HOW TO CREATE A LUXURY BRAND THAT FEELS APPROACHABLE

When you say luxury brand, people often have an image come to mind of something highly exclusive, opulent and of a certain class. Like the ‘cool club’ at school that everyone wanted to be in, but only a few could attain.

However over recent years, the luxury market has evolved. Now being higher in Gen X and Millennials, the newer market is prioritising authentic connection over possessions. Because of this, it’s more important than ever that luxury brands build genuine connections with their audience.

Imagine if you didn’t have to have a lofty brand energy in order to offer a luxury experience? What if you could welcome people in, whilst still feeling refined and high quality?

SAY HELLO TO THE APPROACHABLE LUXURY BRAND

The approachable luxury brand knows it’s worth, without being unreachable. It offers high quality, without superiority. It’s aspirational, whilst still being down to earth. It calls people in and gives them the feeling they are exactly where they are supposed to be. To create this kind of brand essence, let’s start with one of my favourite quotes…

“True elegance is helping people feel warm, welcome and at ease.”

In this blog post we’re going to explore how you can create a luxury brand that still feels approachable. One which is infused with this kind of warm, welcoming elegance.

1. SPEAK IN A WAY THAT MAKES PEOPLE FEEL AT EASE

It’s not just what you say, but how you say it that has a direct impact on how people perceive your brand. Words that feel natural, inviting and non pressuring feel like an exhale for the people who read them. This is a key way to build the trust needed for people to feel like they can approach.

Develop an authentic voice

People are drawn to authenticity. So when you speak in a voice which feels natural and authentic, you give people the signal that you’re comfortable with who you are. This is energy is naturally magnetic and puts people at ease.

Developing an authentic brand voice starts with knowing who you are as a brand. What do you stand for? What do you care about? Where do your passions lie? From this foundation of self knowing, it’s much easier for authentic words to flow.

Now consider the energy you’d like your brand to embody. This will be directly linked to your brand’s personality. Is it wise and assured, but with a certain kindness. Or perhaps its passionate and inspiring with a little bit of edge.

Find a simple way to summarise your brand voice, and then make sure each piece of copy is inline with this. If your tone isn’t consistent across your brand copy, people will sense the mismatch and it won’t feel authentic. Whether it’s you or a copywriter writing, keep these mini guidelines at the front of mind.

Welcome, don’t pressure

Let’s look at how people relate to people. When you feel like someone wants something from you, and is using a slightly coercive way to get it, your body feels constrictive. You might not know exactly why, but you can feel the pressure.

This is the same feeling people get when a brand’s copy feels salesy. This can include heavy pain point messaging, i.e. speaking in a way that makes people feel worse about their situation, grandiose claims, or putting a call to action at the end of every single thing.

As an approachable luxury brand, your energy should feel like you value your audience, but in a leaned back way, giving them space to come to you. It says ‘I like you, but I don’t need you.’

A large part of luxury is inviting people into an aspirational lifestyle. It’s about painting a vision for what your audience’s life could look like with your brand, whilst keeping it real.

Ultimately, we can welcome people into our world, without coercing them to be there. People feel the difference in energy.

2. TELL YOUR BRAND STORY

For thousands of years, humans have told stories as a way of connecting. Children learn about the world through reading stories. Authors tell us messages through the books they write. Stories are a way of sharing information on a more intimate and engaging level.

When you tell people the story behind your brand, it gives them a chance to understand who you are and where you came from. They see why your mission is there, because they understand the experiences that sparked it. They feel like they know your brand on a deeper level, because they can see the twists and turns it’s taken to evolve. And finally, they feel like they know you, the founder, because they get an insight into the human that you are.

All of this works to build trust, a key ingredient to being approachable. Here are some key elements you can include in your brand story…

The deeper why: What’s the deeper reason behind why your business exists? What’s the dream you set out with?

The backstory: What experiences and realisations led you to that dream? What’s the spark that ignited the fire?

The journey here: What was the journey like of starting and growing your business. How did things evolve?

The human(s) behind the business: What about you as a person / people might be interesting to your audience? Any hobbies, interests, passions of philosophies on life?

3. CREATE AN INVITING AESTHETIC

Imagine you approach the doorway of a room. Inside you see the colour of the carpet clashes with the walls, the furniture is squished together in an awkward way, and there’s clutter on the floor.

Now imagine a different room, where all the colours are softly cohesive, the layout is spacious, and each detail feels intentional. Which rooms feels more inviting to walk into?

Your brand is no different. By creating an aesthetic which is thoughtful, cohesive and spacious, people feel drawn to come closer on an instinctive level, before they’ve even read a word. Here are some key ways to create an aesthetic that feels like an open hand.

Spacious layouts

The human mind has evolved to naturally seek out that which is simple. Complexity uses up precious brain calories, and therefore anything which is difficult to understand or an overload of information naturally pushes people away.

A balanced design with enough breathing room is essential. When in doubt, add more space. Don’t be afraid to spread out the information into more digestible chunks. See below some examples of design that uses fairly spacious layouts…