Adjusting Marketing Strategies for the Rich
If you own a new brand that is looking to corner the ultra-rich portion of the market, then you should be taking a much different approach to marketing than other brands looking for a broader customer base. This is the message of a new article published by Entrepreneur on the new strategies that are being adopted by the online brands that are seeking to become staples of the richest strata of potential customers. One of the early challenges in marketing and branding that many new brands will have to face is identifying the precise type of customer that they want to connect with. This is difficult because some brands see this as requiring an exclusion of other levels of customers, which is likely true in the case of targeting the very rich for luxury labels.
Distinguishing Between Early Investors or Stakeholders in the Brand and Ultimate Customers
Depending on the fundraising strategy of the new brand, there may come a time early in the marketing cycle that there must be a buy-in from the ultra-rich, who will serve as investors or promoters of the new brand. This is quite distinct from ultimately promoting the sale of your products to the ultra-rich. It is important to clarify which stages of the marketing and business development that your brand is in so that you can more appropriately tailor your marketing strategies to either an ultra-rich potential investor in your brand or appealing to the masses to boost your sales and hopefully start to build up a loyal customer following.
To be clear, there are different approaches in marketing your brand that you should adopt when you are in the stage of attracting capital investment in your company. The type of flash and mass appeal that you may engage in when creating marketing and advertising materials to push the sale of your product or service will not hold water in the middle of a presentation to a potential affluent investor.
No matter what stage of the marketing cycle you are in for your new brand, it is helpful to understand the basic composition of the ultra-rich so that you can better speak their language and connect with what moves them. This is an important step in knowing your audience before you are given the opportunity to promote your new brand on a mass scale. The profile below on the ultra-rich and how they view investment opportunities and evaluate a new product or service for their own personal or professional use will give you an idea of what type of marketing strategies will work best for your new brand.
Understanding the Basic Composition of the Ultra-Rich as a Customer Base
Forbes Magazine publishes a list each year of the 400 richest or wealthiest individuals in the world. With the amount of public information available about these individuals from online sources, it is possible to start getting a general idea of how they made their fortunes and what their specific needs may be in tailoring the marketing of a product or service.
One of the key things to keep in mind about the very rich is that they mostly made their fortunes on their own. In fact, more than 70% of the wealthiest people in the world took their companies from the bottom up. This provides specific insight into what those individuals will connect with in terms of how a company is managed. For instance, they are likely to be particularly skeptical of any new brand that appears to have massive overhead right out of the gate. They will not want to invest in or spend their fortune on supporting a new brand that is bloated and not growing efficiently. Even though they have plenty of resources in comparison to the rest of the population, they are not inclined at all to spend their money or invest unwisely.
In light of the above, it should not surprise you at all that the wealthiest class of consumers mainly thinks that hard work is the key to success. It will be difficult for a new brand to connect with wealthy individuals if they do not exude the values of hard work and determination. The good news for brands that are able to make these values a core part of their mission is that they will likely have a stronger pull with the public over time because hard work is generally a universal value across economic groups. It stands to reason that middle-class Americans do not look favorably on brands that represent flash and luxury without an element of hard work backing them up. Accordingly, as middle-class Americans improve their income levels and social status, the values of your brand will resonate with them so that you will always have access to an expanding customer base without degrading the value of your brand.
Another unifying characteristic of the richest people in the world is that they are overwhelmingly married with children. Family relationships are very important to this class of consumers because many of them hope to pass on their legacy and continue a family tradition of success. Brands can connect with this trait by demonstrating that they are long-lasting and timeless. They should not alienate a specific gender or age demographic because their wealthiest target customers likely make major most purchases or invest with their entire family in mind.
At the end of the day, your brand should be based on quality and make sure that its marketing campaigns reflect that commitment. The extremely wealthy are just as interested in finding cost-effective, quality products and services as any other type of customer. The key thing to remember when targeting the ultra-wealthy in marketing your brand is that their income level is not indicative of a willingness to waste time or money no matter how exciting your marketing message may be.
