How was it possible to create a luxury brand through the last recession? And what steps should you take to create a luxury brand now? Our Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year, Suzan Thompson talks us through how she successfully did it for her business Elegant Address Luxury Property Group.
“To develop and promote a luxury brand is more difficult to achieve in today’s market as the word luxury is hugely over used and diluted, with supermarkets offering everything from luxury muesli to luxury cat food!
To establish and strengthen a luxury brand is more challenging than it has ever been. To fully portray luxury a strategy needs to be implemented throughout the business.
What is the main challenge facing a luxury brand?
It is obvious that the word luxury is becoming more and more devalued due to misuse. At one time luxury would conjure up ideas of an expensive item or a more luxurious brand, however now it is common to see luxury brands selling on price alone, without any element of luxury what so ever!
This is the why ‘Elegant’ was chosen as our company name as ‘elegance’ cannot be so easily diluted.
What steps did you put in place to ensure your brand reflects a truly luxurious product and service?
STEP 1 – Ensure your products are luxury!
For any luxury market it is essential to do your homework and ensure your product or service is the very best it can be and offers an above average quality or service.
At Elegant Address Luxury Property Group, our properties are handpicked by our staff to ensure that they fit the criteria and standards we require to enable them to be described as luxurious. This is where you need to do your due diligence. Our properties would be judged on the quality of location, interiors and service. This can be applied on products throughout all industries, to ensure you offer your clients only the very best and therefore the most luxurious product.
STEP 2 – Visualising luxury
From the moment a client enters your website, shop or finds you in a publication they need to be aware immediately that your brand offers luxury. Inspiration for a highly luxurious brand can easily be found by researching any truly luxurious product. For example, as part of our training we ask our new team members to research luxury yacht Charter, prestigious watches, private jets, high fashion brands and even Bentleys! Trends soon emerge when researching such highly luxurious products and this sets the focus for your branding and social media.
STEP 3 -Implementing that luxurious feel throughout the company
To be able to confidently discuss or sell any luxurious product you must ensure that your working environment and staff have the mind-set of luxury. Would you buy a Bentley off a man in a tracksuit?
We are a fairly formal office when it comes to dress codes, how we answer the phone and how we respond to our clients. In our line of work our clients are looking for luxury properties and expect us to look and act in a highly professional way and this really does need to start from the moment the client contacts us.
At what stage does a brand become luxury?
In our experience, we became a luxury brand once strong foundations had been built within the luxury property market and we were able to offer our clients the very top properties and outstanding services within our specialist locations.
What does the luxury brand Elegant Address Luxury Property Group stand for?
Outstanding luxury properties and service! Elegant Address Luxury Property Group provides a truly luxurious and knowledgeable professional service that we could not easily find ourselves. A service where our specialist experienced consultants do not need brochures or guidebooks to discuss in detail the properties they can offer, but are able to provide clients with an unrivalled service and first hand unsurpassed local knowledge, locating for our clients the most beautifully luxury properties within their region.”