Video content is undoubtedly the present and future of marketing goods from the luxury segment. Read more for the reasons behinds its success & the best practices you can follow.
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It’s fair to say that storytelling has retained its competitive edge ever since the advent of advertising. No matter how many marketing trends have come and gone by, story telling is something that has always maintained its evergreen flavor.
Piggybacking on the very fundamentals of successful storytelling, video marketing as a trend is turning out to be quite a champion in modern day branding and advertising. In the age of social media today, where customers are constantly looking out for interaction, videos are practically influencing purchase decisions of many in their different forms spanning from engaging bite-sized content to infotainment.
If we are to look into the luxury segment, which has historically rooted it’s selling in an anti-marketing approach, videos are seeping in and rendering their marketing tactics more diversified.
Luxury labels such as Gucci & Ralph Lauren are extending their sense of authenticity and narrative with their behind the scenes videos uploaded to the digital spaces. Even a segment such as real estate that was always only about static glossy brochures is witnessing a paradigm shift.
“Until fairly recently, the default media for the luxury real estate market was print. Everyone has seen the front pages of their favorite newspapers plastered with real estate ads. We started our marketing campaign with teaser videos and the response was unprecedented. In fact, the positive response that we received was way beyond what we had anticipated”, shares Haroon Shergill, Brand Manager of the leading luxury property – Trump Towers, Delhi.
Entrepreneur India tried understanding further, why videos work for luxury brands. Following are Haroon’s two cents –
Bring Imagination To Life
Essentially, videos present information in a way that immediately grabs attention, and gives viewers a peek into the realities of a product, as against mere imagination. Shergill says, “Video provides sensory information that viewers can’t get through other media and help them imagine using the products in their own lives.” In an aspirational segment like luxury, actually watching an object of desire in motion has a much more tangible impact in amplifying one’s desire as compared to static media, which only leaves everything to imagination.
Score Targeted Engagements
Social media today is flooded with video content, due to the superlative engagement earned by the format across all types of audiences. With extreme level of targeting possible now, videos help to grab attention of laser-targeted audiences fastest on a day-to-day basis. “With the targeting tools that are at our disposal, videos are an integral part of our marketing arsenal. Videos help tell stories better and really aided to romanticize an apartment in to a desirable lifestyle”, shares Shergill.
In fact, Haroon feels that videos can help generate sizeable ROI even in a constrained budget. “Creating good video can be affordable, but most try the high-production path, and many companies find themselves cutting where they expected to see growth”, opines Haroon.
In order to gain some perspective on the right way to approach video marketing for luxury, Entrepreneur India sought views from Piyush Kedia, Founder & CEO of Blue Vector. His Gurgaon based creative agency is well established for its prowess in marketing collaterals such as design, videos along with expertise in social media marketing.
As per Piyush’s real experiences in marketing luxury, his formula for achieving success with videos for the segment rests on the four pillars below –
Avoid An Advertising Approach
The modern ideology behind using videos for marketing is to treat them as a branding catalyst and not a direct advertising weapon. In that sense, he feels that the luxury videos that garner best results usually come with a strong narrative, and are crafted like a film. In his view, the thrust for marketers should be to cater to the artistic vision of the brand, even if it means leaving out the product entirely from the video.
Focus On Authenticity
Piyush goes on to recommend that one should lay careful emphasis on fostering a sense of authenticity, for it’s only authentic social proof that wins trust. He feels that the commonly followed marketing practice of leveraging testimonials might not work out too, if it looks like a force-fit that is not passionately conveyed by the recommending customer. Kedia opines, “From behind-the-scenes to bloopers, audiences today want a peek into the reality of your brand, and not what you’re trying so hard to tell them.”
Never Dumb Down A Message
Ideally, luxury brands should publish their communication in a voice that’s bold and disruptive, so as to nurture an appreciative audience. Piyush shares from his experience, “Clients often ask us to make the language ‘simpler’ or more ‘direct’ so that their HNI target groups get it. However, the truth is that, it’s only going to hurt their brand. ”
Piggyback On Beautiful Imagery
Since luxury brands rank quite high in the perception of brands, audiences naturally have elevated expectations from them. In any video for a luxury label, its loyalists or aspirants are bound to expect nothing less than stunning visuals. Hence, in order to cater to the expectation of the target groups and maintain their charm, luxury oriented companies should never compromise on their picture quality, even when comes with a good budget requirement. “Even if it’s just an authentic- behind the scenes capture, careful attention must be paid to make the camera shot film look stellar”, suggests Piyush.
With all of that, it’s safe to conclude that videos are indeed the champions on social media, and more so for the aspirational segments like luxury. The key to success is keeping it authentic, striking and beautiful, while not trying too hard.