Direct-to-Human (DTH) Marketing: A Manifesto
There’s nothing like having a baby in the middle of a global pandemic to make you examine the big picture of your life and career. I’m an introspective person and have those “What does it all mean?” reflections not infrequently, but the profundity of becoming a parent during a cataclysmic public health crisis and worldwide socioeconomic upheaval is on another level.
Working in marketing in the digital age — a time of constant connectivity, blurred boundaries, and near-daily industry innovation — is paradoxical. Brands can reach consumers more directly and more personally than at any time in history, but 40 years into the existence of the internet we’re experiencing a backlash to all of that direct and personal communication. “We” meaning both marketers and consumers — because, as marketing teams too easily forget, marketers ARE consumers. First and foremost. Making a living selling things to people, however noble the things or the selling methods, cannot preclude the fact that much of that paycheck earned is then spent consuming different (and sometimes the same) things from other people making a living selling things.
Someone once told me marketers should never work on a brand for which they’re the target audience. I could not possibly disagree more. If I’m not the target audience, or at least tangentially related to the target audience, how can I deeply empathize with our consumer base? How can I get fired up about building and promoting a brand that doesn’t resonate richly with me as a person? If the concern is not being able to conduct neutral analyses or make objective decisions, I’d counter: who, either marketers or consumers, wants dispassionate work? It’s not unrelated to how we need diverse perspectives represented in every aspect of brand-building and marketing; there is definitionally no one better to empathize with any type of person than another of that type of person.
And that concept — people — is the whole point, isn’t it? We’re human beings presenting products, services, and experiences to other human beings for them to consider spending resources on. Simple as that. It’s easy to forget that human-to-human equation when we’re mired in decks and pitch meetings and creative reviews and strategic planning and P&Ls, QBRs, KPIs, JTBDs, OKRs.
Which is why, having added 1 to the global population headcount and so examining how the work I do impacts humanity at large, I’d like to propose an industry mindset shift. Instead of the commercial holy grail being Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), what if it was Direct-to-Human (DTH)?
Direct-to-Human marketing, unlike DTC, is a pursuit open to all brands and businesses across categories and industries, no vertical integration or VC-funded paid-social-search-and-podcast playbook required. B2B and B2C. CPG and SAAS. Retail and healthcare. Financial services and tech. If you make something for sale, you can employ DTH marketing.
Direct-to-Human (DTH) Marketing: Marketing by humans for humans, in the pursuit of real human connection in order to solve a genuine human need.
Principle 1: First, do no harm. Adhere to boundaries. Respect data privacy at all costs. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe or opt out.
Principle 2: No “by marketers, for marketers.” No work that smells of trying to get trade press or industry awards.
Principle 3: Maintain a mutual perspective. As the marketer, think always of the consumer; also imagine being the consumer, thinking of the brand. No sleight of hand and nothing obnoxious. Talk and act like a human. Be thoughtful.
It’s an imperfect proposition — the fallacy of a truly equitable person-to-person relationship, when one person is selling the other person something, will always sit at the center of marketing — but it’s a start. And being a person in the world, while raising a person in the world, it’s the shape of a consumer landscape I’d want to be a part of.