Lifestyle Marketing: Selling Lifestyle Not the Products

The lifestyle is the way of life of an individual, group or community and it does not only include the style of life but also perception, attitude, behavioural inclination, identity etc. 

The lifestyle brand is the brand that incorporates values and aspirations of people or group that they can identity as their own.

The lifestyle products are the products that consumers believe can fortify their image or self realization of who they are. The lifestyle brands hit on the emotional and psychological chords of consumers to market their lifestyle products.

So, what exactly is lifestyle marketing?

What is lifestyle marketing?

When you look at the advertorials of Harley Davidson, what kind of impression do you get? Well, Harley Davidson portrays adventure, freedom, carefree life. How could Harley Davidson, just a bike become a symbol of adventure, freedom, carefree life for people around the world? The answer is Harley Davidson marketed adventure, freedom, carefree life and not the bike itself.

Let’s take another example. Dove is a toiletry and cosmetic brand with a range of products like soap, shampoo, hair conditioner etc. Dove uses real women in its ad campaigns in the form of experiments. By using women from everyday life, Dove has successfully hit the chord of common women. Unlike other brands that use celebrities to endorse their brands, Dove ambassadors are common women. A lot of people understand celebrities are plastic beauty. Dove has been able to cash on this idea of real beauty by endorsing its products using common women.

The lifestyle marketing does not center on the product. It does not endorse products as having this and that benefit, it rather focus on the kind of life the target consumers want. By using psychographics in their marketing campaign, lifestyle brands promote their products as something that will help the consumer redefine or enhance his/her identity. Lifestyle marketing centers on the thought that by using this product, the consumer will be able to live a kind of life they always wanted.

How is lifestyle marketing done?

The lifestyle marketing focuses on two basic things, one interest, perception, attitude, behavioural inclination of the consumer; two, the content that will attract consumers (marketing materials).

Keeping customers’ interests and their day-to-day life in mind, the lifestyle brands create content that are related to the consumers, the kind of content that consumers can identity and associate. The lifestyle marketing does not necessarily sell a product or a service directly, it rather creates content that portrays the lifestyle that the consumers want.

The lifestyle marketing focuses less on features and benefits of the product, and more on the content that talks about the experience and lifestyle that actually matter to the customers.

Let’s take an example of Red Bull. There are a lot of energy drinks like Red Bull, however, Red Bull is the brand that the mass recognizes. Red Bull has been able to capture the mass through lifestyle marketing campaigns that portrays adrenaline rush (their marketing campaign clearly says Red Bull gives you wings). Red Bull promotes adventure, fun, and risk-taking behaviour through its content.

Conclusion: Why is lifestyle content important?

There was a time when marketing campaign specifically focused on the features and benefits of the product. However, these days, instead of selling a product by highlighting features and benefits, lifestyle brands use lifestyle content to market the products. Lifestyle brands create content that promotes the kind of life the consumers actually want. The content portraits aesthetics, ideals, and aspirations of the target audience.