Check Your Tone

Check your tone. The tone of messaging is also a key consideration when marketing in a cost-of-living crisis. First and foremost, brands need to convey sensitivity and transparency – don’t resort to euphemisms when relaying bad news.

Especially when having to raise prices, brands need to communicate their value, aside from price, and also realize that consumers may have enhanced expectations in areas such as customer experience. Another technique is to rely on humor, especially for brands which commonly rely on it. In fact, following this advice might be a competitive advantage; humor has been declining in use since 2009, according to research from Kantar, despite its effectiveness in building emotional engagement.

It is used most often in TV (37%) and YouTube (30%), but is less popular in print, outdoor and website ads. System1’s analysis of 2021 Super Bowl ads demonstrates humor’s impact. Despite racial strife, polarization and ongoing worry in the US about the pandemic, nine of the top 10 ads favored by consumers employed humor.

Notably, the only top ad that wasn’t humorous – from the employment site Indeed.com – displayed empathy, another way that marketers can effectively use tone. Marketing in a cost-of-living crisis is about expanding deep customer connections through savvy use of media and messaging.

The evidence shows brands which embrace this will emerge from the crisis stronger than those that don’t. For all the focus on investment, don’t forget how important the tone of messaging is in building connections with your customers. One underutilized technique is humor, which, if used well, can be a competitive advantage, even during tumultuous times.

A Kantar study of humor’s effectiveness found that humorous ads are more expressive, involving and distinct..