In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, Ben Grynol, Head of Growth at Levels, shares how they’re pioneering the consumer metabolic health movement by transforming medical devices into consumer wellness products. Through their innovative approach to content marketing and community building, they’ve built a highly engaged audience of nearly 600,000 newsletter subscribers with 65-80% open rates. The company has redefined how to build a market from scratch by focusing on education, partnerships with thought leaders, and extreme patience in their customer acquisition strategy.

Topics Discussed:

• Creating a new consumer health category from scratch
• Building a content ecosystem across multiple channels
• Leveraging partnerships with health thought leaders
• Structuring a remote marketing team with virtual assistants
• Developing high-engagement lifecycle marketing programs
• Balancing education and conversion in long sales cycles

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

1. Master the Three-Pillar Revenue Strategy Levels generates roughly equal revenue (30% each) from partnerships, lifecycle marketing, and word of mouth, with only 5% from paid marketing. This balanced approach creates sustainable growth through trusted channels rather than relying on paid acquisition.
2. Transform Technical Products into Consumer Experiences Instead of accepting industry conventions, Levels studied successful consumer brands outside their category to reimagine the user experience. By applying consumer tech principles to medical devices, they created an “Apple-like” experience that attracted a new market. This approach can work in any industry: analyze the most loved consumer brands, identify what makes their experience special, and apply those principles to elevate your category beyond its traditional constraints.
3. Build Markets Through Coalition Building Rather than trying to own the category alone, Levels collaborates with thought leaders like Andrew Huberman, Mark Hyman, and Glucose Goddess. This creates a movement bigger than any single brand while establishing Levels as a key player in the space.
4. Execute Patient Lifecycle Marketing Their welcome series takes a “university-style” approach, delivering 6-8 educational emails with minimal selling. They accept 1-3 year conversion timelines, prioritizing depth of understanding over quick conversions. This patience yields 65-80% email open rates.
5. Scale Marketing Operations Through Virtual Teams Levels’ growth team of 7 leverages 21 virtual assistants through Athena, treating them as full team members rather than traditional EAs. They provide complete context and training, enabling assistants to handle complex marketing tasks beyond administrative work.
6. Create Content for Micro-Communities Following Seth Godin’s “people like us do things like this” philosophy, Levels focuses on building deep connections with specific audience segments rather than trying to appeal to everyone. This creates stronger brand resonance and more effective word-of-mouth marketing.