“There are lots of shiny new pennies in marketing, so it's very easy to get distracted,” said Nicklaus Hasselberg, VP of growth marketing and ecommerce at Every Man Jack, at The Lead Summit in New York City last week. “It’s about ‘What do we reasonably believe will have the biggest impact on our business?' And let’s do it as well as we can."

Over half (54%) of marketers worldwide predict advertising budget cuts this year, per a March Nielsen study. Amidst tightening budgets, the pressure for marketers to choose the right technology, media investments, and partners is heightened.

Here’s how consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands like Every Man Jack, TileBar, and My/Mochi are positioning their brands as indispensable while building internal teams that prioritize full-funnel growth.

Making value about more than price

While consumers are shopping with value in mind, price and competitive discounts aren’t the right approach for every brand.

• 60% of consumers made or plan to make changes to their budget to prepare for possible price increases, per a March CNET study.

Flooring and tile business TileBar is courting consumers who are taking more time with their purchases, said CMO Andrea Bozeman.

“To say we’re a considered purchase is an understatement,” she said. “Consumers put a lot of thought and consideration into their purchase, and they’re investing in something that’s close to their identity.”

While TileBar emphasizes long-term value in home improvement, other brands are finding different ways to demonstrate worth in a price-conscious market.

Buying ice cream typically takes less thought than purchasing kitchen flooring, so My/Mochi aims to offer levity as consumers cut back on disposable purchases.

“There’s a lot of stress and discomfort, but people are still looking for relief in small moments when they can take a break," said My/Mochi CMO Brigette Wolf.

Making the full marketing funnel work together

As they communicate value, brands are also focused on distributing their marketing spend across the customer journey. When marketers lose sight of their brand marketing, they’ll eventually struggle to scale their lower-funnel initiatives, said Hasselburg.

“If you’re putting too much of your investment into something like Amazon and are trying to duke it out there, there’s only so much growth you can get from a single platform,” he said.

As stakeholders review their marketing investments and seek proven ROI, establishing clear metrics from the start is key.

“When you’re working with a board [and needing to demonstrate results within shorter-time frames, marketers can become] myopic and focused on tactics as opposed to strategies," said Hasselburg. “It’s important to get very clear on measurement and what each part of marketing is doing for your business.”

Excessive fixation with measurement tools can cause teams to lose sight of the work itself, said Bozeman.

“Many measurement modalities have tried to account for that whole funnel,” she said, “but sometimes you're tinkering the model more than you're actually tinkering with the campaigns that are delivering those results.”

Considering intentional channel, agency growth

My/Mochi chose to experiment with podcasts after carefully evaluating how their brand message would translate to audio, Wolf said.

“Podcasts are incredibly cheap to produce from a creative perspective and give us national reach and a trusted person,” said Wolf. “It’s about constantly figuring out where the consumer is, where you want to reach them, and the different touchpoints that are relevant.”

Marketers shouldn’t get caught up on newness and compromise tested strategies, but stay focused on securing experimental budgets, said Hasselburg.

“It’s so important to give yourself a little bit of room, and then you’re not held accountable for these results if things don’t pan out,” he said.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.