How Brands and Agencies Succeed In An Inflationary Market With the Same or Lower Budgets
The current economic conditions fueled by inflation, fears about our banking system and the concerns surrounding the world economy create a naturally challenging time for businesses. Rising costs on goods and services can eat into profits and make it more difficult to compete in the current marketplace. This is not all doom and gloom. In fact, there are strategies that brands and agencies should employ to draw customers and prospects, build their brands and sell more during this inflationary period.
The COVID and post-COVID period created ample opportunity for smarter targeting. Meta paired with solid search and both connected TV (CTV) and streaming audio are helping brands win.
CTV allows advertisers to target specific audiences with video ads on Internet-connected TV devices such as smart TVs and streaming devices like Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Streaming audio, on the other hand, allows advertisers to reach listeners with audio ads on streaming music and podcast platforms. Finally, when paired with a smart brand and acquisition strategy in Meta and search the combined cocktail offers unique opportunities to build brand awareness and drive sales, particularly in today's market conditions.
While both CTV and streaming audio are newer channels, they are proven and have scaled to a point that has surpassed their traditional brethren. The market is less crowded and competitive than more established channels like traditional TV and radio. This presents an opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves and stand out from the competition by leveraging these emerging platforms -- and when adding other proven tactics like carousels in Meta and a solid search strategy to supplement the behavior from your CTV and audio strategy you can win.
Unlike traditional media where you have ample waste, Meta, CTV and streaming audio provide the precision audience targeting needed to avoid waste. With these channels, advertisers can target audiences based on a wide range of factors, including demographics, shopping behavior, interests and location. This targeting capability allows brands to reach the right audiences with the right message at the right time, which can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
In an inflationary market, cost-effectiveness is also a key consideration for advertisers. These channels combined have proven to deliver return on ad spend in the range of $8 - $76 per $1 invested when paired with solid strategy to avoid fraud and buying transparently where middlemen and resellers are cut out. You do not need more money in this market or new tools to success; you need to refine your approach, select a partner that guarantees a fraud-free delivery and that is price transparent so more of your media dollar goes to media to optimize your ad spend and get the most bang for your buck.
With the scale they now command, these channels offer a parallelly long strong platform to build brand awareness and loyalty over time. By leveraging the power of storytelling and emotional connections, brands can use these platforms to create compelling content that resonates with their target audiences. This can lead to stronger brand recognition, increased brand loyalty and, ultimately, more sales.
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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.
Gabe Greenberg
Greenberg, a 25+ year media and marketing veteran with tenure at Microsoft, Autobytel, Delivery Agent and Vibrant, is CEO of Octillion, a platform as a service company serving local and mid-market brands and agencies and of GABBCON (aka Los Angeles TV and In…
