H2H Marketing – Businesses do not have emotion. People do
View(s):At a recently held National Marketing Day event of Sri Lanka, Professor Philip Kotler happened to mention the importance of H2H marketing. Today’s article is dedicated for Professor Philip Kotler – Father of Modern Marketing as he celebrates 91 years.
Figure 01; Main enablers of H2H shift (1st Level)
One of the main reasons for most of the issues faced by the mankind today is due to their own creations which are going against them. One such creation is what is known as “organisations”. Organisations today have become bigger than humans. Humans are in the struggle of finding themselves within and outside organizations. It is in this backdrop the concept of H2H marketing was brought in to the business vocabulary in 2020s. Needless to mention the effect of the pandemic and the on-going wars etc having on the lifestyle of the consumers.
Figure 02 – Management, Process and Mindset are shaped by the H2H model (2nd level)
As already mentioned in previous articles, it’s high time marketers bring back the word Humans/ people replacing consumers and customers. It’s the people who buy, and consumer not consumers. It’s the people who have been deprived of the right to information about products, what’s gone into products, and what the actual cost of products as they are overshadowed by advertising and marketing. Therefore, it’s evident that there is a felt need in the minds of the people that they should be considered as humans, they should be given prominence in the process not organisations or the shareholders/ owners of businesses. This was also discussed previously under the heading – Humanised marketing. In humanising marketing, the concept of H2H has evolved so much so that the Father of Marketing himself made sure that there is a section on H2H marketing in his presentation.
H2H Marketing is the new, overarching framework proposed to confront current developments and present challenges. Most recent literature and some advanced companies have identified the importance of a new framework and have started to apply the concept of H2H already.
H2H Marketing as a model consist of two levels connected by a cause-effect relationship.
The first level consists of three concepts that influence H2H Marketing: which could also be considered as soft aspects of H2H model.
Design Thinking – Design Thinking contributes to H2H Marketing as human-centered mindset, iterative and agile innovation process and toolbox. Design Thinking paves H2H Marketing the way for regaining importance and value in innovation as a core process for companies, not only at the backend of innovation but at the complex front end.
Service-Dominant Logic – serves H2H Marketing firstly as a theoretical foundation in a world that is in transition from a Goods-Dominant Logic (G-DL) to an Services Dominant Logic. Second, SDL enables H2H marketing to change the perspective on value creation process primarily with a visible shift in the roles of customers and suppliers offering and using their knowledge and skills in their networks or ecosystems.
Digitalisation - Digitalisation as third is imperative for H2H Marketing as the third enabler to understand the importance of the ongoing digital transformation at the core: the market itself. Digitalisation affects the customer/ people’s behaviour and requires new competencies in marketing to handle the changing relationship with the customers as prosumer (where consumption and production both occurs simultaneously).
The second level of the H2H Marketing Model; it’s about the application of the concept within the organisation which also can be considered as hard aspects of the model.
Mindset for companies and employees (H2H Mindset) – Marketing is always known for having a mindset for consumer needs. However, this new approach requires more empathy towards people and considering them as humans/ people than consumers. (Understanding that people are not only born to consume)
Management concept for strategic marketing (H2H Management) – Marketing was introduced to the business world as a philosophy than a mere function in management. The time has come for the top management to embrace H2H marketing as an overarching ideology that can drive the whole organisation to a new direction.
Business process for operational marketing (H2H Process) – The foundation for this mindset is trust, which we see this as the key currency for any business transaction in a hyper-connected world. In detail, we present profound insights into a map of the unknown terrain that will be explored in our journey. The “solution and return” of the story is then unfolded through the introduction of the operative marketing, which focuses on the H2H process and the necessary steps in the new forming of the marketing mix. It is an iterative process, based on new technological capabilities through the digitalisation and deep thinking in H2H marketing.
This marketing approach challenges the core competencies needed to create and deliver meaningful value propositions to customers and other collaboration partners. In the end it’s all about offering new solutions to find meaning in the troubled world we live in.
The overall concept is depicted in the picture below.
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