How Luxury Brands Can Do Influencer Marketing

Luxury brands have always depended on influence to shape their image. In the past, it was through celebrities, actors, or cultural figures. But the way people get influenced today has changed. Today, it plays out online, through creators whose voices feel closer and more authentic. 

For luxury marketers, this shift raises a real question. The world of influencer marketing is often associated with fast-moving consumer brands. That style doesn’t sit naturally with luxury, which is built on rarity, quality, and aspiration. So the first step is to identify whether influencer marketing works for luxury brands or not. 

Does influencer marketing work for luxury brands?

When you hear “influencer marketing,” the first thought is of discount codes, affiliate links, and people on social media with followers (in thousands or hundreds of thousands) pushing everyday products. That’s why the first instinct is often to say, “This doesn’t fit luxury.” After all, luxury isn’t about discounts or quick sales. It’s about exclusivity and aspiration. 

But influencer marketing simply means using the trust or image someone has with their audience and extending that trust to your brand. That applies to luxury just as much as it does to any other category. 

Creators help in storytelling

People who buy luxury rarely do it for practical reasons alone. They are paying for craftsmanship, quality, and the story that surrounds the brand. Influencers can bring those elements to life in ways that feel real and relatable.

For example, the story behind the luxury brand Loro Piana is that they specialise in making clothes from cashmere, vicuña, and extrafine wool. That story exists on its own, but it only becomes storytelling when someone carries it to an audience in a way that resonates.

This is where influencers come in. Take the example of The Gstaad Guy and the posts he makes to talk about Loro Piana. Instead of saying “Go buy from Loro Piana,”, he framed it in a cultural, humorous way by saying “Cashmere is more valuable than gold.” 

Influencer marketing builds desire. 

For a luxury brand, the point of working with influencers isn’t to get people to buy on impulse. Luxury works differently. The value comes from being seen as rare, desirable, and part of culture. Influencers help with that by showing the product in an aspirational light. When their audience sees them using a cream, or carrying a bag, or staying at a resort, it positions the brand as something to aim for and not something anyone can grab with a discount code.

For example, take this post by Nara Smith, who is known for her quiet luxury aesthetic which is minimal, refined, aspirational. When she holds up a baby wash, it feels elevated because it belongs in her world.

It signals lifestyle, not just function. Parents might buy baby wash anywhere, but when Nara shows this one, it carries an extra layer: if you admire her lifestyle, this product is part of the formula. Desire comes from wanting to emulate that sense of calm, curated, understated luxury.

7 Tips to do influencer marketing for luxury brands

1. No coupon codes or heavy discounts

For influencer marketing, we usually advise DTC brands to offer a discount code for the influencers’ audience. It's an incentive for them to buy quickly instead of delaying it. 

But luxury isn’t about discounts because the whole idea of luxury is scarcity and value that doesn’t need justification. A discount suggests the product is harder to sell or not worth its full price, which works directly against the perception of exclusivity.

Instead of trying to trigger instant purchases, luxury brands should work with influencers to make the product worth aspiring to. The goal is for people to admire it and see it as a symbol of taste. 

So don't offer any coupon codes or affiliate links in luxury influencer marketing. 

2. Luxury influence goes beyond celebrity status

For a long time, luxury marketing was tied to celebrity culture. Fame, wealth, and social status were the signals that made someone a “fit” for luxury. So brands only partnered with red-carpet actors, or Olympic athletes, and such to reinforce the idea that their brand is elite.

But today, credibility and cultural fit can matter more than star power.

Credibility

A creator with a highly engaged (even if it's not in millions) following can shape opinions in a way a celebrity endorsement cannot. 

That’s why Loewe’s partnership with Chris Zou works so well. He’s built his reputation on being blunt and playful. He's someone who doesn’t sugarcoat. His audience knows he won’t endorse something that doesn’t actually hold value.

By collaborating with him, Loewe wasn’t just trying to get in front of more people. They were borrowing his credibility. When Chris engages with the brand, it signals that Loewe’s pieces are genuinely desirable, because he wouldn’t waste his time otherwise.

Cultural fit

Influence in luxury doesn’t always come from polished, glamorous figures. Sometimes the strongest move is to work with someone unexpected who brings cultural relevance. 

Gucci’s collaboration with Francis Bourgeois, the eccentric TikTok trainspotter, was a perfect example.

He didn’t fit the traditional mold of luxury, but his authenticity and unique voice helped Gucci reach a younger audience. Gucci showed it’s not stuck in old ideas of what luxury should look like. 

Find influencers for your luxury brand

Discovering influencers for your luxury brand can be difficult. Many creators who resonate with luxury audiences aren’t always the ones with the largest followings. They might post less frequently, or not use keywords or hashtags in their profile. 

This is where SARAL’s discovery makes the process easier. You can search by “show influencers who follow”. Enter the name of your brand or even a competitor, and you’ll see which creators already have an interest. 

3. Build relationships before campaigns

In luxury, the most valuable influencers are often the hardest to work with. They are not motivated by money, and free gifts rarely persuade them to put effort into content. What matters most is their reputation, so they only speak about brands that truly fit with how they see themselves.

This is why these relationships can’t be handled like an influencer who's actively looking to work with brands. 

Instead of starting with a contract, bring them into your world first. Invite them to a private event, a collection preview, or a quiet dinner with the brand team. Let them experience the brand in a personal way.

For example, Chanel invited Becca Bloom, a socialite and social media influencer, to their haute couture show in Paris. 

That kind of access changes the relationship. The influencer feels valued as a guest rather than treated like a slot in a media plan. They also walk away with genuine experiences they can share with their audience. 

When a campaign does come later, it feels like a continuation of a real connection instead of a transactional one.

4. Treat influencer communication like a concierge service

Communication with luxury influencers needs to feel personal and thoughtful. Bulk emails and generic briefs make the relationship feel transactional, which weakens the connection. Influencers who work in the luxury space expect the same level of care that the brand shows its customers. Think of it less like marketing and more like building a relationship. 

There are 3 simple ways to do this well.

Personal touch

Send tailored messages that show you know their style and past work. Even small gestures like a handwritten note or a direct call can make a big difference.

Consistency

Stay in touch with regular updates, whether through newsletters, private groups, or one-to-one check-ins. Make them feel like insiders with early news on launches or events.

Creative freedom

Give guidance, but don’t control every detail. These influencers are chosen for their taste, so allowing them to interpret the brand in their own way makes the content more authentic.

5. Invest in experiences, not just posts

Luxury is never just about the product — it’s about the world around it. That’s why influencer collaborations work best when they create experiences, not just content slots. A static Instagram post has a short life, but an immersive experience gives influencers stories, memories, and emotions they can share in their own way.

Some brands already do this well. Edgars Beauty hosted an elaborate influencer dinner where every detail, from the table settings to the gift bags, created moments worth capturing. 

Loewe flew creators to Cappadocia and let them experience its hot air balloon festival, tying the sense of wonder and travel back to the brand. In both cases, the event itself became the content. Influencers didn’t have to be told what to post, because the experience was so unique that sharing it felt natural.

These kinds of activations reinforce a key truth in luxury that you’re not just selling a product, you’re curating a world. When influencers get to step inside that world, their audiences do too — and that makes the brand feel more aspirational than any one-off post ever could.

Make content collection effortless

The challenge comes after the event: collecting all the content created. Usually, this means chasing influencers for files or screenshots, which is messy and time-consuming. 

With SARAL, that process is seamless. 

You can generate an Influencer Dashboard in one click from their profile and start collecting UGC submissions right away. All the photos and videos live in one place, ready to view, download, and repurpose for your own channels.

6. Avoiding overexposure in luxury influencer marketing

If a brand is seen everywhere, all the time, it can start to feel more mass-produced, and hence less luxury. The sense of exclusivity that makes luxury desirable begins to fade. 

The way around this is to keep partnerships selective, focus on longer-term relationships, and show up only in moments that feel meaningful. Scarcity in collaborations protects the brand’s aura while still keeping it present in the right cultural spaces.

Dani Tadic, CCO at Bitter Lip Media, explained this perfectly:

“The risk for luxury is starting to feel like an e-commerce brand caught in a neverending sale. If it is everywhere, all the time, the magic disappears. The way around that is intentional scarcity, choosing fewer partners, building longer-term relationships, and showing up only in moments that feel meaningful. Kind of like how Triangl created that FOMO moment, sending everyone but Kendall Jenner their swimsuits, leading to her reaching out to them directly.

It also comes down to integration. If content feels staged or purely transactional, it strips away value. But if the brand already looks like it belongs in that person’s life, the aspirational quality stays intact. Luxury works best when it feels real and rare.”

7. Be strategic with product seeding for high AOV items

Seeding becomes tricky when your product isn’t a $40 cream but a $3,000 watch, handbag, or mattress. You can’t afford to send products to every influencer who shows interest and you shouldn’t. The playbook has to look different.

• Start with people who already own your product. Loyal customers often make the best ambassadors, because they can speak from experience. Highlight their stories or invite them into brand campaigns.
  
  
• Treat it as PR as much as influencer marketing. If a full gift isn’t possible, lean on media coverage, co-created content, or loan programs (e.g. lending a couture dress for an event).
  
  
• Think in funnels, not one-offs. As Sambhav from Augmentum Media notes, higher price = higher trust threshold.

Most audiences won’t convert on post #1. You need repeated exposure where post #1 builds awareness, post #2 creates familiarity, and post #3+ unlocks real intent. For luxury, this means working with influencers who are willing to build a narrative over time. Instead of unboxing once and moving on, they integrate your brand into their lifestyle repeatedly

High AOV influencer seeding is about carefully placing your product with the right people, creating enough repeated exposure, and treating each partnership as an investment in long-term cultural equity.

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3 pillars for measuring luxury influencer marketing

The success test in luxury influencer marketing isn’t “Did we sell X units?” but “Did influencer partnerships make our brand more aspirational and bring the right kind of buyers closer to us?”

Here are 3 things to look for when judging whether to continue with influencer marketing or not: 

1. Brand equity

Ask whether the influencers you work with are shifting how your brand is perceived. Look at who is talking about you and how. 

Is your brand being featured in the right cultural spaces, such as top-tier lifestyle magazines, tastemaker newsletters, A-list influencer feeds, or niche communities (like ski resort goers!) that signal status? 

Also, review the content itself. Check if influencers are interpreting your brand in a way that feels consistent with luxury image you want to portray? 

Dani Tadic, CCO at Bitter Lip Media, shared a great perspective with us. If you want something more tangible than vague awareness metrics, here’s how she thinks about it:

“Saves are the strongest signal. A like is fleeting, a comment can be surface-level, but a save shows someone is holding onto the content, thinking about it, and maybe adding it to a moodboard later. It is a direct reflection of desire.

Beyond saves, I would look at shares and the tone of conversations happening around the brand. Are people talking about it as something they want to work toward? Luxury is always about staying aspirational, and saves are one of the clearest ways to measure whether that aspiration is landing.”

2. Customer mix and purchase behavior

Look at who is buying after you started influencer marketing, and not just how many units you sold. 

Some questions to ask: 

• Are younger buyers (Gen Z, Millennials) entering your brand because of your influencer collaborations? You can create post-purchase surveys to gather insights on how people find out about your brand. 
• Are you growing in markets like the Middle East or Asia through local influencer partnerships?
• Are these new customers only buying entry-level products (like perfumes, card holders), or are some moving into your core categories (handbags, watches, couture)?

3. Looking at signals of intent and loyalty

Luxury shoppers don’t usually click a link and buy right away. Their path to purchase is slower and more deliberate. So instead of measuring quick coupon redemptions or promo code sales, look for softer signals that show real interest building:

• Are more people joining your waitlists after an influencer posts?
• Are boutique appointment requests or private viewing requests going up?
• Do customers who first discovered you through an influencer come back later to buy again?

These small shifts tell you the influencer is working, even if the cash register doesn’t ring instantly.

How to execute influencer marketing for luxury brands?

In luxury, execution is part of the brand. If your influencer program looks disorganized (late shipments, missed follow-ups, clumsy communication!) It doesn’t just waste opportunities, it chips away at the aura you’ve worked so hard to build. Spreadsheets and scattered emails might be fine for a fast-moving consumer brand, but in luxury, every interaction has to feel intentional.

Instead of juggling tools and hoping nothing slips through the cracks, use a platform like SARAL. It helps you manage gifting, track sales, and build real relationships with influencers in one place. Book a time with our influencer marketing experts this week and explore how we can support your brand.