of the problem, but if you don’t raise your prices, you might actually be losing money.

Inflation can happen in a variety of ways. It’s not just about doing what you’ve always done and charging a higher price for it. Equally often, prices stay the same but servings get smaller, or the added extras disappear.

Sometimes they call this “skimp-flation” or “shrink-flation”. No more chocolates on the pillow, no more free refills. The “self-checkout” lines are a perfect example: reduced service disguised as greater autonomy.

So if you change your prices, be creative, use a little imagination. Try putting together a package deal. Or present a very expensive deluxe option with a choice of “free” extras.

Or simply provide a greater service. As the competition succumbs to shrinking their portions and scaling back on the frills, it’s easier than ever to stand out by providing extra care and attention.

So be bold. Charge a little more, and go the extra mile. Quality customers will gladly pay more for it. And those who don’t appreciate the difference, well, who needs ’em?

Keep your Brand on the cutting edge

Need additional guidance for elevating your image? The Brand Strategy Workbook will give you a good starting point to answer some questions regarding your brand. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out for a Discovery call or join our online community. It can look a bit confusing and overwhelming, but if you take it one step at a time, it will all make sense in the end. You got this! 

• Schedule a Discovery Call with Pacha
• Join our brand strategy Facebook Community: Balanced Brands
• Get professionally designed and curated content for your social media channels: Sign up for Social Stream

Dive deeper and take a look at these related articles.

• An Introduction to Brand Archetypes
• Adopting Brand Personas
• Speaking with Brand Voice
• Brand Strategy Services