6 Marketing Tips You Can Learn From The British Royal Family
No matter which part of the world you come from, you know about The British Royal Family. And we are willing to give good odds to the fact that you probably know a lot more about them than you realize.
For example, you may know odd trivia about the Late Queen Elizabeth II, may have read about the royal weddings, or even their role in the current economic condition of the British world.
And all of this would have happened even if you did not live in Britain or any other European country. Did you ever wonder why this is so?
Why is it that something that is not connected to you is such an integral part of your knowledge of the world? Well, that is the power of marketing and branding that The British Royal Family has successfully tapped into.
Whether you are a small business, a growing brand, or even an entrepreneur, there is a lot to learn about marketing from The British Royal Family.
In this blog by Kimp, we trace out the successes of The British Royal Family in their branding and marketing endeavors to understand the lessons we can take away.
Let’s get started.
The British Royal Family Brand
Your marketing becomes a success and translates into something valuable only if you get your branding right. And that is one of the biggest reasons why all the efforts from The British Royal family have translated well over the past few decades. They have the right approach to branding.
So how do you brand a family? Well, the large family that is The Royal Family, is quite similar to a business if you think about it. Specifically, it is similar to a large business. One that has vested interests in the economy, politics, and society with multiple flagship products. While each of these areas needs to have a distinct identity, they come together well under the larger banner.
With this in mind, let’s analyze The British Royal Family’s brand.
What are The British Royal Family’s brand traits?
A good brand has a strong personality so that the audience can easily pick out anything related to them in a sea of content. The British Royal Family specifically has a very straightforward and well-defined personality. The brand resonates with the following brand characteristics: unique, conservative, value-driven, and loyal.
You can see this from every piece of communication, appearance, or product associated with The Royal Family. Given that Queen Elizabeth II was the second longest-serving monarch, we can understand why these brand characteristics came to be.
What is The British Royal Family’s visual identity?
The visual representation of a brand is so significant that for a large section of the general public, a logo or mascot is synonymous with branding. That is all they know and that is what they look for to identify, interact, or even transact with a brand.
Given that the right representation is not just important but one of the most significant things for The Royal Family’s brand, it is no surprise that they have a well-defined visual identity as well. Because if their name gets associated with the wrong materials, it can be quite catastrophic.
Their elaborate visual identity includes branding symbols such as The Buckingham Palace, The Crown, The reigning monarch’s face, Orb, Sceptre, flags, and so on.
6 Marketing Tips we can glean from The British Royal Family
Being a monarch in a democracy-centric world cannot be easy. But The British Royal Family has managed to stay relevant, likable, and significant enough that not a single day goes by without their mention in the public domain. Meanwhile in other parts of the world, many aristocrats and royal family members have disappeared from the limelight.
So what is it that makes The British Royal Family so special? How is this legacy still standing strong enough to make the whole world pause and mourn the passing of a 96-year-old Queen?
Let’s take a look at a masterclass in marketing to understand how you can replicate the effect too.
1. Understand your target audience and your brand identity
The best marketing tip anybody can give you is that before you launch any campaign, understand your audience and your brand identity. When you know how to project yourself as well as understand who you are talking to, everything becomes so much easier. And that is exactly what you should take away from The British Royal Family as well.
The Royal Family understands its positioning and how its audience views them perfectly. They also know that their target audience is mostly from the UK and/or belongs to the Commonwealth. This helps them create and fine-tune their communications and content accordingly.
For example, The British Royal Family understood that for the public they are an institution unlike any other brand out there. So they uphold their traditions, values, and image more than anything when they step out. They provide just what is expected of them – nothing more, nothing else.
They also have strict branding guidelines in place for anyone who would wish to create something in association with The British Royal Family.
Even on the digital front, they are meticulous about using the right tools. The Royal Family has a dedicated website for its audience and recently switched to the .uk domain instead of the .org.uk domain a few years ago. They understood that they have to keep up with the times and a shorter domain is the way to go.
Kimp Tip: Spend time understanding the basics before launching any campaign that can save you a lot of time and resources in the long run. Also, begin with a brand style guide to make all design-related decisions easier.
2. Gain strength via partnerships
Who better than one of the most successful monarchies to show us that “united we stand and divided we fall”. The reigning monarchs of this family have not just kept the public together with their grace and strength, but have also brought in many brands in partnership with The Royal Family.
These partnerships have been instrumental in spreading the word about The Royal Family, and their various efforts, over the last few decades. But it is not that The British Royal Family partners with just any brand – they only do so when they are sure of the fact that the brand matches their brand perception and can add value to their outreach efforts.
Some popular examples of this include:
- The Madame Tussauds Wax museum’s exhibits allows tourists to get a feel of The Royal Family and experience the royal figures in their wax form. In fact, “Madame Tussauds enjoys a close relationship with the British Royal Family dating back to William IV, King of England when the attraction first opened in London in 1835.”
- The British Royal Family provides their royal seal of warrant “to businesses that have supplied the royal household for at least five years.” This may just be the most powerful influencer campaign the world has seen.
- Queen Elizabeth II appeared in a short skit playing herself with Daniel Craig who performed the role of the popular British spy James Bond for the London Olympics.
Kimp Tip: Choose brand partnerships with care and understand the long-term impact of your associations before diving in.
3. Build a sense of exclusivity
More often than not, less is more in the business world. When you share high-quality content, you can post less frequently and still be confident that your audience will engage with you. Creating hype for your brand becomes easy and organic when there is an air of exclusivity generating FOMO in the world.
The British Royal Family embodies this perfectly and chooses their public appearances and even mentions quite meticulously.
Everything surrounding them goes viral because:
- The patrons of the family only give out interviews rarely and choose their words quite carefully.
- Their public appearances are limited, scheduled, and managed to the tee to generate excitement, curiosity, and attention from their audience. While the paparazzi culture manages to capture some candid moments, even they are managed in terms of publication and distribution.
- They only interact and engage with the best publication and media outlets to heighten the value of their interactions.
Kimp Tip: In the current world, “luxury and premium” are often associated with scarcity. You can apply this to your products, content creation, and marketing efforts too. Do less but put a lot into your efforts and deliver it well.
4. Associate with good causes to boost value
Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X – all have one thing in common and that is that they all care about the values a brand espouses. Your values and your ability to associate with positive things have a direct impact on their purchase decisions. In a world where perception is everything, brands can leave no stone unturned to ensure they have a positive brand image.
The British Royal Family has a longstanding tradition of helping society and contributing positively to many causes. Every member not just takes part in these efforts but has managed to spearhead them across generations.
For example, Prince Charles has founded 18 charities. And Prince Harry has founded the Invictus Games which helps wounded warriors in addition to co-founding “Sentebale, a charity set up to ensure the most vulnerable children in Lesotho get the support they need to lead healthy and productive lives.”
All of these efforts are seen in a very positive light, and in turn The Royal Family is as well.
Kimp Tip: While they do charity work, The British Royal Family also ensures that they speak about it publicly to boost the awareness of the causes they support as well. So when your business is involved in a similar activity, do not step back from promoting it and bringing attention to it. Not only will this reinforce what your business stands for. It will also help shine light on an important initiative.
5. Do not underestimate the power of rebranding
Here is a fun fact for you – did you know that The British Royal family was not always called the House of Windsor? No, they were originally called by the German name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
But in 1917, amidst rising anti-German sentiments during the first World War, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the House of Windsor. The new name sounded very British. And it also showed the public that they are happy to be known by this lineage than their earlier German one.
This unique example of rebranding reinforces an important lesson; your brand should align with your target audience or it’s time for a new look.
Kimp Tip: When the time is right, do not fear a rebrand. It can be the best thing that ever happened to your business. Of course, you must do it right to be able to grow your legacy.
6. Stay connected via social media
Changing with the times is the sign of a wise person. And The British Royal Family has truly embodied that saying. They understand that while press releases and scheduled appearances are important, current generations likes instant updates directly to their mobile phones.
And that is why The Royal Family has individual and official accounts on platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Of course, there is no presence on Snapchat or TikTok owing to the incompatibility of the social media platforms with their brand image.
On these platforms, you can find:
- Personal day-to-day updates of the family members
- Official announcements
- Press releases
- Branded collaborations, and so on
While they are on social media, the content is still very much tailored to the brand’s guidelines.
Create a Royal Brand with Kimp
Even for a small business, marketing and branding are as important as it is for The Royal Family. Your meticulously crafted brand image and scheduled marketing efforts can boost brand awareness, improve sales, and aid growth more than you can imagine.
As we can see from The Royal Family, consistency and planning are important to achieve any kind of success in the marketing world. While they have all the tools and resources at their disposal, a budding business may hesitate to take the plunge.
But they do not have to, when they work with Kimp’s unlimited graphic design and video design subscriptions. Unlimited designs, revisions, user access, and brand buckets at a flat monthly fee.