In this episode of The Future of Marketing, host Roman Kirsch interviews Charles Wells, CEO and Founder of HelloSelf, a mental health platform that has raised over $30 million in funding. Charles shares his journey from healthcare marketing to revolutionizing the mental health space through personalized psychology and a trust-based marketing approach. After experiencing a personal health crisis that included five brain surgeries, Charles dedicated his energy to creating a platform that helps people understand themselves better and access personalized psychological support in an ethical, scalable way.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a trust-based marketing engine in the sensitive mental health space
• Why traditional digital marketing tactics don’t work for mental wellness brands
• Transforming from a direct-to-consumer approach to a partnership-driven growth model
• Creating organic word-of-mouth marketing through exceptional service delivery
• Balancing brand building with acquisition metrics in healthcare technology
• The unique challenges of marketing mental health services ethically
• Turning healthcare from a reactive sickness system into a proactive wellness platform

Lessons For Consumer Marketers:

Rethink Customer Acquisition for Sensitive Categories

Traditional digital marketing tactics that rely on cookies, pixels, and retargeting can be problematic in sensitive categories like mental health. As Charles explains, “I don’t think traditional digital marketing, which involves dropping cookies on people and retargeting, is something that we can honorably do in the mental health space.” Consider whether your tracking methods align with the ethical expectations in your category.

Balance Acquisition with Virality and Retention

HelloSelf discovered that focusing exclusively on acquisition channels led to unsustainably high customer acquisition costs (CACs). Charles emphasizes: “When you’re doing consumer marketing, you need to have an acquisition engine, but you also need to have a viral engine, a retention loop.” Build all three engines simultaneously for sustainable growth.

Distribute Brand Ownership Across the Organization

Rather than siloing brand management within the marketing department, HelloSelf found success by making everyone responsible for the brand: “The brand is owned by everyone at HelloSelf and the marketing engine is understood by everyone… that’s worked much better for us than trying to build a very specific kind of team.” This approach ensures consistency across customer touchpoints.

Leverage Word-of-Mouth Through Systematic Enablement

HelloSelf built tools and systems that make referrals effortless for partners: “We work with insurers, health systems, individual doctors, employers, and community ambassadors… and ensure they’ve got the tools to share those things, the referral pathways, to make it very easy.” Focus on reducing friction in your referral systems rather than just incentivizing referrals.

Transform Customer Success into a Marketing Function

Rather than treating customer success as separate from marketing, Charles integrated it as a core component: “We have a customer success team which is often not thought of as a core part of marketing and brand, but it’s probably the closest team to our customers.” This reinforces the idea that delivering exceptional experiences drives organic growth.

Design Relationships That Transcend Traditional Categories

HelloSelf recognized that the relationship between users and their platform needed a unique trust dynamic: “There needs to be someone you really trust and that’s not a medical relationship, but it’s also not a consumer relationship.” For complex services, consider what relationship model best serves your offering beyond traditional B2C or B2B frameworks.

Create Systems That Empower Advocacy

Instead of just asking customers to refer friends, HelloSelf built systems that naturally lead to recommendations: “When a member comes onto our Platform, they are highly likely to recommend us to friends and loved ones.” Design your customer journey to create moments that naturally inspire sharing.