Smart brands are working with (and through) dealers and distributors to get closer to their consumers. Many manufacturers in the high-end home category utilize a two-step distribution channel and rely heavily on their distributors and dealers to help achieve their corporate goals. I’ve seen two-step distribution work well, and I’ve seen train wrecks. There […]
Read More… from Secrets of Success for High-End Home Brands with Two-Step Distribution
Why you should consider an experiential luxury strategy for your brand. Several years ago, I was working on brand strategy with my clients at Viking Range. The philosophical question on the table was this: Is a giant stainless steel Viking an end unto itself – or a means to an end? Are we asking […]
Read More… from Owning vs. Experiencing a High-End Home Brand
Your brand may have huge aspirations, but your consumers will have the final say. Every brand wants to live large in a consumer’s mental landscape by laying claim to the biggest brand promise possible. For instance, plenty of high-end home brands would love to “own” the kitchen. They represent categories as diverse as major appliances, […]
Read More… from Does Your High-End Home Brand Stand for Too Much?
Affluent consumers enthusiastically consume traditional and digital media. Marketers of high-end home brands had to make difficult decisions during the economic recession. When revenues fell, so did marketing budgets – and that often meant that media was dramatically cut. More than once, a CMO told me that they were facing a sort of “either/or” […]
Read More… from High-End Home Brand Media Consumption: A “Both/And” Proposition
Smart brands work to maximize joy post-purchase. Your consumer has finally decided that it’s time to update the kitchen, redecorate the living room, or replace the floors downstairs. As many marketers of high-end home brands know, the purchase cycle for an expensive home-related product could be six months to a year before she finally […]
Read More… from How Emotions Evolve in the High-End Home Brand Purchase Process
When high-end brands touch timeless, universal human emotions about the meaning of Home, a deeper connection is possible. All too often, internal discussions about marketing start and end with product features and benefits. Manufacturers tend to define brands solely by their engineering or design, without taking the time to discover the underlying psychological relevance […]
Read More… from High-End Brands: Understanding the Psychological Symbolism of Home
Make sure your measurements match your goals. The young marketing team for a high-end home brand was reviewing the analytics for the company’s latest digital ad campaign. The campaign looked great, and as best they could tell, the ad units were generating a decent level of click-throughs to the campaign landing page. If the […]
Read More… from Clickers vs. Converters Among High-End Home Brands
Understanding the path to purchase can make you a more effective marketer. The customer path to purchase is a fascinating journey. In the high-end home category, where prices command a premium and purchase cycles are inherently long, the path to purchase can be filled with equal parts anxiety and anticipation for consumers. That’s why […]
Read More… from What High-End Home Brands Can Learn from Mapping the Customer Experience
If product features cascade downward, might shopper behavior cascade upward? I’ve always bought into the luxury marketing theory that product features launch at the high end and cascade downward to the mass-market. For instance, the in-dash navigation system once found in a Lexus has cascaded down to a mid-market Toyota. The Asian popper appetizer […]
Read More… from More Affluent Consumers Are Haggling for High-End Home Brands
Sophisticated home brands need not compromise their core principles to find an audience on YouTube. The opportunity to create video content that consumers seek out and share with friends is there for any advertiser. And with more than 1 billion unique users visiting YouTube each month, the potential rewards are clear. But with 100 hours […]
Read More… from How Can High-End Home Brands Compete for Clicks on YouTube?
