It’s been a long time since I posted a how-to, and this topic has been on my mind for a while, so here it is.
This is the first in a series I have in mind about targeted marketing based on income. If there’s a positive response from WF, I’ll write follow-up posts on pitching to the middle class and po’ folk.
I have observed over the years that affiliate marketing offers target mostly the poor and middle class. Typical examples are payday loans, diet pills/health and biz-op offers. Nothing wrong with targeting the middle and lower classes, but why do I see so few offers for the rich and so little interest in marketing to them? I’ve been in the online marketing business for about six years now, and I see the scarcity of premium offers for the wealthy has not improved, even as they continue siphoning off more of the GDP.
Have people forgotten the famous Willie Sutton comeback when he was asked why he robs banks? “That’s where the money is” he said. I think that tapping the wealth of rich people is a smart strategy because that’s where the money is.
And the rich just keep getting richer. Whatever the state of the economy, the wealthy are likely doing just fine because they have the means to hire accountants and lawyers to work the system, preserve their assets and their team keeps the money flowing in their direction. As Shoemoney says “The rich always win,” and he’s right.
The wealthy live in all 50 states and spend lots of money wherever they are to save time, make their lives more comfortable and impress everyone. If you work for rich clients, they’ll be nothing like Alan Harper complainer types that I wrote about at my blog.
This post is intended as a basic rundown of Richie Rich’s mindset, and perhaps put ideas into your head about promoting different things to people with no limits on their plastic.
Some of these concepts came from reading Dan Kennedy’s books about selling to the wealthy. I also wrote ads for luxury products and services targeted to the wealthy on behalf of my clients. Some ads, but not enough.
Who are the rich?
This Wiki page details who the US affluent are:
Affluence in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If you scroll down to the Extreme Affluence chart you’ll see that a tiny percentage of US households own a disproportionate amount of the nation’s net worth.
What they buy
The affluent pay obscene amounts for things that make them look good and feel good.
A Lambo is priced from $250,000 to $1.4 million. Would you believe the $1.4M model sells the fastest and people wait the longest to buy them?
A company in Switzerland sells a Swiss Army knife made of gold or silver and studded with 800 diamonds. Cost goes to $100,000.
According to a resource I used that’s a few years old, many wealthy households spend $30,000 yearly on alcoholic beverages, $150,000 on travel and resort vacations, $115,000 on clothing, $250,000 on jewelry and $500,000 on maintaining their residences (they usually have at least two).
Affluent boomers are overrepresented in this group, and they’re accumulating additional wealth inherited from their parents. Investment services, plastic surgery, resort vacations and luxury golf condos in the sun-belt are typical offers targeted to them.
Many gay and lesbian households are affluent, often with two professional incomes and no children. They’re usually college-educated and into living well. Gay travelers are beloved by the travel industry. After doing research into their spending patterns, Harrah's Entertainment revealed that gay men spend on average 30% more on vacations than straight people.
A rich man may be thrifty and frugal about certain things, and buy his jeans at Target if he doesn’t care about that. But he’ll splurge unlimited amounts on his passion. Rich people love to spend on toys and hobbies they love.
How they feel about their wealth
When you sell to the wealthy, you are not selling products. You’re selling status. They will pay triple at Tiffany’s for a diamond bracelet that’s similar to a bracelet at Kay Jewelers because of Tiffany’s has more status.
The rich see themselves as part of an exclusive tribe, and don’t want to be associated with the riff-raff. They prefer gated communities and hate flying coach because traveling with the bargain set lacks prestige.
They’re very competitive and hate to the pwned by their friends and neighbors. The show-offy rich have anxieties about being rich, and spend too much money to ensure that everyone notices his/her wealth.
How to talk to them
The affluent can be put off by a hard sell, and consider aggressive marketing low class.
Affluent customers who are highly educated often respond better to a literary and erudite approach to merchandising (you may want to test this).
If you’re selling a service, wealthy clients can be difficult to obtain through advertising. The wealthy like to do business with those who were recommended to them by their rich friends.
Be on your best behavior when talking to rich people, and project an image of total professionalism. Millionaires covet trusted advisers and take-charge people who can relieve them of day-to-day hassles and make their lives trouble-free.
They value their time as much as their money. They will pay a premium for services that go above and beyond. “Leave it to us, we’ll take care of it” is worth a lot to them, giving you carte blanche to charge them up the wazoo.
They’re insecure at heart, and criticized in the media relentlessly. This cuts to the quick, as they want to feel respected for their achievements. They will lap up acceptance, approval and applause from people who admire them (or claim to), so suck up as needed.
They’re demanding, will pay a premium for convenience and hate the word “can’t.” If at 3 am they decide they want a turkey that’s carved, hot, with gravy and delivered to their doorstep by a man in a chef’s cap in one hour, they’ll pay obscene amounts to somebody who can make it happen.
Wrap-up
The wealthy are relatively recession-proof. The rich feast at the table, while the majority of consumers are tightening their belts. You can’t restructure the economy to make it more equitable by yourself, so why not get at some of their money?
This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide about marketing to wealth by any means, and I don’t claim to be an expert about rich people. I grew up in a household that was middle class for the most part. My parents were in the upper middle class for about 2-3 years, then income dropped like a rock due to very familiar business problems.
During the short interval when we were rich, my father bought three yachts (all sailboats) and he didn’t even know how to sail. This is a good example of bizarre nouveau riche behavior.
If I’m all wrong you have something to contribute, feel free to post about it and make me smarter. Oh, and enlightened, do you think?
This is the first in a series I have in mind about targeted marketing based on income. If there’s a positive response from WF, I’ll write follow-up posts on pitching to the middle class and po’ folk.
I have observed over the years that affiliate marketing offers target mostly the poor and middle class. Typical examples are payday loans, diet pills/health and biz-op offers. Nothing wrong with targeting the middle and lower classes, but why do I see so few offers for the rich and so little interest in marketing to them? I’ve been in the online marketing business for about six years now, and I see the scarcity of premium offers for the wealthy has not improved, even as they continue siphoning off more of the GDP.
Have people forgotten the famous Willie Sutton comeback when he was asked why he robs banks? “That’s where the money is” he said. I think that tapping the wealth of rich people is a smart strategy because that’s where the money is.
And the rich just keep getting richer. Whatever the state of the economy, the wealthy are likely doing just fine because they have the means to hire accountants and lawyers to work the system, preserve their assets and their team keeps the money flowing in their direction. As Shoemoney says “The rich always win,” and he’s right.
The wealthy live in all 50 states and spend lots of money wherever they are to save time, make their lives more comfortable and impress everyone. If you work for rich clients, they’ll be nothing like Alan Harper complainer types that I wrote about at my blog.
This post is intended as a basic rundown of Richie Rich’s mindset, and perhaps put ideas into your head about promoting different things to people with no limits on their plastic.
Some of these concepts came from reading Dan Kennedy’s books about selling to the wealthy. I also wrote ads for luxury products and services targeted to the wealthy on behalf of my clients. Some ads, but not enough.
Who are the rich?
This Wiki page details who the US affluent are:
Affluence in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If you scroll down to the Extreme Affluence chart you’ll see that a tiny percentage of US households own a disproportionate amount of the nation’s net worth.
What they buy
The affluent pay obscene amounts for things that make them look good and feel good.
A Lambo is priced from $250,000 to $1.4 million. Would you believe the $1.4M model sells the fastest and people wait the longest to buy them?
A company in Switzerland sells a Swiss Army knife made of gold or silver and studded with 800 diamonds. Cost goes to $100,000.
According to a resource I used that’s a few years old, many wealthy households spend $30,000 yearly on alcoholic beverages, $150,000 on travel and resort vacations, $115,000 on clothing, $250,000 on jewelry and $500,000 on maintaining their residences (they usually have at least two).
Affluent boomers are overrepresented in this group, and they’re accumulating additional wealth inherited from their parents. Investment services, plastic surgery, resort vacations and luxury golf condos in the sun-belt are typical offers targeted to them.
Many gay and lesbian households are affluent, often with two professional incomes and no children. They’re usually college-educated and into living well. Gay travelers are beloved by the travel industry. After doing research into their spending patterns, Harrah's Entertainment revealed that gay men spend on average 30% more on vacations than straight people.
A rich man may be thrifty and frugal about certain things, and buy his jeans at Target if he doesn’t care about that. But he’ll splurge unlimited amounts on his passion. Rich people love to spend on toys and hobbies they love.
How they feel about their wealth
When you sell to the wealthy, you are not selling products. You’re selling status. They will pay triple at Tiffany’s for a diamond bracelet that’s similar to a bracelet at Kay Jewelers because of Tiffany’s has more status.
The rich see themselves as part of an exclusive tribe, and don’t want to be associated with the riff-raff. They prefer gated communities and hate flying coach because traveling with the bargain set lacks prestige.
They’re very competitive and hate to the pwned by their friends and neighbors. The show-offy rich have anxieties about being rich, and spend too much money to ensure that everyone notices his/her wealth.
How to talk to them
The affluent can be put off by a hard sell, and consider aggressive marketing low class.
Affluent customers who are highly educated often respond better to a literary and erudite approach to merchandising (you may want to test this).
If you’re selling a service, wealthy clients can be difficult to obtain through advertising. The wealthy like to do business with those who were recommended to them by their rich friends.
Be on your best behavior when talking to rich people, and project an image of total professionalism. Millionaires covet trusted advisers and take-charge people who can relieve them of day-to-day hassles and make their lives trouble-free.
They value their time as much as their money. They will pay a premium for services that go above and beyond. “Leave it to us, we’ll take care of it” is worth a lot to them, giving you carte blanche to charge them up the wazoo.
They’re insecure at heart, and criticized in the media relentlessly. This cuts to the quick, as they want to feel respected for their achievements. They will lap up acceptance, approval and applause from people who admire them (or claim to), so suck up as needed.
They’re demanding, will pay a premium for convenience and hate the word “can’t.” If at 3 am they decide they want a turkey that’s carved, hot, with gravy and delivered to their doorstep by a man in a chef’s cap in one hour, they’ll pay obscene amounts to somebody who can make it happen.
Wrap-up
The wealthy are relatively recession-proof. The rich feast at the table, while the majority of consumers are tightening their belts. You can’t restructure the economy to make it more equitable by yourself, so why not get at some of their money?
This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide about marketing to wealth by any means, and I don’t claim to be an expert about rich people. I grew up in a household that was middle class for the most part. My parents were in the upper middle class for about 2-3 years, then income dropped like a rock due to very familiar business problems.
During the short interval when we were rich, my father bought three yachts (all sailboats) and he didn’t even know how to sail. This is a good example of bizarre nouveau riche behavior.
If I’m all wrong you have something to contribute, feel free to post about it and make me smarter. Oh, and enlightened, do you think?
