The Andrew Faris Podcast

Phil Kiel, Director of Paid Social at Tycoon Digital and paid social expert, explains CPMR and reach diagnostics. He breaks down why reach cost matters beyond ROAS. Short, actionable conversations cover creative fatigue versus business limits, consolidation to reduce overlap, and when product or marketing fixes beat media tweaks.

Patrick Coddou is my COO and business partner at AJF Growth. Follow and connect with him on X at https://x.com/soundslikecanoe.Brent Behsore's substack series on AI: https://brentbeshore.substack.com/p/the-question-we-forget-to-askBrent Beshore's Annual Letter: https://www.permanentequity.com/content/2025-annual-letterAndrew Youderian's 2026 eCom Trends Report: https://www.ecommercefuel.com/ecommerce-trends/FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREWX: https://x.com/andrewjfarisEmail: podcast@ajfgrowth.comWork With AJF Growth: https://ajfgrowth.comBEHIND THE SCENES STUDIOWork with the same Meta Ads creative production team that Andrew does with Behind The Scenes Studio, a More Staffing sister company: https://www.btsstudio.co/.ECOM EXPERTSGet Shopify dev work that's reliable, affordable, and drives real conversion increases for your store with AJF Growth's preferred dev partner at https://ecomexperts.io/.

A breakdown of four marketing functions that power high‑growth e‑commerce brands. Covers building a Meta ads performance engine and the role of direct‑response creative. Explains the balance between scripted ads and creator content plus how to run a creator program. Discusses using a marketing calendar, promotions for urgency, and product development strategies for scaling.

The conversation breaks down why varied creative is now the engine of Meta ad reach. It covers how creative itself acts as targeting and how engagement-based serving reshapes distribution. You’ll hear why hyper-specific messaging and format libraries scale better than broad approaches. Practical tactics include using diverse talent, account setups, and building a creative supply chain to keep ads fresh.

Richie Mashiko, CEO of She's Birdie and a turnaround-focused financial strategist, tells the brand's comeback from heavy debt to record revenue and profits. He walks through reigniting ad spend, rebuilding creative, and diversifying channels like Amazon and TV. Richie also covers right‑sizing operations, building a promo calendar, and scaling creator-driven content.

A candid take on why chasing the lowest CPMr can be misleading for most brands. Discussion of balancing broad reach with lower-funnel audiences and purchase optimization. Emphasis on creative diversity as the main lever to scale spend. Notes on practical metrics like spend, revenue, ROAS, and CAC. Brief caveats for very large advertisers and category expansion situations.

A frank re-evaluation of lifetime value vs acquisition cost in DTC businesses. Conversations cover when low CAC beats high retention, hidden subscription CAC, and how offers and AOV shift profitability. Practical trade-offs between scale, volume, and margin are explored. Listeners hear concrete ways to design offers that influence retention and true customer value.

Taylor Rath, General Manager at Bryan Anthonys with 10+ years building influencer programs. She explains how a tiny subset of creators drives most revenue. She breaks down seeding product, commission-first deals, and co-created collections that convert. She also covers relationship tactics like events and personal outreach, and how to scale affiliate programs without losing personalization.

Jordan West, founder and CEO of Social Commerce Club and host of the Unofficial TikTok Shop Podcast, helps eight-figure ecommerce brands win on social commerce. He breaks down Meta’s new affiliate shopping for Reels and how it copies TikTok Shop’s playbook. They discuss creator incentives, Shopify/Amazon integrations, rollout markets, and who should prioritize social commerce now.

A bold rebuttal to the claim that media buying is dead. Short discussions on how small improvements in ad spend drive big financial gains. Stories of reporting and buying mistakes that sank brands. A focus on tying ad spend to real financials, unit economics, inventory and seasonality. Practical tactics for reducing wasted ad dollars and treating media buying as strategic growth work.