20 Jan Marketing and PR during a cost-of-living crisis
What is the best way to talk to customers during a recession? Consumer behaviour is changing and marketing communications need to adapt to maintain brand trust without creating anxiety for target customers.
Marketing Week recently wrote about how brands are better off highlighting their quality and reliability in times of uncertainty. Instead of explicitly using a cost-of-living message, brands should showcase things like value for money, product quality and reliability which continue to be the main drivers in purchasing decisions.
Generally, customers don’t expect brands to work in the interest of the greater good and messaging around the current climate can be seen as hypocritical.
The Guardian reported on ‘The Lipstick Effect’ and how Britons are turning to small luxuries to cheer themselves up, with mood boosters such as lipstick, chocolate, coffee.
The lipstick index was a term coined by Estée Lauder’s Leonard Lauder, which predicts that sales of affordable luxuries rise in economic downturns.
In the face of financial headwinds, some customers are still determined to purchase small treats that add extra joy to their everyday lives, with things including beauty products and luxury food items to enjoy at home seeing an increase in sales.
Instead of coming across as hypocritical with specific cost-of-living ads or bombarding customers with sale messages that aren’t as good as they seem, brands can maintain trust and authenticity by talking about their quality, reliability and ‘little joys’.
If you’d like help honing your brand’s tone of voice and targeting customers, get in touch with the team hello@luya.co.uk