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What inflation’s cultural impact means for marketing

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What inflation's cultural impact means for marketing

When inflation is high the cost of living rises and wages, although rising too, never quite keep up. This has an impact on our pockets. But in addition to the economic consquences of inflation, there are subtler cultural consequences too. That’s something marketers need to understand.

Kate Muhl, a consumer insights expert and VP, analyst at Gartner, shared this insight. “It’s important to think about the idea that there’s more happening with inflation than just economic impact and consumer spending. Those effects start to fade. We’re not where we were a year ago — but lots of consumer attitudes and behaviors are still ripple effects out of that initial inflationary moment.”

What the research shows. The 2023 Gartner Cost-of-Living and Price Sentiment survey revealed the following:

  • A third of households reported financial hardship due to price increases with the most impact felt by low and low-to-middle income households.
  • 38% of respondents reported cutting their discretionary income (a YoY increase of 15% on 2022).
  • More than a third have increased spending on store brands and increased their use of coupons.
  • Over 40% report switching to generic brands, store brands and less expensive products in at least one product category.
  • 57% reported postponing a milestone event (such as a wedding or vacation) due to cost-of-living pressures.

Against this background, consumers and marketers are divided on what responses are appropriate. CMO priorities include increasing the availability of a product or service, offering special deals and increasing rewards and benefits. Customers agree on the special deals, but their other priorities are keeping prices steady and, interestingly, not seeing high-level executives get pay raises.

In Muhl’s view, this reflects a growing sense, especially among younger consumers, that the system is “rigged” in favor of the wealthy. “A lot of this is about consumer sentiment, culture,” said Muhl. “How does it feel? What are people’s prevailing opinions about how the world is working? Those things matter to brands.”

This doesn’t mean marketers should blindly switch to their customers’ priorities. “Consumers are consumers,” said Muhl. “Our job is to be marketers, but as marketers we have to realize that this disconnect exists and use the tools available to us to try to close that gap.”

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Dig deeper: Breaking down the digital transformation of today’s customer journeys

The right responses. This would be a good time, Muhl believes, to prioritize narratives that speak to thrift and savings and to focus on those brand values most relevant to your customers’ experience of inflationary pressures.

As examples of responsive narratives, Mulh offered Tide’s “Cold Hard Savings” campaign and Everlane’s “Priced Like It’s 2019.”

“This is just not the time to get into luxury positionings (with some exceptions) — luxury for its own sake rather than premium or quality,” Muhl said. “Brands need to really think about what their core values are and act from those where appropriate.”

Why we care. The past three years should have taught us that our sentiments, our culture, does not necessary align precisely with real world events. For many of us, deeply felt emotional reactions to a global pandemic did not necessarily coincide with COVID-19’s real-time impact. As the pandemic receded, pandemic-induced behaviors persisted — as did anxiety and uncertainty.

Similarly with inflation. Positive economic indicators and a slow but steady decline in inflation has not relieved foreboding about a recession. Inflation-triggered behaviors and attitudes will not automatically dissipate as inflation recedes to a tolerable level. Marketers need to be aware, sensitive and, as always, transparent in responding to consumer sentiment.

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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More promotions and more layoffs

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More promotions and more layoffs

For martech professionals salaries are good and promotions are coming faster, unfortunately, layoffs are coming faster, too. That’s according to the just-released 2024 Martech Salary and Career Survey. Another very unfortunate finding: The median salary of women below the C-suite level is 35% less than what men earn.

The last year saw many different economic trends, some at odds with each other. Although unemployment remained very low overall and the economy grew, some businesses — especially those in technology and media — cut both jobs and spending. Reasons cited for the cuts include during the early years of the pandemic, higher interest rates and corporate greed.

Dig deeper: How to overcome marketing budget cuts and hiring freezes

Be that as it may, for the employed it remains a good time to be a martech professional. Salaries remain lucrative compared to many other professions, with an overall median salary of $128,643. 

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Here are the median salaries by role:

  • Senior management $199,653
  • Director $157,776
  • Manager $99,510
  • Staff $89,126

Senior managers make more than twice what staff make. Directors and up had a $163,395 median salary compared to manager/staff roles, where the median was $94,818.

One-third of those surveyed said they were promoted in the last 12 months, a finding that was nearly equal among director+ (32%) and managers and staff (30%). 

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Extend the time frame to two years, and nearly three-quarters of director+ respondents say they received a promotion, while the same can be said for two-thirds of manager and staff respondents.

Dig deeper: Skills-based hiring for modern marketing teams

Employee turnover 

In 2023, we asked survey respondents if they noticed an increase in employee churn and whether they would classify that churn as a “moderate” or “significant” increase. For 2024, given the attention on cost reductions and layoffs, we asked if the churn they witnessed was “voluntary” (e.g., people leaving for another role) or “involuntary” (e.g., a layoff or dismissal). More than half of the marketing technology professionals said churn increased in the last year. Nearly one-third classified most of the churn as “involuntary.”

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Men and Women

Screenshot 2024 03 21 124540Screenshot 2024 03 21 124540

This year, instead of using average salary figures, we used the median figures to lessen the impact of outliers in the salary data. As a result, the gap between salaries for men and women is even more glaring than it was previously.

In last year’s report, men earned an average of 24% more than women. This year the median salary of men is 35% more than the median salary of women. That is until you get to the upper echelons. Women at director and up earned 5% more than men.

Methodology

The 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey is a joint project of MarTech.org and chiefmartec.com. We surveyed 305 marketers between December 2023 and February 2024; 297 of those provided salary information. Nearly 63% (191) of respondents live in North America; 16% (50) live in Western Europe. The conclusions in this report are limited to responses from those individuals only. Other regions were excluded due to the limited number of respondents. 

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Download your copy of the 2024 MarTech Salary and Career Survey here. No registration is required.

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