The Scaling Lab

Most DTC teams try YouTube once, run into a wall of disapprovals, and quietly go back to Meta.  They tell themselves it's not worth the headache. Meanwhile, the brands hitting $30K days — some pushing past $50K — aren't doing anything most teams couldn't do: They just built the system to get through compliance instead of around it. The thing about YouTube compliance is that it looks like a gatekee...

Your creative team says they shipped 100 new concepts last month. They didn't. They shipped 100 variations of a handful of real ideas  labeled each one a "concept" — and called it a strategy. Here's what matters: it's not their fault. Nobody handed them a glossary. The confusion got baked in from day one. And now it runs silently through every brief, every post-mortem, every "let's test a new angl...

Why does promoting your best copywriter to run the team usually break it? Most copy chiefs got the job because they wrote great copy. They never learned operations, performance management, or how to build training systems. The result is predictable: the team scales past two or three writers, quality collapses, and everyone blames the wrong thing. The skills that make someone a great copywriter — i...

Do you know what you can afford to pay for a click?  Most brands that scale on ROAS or CPA miss the one formula that determines whether scaling is profitable or just looks good on paper. You might be hitting your targets while quietly losing money on every visitor. Or worse, losing out on profit by playing too conservatively. In this episode of The Scaling Lab , Jairet breaks down Allowable CPC (A...

Do you know why your winning ads actually work? Most creative teams pump out variations without understanding what they're really testing. They rely on "proven frameworks" and intuition, but when stakeholders ask why a creative decision was made, the answer is often "because it worked before" or "it felt right." You might be hitting your targets while missing the deeper strategic insights that cou...

Many DTC advertisers embraced AI to scale production and reduce creative bottlenecks, only for outputs to fall flat.  If different departments are feeding different prompts to different bots, the issue is not the technology- it’s the system.  In this episode of The Scaling Lab , Jairet Crum walks through the exact workflow for creating and deploying a series of custom GPTs that move you from raw r...

Many DTC advertisers embraced AI to scale production and reduce creative bottlenecks, only for outputs to fall flat.  If different departments are feeding different prompts to different bots, the issue is not the technology- it’s the system.  In this episode of The Scaling Lab , Jairet Crum walks through the exact workflow for creating and deploying a series of custom GPTs that move you from raw r...

Direct response founders think they know their numbers, yet many can’t answer the only question that matters most: How much can you actually afford to spend to acquire a customer… for each offer, channel, and day in the journey? Founder & CEO of LTV Numbers, Tyler Ryan, joins The Scaling Lab to explain why brand LTV (lifetime value) isn’t one simple metric you can quote in a Slack thread. Inst...

The Scaling Secrets team is back and reacting to more ads from across the internet! In this episode, Jairet and Kira break down another round of real direct-response ads—highlighting the creative decisions that keep attention… and the subtle missteps that make  “good” ads fall flat.  Expect sharp takes on hooks, continuity, talent, pacing, and why certain formats work brilliantly in one execution...

Is your team constantly pushing new content only for performance to fall flat?  In this episode of The Scaling Lab, Jairet Crum and Kira Hug break down the role that’s quickly becoming the linchpin of profitable growth in 2026: the Creative Strategist.  Discover how this emerging skillset is bridging the gap between performance data and creative execution to drive measurable scale built on evidenc...

In this episode, we bring listeners inside our weekly creative review: pulling ads from across the internet, roasting the losers, giving props to the winners, and isolating the subtle signals that decide whether an ad earns trust or loses the sale. From AI avatars and UGC formats to hooks, captions, music, and talent choices, Jairet and Kira share the honest insights and creative tweaks you can st...

In this episode of The Scaling Lab , Jairet and Kira sit down with Blake Hartshorn , founder of The AIM Company , to discuss the critical role of trust, credibility, and authority in VSL marketing.  They explore how real experts can enhance direct response marketing, the impact of AI on consumer trust, and the importance of clear communication and expectations when collaborating with authority fig...

Why do many direct-response ads fail to convert? They feel like an ad.  Inside The Scaling Lab , Jairet and Kira dive into the psychological patterns and ad creative frameworks that help consumers drop their guard, stop the scroll, and purchase your product.  Kira breaks down the simple problem mechanisms, narrative formats, and credibility structures that boost engagement and drive conversions by...

Are VSLs dead? Definitely the ugly ones. In this episode of The Scaling Lab, Jairet Crum explores the evolving landscape of direct response funnels, focusing on the shift from VSLs to LTV-focused strategies.  Using insights from a private Meta report, he unpacks the challenges and opportunities faced by VSLs as consumer habits change, emphasizing the importance of trust and transparency. Jairet pr...

On The Scaling Lab, Jairet and Kira sit down with Performance Manager, Sohail Chatur, for a deep dive into the strategy and experimentation that scaled one brand’s monthly ad spend from $100K to $1.5M in just four months.  Sohail shares his transition from copywriting to managing large accounts, highlighting the importance of leveraging strengths, recognizing blind spots, and the role of creative...

In this episode of The Scaling Lab, Jairet and Kira break down the costly, everyday errors holding back DTC brands and the research-backed shifts needed to unlock profitable scale. Learn the five critical mistakes that top direct response brands are still making with their video creative, humor, product placement, casting, competition, and research.

In this podcast episode, Tried and True Media’s Jairet Crum reflects on the major performance marketing trends and challenges of 2025 and offers predictions for 2026.  He explores the challenges faced by direct response affiliates and VSL marketers, emphasizing the need for creative authenticity and diversification.  Jairet also breaks down the impact of AI on online advertising, the importance of...