Paul Okhrem

Digital product development and ecommerce consultant with 10+ years of experience. Digital growth hacker and founder at Elogic Commerce.

Ecommerce and Retail

Paul OkhremMonday, August 29, 2022

Direct-To-Consumer (DTC/D2C) Is A Precarious Bet Unless You Get It Right

At the beginning of the pandemic, Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) was on everyone’s lips. From yet-another-generic-approach to try in ecommerce, it turned into an important business model disrupting the industry. No middlemen, a promise for a seemingly infinite pool of customers, low overhead did their job in convincing retailers that DTC is their go-to strategy in the face of the global lockdown.…

It all started as a book club.

Yes, I’m serious. I started my work on the web more than two decades ago. My first site was Helping Hand, which curated the best sites from around the web to help people with their computers and navigate resources on the Internet. Years later, I sold the domain to a company that helped folks quit smoking, one of my first big contracts.

I began blogging on Blogger and waxed poetic about everything from politics to Internet tools. I was all over the place and mostly wrote for myself – without much of an audience. I belonged to a Marketing Book club in Indianapolis that quickly grew out of control. Over time, I discovered that more and more of the group were coming to me for technology advice. The combination of my technology background and my business and marketing acumen was in high demand as the Internet rapidly changed the industry.

After reading Naked Conversations, I was motivated to better brand and control the content on the site. I also wanted more control over the look and feel of my blog, so I moved to my domain in 2006 and built my first WordPress site. Since I was focused on marketing technology, I didn’t want the domain with my name to get in the way, so I moved the site (painfully) to its new domain in 2008 where it’s grown ever since.

The Martech Zone is owned and operated by DK New Media, LLC, a company I started in 2009. After working with virtually every major online marketing department in my tenure at ExactTarget and launching Compendium, I knew there was a great demand for my expertise and guidance within such a complex industry.

DK New Media is my company overseeing my publications, podcasts, workshops, webinars, and speaking gigs. Highbridge is my agency with two other partners that help companies maximize their investment in sales, marketing, and related products. We offer integration, migration, training, strategic consulting, and custom development.

Thank you so much for your support over the years!

Douglas Karr
CEO, DK New Media
VP, Highbridge

Direct-To-Consumer (DTC/D2C) Is A Precarious Bet Unless You Get It Right

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