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1 Minute Advice: Current Consumer Trends According to McKinsey

With inflationary pressure and global uncertainty, this is a good time for marketers to pay close attention to current consumer trends -- and consulting firm McKinsey is keeping a close eye on them. According to a very recent Consumer Pulse survey conducted with U.s. adults by McKinsey, here are some key trends to watch:

1. "More US consumers are switching brands and retailers now than in 2020 and 2021, and about 90 percent plan on continuing doing so."
2. "US consumers continued to spend more money online, but they also returned to physical stores through 2021 and early 2022."
3. "Three out of four US consumers say that they are shopping online and in stores -- and many are participating in omnichannel activities."
4. "While value is paramount now, values (environmental, social, and governance issues) still matter."

More detailed statistics from McKinsey here: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-us-consumers-are-feeling-shopping-and-spending-and-what-it-means-for-companies?

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

1 Minute Advice: Adjust Marketing for Inflation

Inflation can change the way consumers interact with brands. A recent survey by Vericast "found that 72% of consumers are responding to inflation by shifting their shopping behaviors to buying generic or lower-priced products. About one-third are limiting purchases of nonessential items. Clothing and accessories, followed by groceries, were the top categories where consumers are limiting spending, and 61% said they are eating out less often," according to a report from SmartBrief.

What can marketers do? Adjust your strategy to show you understand the consumer's pain, says Vericast executive director of client strategy Dave Cesaro.

“Expressing empathy for the pain consumers are experiencing because of rising prices and how the retailer is helping consumers get through that pain,” Cesaro said, adding, “Whether by allowing consumers to spread out payments over time or giving the consumer something that will help them right now with a pain that they are feeling every time they need to put gas in their vehicle.”

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

1 Minute Advice: 3 Simple, Effective PR Strategies

PR (Public Relations) is not just effective, it can result in invaluable credibility for a brand that can be even more powerful than paid promotion. Writing for MarketingProfs, Corina Leslie, PR Manager for ZeroBounce, shares three effective PR strategies any brand marketer can pursue.

1. "Home in on what's unique, and craft your pitches around that"
   Leslie makes an excellent point about relevance: "Is your unique offering suddenly more relevant in a specific context? Put out a press release and ramp up your pitching. Newsjacking is still a powerful PR tactic, so don't miss out on ways to piggyback on the current news."
2. "Make the most of your in-house talent"
   Industry blogs, websites and other outlets may provide valuable coverage by interviewing your managers.
3. "Partner to cross-promote"
   "Think of all the companies you could partner with and reach out to them with cross-promotion ideas," writes Leslie.  "It's an easy way to expose your name to a new audience."

Read more here (free subscription required): https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2022/47148/three-ways-to-get-more-pr-for-your-business?

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

1 Minute Advice: B2B Lead Funnel Strategies

As a B2B marketer, you're likely quite familiar with the lead generation funnel, but you may not think about the fact that there are different strategies that apply to top-of-funnel vs. mid-funnel lead generation.

According to recent research cited in MarketingProfs, B2B marketers in North America and the United Kingdom said that, in 2021, the top three most successful tactics for generating quality leads at top-of-funnel were social media, email and live/virtual events. However, when it came to generating or progressing leads at mid-funnel, the top three most successful tactics were webinars, live/virtual events and white papers/eBooks. Not surprisingly, this suggests that mid-funnel leads have a deeper interest in more substantive information.

Read more here (free subscription required): https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2022/47055/the-top-tactics-for-generating-quality-b2b-leads?

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

1 Minute Advice: Don't Overlook B2B Communities

If you're a B2B marketer, you should know that 2/3 of B2B users (66 percent) said "they appreciate belonging to online B2B communities because it allows them to connect with others who have relevant interests," according to a recent study cited in MarketingProfs.

Justin Levy of Demandbase writes:

"Customer communities offer benefits for brands, such as the ability to engage with clients on a one-to-one basis for customer service or sales purposes. Marketers can use a 'soft-sell' approach to develop customer interest in their offerings, sign people up for communications, and offer promotions to members.

"Online communities also give brands a priceless opportunity to address customer problems and questions early. Doing so enhances brand differentiation, boosts transparency and accountability, grows customer loyalty and improves the customer journey."

Read more here (free subscription required): https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2022/47057/the-importance-of-b2b-communities-whats-in-it-for-marketers?

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

1 Minute Advice: How to Become Customer-Centric

Becoming a customer-centric company isn't just about gathering customer feedback. Chris Benham writes for MarketingProfs, "True customer-centricity means treating customers as individual people rather than as an aggregate." He discusses five steps to becoming more customer-centric:

1. Start at the top
   "Executives are the role models within an organization, and their philosophy on customers will permeate the business—from processes to software choices to branding—and inform decision-making."
2. Appoint a customer champion
   "The customer-centricity champion should be well versed in the company's customers and should support the company's objective to give them a richer customer experience."
3. Make customer feedback transparent and accessible
   "Don't relegate customer feedback to your customer relationship management tool. Instead, so that it's top of mind, add customer feedback to the various systems and tools people use every day."
4. Act on customer feedback
   "...make sure customer feedback is wired into the organization across all applications and communications tools that teams use daily."
5. Discuss customers in every meeting
   "When every meeting starts or ends with a customer story or data point, it reminds the organization that they exist because of their customers."

Read more here (free subscription required): https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2021/44475/five-steps-to-becoming-a-more-customer-centric-company

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

1 Minute Advice: Brand Relevance in 2022

Brand rankings come in a variety of forms, but one of the more intriguing ways of looking at brands is their "relevance." Prophet, a leading analytical firm, considers several factors in determining the relevance of a brand: customer obsession, ruthlessness, pragmatism, distinct inspiration and pervasive innovation. To compile the most relevant brands in the U.S., Prophet surveyed more than 13,500 U.S. consumers regarding 293 brands, according to Marketing Charts. The survey reveals that these are the top ten most relevant brands in the U.S. for 2022:

1. Apple
2. Peloton
3. Spotify
4. Bose
5. Android
6. Instant Pot
7. PlayStation
8. FitBit
9. TED
10. USAA

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

1 Minute Advice: Consumers Still Like Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Retail and online marketers take note: Despite the pandemic growth of e-commerce, recent research indicates that consumers still prefer to shop in traditional retail stores vs. online, as reported by Marketing Charts. A survey of U. S. adults conducted in February by Morning Consult showed that, when asked how they "typically prefer" to shop, 41 percent of all adults said in a store and 29 percent said online. For adults with household income less than $50,000, the difference was even more dramatic: 45 percent in a store vs. 27 percent online. The variation across generations was also notable: Baby Boomers by far prefer shopping in a store (47 percent in a store vs. 24 percent online). Gen Xers are next (41 percent in a store vs. 30 percent online), followed by Gen Zers (38 percent in a store vs. 30 percent online) and then Millennials (36 percent in a store vs. 34 percent online).

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

1 Minute Advice: Look Out YouTube, Here Comes TikTok

While YouTube is still dominant in social video, TikTok is growing dramatically in popularity, according to eMarketer. The implications for marketers may be significant as this trend continues. YouTube is still ahead of TikTok in total users and in every age group, reports eMarketer, but things are shifting in a few key age groups:

• Among US teens ages 12 to 17, 87.6% will use YouTube monthly this year, while 65.3% will use TikTok, according to our forecasts. YouTube’s penetration is reaching a ceiling, while TikTok’s is still rising fast; YouTube will rise just 1.5 percentage points this year compared with 2020, while TikTok will be up more than 13 points (from 51.7%).
• In the 18-to-24 group, the usage gap will be even smaller than among teens this year: 85.4% will be on YouTube monthly and 73.9% will be on TikTok.
• By 2025, there will be 24.2 million US TikTok users ages 18 to 24 and 26.6 million US YouTube users.

(Above data from eMarketer)

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

1 Minute Advice: How Should Brands Approach the Ukrainian Conflict?

According to Marketing Dive, "Consumers want brands to take concrete measures addressing Russia's invasion of Ukraine... A survey Gartner conducted found that most U.S. respondents were concerned about the Ukraine crisis, with eight in 10 naming at least one step they would like to see marketers take. At the top of the list was reconsidering doing business in Russia or with Russian partners, cited by 60%."

Still, the war presents something of a dilemma for brand advertisers. Kate Muhl, vice president analyst at Gartner's marketing practice, tells Marketing Dive, "The messages [consumers] are looking for are: Support for people in Ukraine, peace, and to some degree, resources. But [talking about] what you specifically are doing, it's just too soon."

While some larger brand marketers are being cautious, others have demonstrated through their actions that they perceive consumers want them to side with Ukraine. There has been a significant number of major American brands, including American Express, Apple, Disney, Ford, Ikea, MasterCard, Netflix and VISA, that are pulling back from the Russian consumer market. Other actions, such as oil companies that are abandoning deals with Russia and sports organizations that are banning Russian athletes, are also notable. Every brand marketer needs to look at the situation and evaluate whether to take a stand and how it may affect brand perception -- or if it is more prudent to remain neutral.

This post is brought to you by 123 eGuides, publisher of authoritative, affordable guides to help small businesses get the most from your marketing. Now available: The updated, revised Third Edition of the popular eGuide, Branding 123, that details a 3-part system for how small marketers can build a breakthrough brand. Included in the Third Edition are profiles of 5 small brands that grew up using techniques similar to those outlined in Branding 123. Read more about this eGuide here.

 

Learn how the World War II era influenced the rise of the modern American brand.