3. Marketing Strategies

I will distinguish two different forms of premium marketing: The first is rich marketing which considers strategies to target individuals with high net worth (HNWIs) or a very high income, who are able to uphold a luxurious lifestyle in all aspects, including an upper class social life (level 3 in figure 2.1). The other term is luxury marketing, defined by Takahashi (2005) as strategies to target customers of luxury companies, may they be rich, mass affluent, or simply normal middle-class consumers who are trading-up (levels 1-3 in figure 2.1). Thus, rich marketing is a part of luxury marketing. In the following sections 3.1 to 3.4 I will present six main arguments:
1) (in section 3.1) The basic problem of luxury marketing is the rising immunity of the consumer, especially among level 3, to normal marketing channels. People do not respond to marketing advances in a direct way. Instead, the messages are filtered and adjusted by opinion leaders. Customer acquisition needs to take into account the media- and marketing exclusivity of the targeted customer.
2) (in section 3.1) Customer retention in luxury marketing calls for a segmentation of a luxury companies' customers, with additional benefits made available for those who provide the major part of revenue.
3) (in section 3.2) The change in the way luxury is consumed and perceived leads to a more diversified consumer buying premium products. Companies have to develop a holistic approach by targeting more than one customer segment, and more than one consumer level.
4) (in section 3.2) Exactly this change has altered the way rich marketing has to be executed. The most exclusive consumers (level 3) have to be targeted by using different channels in order to acquire them as customers, and have to be treated in special ways distinct from others for customer retention.
5) (in section 3.3) Doing this in Japan requires the help of specialized companies who offer luxury companies tools for accessing level 3 consumers (through specialized media or the creation of a marketing environment), and for enhancing their service level for the top customers.
6) (in section 3.4) Consumers are not only important as revenue makers but also as influencers. Word of mouth is more important in a HNWI marketing environment. Companies have to calculate the worth of customers by CRV (customer referral value), not simply by CLV (customer lifetime value) (Katz et al. 2008), and have to employ event marketing strategies that accelerate and induce word of mouth as well as positive PR.