Why Paid Search is Key to a Successful Luxury Marketing Plan (& Reaching Your Digitally Disconnected Customers)

As new technologies and social media platforms continue to evolve, it’s crucial for luxury brands to adapt quickly to keep up with digitally savvy consumers. This is especially important as the spending power shifts further towards Millennials and Gen Z demographics who already represent the majority of luxury buyers.

However, despite living in a digital-first world, not everybody is digitally fluent. Gen X didn’t grow up with social media and spend less time per day on these apps. They’re also generally slower to uptake new technologies. Despite only making up 4% of the luxury market, baby boomers can still be potential customers, though they only spend an estimated hour per day on social media. 

Regardless of age, there are some consumers out there who prefer to not use social media that shouldn’t be ignored. In this article, we'll explore who these digitally disconnected luxury customers are, why they pose a unique challenge, and most importantly, how paid search can be the key to successfully connecting with them.

Who Is the Digitally Disconnected Luxury Customer?

A digitally disconnected customer is one who doesn’t engage with brands through social media. They prefer to stay off the radar of digital marketing efforts, making it more of a challenge for luxury brands to reach and engage with them effectively. 

Even if they are on social media, they might not spend a lot of time engaging with brands. In a survey of affluent consumers, 51% did not follow luxury brands on social media either because they only use it to stay in touch with friends and family or because they aren’t on social media at all. So, with social media out of the question, how can luxury brands best connect with this specific customer segment?

How to Connect With Digitally Disconnected Customers

Despite being the least ‘digitally active’, 46% of digitally disconnected customers still do most of their luxury product and services research through search engines, followed by in-store research (38%), and brand websites (26%). That’s why paid search and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are so effective for reaching this customer segment. 

SEO is usually part of a long-term strategy, as online content can take time to appear in search results and prove itself worthy of a top spot — but that’s a whole other topic. Paid search, on the other hand, can immediately place your brand at the top of the page when a potential customer is searching for particular products or services, helping them to either discover or be reminded of your brand.

Leveraging the Power of Paid Search

Now that we know why paid search works for tapping into the digitally disconnected customer segment, it’s time to get started on building your paid search campaign. 

CREATE CUSTOM AFFINITY AND CUSTOM INTENT AUDIENCES

When it comes to paid search or Google Ad campaigns, getting your ads in front of the right audience is critical.

Remember when we mentioned how important it is to really know your customers? That’s where this really pays off. 

In the Google Display Network (GDN) there’s a function called affinity audiences. It allows you to narrow down your target audience based on their location, interests, URLs, or applications. Using affinity audiences helps you to align your ad campaigns with customers who are most likely to be interested in making a purchase, helping to boost your paid campaign ROI.

OVERLAY YOUR FIRST PARTY AUDIENCES

Google Ads even lets you overlay audiences to incorporate recent purchase intent and life events. With this feature, you can bid a little higher to ensure that your campaign reaches customers who are a closer match to your customer profile. 

It goes beyond just targeting someone who has searched for a specific product or service and will target someone who is also known to Google to be a luxury shopper that falls within your brand's target demographic. 

USE OPTIMIZED TARGETING

You can further optimize your paid ad targeting through keywords and audience segments. By providing Google with targeting signals, it allows them to find the right people to show your ad to. 

It’s in Google’s best interest to show personalized ads to customers who would be more interested in seeing them, as it helps to improve their own user experience. 

USE AUDIENCE EXPANSION

Enabling audience expansion allows Google or other search engines to show your ad to a wider pool of potential customers who share similarities with your existing audience. By using audience expansion strategically, you can extend your reach to digitally disconnected luxury shoppers who may not be in your current customer database.

This feature can drive your campaigns to receive more impressions, clicks, and sales. 

BUILD OUT NEGATIVE LISTS

Negative keywords are just as important as positive keywords in paid search campaigns. Building out negative keyword lists ensures that your ads are not displayed for irrelevant search queries, or users that are likely to fall outside of your target demographic. 

For instance, if a user is searching for ‘cheap’ or ‘low cost’ products, it might be unlikely that they’ll shop from your brand and is therefore not worth spending your ad budget on showing them your campaign. 

Your Partners in Paid Search

At Block & Tam, we specialize in creating and managing paid search campaigns that deliver excellent results. As a Google Partner, we have the expertise and resources to help luxury brands like yours get the most out of paid search advertising.

If you're looking to tap into the digitally disconnected luxury customer segment and elevate your luxury marketing plan, contact our team of paid search experts today!