In my work with my darling mentoring clients, I’ve found that one goal is ever-present in the mind of a creative, and that’s how we can organically and intentionally reach a high end audience that will understand the investment of our services, and appreciate the opportunity to work with us. Isn’t that just the dream? In this journey of small business ownership, it’s only natural to gradually raise prices, all the while reaching for a higher end audience that can fund your dream. But unfortunately, it’s not always as easy as snapping your fingers and suddenly connecting with those dream clients with deep pockets! And selling ourselves, and our services, is a process that often feels disingenuous and uncomfortable for many. Although quite a few factors go into making the transition towards positioning your brand to reach a higher end audience, let’s chat about three foundational steps that you can make today!

Understand Your Audience

Before we start investing all our time and resources into a luxury marketing system, let’s first focus on who this higher end audience we’re striving to reach is anyway! For most creatives, they want to reach a clientele that still share the same brand values, goals and sentiments as before. The main difference is they’d love for that clientele to have slightly deeper pockets!

Create a profile for your ideal client, identifying who they are, their age, lifestyle habits, purchasing patterns, as well as their hopes, dreams and goals. It’s also incredibly valuable to understand their pain points, and consider ways your brand can alleviate those pain points!

Bonus tip: When it comes to high end marketing, don’t simply market to their pain points and offer solutions. Instead, consider ways to delight and surprise them! High end marketing is all about a pleasurable response (joy, fulfillment, etc.) versus a preventative response (meeting a need, solving a problem, etc.).

Let the Price Reflect the Quality

When reaching for a higher end clientele, price does matter. It’s simply not enough to have a foolproof luxury marketing strategy paired with budget prices. To the high end buyer, that comes across as untrustworthy. Instead of seeing a steal of a deal, they’re wondering what’s wrong with your product or services that you would charge so little. Do your research and price yourself within the high end market in your area, taking your experience, overhead and supplies into account.

Bonus tip: High end buyers are not looking for quick fixes or fast solutions to their problems! Instead, they’re looking for products and services that can offer them a true experience. With that in mind, they would rather invest in a quality experience than pay for a cheap, temporary solution.

Market the Experience

As I alluded in that last bonus tip, for high end audiences, the experience is truly what matters. Luxury brands are not so much selling solutions as they are selling a dream. Whether that dream includes fame, popularity, beauty or pure pleasure, take a look at the marketing strategies of brands like Chanel, Land Rover or Tiffany & Co. They’re marketing the status, beauty and enjoyment their products can bring, and people are absolutely willing to pay up. Although few of us will attempt to market $15,000 diamonds, the same approach still applies: paint a vivid picture for your audience of the experience they will receive when they work with you. Your audience isn’t so much buying your product or service as they are the emotional, physical and sensory experience that comes with it.

Bonus tip: As you craft a desirable experience that will draw clients in and delight them at every turn, weave your brand’s story throughout. Integrating your brand’s values, heart and mission in every touch point builds an emotional brand/consumer connection that breeds loyalty. Plus, it gives your clients the opportunity to deeply resonate with your brand at the core.

Whether you’re considering a raise in prices, are revamping your products or services to fix into the luxury market, or simply want to connect more deeply with a slightly different clientele, I’d encourage you to mull over these simple action steps as you begin to make big changes.