With the majority of Americans very concerned about inflation and 84% expecting their purchasing habits to change over the next few months as a result, marketers need to refine their strategies to deal with these shifts in consumer behaviors and attitudes. A report from Merkle [download page] outlines various ways in which they’re doing so.
Based on a survey of 250 US marketing decision-makers working at B2C, B2B, and DTC companies with at least $100 million in annual revenue, the research finds that almost half (48%) are rethinking the value proposition(s) they communicate as market differentiators. Equally as importantly, 48% are leveraging different or new promotions to help encourage customers to convert. Using the right promotion could prove to be key: a recent study found that some consumers report leaving their favorite brands because other ones have better promotions.
Marketers are also taking pains to show their customers that they are aware of their situations. Some 47% of respondents to Merkle’s survey said they’ve adjusted content across channels to recognize customers’ concerns/current reality.
A similar proportion (46%) said that their strategy varies across audiences depending on how severely impacted they are by inflation. The analysts believe that only a minority of marketers responding in this way leaves “an opportunity for brands who can start implementing inflation-related marketing strategies at a more granular level.”
Other Highlights:
In other results from the report unrelated to inflation but surrounding data and privacy:
- Concerns appear to have eased a little about privacy regulations and tracking changes creating significant challenges over the next 5 years;
- Presented with a list of areas of measurement and asked to identify their most important, the largest proportion cited obtaining an accurate view of performance with new privacy regulations and tracking changes;
- The biggest challenge for first-party data capture and strategy is connecting different sources of data to create person-based IDs; and
- 6 in 10 have either begun to take action or have made significant progress in migrating to GA4.
For more, download the study here.
