Strategies to Position Your Business as a High-End Luxury Brand

In today’s episode of the HN Haus Podcast, hosted by Hannah Nieves, we delve into the nuanced world of luxury branding. Have you ever wondered how to elevate your business to a premium, highly sought-after brand? This episode is your blueprint. 

Hannah shares actionable insights and strategies tailored for both service-based and product-based businesses, focusing on market positioning, sensory experiences, and more.

This episode is a treasure trove for entrepreneurs aiming to enhance their brand's status in a competitive landscape. Discover how to weave luxury elements into your brand DNA, captivating and retaining high-end clients.

🎧 IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER 🎧 

[00:00:14] Introduction to Luxury Branding: Setting the Stage
 [00:01:22] Infusing Luxury into Service-Based Businesses
 [00:03:11] The Evolution of Luxury Branding Trends in 2023
 [00:04:18] Pinpointing Your Market Position as a Luxury Brand
 [00:05:50] The Impact of Sensory Experiences in Luxury Branding
 [00:07:15] Craftsmanship's Role in High-End Businesses
 [00:08:19] Leveraging Scarcity to Enhance Brand Exclusivity
 [00:09:20] Evoking Emotion: The Key to Attracting Luxury Buyers
 [00:10:58] Elevating Brand Visuals and Messaging for Maximum Impact
 [00:11:44] Continuous Growth: Keeping Your Luxury Brand Relevant
 [00:12:24] Crafting a Complete, Luxurious Ecosystem for Your Brand

🔗 LINKS 🔗
Follow the Hosts: @hannahmnieves & @maritzatobon
Follow HN Haus: @hnhaus
Request an invitation to The Thrive Collective
Request an invitation to Maison

Transcript

0:14

Hello, everyone. It's Hannah Nieves of the Ancient House podcast, and I'm so excited because we are back for a solo episode today talking about luxury branding. And if you have been in our audience for the last few years, you know that we've been talking about luxury branding for the last four and a half, almost 5 years. And I think for a lot of people, when we think about luxury branding, we're so used to thinking about, you know, Louis Vuitton or Chanel or Hermes, and it's like, how does this actually relate to maybe my service based business or my product? And whether you consider yourself luxury or more premium end product or service or you're wanting to take elements of it and weave it into the DNA of your brand, this is gonna be the episode for you. So, you know, when this concept of, you know, luxury branding for service providers was something that we started talking about years ago, it's something that we, right out the gate with our brand, wanted to really put our stake in the market. And we did that through our services, our pricing, our brand visuals, our messaging. Right? Because we wanted to be this premium product within the marketplace, and it was very intentional on how we designed the brand that way. Now you might be thinking, okay. Well, maybe I don't I I don't want to be, you know, this premium top level luxury brand. That is okay. There are elements of it that you can be weaving into the DNA of your company, which we're gonna talk about, that could still really make the difference. Because I know for most of you that are listening in here, you know, you probably aren't a mass mark market or commodity based, business. Right? There might be some exclusivity to what you offer or what you do. So let's dive in. So when we think about luxury branding and I guys, I am so fascinated and interested in learning about the luxury branding, you know, experience, the playing field. There's so many incredible resources out there, which I'll get into another episode, to really just sink your teeth into. I swear I could listen to podcasts and read books about this all day long. And it's something that we help clients design and do for their own brands. But what I've noticed, from my own personal consumption is that, you know, these concept of this concept of luxury branding has shifted over time. Right? You know, even going back to, like, clothing and fashion. Right? When I grew up, you know, if you didn't have the actual labels and, you know, the brands that you were visibly wearing to people, it didn't really matter. But now we're seeing this concept of quiet luxury and really intentional purchases and investments and really high quality and luxury, but not in your face with the branding itself. And you're seeing a lot of brands also, you know, move away from having their logos everywhere and plaster on everything to really making this subtle and understated approach and look, which I absolutely love. And I think perception has changed too when you think about buyer behavior, especially millennials and Gen z and how we make buying decisions. It's just changed. So I wanna talk about some things that I think are really important when we're thinking about our own positioning within the market. Right? And this is a compliment that we get all the time. Like, oh my god, Hannah. I love your branding. I love what you've done to your brand. I love your images. I love the way that you package up your services. And it's very intentional. And I wanted that from the beginning of the inception of the brands. Right? So the first thing you have to think about is your market position. Right? And this is where you can literally draw out a diagram. If you're watching us on video, I can show you what this is. Right? Where you're showcasing the value to price. And when you're thinking about your position in the market, it's really understanding who are the other players in the market right now. You know, who is innovating within their market? Who is at the top tier in terms of pricing? You know? Where are maybe more commodity, mass mass market, you know, services or products sitting? Where do you sit when it comes to your market position, and where do you desire to sit? That's another one as well. You know, there's so many brands that go through, you know, evolutions and iterations even for our own companies. That's where every single year, we have some type of, like, evolution or next step to what we're doing. And part of that also is recalibrating our market position because to be quite honest, you know, our clientele has grown and expanded over the last few years. And we didn't make sure that our brand can, like, speak to them and serve them as they're also growing. So taking a look at the visuals of your brand, have you outgrown your brand? You know, what does the messaging look like for your company online from social content to website to anything? If I were to look at your brand digitally, what comes up essentially and really sitting on okay. Where are you now? Where do you want to go? The second thing I want you to think about is sensory experiences, and this is something that I absolutely love talking about, and it's something that we have been weaving into our own brand over the last almost 5 years, which is this sensory marketing experience. So when you think about it, it's how are you evoking these things during your time with with your product. Right? So if you're a physical product and you're listening to this, this looks like what does the packaging look like? Is there a distinct scent when people open it up? What's the messaging? What does it evoke? You know, what are those touch points digitally or physically, you know, when it comes to your messaging? And same thing if you are a service based business. Right? What are those physical touch points that people are experiencing? You know, what's the messaging look like in communication look like from your team? Thinking about all of these different touch points of your brand and how do you engage your customer during that time. Right? People desire curated experiences. So I don't care if you are, you know, a wealth manager or if you do branding. Every single person can be adopting this into their own business, at any point. The third thing I want to think about is the craftsmanship. Right? And this is something I was listening to an amazing podcast episode. I'll link below. It was on Hermes. Like, it was and it's a 4 hour podcast episode listening to the case study and the history of Hermes. And, you know, they're talking about craftsmanship and artists and brands. And I started to think about, you know, what we're doing here with our brand and also with all of our clients. Right? And, you know, if you're listening to this, most likely, you know, with your if you're a service based business owner or maybe even product, right, you desire to have high quality work. You desire to have high quality ingredients, high quality products and materials. Right? You're you're not here to put out cheap shit, I mean, to be quite honest. And when you think about the craftsmanship of your brand, right, this could be the service. This could be the quality. This could be the talent that's delivering the service. You know, you really wanna think about what does your brand represent at the end of the day. What does it represent with quality of communication, quality of product, quality of deliverables? Because all of that goes into building luxury brand just as much as the beautiful visuals and the messaging that goes with that. The 4th thing I wanna talk about is scarcity. Now scarcity might sound a little odd, but it is really intentional. And I know, at least for us with our company, you know, depending on the service line, whatever it is, right, we have different ways that we work with clients. There is scarcity in how we approach our marketing and how we approach our services, and what I mean by that is just because you can pay for it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be right or it's gonna be a good partnership for you. What do I mean by that? We look at all the things when we are vetting clients. You know, just as much as clients are vetting us, we are vetting them. And even if it's a$2,000 product that we have, we want to make sure that, a, curation is absolutely number 1. When businesses and companies try to scale too quickly, what happens? You lose quality control. You lose engagement, right, Because people are starting to feel that they are not seen. And when your customer starts to not feel seen or heard or guided, even a$2,000 product or $20,000 product, they're gonna disengage. They're gonna disengage from the product and the service, and what's gonna happen? It's gonna impact your client retention. It's going to impact the experience. Right? So when it comes to scarcity, whether it's using scarcity of number of available spots, number of available product runs that you have, whatever that may be, it's really creating this curation of clientele that comes in. The 5th thing which is really important is the emotions. If you want to position yourself as a luxury brand and stand out amongst other competitors or people in the space, you need to evoke emotion when people are in the purchasing, you know, decision. Right? People need to feel emotionally connected to the brand, which is why a personal brand becomes so powerful. You know? Like, they are buying because they are buying because of you. They are buying because of the brand. They're not buying just because of price. And I always say that. You know, if people are price shopping our brand to other brands, we're probably not the best fit for you, and that is okay. That is okay. But you need to evoke emotion with your clientele. And how do you do that? Right? It's really getting into the mindset of understanding who they are, where they want to be, and how your product or service gets them there at the end of the day. Right? And you do that through your content, through your marketing, through your efforts that allow you to amplify what you bring to the table, Right? At the end of the day, you need emotion for you to attract a luxury buyer. And the last and most obvious thing that, you you know, when most people think about building a luxury brand, they think of brand visuals and messaging. And I can't tell you guys, I have been investing in brand photography, video, website design for the last almost 5 years, and it's always paid off. I've always made my money back and some. And I think this is really important because, you know, I think a lot of people get comfortable in, you know, reusing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Now I'm not saying you need to do a brand shoot every single quarter. For some people, that's not realistic and doesn't make sense. However, having elevated brand visuals and messaging that is aligned with you and your brand is so important. So important. So you need to make sure that you are investing in this. Right? And there's ways to invest in brand visuals and your messaging in a very efficient way, but it has to be reflective of you, your clientele, and how you ultimately want to be positioned within the marketplace. Right? And this is naturally going to shift and change over time, and that's okay because you are a living and breathing ecosystem. Your brand is growing, and it's never gonna stay stagnant and stay the same. So when you grow, your brand grows with you. So those are my 6 points to think about when you are thinking about building, refining, elevating your brand to be more in that top tier luxury, you know, premium positioning. Right? And this takes time. It takes intention, and slow and steady wins the race. This is not something that you just do automatically. But when you think about luxury brand, it is the entire ecosystem. And if you're a digital brand like ours, this looks like your social content, your website, your email, your even down to the Zoom backgrounds that you have. Right? Like, the way that you dress on a call. All of this together is what really creates this beautiful package that is presented to your prospective client. So I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions at all, let me know. Shoot me a DM. I'll also include if you're looking for more support on this, we have 4 different ways that you can hop into our world. 1 to 1 with me, which I take on a select clientele, The house incubator, if you're scaling to your first 250 k. The Thrive Collective, if you're going or scaling to 2.50 k plus to a1000000. And then Mason, which is our private network for 7 to 9 figure women founders. So I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I will see you on the next one.