The luxury goods market in the United Kingdom is worth up to £54bn and whilst Brexit may have an impact on the luxury brand market growth in Europe, internationally the UK has always been considered as one of the go-to destinations for shopping tourists as well as lovers of luxury on a global scale. If you are launching a luxury brand here are a few important tips and ideas that you can use in order to thrive in the luxury sector:
Understand the power of public relations - It is important to have an in house PR rep even if you do not assign an external party to ensure that the brands reputation is being managed and handled effectively at all times. Reputation is everything in the luxury market, ensure that you have a strong PR and communications strategy to maintain the credibility of your luxury brand.
Organise Press Days and attend events - This can be co-ordinated in house or by an external agency but the luxury brand experience is crucial in engaging the media and influencers. If you want high impact press coverage take the time to organise press days and events which are in alignment with your core luxury brand values. Take part in luxury brand events, showcase your product or service at events which offer high exposure and industry recognition.
Use social media - In today's digital age, social media platforms like twitter, instagram, facebook and pinterest allows luxury brands to promote themselves effectively and consistently. The aspirational nature of the luxury experience can enhance a brand's online visibility with the use of high quality images and content. Undertake a social media audit to monitor how effectively you are using social media for your luxury brand.
Use video content - In the same way that social media has an impact video content can bring your brand to life. Use video to showcase the high quality nature of your brand and why people should spend money with your brand. Video also opens up your brand to wider audiences who shop internationally for luxury goods.
Assign high quality brand ambassadors - This is where every brand must be mindful. A brand ambassador can leverage their influence and following to encourage their audience to favour a luxury brand however the brand must undertake due diligence. Select an ambassador based on more than follower count, look at credibility and engagement.
Invest in advertising - It is important to look at the strategic benefits of advertising on the right platforms in the right way. There are more options now than ever before and it is definitely worth considering investing in targeted advertising.
Research your customers - There are plenty of resources available which can help you research your core customer base and market trends. It is crucial that you keep track of what is happening in the luxury goods market and how your customers are spending their money as well as who your ideal customers are.
Go beyond the product, be a ritual - Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of promotion, if you focus on the customer experience and turning their buying experience into a ritual they will be more likely to share their positive experiences with their network and keep coming back to be part of that experience.
Develop a Rewards programme - Create a programme which does not simply focus on discounts, give gifts and add value. Make the customer feel like they are special at every step of their buying journey.
Tell a story with your visual identity - Your brand values, logo and visual identity must all tell a story, your customers must feel like they are part of your journey and that they are buying a part of your story. Make sure your brand tells a story which resonates throughout the buying experience whether online or offline.
Feel free to share and do not hesitate to contact Ariatu PR if you are a luxury brand start up looking for Public Relations support.
This is a follow up to the "What is PR?" video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaIAHjY77Pg, the purpose of this video is to give a little more depth to how PR can help small businesses. In this episode I focus on problems which PR can help to resolve.
By undertaking the right planning and strategy, PR can make a real impact on how a brand engages with its target audience.
http://www.ariatupublicrelations.com/
"Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics." - CIPR
Public relations is about building and maintaining reputations, reputations that are built on fact and maintained by trust.
We see what happens when brands and businesses do not the importance of Public Relations and communications with their "publics"; anyone they need to communicate effectively with including stakeholders, employees, customers and the media into consideration. One of the most obvious and urgent impacts being PR disasters and cristes. By understanding PR you can understand how it can be used to improve your business credibility, raise visibility and enhance communications. Whether you choose to hire a PR Agency, publicist, PR consultant to help you with your public relations or you choose to do it yourself it is important to understand the fundamentals.
In this video Ariatu PR Founder, Ronke Lawal, provides a simple yet hopefully effective definition of Public Relations (PR) and it's overall impact on society at large. Whilst we work primarily with business clients it is still important to understand the influence that PR has on our communities and society as a whole.
Social media is a powerful way of developing relationships with consumers and audiences. There are a number of social media platforms which give businesses and business owners a way to actively engage and communicate with their audiences. Businesses can make money by using social media effectively as well as manage their reputations and build lasting relationships based on trust. Trust building is often overlooked when considering social media use, many customers are using social media to send feedback to businesses and how a business responds or deals with feedback can leave a lasting impression. The 6 social media platforms that I discuss in this video are; Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and periscope (which is now part of twitter). In this video I talk you through 6 social media platforms which are very popularly (many of which are currently evolving and changing) that can be added to your PR and marketing mix and help you raise your business brand's visibility. Social media is not something to be dismissed when it comes to promoting your business. You have to learn how social media can make an impact on your business brand and not overlook it's immense power.
Here are 6 more social media platforms that will improve a business profile.
The following quote is attributed to M. Booth and Associates, Inc. as taken from a Reader’s Digest story called, Promoting Issues and Ideas. It does a great job of illustrating the differences between Marketing, PR and Sales and also how they are all so important to create an overall business strategy for a business. What do you think?
“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus coming to the Fairground Saturday’, that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations. If you did all of this on purpose, that’s marketing. If the towns citizens go to the circus, you show them the entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.
It is so important in my business to be clear that PR is a sustained range of activities which can create increased coverage and builds brand credibility but it is NOT sales. Of course that is not to say that it will not lead to increased sales but in and of itself it is not the solution to sales.
