Tackling Marketing Implications of Inflation

Even though inflation isn’t as present in the public discourse as it was a year ago, consumers are still feeling the pressure. According to our Q2 2024 Consumer Pulse Survey, half of Americans cited inflation for everyday goods (like fuel, utilities or groceries) was their top financial concern — with 84% ranking it in their top three. 

With consumers worried about inflation reemerging, marketers face distinct challenges in finding receptive audiences and ensuring messages are sensitive to the experiences of cost-conscious shoppers. That said, with the right strategies in place, these obstacles aren’t insurmountable. Read on to discover three approaches you can implement to help achieve positive marketing outcomes — even in today’s economic environment.

Strategy #1: Fine-tune your audience strategies for the macroeconomic moment

Common sense would dictate rising inflation concerns mean overall, consumers are less enthusiastic about their economic futures.

However, consumer concerns about inflation can vary: According to the same survey, Gen X and Baby Boomers are more concerned about their household incomes keeping pace with inflation than younger cohorts. Similarly, younger generations were generally more positive about their economic outlook, with more than 60% of Gen Z and Millennials reporting optimism about their finances over the next year compared to less than half of Gen X and Baby Boomers.

This is important because it illustrates American attitudes in the face of inflation aren’t monolithic — in fact, they can vary widely. This in turn presents two key opportunities for marketers.

First, generations who are experiencing inflation pressures in different ways will naturally react to the same marketing messages differently. Segmenting your audience by demographic or financial factors (e.g., age, household income, homeownership, presence of children, etc.) will give you more granular control over how you set up your media mix, creative and more. This helps ensure you’re meeting your audiences where they are — with messages that are more likely to be engaging (more on this later).

Secondly, younger generations’ relative economic optimism means they’re more apt to be receptive to marketing in the first place. If you haven’t been specifically targeting Gen Z or Millennials in your 2024 marketing activities, now might be a good time for a test.

Strategy #2: Tailor your messaging to cost-conscious consumers

Audiences are just one part of the marketing equation.

As consumer expectations of brands continue to grow, authenticity in communications is becoming of paramount importance: 90% of consumers said authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support. This puts the onus on marketers to craft messages that are thoughtfully designed to appeal to specific audiences and their circumstances.

This importance is magnified in an economic environment where price pressures are squeezing consumers ever more tightly. If marketers continue to deliver messages built for a time when consumers weren’t feeling as much pressure, they’re at risk of coming across as tone-deaf. The numbers back this up: According to Insider Intelligence, in 2023, the most successful brands were ones that focused on promoting lower-cost options to price-sensitive consumers.

Building the right messages that appeal to the right customers at the right time and place can sound a lot easier said than done. However, marketers do have an ace in the hole here: identity

When marketers start with a holistic view of their target customers and prospects across touchpoints, marketing decision-making can become significantly simplified. Instead of taking a best guess about who your customers are or how they’re consuming media, identity gives you a clear picture before a single dollar is spent. This in turn gives you the critical insight you need to craft messages your audiences will genuinely find engaging.

Put simply, the more you know your audiences, the better equipped you’ll be to create messages that resonate.

Strategy #3: Make your media dollars work smarter, not harder.

Consumers aren’t the only ones focused on costs. A consistent story in the marketing world since the pandemic is CMOs are putting budgets under the microscope — with the expectation of doing the same (or more) with less . According to Gartner, marketing budgets fell 15% YoY on average in 2024.

With extra attention on performance and return, there’s also renewed emphasis on the importance of more accurate, reliable measurement for marketing activities. This is doubly true for channels that are heavily fragmented or haven’t historically been thought of as performance drivers like streaming audio or video.

Initiating your marketing efforts via a unified platform that covers the entire marketing lifecycle — from planning and activation all the way through measurement — means you’re engaging with fewer data handoffs and using the same data for all your marketing activities.

This has two benefits for your bottom line. First, fewer handoffs mean less data degradation, enabling greater efficiency by helping you reach who you intended — instead of wasting impressions (and ad dollars). Second, with fewer partners involved, the “ad tech tax” is lessened, helping ensure more of your budget goes to working media.

While it may not be as flashy as a custom audience strategy or suite of tailored creative, ensuring your marketing tech stack is working for and not against you can go a long way toward boosting the power of every penny in your marketing budget.

Wrapping up

Inflation in the economy can create a lot of uncertainty for consumers. But with the right strategies in place and the right set of solutions at your disposal, you can deliver authentic, relevant messages to consumers while driving positive results.

The best part, you’re not in this alone. Learn more about how TransUnion® TruAudience® Marketing Solutions can help you build an effective marketing approach for any economic environment.