Luxury Marketing: Tactics, Tips, and Real-World Examples

While marketing strategies vary largely among luxury brands and retailers, they all share a similar goal: to attract high net worth individuals (read: affluent consumers). They do this by positioning their products or services as premium, aspirational, and exclusive.

Creating a luxury marketing strategy for your brand depends on several factors, including your brand identity, unique selling point (USP), goods or services, and the markets you serve. While there are many variables at play, there’s no need to overcomplicate your marketing strategy.

With expert insight and examples from Shopify merchants who’ve built luxury brands, learn the basics of luxury brand marketing and discover how to create a successful luxury marketing strategy for your small luxury business.

What is luxury marketing?

Luxury marketing refers to advertising tactics high-end brands and retailers use to appeal to customers seeking premium products and services at top-tier price points. Unlike traditional marketing approaches, luxury brands pursue a competitive strategy that’s less concerned with competitive prices and promotions and more focused on product quality, exclusivity, storytelling, and experiences.

Luxury marketing strategies vary from brand to brand, but they all aim to convey exclusivity by highlighting the craftsmanship and uniqueness of their offerings. 

While many brands use the 4 Ps to craft their brand image, luxury branding follows a slightly different set of key elements:

• Exclusivity. This involves strategically positioning your products or services as something “not just anyone” can get or experience. Tactics include dropping limited-edition collections, hosting exclusive events, and offering a limited number of products to drive interest and demand. 

• Compelling storytelling. Brand storytelling is a strategy employed in luxury advertising to build an emotional connection with customers through stories that communicate your brand identity, authenticity, values, and what sets your products or services apart. 

• Craftsmanship. Showcasing a commitment to creating high-quality products is crucial to justifying the premium pricing that luxury brands command. Luxury consumers want to know they’re getting the best of the best, so spotlighting your dedication to craftsmanship in materials, design, and packaging helps communicate quality. 

• Exceptional customer experience. Luxury brands create an outstanding customer experience from start to finish. Everything from product packaging and shipping time to your returns process and how your retail and customer service teams interact with your customers needs to feel premium, personalized, and positive.

Examples of luxury marketing

Shopify merchants and luxury goods brands Odd Muse and Compartés Chocolates has mastered the recipe for success in luxury brand marketing. Its success comes down to executing the core elements mentioned above to keep its customers engaged and drive demand from its target audience. Here’s how:

Luxury brand storytelling at Odd Muse

Founded by entrepreneur Aimee Smale, Odd Muse is a luxury British fashion brand that targets Gen Z and millennials. By positioning the brand as a pioneer in the slow fashion space, with small-batch collections made from quality materials, Odd Muse creates a sense of scarcity and exclusivity. This drives major demand among women who care about sustainability and investing in high-end pieces. 

In five years, the brand has built a robust following on social media, with more than a million Instagram followers between the brand’s account and Aimee’s, who has become an influencer. She connects with her audience on an emotional level by sharing her story of building her brand. Aimee also models their garments in beautiful places, which adds to the brand’s aesthetic of luxury.

By being candid and offering a behind-the-scenes look inside the luxury business and how she runs it, Aimee has been able to develop strong connections with her followers, who appreciate her transparency and personality. Other successful marketing tactics she uses include creating limited-edition drops and collaborating with well-known influencers who align with the Odd Muse brand image.

Luxury advertising at Compartés Chocolates

Founded in 1950, Compartés Chocolates maintains its legacy and core values while still making the luxury brand feel fresh and exciting. On a recent episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, Compartés owner and famed chocolatier Jonathan Grahm shared how he’s done this by staying true to their brand identity and quality craftsmanship. 

“I’m a native Angeleno and am heavily influenced by LA, and you can see that reflected in the brand, whether it’s the ingredients we use to the packaging aesthetic,” says Jonathan. “LA is such a melting pot of different cultures, and I think you can see that translated into the packaging and the taste, and really all things Compartés.” It’s this strong brand identity that sets Compartés apart and creates a connection with fellow Angelenos and people inspired by the LA lifestyle. 

To modernize the brand, which still makes all of its chocolates by hand, Jonathan shut down its brick-and-mortar stores in 2020 and shifted to an exclusively ecommerce operation, powered by Shopify. This made it possible for Compartés to attract a global audience while still preserving its legacy. 

“It was a big transition, but the brand and our sales have really grown throughout that process,” says Jonathan. “We make sure we have beautiful, vivid imagery that captures the chocolate in a luxurious light because people can’t go into our retail store anymore, so making that online shopping experience just as great for them has been huge.”

In addition, Compartés has garnered a massive celebrity clientele, which creates a sense of exclusivity that luxury brands are known for. “We have a ton of celebrity clientele that have been loyal to Compartés for many years, and we also do custom chocolates for movie premieres and events,” says Jonathan. “Hollywood is in our DNA, and I think that’s a really cool and unique selling point for us.”

It also launch seasonal collections and exclusive limited-edition drops in highly designed, unforgettable packaging. 

Tips to create your own luxury marketing strategy

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for every brand, but luxury marketers follow the 4 Es of luxury marketing—a framework developed by luxury marketing expert Michel Chevalier to help luxury brands create effective marketing strategies:

1. Use the power of emotion. Captivate your customers and keep them coming back for more. You can achieve this through intentional storytelling or by appealing to your audience’s core values, such as sustainability or boutique craftsmanship. 

2. Create a sense of exclusivity. Make your customers more eager to get their hands on your products or services. You can accomplish this by creating limited-edition collections, personalized packaging, and explicitly telling customers, “Once this is gone, it’s gone for good.” 

3. Focus on the entire shopping experience. Ensure every element of the shopping experience feels elevated and memorable by creating highly customized email marketing campaigns, designing beautiful personalized packaging, and providing excellent customer service. 

4. Extend your brand’s identity beyond just products or services. Consider strategies like creating exclusive in-person pop-up events, hosting experiential marketing events, collaborating with other luxury brands, and partnering with celebrities and influencers that align with your brand’s image.