3 Ways Brands Can Positively Approach 2023 Despite Inflation Challenges

The day-to-day life of consumers varies based on age, lifestyle, gender, location, shopping preferences, budget and more. Yet one thing in 2022 that all consumers dealt with was inflation. And as we look ahead into 2023, inflation must remain a priority for brands and marketers to understand in order to effectively capture both consumer attention and dollars. 

To help plan for an effective inflation strategy, data is key. Leveraging insight that only data can reveal from 2022, the year ahead does not have to equal a death sentence for companies trying to manage the struggles that inflation often delivers. Keeping this in mind, here are three factors to consider as we look ahead to the New Year. 

#1: Consumer Sentiment Should Remain Top of Mind

A recent report from Salesforce and Merkle reported that “the root of inflation’s incendiary nature is its infiltration of every aspect of daily life. From gas prices to eggs to jeans to housing, sustained inflationary pressures are causing consumers to make difficult choices as they face rising utility prices and a potential recession in 2023.” That’s why it’s important to keep consumer perspectives in mind when identifying best marketing strategies. 

In other words, brands should think like consumers. More specifically, brands should aim to connect with their consumers by connecting to them on what matters to them most. This should include their concerns of inflation, recession worries and ways to navigate product wants and needs despite these realities. Reinforcing this sentiment is the “Inflation Report – Build Your Data-Led Inflation Strategy”, which states that “marketers seeking to connect with, communicate to, and convert consumers in 2023 will need to understand the multi-faceted lenses their customers are looking through.”

#2: Know Who Your Customer Truly Is 

Did you know that over half of US households are led by either a Gen X or a Millennial consumers?

Understanding who your audience of consumers are, who you want them to be and what their priorities are is essential in then making efforts that will help keep their attention in the year ahead. You must have a full economic understanding of what they need to buy versus want to buy as well as what motivates them to spend and save alike. It is only then that you can begin to see through their eyes and react accordingly to capture and keep their attention. 

Keeping up with the Jones has always been a matter of perspective, but now more so than ever this impacts consumer spending. With countless communities and consumers to consider, the job of retailers and marketers is not black and white. Data remains the driver of understanding these factors, with consistent review and analysis of data key to being effective in the year ahead when it comes to combating the challenges of inflation. 

#3: Look Ahead to What’s to Come 

With increased work force reduction, continued supply deficits, increasing interest rates and consumer economic concern raising each day, the year ahead can undoubtedly be assumed to be a tough one. Yet the pandemic taught us one thing, and that’s that change is inevitable – whether for the good or the bad. How you manage change is up to you. 

“The precarious state of the economy has many brand leaders looking at 2023 with a bearish outlook. However, pockets of prosperity and building blocks for future-looking success can be made as early as Q1 of 2023 by developing a data-grounded, agile strategy with four key focuses,” states Salesforce and Merkle. 

As you look ahead into the New Year, do so with proactive efforts to gain profitable results. To help achieve this, continuously lean on data to gain clarity on consumer demographics, current national and global sales across all retail categories, supply chain challenges and opportunities and customer spending habits – including the generational variations that will undoubtedly exist. In other words, know who your customers are, who your customers aren’t, how you can achieve stronger sales and what you need to do to react to more productive and profitable efforts. 

Finally, 2023 may not have the highest optimism from consumers but we do know consumers are still spending. Be a part of where they choose to make transactions in order to keep the year ahead one that you’ll be proud of. 

You can read the full report, “Build Your Data-Led Inflation Strategy: How to Tackle Macro Problems with Micro Insights in 2023,”  from Salesforce and Merkle here.