What’s a retailer to do? Don’t let tariffs, rising costs mute brand growth

Tariffs and inflation are causing some turbulence, but they don't have to slow down your growth.

In fact, this could be the perfect opportunity for your brand to stand out, capture market share, and outpace competitors who choose to stay quiet when it comes to advertising. We're noticing that tariffs are causing prices to rise, and with inflation already a factor, it's crucial for your brand to stay visible and relevant as consumers become more price-sensitive and choosier. If you're adjusting prices and/or passing added costs on to consumers, one of the most effective ways to connect and communicate with those consumers is through TV ad campaigns. An audience-driven TV campaign can focus media budget on your best prospects in a "safe" way, to keep intent and consideration of your brand high with them. 

Here are a couple of ways your TV ad can connect with your audience:

• Explain the value to them
• Emphasize benefits to them because of product quality
• Offer loyalty incentives
• Highlight supply chain transparency
  
• Create advertising that creates awareness of brand and drives intent to purchase

Going silent isn't a good option, and history supports this premise. Inflation, along with tarriff-induced price increases, not only affects consumer purchasing power but also ramps up competition among brands vying for share of voice and customer loyalty. While fallout from tariffs might be unavoidable, losing brand favorability and customer engagement isn't. Staying visible when others pull back can be your biggest competitive advantage.

Smart Spending Beats Budget Cuts

Here's how some top advertisers are tackling this challenge:

This bears repeating: there are several ways to focus on your audience. For example, spending ad dollars on TV campaigns targeting prospects who live within 5 miles of your locations is a great foundation to your campaigns. Focus on audience segments that demonstrate previous purchase behavior. Alternatively, even if they haven't purchased from you yet, placing ads in the right content can be a relevant way to connect with users who are more likely to convert.

Leverage first-party data to create lookalike audiences or custom segments based on your most valuable customers. This can be applied to CTV as well as linear TV campaigns, and boosts targeting precision and media efficiency.

Plan on high frequency exposure, with flexibility and shorter cycles based on campaign performance against business goals and changing business conditions. This keeps your strategy flexible without overcommitting to uncertain forecasts. This also supports creative testing--and is quite doable for all multiscreen advanced TV ad campaigns.

Regularly refresh your creative to reflect current sentiment and market conditions. Even a small update in messaging or visuals can significantly boost engagement and conversion. Keeping your creative fresh helps avoid ad fatigue with your audience.

Optimize TV campaigns around real outcomes like sales lift, customer acquisition cost, or lifetime value. Every TV media dollar can support a measurable objective that contributes to brand share of voice and growth.

Using omnichannel campaign management across linear TV, CTV, video, search, social, and more puts many elements in play, making transparent reporting crucial. Smart spending in turbulent times makes solid reporting, including insights on cost and performance, not just a "nice to have" afterthought but a critical component for making smart decisions to capitalize on opportunities for your brands.

After a few decades in business, Centriply has seen our share of bumpy times and uncertainty. We designed our platform for agility—to withstand every bump a TV ad campaign might encounter and then some—and as we work with clients to support their brands with hyper-local, multimarket TV ad campaigns, flexibility in every sense drives success. And right now, that's the one advantage you can't afford to miss.

The Bottom Line is...

If you want to grow, keep your voice in the market—in the form of TV ad campaigns that reach all the right people in all the right places. Tariffs and inflation might increase your costs, but stepping back from your customers could cost even more.