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hemanth asked:


HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//E–> What’s inside a Luxury Brands-?Introduction

A brand is a name more specifically, it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a name, logo and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising and media commentary. A brand often includes an explicit logo,fonts, color schemes ,symbols and sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. The key objective is to create a relationship of trust.

Luxury, derived from the Latin word luxus, means indulgence of the senses.

Luxury Brand

Luxury brands are brands whose ratio of functional utility to price is low while that of intangible utility to price is high. Such brands share characteristics like consistent premium quality, a recognizable style or design, a limited production run of any item to ensure exclusivity, an element of uniqueness and an ability to keep coming up with new designs when the category is fashion-intensive. Retail management company KSA Technopak estimates the market for luxury and high-end clothing in India at Rs 1,000 crore and for accessories at another Rs 1,000 crore. Many leading global luxury brand marketers have started taking our market seriously. It is estimated that by 2010, Indian consumers are realizing about the luxury brands.

How Different is Luxury goods’ Marketing & Brand building.

Luxury goods’ marketing is a different ball game as the type of customers involved fall in a different class altogether. These customers are influenced more by glamour and style and want to stand out in a crowd. They do not hesitate whey they buy a Louis Vuitton bag costing Rs 50,000 or Fendi accessories costing Rs.40000 & so on.

Managing luxury brands is as much an art and science. The challenge is to create a demand for something which is not really needed. After all, it looks crazy to spend Rs 50,000 on a handbag or Rs1,27,000 on a sunglasses. Creativity plays a key role in creating such a premium image. Many luxury brands achieve legitimacy and fashion authority as a result of the creative talent of their design teams who respect the brand heritage and yet continuously reinvent it. Brand-building is a different ball game in case of luxury goods. Fashion shows, special events, and other public relations efforts must be carefully coordinated to convey the desired image. The magazines selected for advertising are often unconventional and trend-setting. It is the kind of people who read them, not the numbers, which matter. The movies in which the brand appears and the celebrities and pop icons who endorse the brand must also be selected carefully. Traditionally, luxury brand retailers lack automation of transactions with clients. Using Software packages they can easily maintain the records and also leads to good customer relationship and also customer retention. Customers who buy an accessory like a belt or sunglasses today may purchase higher-value items tomorrow. one who buys a single item from one store may buy items of the same brand in other stores around the world. Customer databases enable owners to contact their consumers with invitations to collection previews, end-of-season sales and other events. Customer databases also ensure that even when salespeople leave, their knowledge is not lost.

 



Some of the points discussed so far are exemplified by the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH . is a French Holding Company and is the world’s largest Luxury goods conglomerate. Louis Vuitton which owns several famous brands in various product categories:

Fashion and Leather goods (Christian Lacroix, Donna Karan, Givenchy, Kenzo and Louis Vuitton) Watches and Jewellery (TAG Heuer, Ebel, Chaumet and Fred).

Conclusion:

Luxury Brand is clear evidence that the super rich of the world, irrespective of which country they belong to, have similar lifestyles, tastes and aspirations. They want the best and the latest in fashion. At many big social functions today in the country, it is not uncommon to see women carrying Vuitton’s Theda or Monogram Ambre handbags. Developing luxury brands involves heavy investment of time, effort and money. That needs a different kind of mindset which is generally lacking in many Indian companies who look for quick returns. That is why there are few Indian luxury brands. But for those who are willing to take the plunge and wait patiently for the results to come, there is a pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LVMH Debashis Pati, ”BRANDING Concepts and Process”, Macmillan India Ltd.,2002 http://hauteconcept.com/2008/06/30/louis-vuitton-wins-ebay-ruling/

 



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Henriette Martel asked:


As prices have never been so low, you may consider buying multiple domain names as a cost-effective option to drive more traffic to your website.

When it comes to choosing a domain name, there are two schools of thought. You can either elect to register a domain name based on

1- a new or existing brand name e.g. business name, trademark, product brand name or

2- one or more keywords that you perceive will help your target market to find you.

Both methods have their pro’s and con’s.

(For this article, to avoid filter penalties, my domain name examples will start with a Capital letter and end with /.)

Domain name based on BRAND

The web is populated with unusual and recognised domain names e.g. Google/, Amazon/ and Yahoo/. Naming your domain using a new or existing brand name can be a powerful and rewarding long-term strategy. Developing a brand name from anonymity to stardom is any marketer’s goal.

Pro’s

A branded domain name may

- Attract attention for its originality and for being catchy e.g. Yahoo/ or Dogpile/.

- Stand out from competition e.g. compare Google/ with Searchengine/, Searchengines/ and Bestsearchengine/. Which one stands out? Sorry, no price for this easy answer.

- Facilitate direct search. Repeat visitors can guess your name and type it in the address bar or location field and find you directly, bypassing competitors.

- Encourage brand recognition. Each time people are exposed to your domain name, it reinforces your brand.

- Increase credibility and loyalty. In general, people prefer to be associated with a brand name rather than a generic name. If price is not a consideration, wouldn’t you prefer buying Chanel branded sunglasses from Chanel/, Eyesave/ or Sunglassesportal/?

- Promote viral marketing. It is easier to refer someone to a domain name that you can remember and spell without difficulty.

- Provide flexibility. Your domain name can be used on business cards and offline promotions.

- Protect your intellectual property. Get in first before someone names their domain with your product brand, business name or title of your book.

Con’s (for new brands only)

A domain name using an established brand name may not encounter the problems below. A domain name based on a new brand may:

- Be difficult to choose. Selecting a name to convey instantly business core values and benefits of website is a very difficult task.

- Need time, money and effort to break through the online noise and be recognised.

- Necessitate a strong unique selling proposition.

- Require an arsenal of internet marketing tactics e.g. linkage strategies and search engine optimisation to improve the search engine ranking.

Domain name based on KEYWORDS

Keywords are the words that web users enter in the search box of the search engine to retrieve information on a specific subject.

The current trend is for web searchers to enter a string of keywords or keyword phrase rather than single keywords e.g. a person may look for ‘free family tree’, ‘decision tree software’, ‘artificial Christmas tree’ instead of ‘tree. This practice provides less search engine results but of better quality. Similarly, website owners are creating generic domain names made of a string of keywords to reach their target audience e.g. Paylesscarrental/, Collectorcartraderonline/ and Carbuyingtips/.

Pro’s

On one hand, generic keywords domain names may:

- Generate instant results with drive-in traffic from search engines.

- Attract qualified prospects looking for your keywords.

- Communicate and position instantly your site’s benefits and core values e.g. Justfreestuff/, Best-home-mortagage-loan/, Indoorgardensupplies/.

- Improve search engine ranking. (The use of keywords in the domain name is a strategy which you cannot rely on to increase your search engine ranking: it is only a very small part of search engine optimisation.)

Con’s

On the other hand, generic keywords domain names may:

- Be perceived as boring, lacking in imagination and sometimes dubious.

- Require more effort to remember. This could lead to domain names being misspelled e.g. Barnesandnoble/ or Barneandnobles/ or placed in the wrong sequence e.g. Homefinancialservices/ or Financialhomeservices/. These common mistakes have prompted shrewd business people to piggy back on popular websites e.g. Ezinearticle/ benefits from spelling mistakes of customers from Ezinearticles/.

- Restrict the usage of the domain name. A long string of keywords does not look good on offline promotional material.

- Be wasted if you don’t choose your keywords carefully. It is important to research the words used by your customers and not rely on your assumptions. Jeff, a Printer, had optimised his site for ’self-publishing’ only to find that self-publishers were searching for printers using keyword ‘printing’.

The best of both worlds: consider complementary domain name strategies:

1. Create a short, easy to remember brand name using keywords e.g. Diabeticgourmet/, Netdoctor/ or Houseweb/.

2. Purchase a few domain names made up of keywords and have them pointing to a main branded domain name. This strategy requires you to buy an URL forwarding option when you purchase your domain name. A word of caution: if you overuse this tactic, Google may respond negatively to these ’sneaky redirects’.



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Jonathan Andrews asked:


Managing a brand is similar to building a reputation. It grows slowly, gaining trust and loyalty from its followers until it becomes established. Brand recognition and consistency in the marketing message builds trust which in turn leads to increased sales. However, consumers are fickle and are easily distracted by bigger, bolder marketing messages and shinier packaging, and trust is easily broken.

Like building a reputation, it is often much quicker to lose that reputation compared to the time it took to build the brand. It is therefore imperative that companies pay attention to their brand management and business reputation.

Building Brand Awareness Campaigns

Every brand is different. It takes a lot of understanding to get the message across. By using creative brand communication strategies it is easy to gain the attention of your consumer.

A great example of a company that has achieved this is Johnnie Walker. They have built the brand based on an emotional campaign. A difficult task, and one that works best when it flows from and reinforces a product truth. Their “Keep Walking” campaign produced good sales growth of 48% over eight years for what was an ailing whisky producer.

Here are four tips to build a campaign based on emotion similar to the Johnnie Walker campaign:



Tell a story – Bring to life the brand idea of “personal progress” that people want to aspire to.

Make it hard to copy – In the case of Johnnie Walker it is near impossible for another whisky brand to copy this campaign as it is based on the brand icon and name.

Consistency is key – Use one message consistently. In the case of Johnnie Walker the brand name is linked to the message and each advert ties back to the packaging or marketing material.

Execution is everything – Quality and attention to detail is noticed, from TV commercials to print advertising to website marketing. All material ties in with the primary message and campaign.



Managing your Reputation

Once you have achieved brand recognition it is imperative to maintain your reputation. Reputation management can be defined as the process of tracking an entity’s actions and other entities’ opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop.

Understanding this process and being part of it is the bare minimum a company needs to pay attention to in order to keep its reputation positive. Reputation management has come into wide use with the advent of widespread computing.

Five simple tips to manage your reputation include



Conduct a reputation audit – identify all the issues that could affect your company’s reputation

Analyse the issues to ascertain the historic influence, current landscape and potential future state of that issue

Effect change strategy options to deal with each issue and action them

Constantly evaluate your landscape

Be present, consistent and communicate your message persuasively



One thought leader that truly understands that consistency and communication are two of the key ingredients for brand success and is able to express this message effortlessly is David Taylor, world renowned expert in persuasive brand communication strategies.

Taylor’s guide to the essential steps of achieving persuasive brand communication can be summarised as follows:



Understanding the brand and setting objectives

Getting the team right

Keeping the brief and briefing tight

Getting the most from production

Brilliant brand activation

Developing and executing the campaign



How then do we drive sales through brand management?

Build Bridges between Marketing and Sales

There are positive and synergistic roles in both marketing and sales, and if each side agrees to the role embraced by their counterparts, the organization will thrive. Traditionally it was quite challenging to identify criteria for building the bridge between marketing and sales.

Traditionally a company would turn to the following five strategies:



Take a fresh approach to prospect development

Determine the pipeline requirements

Synchronize the marketing communications pipeline loading activities with the requirements of the sales force

Feed the sales pipeline with precision

Practice aggressive marketing to build the relationship



Marketing and sales were traditionally kept as two separate concepts whereby marketing paved the way, while sales closed the deal. With the advent of widespread computing the gap is being narrowed fast. Social media is the key to this outcome in the online approach.

With social media spaces becoming more popular, salespeople and entrepreneurs all over the world are using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites to discover new markets, meet prospects directly and forge profitable new business relationships. No lead generation, branding or cold-calling required. In a sense, many salespeople are becoming their own marketers.

The roles could be defined as follows: The sales role in social media networking is to initiate and develop key relationships. The marketing role in social media networking is to assist salespeople plan, execute and measure their efforts.

Regardless of the approach, whether online or traditional effective brand communication remains key to all strategies.



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