Marketing Operators

In today’s episode, we’re getting into how and why direct mail can be an impactful part of your retention strategy. We discuss why the first 7–14 days post-purchase are critical, how we’re approaching cross-sells and multi-channel retention, what’s working from postcards to premium catalogs, and where direct mail fits into our overall growth strategies. We’re also joined by Michael Epstein, co-fou...

In today’s episode, we’re joined by George Davis, CMO at Cozy Earth, to talk about their viral social challenge - the Cozy Earth Bed Rot Challenge. George shares the story behind the challenge and how it started as a little MVP test in season one with five employees and a $1k prize, and how it grew into season two with a 24/7 livestream, 50M+ impressions and 15k emails collected. We dig into what...

Today we’re exploring how DTC brands can reach new audiences on Meta using partnership ads, and how they can improve performance and strengthen the paid social mix, as well as checking in on how Ridge's sweepstakes are going so far. We talk through how partnership ads compare to whitelisting, our experiences working with creators of all sizes, and what’s actually driving ROI. We also get into...

Today we’re joined by Brett Curry from OMG Commerce, and we’re grilling him on all things YouTube advertising - where to start, strategy, creative, and how to drive results. We discuss where YouTube sits in the channel mix, how it compares to Meta, why it’s still underused by most operators, as well as the challenges of measuring success on YouTube - from attribution challenges to incrementality a...

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Ariana Ferwerda, co-founder and CEO of Halfdays, to unpack the strategy and philosophy behind building a true community-first DTC brand, and why that approach has worked so well for them. Ariana shares her journey of launching a brand that struck product-market fit in its first season and grew 10x from their first to second season. We dive into the how and why b...

From measuring brand health beyond ROAS to breaking down viral awareness plays and running focused growth sprints, we’re getting into the topics on our minds as Marketing Operators right now. We kick things off with baseline revenue - how we define it, how we track it, and why it’s one of Connor Rolain’s go-to metrics for gauging brand momentum, resilience, and reliance on paid media. We also get...

Today on the show we’ve got a very special guest, one of the OGs of ecommerce, Ezra Firestone. He’s been around forever, running brands like Boom by Cindy Joseph, building software companies like Zipify, and creating training businesses like Smart Marketer, all while staying hands-on in the game as the DTC landscape keeps evolving. We get into how he went from top wig drop-shipper to building and...

Today we’re joined by Connor Dault, CMO of Grüns, to talk about his move into the company, how he got up to speed, and the steps he took to work effectively with a team that was already performing at a high level. We cover his onboarding approach, how he finds quick wins without disrupting existing success, and how Grüns spots opportunities by pairing customer feedback with cultural trends. Connor...

Today, we’re kicking things off by sharing how we’re structuring our content teams - from hiring in-house roles to building systems around freelancers - and how that supports creative that performs across both brand and paid. Next we dive into how we’re iterating on some of the biggest campaigns we run at our brands: the sweepstakes. We talk through what’s changing this year, how we’re using influ...

Today we’re getting into how acquisition offers - particularly in pop-ups - can do much more than drive opt-ins. The type of offer you lead with shapes who you acquire, how much they spend, and future LTV. We share examples from the offers we run on our brands, comparing blanket discounts with offers like cashback and second-order incentives, and how those choices impacted retention, AOV, and cust...

In today’s episode, we’re talking channel expansion and diversifying our media mix - when to think about launching on new channels, what to test, and how to approach those decisions with more clarity. We break down our current media mixes, the journeys that got us here, and the mental frameworks we use to decide what to try next. We’re also joined by Austin Santino, Client Development Manager at T...

When we heard Eric Seufert talk at the Meta Summit we knew we had to have him on the show. Eric is the founder of Mobile Dev Memo and partner at Heracles Capital, and he joins us today for a deep dive into how today’s smartest marketers approach measurement. We unpack the difference between deterministic and probabilistic attribution, why incrementality testing beats last-click reporting, and how...

Today, we dig into the Meta performance issues we’ve been seeing firsthand - where spend is up, reach is down and performance isn’t tracking the way it used to. We unpack what’s been going wrong, and share the tactical changes we’ve tested to get better results. We get into where we’ve historically over-invested or moved too slowly, how we’re thinking about creative and spend caps right now, and w...

In this episode, we’re joined by James from Boring Marketing to dig into how smart DTC marketers are actually using AI - not just to move faster, but to build more efficient systems and workflows. We talk about how AI can support content systems and internal processes, the difference between prompting and system-building, and why using AI just to generate content won’t drive results on its own. Ja...

In ecommerce marketing today, acquisition costs are rising, tariffs are up, and growth is harder to come by, which means DTC brands are under pressure to do more with leaner teams. That got us thinking about where are marketers - and our teams - wasting time, and how can we work more efficiently without sacrificing performance? In this episode, we break down the marketing workflows, habits, and in...

This week, we’re talking AI creative, product page testing, and Shopify updates - plus, we’re joined by Steve Rekuc from Common Thread Collective who walks us through how he built the Spending Power metric at CTC, what it tells us about shifting consumer demand, and how brands can use it to adjust spend and planning month to month. We also dig into seasonality vs macro-driven variability, and why...

Today we’re joined by Dylan Ander, founder of heatmap.com, to talk attribution, LTV, CAC, creative testing, and what actually moves the needle in media buying performance. We unpack why conversion rate alone isn’t the best indicator of success and what to look at instead, from holdout testing and CAC payback windows to 60-day LTV. Dylan shares his approach to attribution when platform data (especi...

In this episode, we dive into Meta ad performance, Shopify’s latest AI features (including Sidekick), and we answer your DTC marketing questions from our MOps Hotline. We start with unpacking how Meta is performing for us right now - why it’s still the most powerful channel in the stack, but also less forgiving than it used to be. Cody shares the thinking behind his recent tweet on Meta volatility...

Disclaimer: Meta participated as a guest on this podcast episode, However, Meta does not endorse or sponsor this podcast, its content, or any of its commercial partners or sponsors. Any views expressed are those of the individual participants and do not represent the views of Meta. The Marketing Operators hosts have a live discussion about marketing at the Meta Summit. They discuss the concept of...

How can DTC brands run sweepstakes that actually drive results? In this episode, we break down the full sweepstakes checklist: how to plan, set up, promote, and track a campaign that performs. We’ve been getting a lot of questions from marketers and DTC founders about sweepstakes, and for good reason - when done right, they can drive serious attention, grow your email list, and create a brand mome...

In this episode, we get into a few different areas we've been working through recently, from campaign performance to org structure to how we’re using AI in our day-to-day. We dig into how recent promotions performed across our DTC brands, including Mother's Day and Memorial Day campaigns, and share what we’ve seen work (and not work) when it comes to bundling, gift-with-purchase offers, and myster...

In this episode, we break down how we plan, execute, and analyze our go-to-market (GTM) campaigns. We walk through the full product launch process for our DTC brands, from the initial product brief to strategy development, creative asset production, cross-functional collaboration, and post-mortem analysis. We share how we tier our launches, how different teams contribute (from product marketing to...

As our unofficial “shadow guest”, Taylor Holiday, CEO of Common Thread Collective, finally joins us to unpack what growing a brand actually looks like in 2025. From shifting Meta performance and rising creative demands to tighter margins and changing consumer behavior, we explore the real constraints shaping how brands operate today. We talk about how the best brands are adjusting their messaging...

With rising costs, tariff uncertainty, and declining consumer confidence, brands are being forced to do more with less - and in today’s episode, we break down what that actually looks like in practice, and how we’re adapting our marketing strategies in today’s tough economic environment. We cover what we’re cutting, what we’re keeping, and where we’re doubling down. From headcount and forecasting...

Today on the show, we’re joined by Krista Dalton, the CMO and SVP of Digital at Tecovas, as she takes us inside the brand’s marketing strategy. We get into how Tecovas leverages data, reporting, and merchandising to expand and evolve the brand, all while staying true to its roots. We discuss the importance of understanding customer needs, how to balance creative and data-driven decisions, and the...