You’ve got a top-quality product or service and you’re ready to start branding yourself, but how do you make your luxury brand stand out from the competition?

That is a great question because the luxury market is a fiercely competitive field that is only going to get more saturated.

A common issue is that these days, everyone thinks they’re a luxury brand. They raise their prices and expect the customers to come rolling in because they’ve labelled themselves as ‘luxury’ but that’s just not how it works.

You’ve got to make your luxury brand stand out from the competition and give your audience a reason to remember you and buy from you. So how can you make your luxury brand stand out so you can attract and convert customers with ease?

1. Get Clear on Your Brand Values

Every great luxury brand designer will ask you to define your brand values. Why? Because they are what set you apart from your competition. You may be an incredible cake designer, but there are a thousand other cake designers in the world who are just as good.

The way you make yourself stand out is by giving your audience a reason to buy from you and not your competition.

Your brand values are the way that you do this. They help determine your luxury brand’s identity, message, and personality. They help your ideal audience identify with you and emotionally connect with your product or service. This is because people can’t emotionally connect to a business but they can connect to a brand that shares their values.

Without them, you’re just another generic luxury business.

When you get clear on your brand values it makes it easy to create a luxury brand design that resonates with your audience. That’s because your designs have been created to reflect what you stand for.

For example, if you’re a luxury consultant who values confidence. Then you’re going to want a bold, confident design and this will make you stand out from your competition who have a more modest brand design.

Stay True To Them

All too often, luxury brands create their values and then place them in a drawer or a hidden online file, never to be seen again. If you want your luxury brand to stand out from the competition. It’s crucial that you live by your brand values.

Refer back to them in times of need, use them to guide all of your efforts moving forward and sure enough, your audience will soon remember you for them.

2. Be Careful About The Trends You Jump On

Being a luxury brand means that everything you don’t do is just as important as the things you do. 

What exactly does that mean?

It means that you shouldn’t jump on every trend going because it might not be in line with your brand values. To stand out from the competition you’ve got to have a distinctive brand personality and that can mean avoiding certain trends to stand out.

It may sound counterproductive but it really is true. If all of your competitors are pumping out content on social media which is filled with dancing Reels but you’re not, it makes a very bold statement to your audience which can make you stand out and be remembered for something.

It makes it obvious that you know who are and you know that you don’t need to follow the crowd to stand out. It emits a cool, calm confidence. A message that you know what makes you brilliant and you don’t need to follow the trends in order to get noticed.

3. Don’t Cut Corners or Go Cheap

How can you expect your clients to pay a premium for your services when you don’t pay a premium for your own? When you go cheap, it shows and it washes you away with your sea of competition.

To warrant your luxury price tag and stand out against your average competitors, it is fundamental that you hire the professional expertise you need to pull you away from the masses.

Hire a Luxury Brand Designer

A luxury brand designer is essential to make your brand look visually stunning and to perfectly convey your brand’s unique values. They will give you the flawless brand image you need to attract an affluent audience and make your product seem more expensive and attractive to consumers.

When you skimp on hiring a professional brand designer you can make common mistakes which cheapen the look of your business and place you below the competition. Those mistakes are usually off-brand fonts, issues with spacing, no knowledge of how to use white space to convey a feeling of luxury, poor colour choices and a brand look which is misaligned with your company values.

Hire a Professional Photographer

I cannot stress enough the importance of having high-quality, professional photographs on your website. In fact, top-quality photos have been proven to increase buyer trust in your products or services. That’s because photos represent your business and they’re a signal of how credible your company is.

If your website visitor is faced with low-quality photos it’s going to make your brand look cheap and as a result, they’ll presume that you’re not worth the premium price you’re charging. This means your customer is much more likely to buy from your competitor because they are more likely to trust them.
It only takes 1/10th of a second to form a first impression and the stakes are high in the luxury market so you’ve got to make your first impression a good one.

Hire a Luxury Copywriter

High-quality copy is an absolute must if you’re hoping to stand out from your luxury competitors. When you’re trying to speak to an affluent audience it’s essential that your language matches their vocabulary and it’s crucial that your tone is consistent. If not, your marketing copy will likely deter your ideal audience, making it harder for you to succeed in the luxury market.

A professional copywriter will elevate your business and perfectly convey your brand’s excellence. This will make your audience much more compelled to buy from your over your competitors whilst the copywriter’s ability to consistently convey your brand’s tone of voice will ensure your luxury brand is remembered in the consumer’s mind. This makes it easier for them to trust you and form an emotional attachment to your business which increases brand loyalty.

4. Work on Your Brand Foundations and Stay True to Them

The luxury market is highly competitive and if you’re going to outperform the competition, it’s fundamental that you are crystal clear on your brand foundations.

Brand foundations are largely about what makes your brand unique. Ask yourself the following questions before you start any kind of marketing;

1. What are my brand attributes? That means the key characteristics that your customers associate with your brand.
2. Why did you originally create your business?
3. What’s important to you?
4. What do you stand for?
5. Why do your customers love doing business with you?
6. What unique stories can you tell? (People love stories, and storytelling creates positive emotional connections between brands and consumers.)

These will give you all the answers you need for solid brand foundations. They’ll be your guiding star and you can refer back to them if you’re feeling lost or confused. 

When you stay true to your brand foundations, it makes it easier for your ideal audience to form a bond with you and if they share your beliefs and identify with your stories, then persuading them to buy from you becomes almost effortless.

They also make you stand out from your competition even if you’re selling the same product. So don’t make the mistake which so many luxury brands make; that is the mistake of avoiding personal stories which convey their brand values because they fear that it will make them look unprofessional. Stories are the key to long-term success and the more honest and personal they are, the more likely they are to resonate with your target market.

5. Don’t Be Afraid of Colour

Your brand colours are one of the most important aspects of your business because they convey so much. Each colour can spark emotions and trigger feelings so when you choose the perfect colour palette to represent your brand, the impact it can have on your audience’s feelings about you can be huge.

I see so many luxury brands fixate on neutral colours because they think that’s ‘how a luxury brand should look’. Yes, lots of garish colours will cheapen your brand image, but when used correctly, colour can really make your luxury brand stand out.

Whatever colours you decide to use, always make sure they are perfectly aligned with your brand personality and never try to emulate your competitors. Be bold, be unapologetically you and your authenticity will naturally make you stand out from the competition.

Are You a Luxury Service Provider That Wants To Outperform Your Competition?

With over 7 years of experience working in the luxury sector, I’ve built up an enviable portfolio filled with industry-leading clients who are commonly featured in popular publications such as Vogue, BBC, Tatler, Harper’s Bazaar and Stylist Magazine.

After working with me, they’ve been able to dramatically increase their prices, become preferred suppliers of world-renowned venues and attract and convert customers with ease. If you’re serious about elevating your brand to stand out from the competition, luxury brand design is essential. Take a look at my portfolio here and get in touch for a free consultation.