It’s a full house today with Cody back, and we’ve got a jam-packed episode - first up, the Tacovas Ad that’s got the marketing world talking - does brand marketing like this really drive growth? We discuss the line between long-term brand building and immediate performance results, and explore how top DTC brands are navigating that balance. We also get into how product expansion can be a game-changer for scaling, with examples of how brands use category growth to reach wider audiences. We discus...
Mar 11, 2025•1 hr 15 min
This week, it’s a Connor Special as we’re joined by Connor Dault, VP of Growth & Digital Product at Caraway, to discuss the role of digital product in DTC growth and how it intersects with performance marketing, UX, and conversion. We dive into Caraway’s strategic response to HexClad’s Super Bowl ad, why digital product isn’t just CRO and how Caraway builds high-performing product experiences that go beyond simple A/B testing. Connor also shares insights on balancing data-driven optimization...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Today, we’re joined by Aaron Paul, founder of Paul Street, to explore how top DTC brands are leveraging affiliate marketing to drive massive growth - and where many go wrong. Aaron shares his insights from working with leading brands like Onnit, Goli Nutrition, and HelloFresh. We discuss what’s working in affiliate marketing today, why media-buying affiliates aren’t always the right fit (and when they are), and how content-driven publishers now drive the majority of affiliate revenue. We also ge...
Feb 25, 2025•2 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 48
HexClad just pulled off one of their biggest marketing plays so far - a Super Bowl Ad - but this wasn’t just about airing a commercial during the big game, it was a multi-layered, cross-platform campaign designed to maximize impact beyond a single TV spot. In this episode, Connor and Connor break down how the HexClad team made it happen, from choosing the right creative concept to executing an omni-channel marketing playbook that extended far beyond game day. They dive into why the company decid...
Feb 18, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Today we are joined by a member of the Operators family, Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela Case and Lomi, to talk all things marketing. Jumping off from Sean Frank’s tweet questioning if meta is still incremental , we get deep into the nuance of paid media and how it’s shifting, the increasing challenges of reaching new customers on Meta, and why the old playbooks don’t work anymore. We also discuss scaling beyond meta and reallocating budget to TV, YouTube and strategic partnerships to drive new custo...
Feb 11, 2025•2 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Today we’re diving into the second part of our hiring series, this time focusing on onboarding and how to set up your new hires for success from day one. We discuss how to get the best out of your new hires as quickly as possible, how to integrate them seamlessly into your team and culture, some common onboarding issues and challenges we’ve experienced, and we break down our strategies, systems and workflows around setting up new hires and empowering them to thrive. If you have a question for th...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 10 min
This week we’re talking hiring for high-growth ecommerce teams. We’re sharing insights on how to know when to hire, why buying back your time is essential for leadership, org chart design and how it evolves over time, and we share some real-life scenarios and challenges we’ve experienced when growing our teams. If you’re struggling with your team structure, planning your next strategic hire or looking to build out your team effectively as you scale, this one’s for you - and join us next week whe...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Today, we’re diving into one of the most hotly debated topics in performance marketing: creative testing volume. Should you prioritize scaling creative volume or focus on quality? In this episode, we share how we’re approaching creative testing, how our strategies have evolved over time, what we’re budgeting for creative, when more isn’t always better, and the costs of maximizing volume. We also explore the challenges of producing at scale, what “quality” really means in today’s ad landscape, an...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 43
In this episode, Cody and Connor dive into the hottest DTC predictions for 2025, discussing everything from the rise and fall of AppLovin to the transformative impact of AI on customer experience and ad creative. They share their thoughts on outsourcing and the shift to global teams, the evolution and consolidation of SaaS tools, strategies for scaling with operational leverage in today’s competitive market and more. If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 42
In this episode, we’re breaking down the influencer marketing strategies we’re using this year. From product seeding to scaling creator partnerships, we’re talking about EMV and how to measure it affectively, how to maximise spend on influencers for maximum ROI, and strategies for whitelisting, affiliate deals and paid creator partnerships. If you have a question for the MOperators Hotline, click the link to be in with a chance of it being discussed on the show: https://forms.gle/1W7nKoNK5Zakm1X...
Jan 07, 2025•2 hr 31 min•Season 1Ep. 41
It’s a full house today, and we’re joined by Shane Rostad to talk CRO. Shane’s recently launched his own brand as co-founder of Cheeky, a new creator-led brand that smashed its launch with 10k orders in its first month. In today’s ep we’re talking about brand positioning and messaging, how to drive LTV and boost AOV with strategic post-purchase upsells and CRO tactics to unlock sustainable growth. If you’re scaling a DTC or ecom brand an are looking for strategies to position your brand more eff...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Today we are joined by Dan McCormick, co-founder and CEO of Create Wellness. Create went from zero to $20M+ in revenue in just two years with only six-full time employees, and today he’s sharing what those roles are and how he went about building his high-leverage DTC business. We discuss the power of positioning, agency vs. in-house teams, the future of supplement brands, team structure, retention strategies, and what makes a modern brand scalable. If you have a question for the MOperators Hotl...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Today we are getting into the hottest new ad channel in ecommerce right now - AppLovin . We discuss how we’ve been using it within our brands, the pros and the cons of this emerging channel, and whether it's a scalable alternative to Meta Ads. Cody shares results from his team's recent holdout test, breaking down AppLovin's impact on incremental sales, new vs. repeat customers, and CPAs. We also unpack broader strategies for driving growth across paid media, creative campaigns, and channel diver...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 38
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, we’re unpacking our results and looking at what went right, what went wrong and what lessons we learnt for this time next year. We talk about trends we’re seeing this holiday shopping season, meta performance, navigating inventory challenges, tactical pivots to clear inventory and boost sales, and how we’re transitioning into our holiday sales. Whether you crushed it or felt the pressure this BFCM, this debrief is here to help you refine your DTC mar...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 37
In today’s episode of Marketing Operators, we’re getting real about our biggest mistakes from the past year, and the lessons learnt from these. We cover why forecasting isn’t always straightforward, the importance of adjusting tactics quickly, the tricky balance of optimism versus realism in decision-making, and what it takes to scale sustainably in a tightening market. Tune in for a deep dive into what worked, what didn’t, and how we’re sharpening our growth strategies for the future. If you ha...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Happy Black Friday week everyone! In today’s episode we are diving in on the day-to-day tactics and operations our teams will be using this weekend to optimize performance during one of the most crucial sales periods of the year - Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We’re discuss the shift from pre-sale planning to sale operations, covering our real-time data analysis plans, ad spend and budget allocation, our marketing mix during this time, the cadence of our BFCM newsletters, handling inventory cha...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Today it’s the three of us back together! We’re talking about our approaches and playbooks for launching new marketing channels and our insights on what it takes to scale effectively. We cover strategies for choosing the right channels, establishing measurement frameworks, and how to determine when to invest heavily versus cautiously testing. 00:00 Introduction 05:46 Consumer Spending Expectations and Market Trends 11:54 Preparing for Q4: Strategies and Anxieties 20:49 Launching New Marketing Ch...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Today we are joined by Zach Stuck, founder of the growth marketing agency Homestead. He shares his insights on acquiring and launching brands, how to identify market trends, when's the right time to diversify into different ad channels, running a lean team, and he shares his advice on the key tactics for driving growth at each revenue band. One not to miss. 00:00 Introduction 06:04 Transitioning from Agency to Brand Ownership 12:12 Identifying Trends and Market Opportunities 18:06 The Importance...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 33
We’ve got a special guest today, David Herrmann is back, our first ever second time guest. We’re talking about what channels we’re scaling as we head into Q4, we talk about ad account builds, creating a memorable brand, we get deep into meta media buying and creative diversification and what that means for your ad account and lots more. 00:00 Introduction 06:04 Channel Diversification Strategies 11:52 Creative Approaches in Advertising 17:46 Measuring Marketing Effectiveness 24:05 Balancing Bran...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 7 min
First up today, we’re checking in on Cody’s recent product drop and talking about some of the tactics and thinking behind the success of the drop so far, and then we get into Q4 production and what we’re working on right now to get ready for the biggest time of the year and ensure a successful BFCM. We also get into our first MOperators Hotline question so stay tuned for that. If you’d like to submit your question or current DTC challenge for a chance for it to be discussed on the show, click th...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 31
This week we are joined by Reza Khadjavi, Founder and CEO at Motion, our premier sponsor. We’re talking the evolution of performance creative and the importance of creative strategy in DTC marketing, and Reza shares his insights on the rise of the creative strategist role, the impact of AI on creative workflows, the future of creative strategy and his advice for brands who are just starting to venture into performance marketing, his contrarian views on marketing and much more. 00:00 Introduction...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 30
As we head into October and execute on Q4, we’re also setting our sights on 2025. In today’s episode, we’re talking about how we’re planning for the upcoming year - we discuss each of our approaches, the delineation of strategies versus tactics, delegating and communicating ownership to the team, knowing what to focus on and when to pivot and much more. We also touch on Q4 and review how Hexclad and Ridge’s sweepstakes have gone and how this plays into expectations for BFCM. 00:00 Introduction 1...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 30
In today’s episode we are introducing the MOperators Hotline!! We’re answering some of your questions and sharing our advice on your growth and marketing questions, queries and challenges. We cover how to set targets in the lead up to BFCM to fill the funnel, what to be spending on marketing as a percentage of revenue, strategies to boost rolling reach, what to focus on when moving into DTC from Amazon, and lots more. To be in with a chance to have yours used on the show, click the link below to...
Oct 08, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 29
00:00 Introduction 01:36 E-commerce Trends and Personal Updates 06:10 Marketing Strategies and Media Mix 17:28 Forecasting and Setting KPIs 52:09 Testing and Measuring Incrementality Operators Exclusive Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/9operators/shared_invite/zt-20pd2eq4n-UVM6oTQkdltEwLINwkCWIA Powered by: Motion. https://motionapp.com/pricing?utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast&utm_medium=paidsponsor&utm_campaign=march-2024-ad-reads Prescient AI. https://www.prescientai.com/...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 27
This week we have the Shopify President Harley Finkelstein joining the squad. This is one not to miss - we’re talking founder mode, getting rid of chaos monkeys, how to stay focused on the most important thing, having a growth mindset in business, the future of Shopify and much more. 00:00 Introduction to Shopify and Harley's Journey 04:09 Founder Mode: Insights and Experiences 23:13 The Importance of Being in the Details 34:01 Chaos Monkey: Streamlining Operations 49:52 The Future of Shopify: A...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Today it’s the trio back together and we’re talking gifts with purchase, being in “foundermode” and when and when not to delegate, incremental attribution and third party analytics, performance creative and our takes on the latest Meta updates. 00:00 Introduction 07:20 The Power of Creative Diversity 21:47 The Magic of Founder Mode 28:18 Delegating and Hands-On Involvement 32:31 The Challenges of Direct-to-Consumer Brands 33:56 Connecting with Employees at All Levels 36:30 Facebook's Ad Updates ...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Today we have Jared Brody on the show, Executive VP of Marketing at Resident, owner of brands such as Siena, Nectar, Awara, DreamCloud and Cloverlane. We’re talking having a mutli-brand approach, attribution, custom-built attribution tools, how to use data to drive your decisions and much more. 00:00 Introduction 10:40 Nectar's Multi-Brand Approach in the Mattress Space 18:23 Building Custom Tools for Measurement 20:50 Differences Between Out-of-the-Box Tools and Custom Tools 24:04 Using Geo Tes...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 24
00:00 Introduction 04:40 The Background of a CEO in E-commerce 07:16 The Importance of Marketing Knowledge for CEOs 09:08 The Role of Content and Understanding the Attention Economy 12:01 The Importance of Survival and Longevity in Business 19:49 The Significance of Incrementality in Marketing 21:05 The Day-to-Day Responsibilities of a CEO 27:36 CEO's Involvement in Marketing and Budgeting 32:24 Collaboration between CEO and Marketing Team 33:06 Using Data Analytics for Marketing Optimization 35...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 23
This week we’re discussing how we’re planning and strategizing for Q4. We reflect on last year’s performance, what we’re iterating on, where we’re at in the planning process and how we’re preparing for the biggest time of the year. 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Building a Loyal Audience and Reflecting on Opportunities 07:10 The Importance of Taking Initiative and Showing Growth 13:46 Revenue Concentration in the Holiday Season 18:14 Creating Value and Exclusivity in Holiday Promotions 22:22 Product L...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Today on the show we have Shane Rostad and we’re going deep on all things conversion rate optimization and how to run tests properly to get actionable results you can be confident about. We get into the philosophy of CRO, testing processes and the operational side, and the nuances around the do’s and don’ts when it comes to CRO testing. If you’ve got questions for Shane, we’ll get him back on the show so drop your questions below and we’ll get some of them answered next time! 00:00 Introduction ...
Aug 20, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 21
