Your Brand Doesn't Feel Luxurious for This Reason w/ Erika Maram

Ever wonder why some brands instantly feel trustworthy, luxurious, and worth paying more for?

Most business owners think luxury branding comes from expensive logos, fancy design elements, or following the latest trends. In reality, it's about something much deeper. It's about how your brand makes people feel. In this Business Chaser episode, Erika Maram breaks down the psychology behind luxury branding and why how people feel about your brand matters more than the price tag. 

She shares the three principles luxury brands consistently use to create trust, authority, and recognition: space, tone, and restraint. You'll learn why cluttered branding creates confusion, how consistency builds authority, and what you can borrow from some of the world's most recognizable luxury brands to elevate your own brand experience.

Connect with Erika:

Website: https://erikamaram.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erika.maram/

Chapters:

00:25 Why luxury branding isn't about price

01:10 What makes a brand feel luxurious

02:25 How messy branding hurts authority

03:25 Why consistency builds recognition

04:25 The real meaning of luxury in design

06:15 The power of space, tone, and restraint

07:05 Why luxury brands avoid trends 

This podcast is brought to you in partnership with Liz Chapman & CO

Upcoming Events:

Napa Retreat - October 5-8, 2026 - https://laurennajar.myflodesk.com/cetj223rsr

Growth & Connect Events - https://laurennajar.myflodesk.com/hb2a0mwbqw

Save 25% with Flodesk - https://flodesk.com/c/OR8VKL

Let’s Stay Connected:
→ Follow Lauren on Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurennajar
→ Learn more or work with me: www.laurennajar.com
→ Follow Business Over Cocktails on IG: www.instagram.com/businessovercocktails
→ Attend Growth & Connect retreats & events: www.instagram.com/growthandconnect

🎧 Subscribe & Review:
Love the episode? Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend who needs a business boost and a good chat over a cocktail.

Transcript

Copy

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Business Chaser, your quick pour of strategy, clarity, and momentum. We skip the small talk and get straight to the strategy here in these bite-sized episodes. We're here to help you grow smarter, market better, and chase what matters all in 15 minutes or less. I'm your host, Lauren Najar. Tune in and let's chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hi guys, welcome back. And today I'm gonna be talking about why luxury brands feel so effortless and inviting and dissecting that luxury term. And especially so that you can battle that same energy from their branding. So luxury design isn't about just gold foils and expensive cars like Lamborghinis. No. Luxury, I want you to associate it with space, with the psychology behind it. It's that emotion and that feel that you get when you step into an expensive car like a Lamborghini. You feel valued. You feel like you've made it. You feel comfortable because they're usually very comfortable. You feel in a very good, safe space. When you go into an expensive Rams website, they're usually black and white, they focus on visuals, and they don't have a ton of text. And that is very purposeful. It's not just for chans, they make it so that you can paint a picture in your mind of what it is that item will look into you. So let's say, for example, you go into a website for a very high-end brand of clothing, and what you want is a shirt. You don't want to be distracted by text. You don't want to be distracted by high emojis or gold foil effects and moving things. You want to see the shirt? You want to envision how would that shirt look on me? That comfort, that inviting feel, it's what makes it feel luxurious. Like that feels good. So that's what luxury ends up being. Not just the gold foil, not just what it represents. It's the feel. When you walk into a jewelry store, you feel like it's expensive because of how things are presented. They're behind glass, they are shiny, they have all of these things in that store that makes it feel luxurious and it makes it feel spacious and comfortable. How can you apply that same concept into your branding? Let's start it with social media. Sometimes we create content for social media and we forget that they're gonna watch the real, regardless of what you're doing on it, but then they land into your profile and it's messy. You use seven different fonts in one week, three different colors, and it's not consistent. That lack of consistency, it's interpreted in their brain as a lack of authority. Therefore, it's not luxury, it's messy. And in the science psychology, everything has a purpose. Example also with colors. When you use seven different colors and they're not consistent, they clash with each other, and they don't represent your business, your brand. Again, inconsistency, lack of authority, lack of that luxurious feel. When you create a rhythm in your colors, that's when people start noticing you. That's when people start saying, Oh, that color is mad that person. I'm gonna open it and see it. It doesn't get scrolled over. It gives people that space in their mind to recognize you. Same with space. When you create a post and you try to fit in all this text and graphics and lines and elements into the design, it doesn't give space for the eye to consume the text. They're just gonna see the squares in the corner, the gold foil on the top, so many elements that it gets overwhelming and they just scroll over it because it's not inviting. Because when you buy something that feels luxurious, you don't want to take it off. So luxury, it's not just about the price, it's about the perception and the feel that people get when you communicate your graphics and you present your website and all those things. So luxury in design, it communicates that space, it communicates that confidence and that authority that you have. Because you're the expert in your business. That's why you have a business. So that luxury term, it's not about the price, it's how people feel. Because they're willing to pay X amount, but if they feel like they're overpaying, it's because you don't feel, you don't represent yourself at the same level. So giving you a visual example, and that's something that Laura and I talked about on the episode, is do you want them to feel like they're walking into a teens magazine, or do you want them to feel like they're walking into a votes magazine? Because the feel is completely different. One feels luxurious and the other one feels like a party for a teenager that it's going through a messy hormonal decade, because it's a decade hormonal mess. So focus on those three things: space, that it's the space that you get the graphic to breathe, to be readable, to be able to be consumed. Focus on your tone, the tone of colors, and the tone of typography, the fonts that you use. Consistency in those, it's so important. Ermiss, that's a luxury brand, and they only use the same orange. In all the boxes, in the ribbons, it's consistent. It's not just because, yeah, the price tag is high, but it also gives you that luxury feel when you look at it. It could cost, I don't know, one third of the actual price, but it feels luxurious, and that's what you want. And the third one, so we got space, tone, and restraints. Hold yourself back from adding more things, hold yourself back on trying that new font that you found. Hold yourself back from trying to fit yourself into every single trend. You don't see luxurious brands doing every trend because they stick to their name. So luxury brands aren't following trends, they're predictable. You know what you can expect from them because that's their brand. That's how they are portrayed and feel as luxurious because you know what to expect, even if it's a new collection in Paris Fashion Week. You know what kind of designs to expect from each brand. So that repetition, it's what creates that trust, it creates a bond between you and the people that come and visit you. It's timeless, it creates authority between you and that person. So simplify your color palette, simplify your fonts hierarchy so it's easier also for you when creating graphics, building your website. It's something that you can do for yourself that it's going to elevate your brand to feel more luxurious and not just feel like something that was done just to get it out there. It's simple steps. Three things that anyone can do to elevate their brand, feel effortless, but still have that luxurious feel. Space, tone, restraints. Super simple. So thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

That's your quick hit of clarity and momentum for the week. If it sparks something, share it with a friend or tag us in your stories at Business Over Cocktails and or at Lauren Major. We love seeing what resonates. Don't forget, Mondays are for full-length episodes with rich conversations. And Fridays are the Business Chaser episodes. These are bite sized insights pulled from our guests to keep you inspired and aligned throughout the week. Do you have a question or takeaway? DM us at Business Over Cocktails. We just might feature it in a feature episode. Cheers.