The Smart Marketer Podcast

What happens when two childhood friends reconnect, build a life together, and end up creating businesses rooted in community, purpose, food, and rescue dogs? In this heartfelt episode, Molly sits down with her husband, Casey, to talk about their reconnection story, building Morley's Backyard in Danville, Kentucky, navigating entrepreneurship as a couple, honoring Molly's dad, and growing Fields of...

Episode Description Meta ads are still one of the most powerful growth channels for ecommerce brands, but 2026 has been anything but predictable. In this episode, Molly Pittman sits down with Smart Marketer Agency CEO Pep Hufen to unpack what they're seeing across client accounts right now, why Q1 felt strong for many brands, why Q2 has been more volatile, and what business owners should focus on...

Episode Description TikTok Shop is creating a totally different kind of opportunity for ecommerce brands, but it is not just another paid ads platform. In this episode, Molly Pittman sits down with Smart Marketer's Manager of Advertising, Dilyana Doychinova, for a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to lead paid performance teams, support media buyers, and stay ahead as Meta, TikTok Sho...

Episode Description Everybody can generate AI creative now. The real advantage is knowing what to make next. In this episode, Molly Pittman sits down with Smart Marketer's Director of Creative, Ben Bennett, to unpack the AI-powered creative strategy workflow he's building inside the Smart Marketer creative department. Instead of using AI only to pump out more ads, Ben explains how to use it to ana...

Episode 279: Smart Marketer's 2026 Growth Playbook: What We're Building, Testing & Doubling Down On Episode Description What does growth look like when AI is changing every week, paid traffic is evolving, and your business has to keep adapting in real time? In this behind-the-scenes episode, Molly Pittman and John Grimshaw pull back the curtain on what Smart Marketer has been building, testing, an...

Episode Description AI tools are changing how people research, compare, and make buying decisions, and the brands that show up in those answers are going to have a massive advantage. In this episode, Molly Pittman sits down with entrepreneur and AEO expert Kasim Aslam to unpack what Answer Engine Optimization really is, how it differs from traditional SEO, and why founder-led content, real experti...

Episode Description AI can help your team move faster, work smarter, and free up hours of repetitive work… but only if you build the habits, systems, and ownership to actually use it. In this live session from Mentor Table Nashville, Rytis Lauris, co-founder and CEO of Omnisend, shares the six practical lessons his company learned while transforming a 200+ person organization into a more AI-native...

  Episode Description AI is changing how customers discover, research, and choose brands. If your business isn't showing up in AI-generated answers, you may be missing the next major wave of organic visibility. In this live session from Mentor Table Nashville, Julian Lopez from the Smart Marketer team breaks down AEO, Answer Engine Optimization, and what brands need to do now to become the recomme...

Episode 275: The Paid Ads Machine: Creative Systems That Scale in the Age of AI Episode Description What if your ad creative system could think more like Meta's algorithm? In this live session from Mentor Table Nashville, Smart Marketer's Director of Creative Ben Bennett and Creative Operations Manager Melvin Cotton III break down the exact system they use to plan, produce, analyze, and scale paid...

Episode 274: How to Use AI to Write Better Meta Ad Copy Without Losing the Human Touch Episode Description AI can help you write faster, but that does not mean it should be writing your ads for you. In this podcast episode taken from our Smart Paid Traffic Live training, Senior Paid Performance Specialist Dominique Nobel breaks down her step-by-step process for using AI to create stronger Meta ad...

Episode 273: Scaling to $300M+: Paid Media, Attribution & Building Teams That Win  Episode Description What does it really take to scale to $300M+ in revenue and spend $300K per day on ads? In this live Mentor Table session from Nashville, Molly Pittman sits down with entrepreneur Rob Schmidt to break down what actually changes as you grow, from attribution and paid media to leadership and team bu...

Ep. 272: The Business Growth Levers That Actually Matter (Mentor Table with Ezra Firestone and John Grimshaw) Episode Description Most entrepreneurs are stuck optimizing the wrong things. In this Mentor Table conversation, Ezra Firestone and John Grimshaw break down the real levers that drive business growth from customer acquisition and profitability to product strategy and operational focus. If...

Episode 271: Meta Ads Q&A: Targeting Evolution, Retargeting & What Actually Matters Now Episode Description Are you overthinking your campaign structure while missing what actually drives results? In this episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, Molly Pittman and Smart Marketer's Director of Advertising, Denis Paskalev, continue the Meta Ads Q&A series, diving into retargeting, targeting strategy, a...

Episode 270: Organic Social vs Paid Ads What's Actually Working Right Now (And Why Most Brands Get It Wrong) Most brands are doing organic social completely wrong and it's costing them growth. In this episode, Zach Dampier breaks down what's actually working with organic social right now… and how to use it alongside paid ads without burning out or chasing the wrong metrics. If your organic content...

Episode 269: Meta Ads Q&A: Creative, Budgets, and What's Actually Working Right Now Episode Description In this episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, Molly Pittman, CEO of Smart Marketer, and Denis Paskalev, Director of Advertising, answer real questions from marketers navigating the shift in Meta ads, starting with one of the biggest concerns right now: can small businesses still win? They break...

Episode 268: Axon Ads - How to Diversify Beyond Meta and Find New Customers Episode Description In this episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, Molly Pittman is joined by Smart Marketer agency CEO Pep Hufen to break down Axon (also known as AppLovin), a fast-growing ad platform that is giving marketers a new way to diversify beyond Meta. They walk through how the platform works, what makes it diffe...

Episode Description In this episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, Molly Pittman is joined by Smart Marketer's Director of Advertising, Denis Paskalev, for a live Meta Ads Q&A where they answer real questions from marketers about what is actually working with Meta ads in 2026. From campaign structure and creative testing to scaling strategies and performance metrics, this conversation breaks down...

Episode Description In this episode of the Smart Marketer Podcast, we're sharing the first lesson from our free mini class: Learn to Run Meta Ads the 2026 Way. If you've been running Meta ads recently, you've probably felt the shift. With Meta's new AI driven system often referred to as Andromeda, the platform has fundamentally changed how ads are delivered, optimized, and scaled. Smart Marketer C...

Episode Description Most eCommerce brands are obsessed with traffic. But what if the real growth lever isn't more clicks? What if it's better monetization of the audience you already have? In this special training, originally delivered live in partnership with Omnisend, Ezra Firestone breaks down the exact framework he uses across his 8-figure brands to turn email and SMS into 30–40% of total reve...

Episode 264: The Next Big Ad Platform? How AppLovin Is Quietly Scaling eCommerce Brands Episode Description There's a new advertising channel with over a billion daily users and most eCommerce brands haven't tested it yet. In this episode, Pep Hufen, CEO of Smart Marketer Agency, breaks down why AppLovin's Axon Ads platform is becoming one of the fastest growing acquisition channels for DTC brands...

Episode Description Shopify just released a feature that most brands have not noticed yet, but it could completely change how eCommerce stores grow, monetize traffic, and increase conversion rates. In this episode, Pep Hufen, CEO of Smart Marketer Agency, breaks down Shopify's new Product Network, a system that lets your store sell other brands' products directly inside your own site without inven...

Episode Description Most advertisers think Meta ads fail because of creative, targeting, or algorithm changes. That's not the real reason. In this episode, Pep Hufen breaks down what's actually driving ad performance beneath the surface, ancient brain programs that have been hardwired into human psychology for over two million years. You'll learn how evolution, emotion, and identity shape buying d...

Ep. 261 - 2026 Marketing Outlook: Vulnerability, AI, & Finding Your Edge Episode Description What will it take to grow and compete in 2026? In this high-energy kickoff episode, Molly Pittman and Zach Dampier share the five BIG themes shaping the year ahead - from AI-powered marketing tools to new ad platforms, and the rising importance of raw, real storytelling. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look...

Episode 260: Creative Is the New Currency: Winning Smart Marketer Ad Strategies for 2026 Episode Description In this tactical episode, Molly Pittman breaks down everything you need to know to stay competitive in 2026, including why your creative could be costing you 50% more (or less). You'll learn the new campaign structures, targeting tactics, and why Smart Marketer Agency is moving away from me...

Episode 259: A Product Alone Won't Save You (with John Grimshaw, Colleen Taylor, Adam Von Rothfelder & Parker Hilton) Episode Description You can have the best product in the world, but if you're not integrating it with the right brand identity, presentation, and customer insight, it's not going to win. In this behind-the-scenes episode from the Smart Business Systems course, you'll hear the real...