Scalability School

*]:pointer-events-auto [content-visibility:auto] supports-[content-visibility:auto]:[contain-intrinsic-size:auto_100lvh] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" tabindex="-1" data-turn-id= "039e736c-4eb5-4502-a0c0-eae8ef56dab4" data-testid= "conversation-turn-4" data-scroll-anchor="true" data-turn= "assistant"> This bonus BFCM episode is a full debrief on what actually worked over Black Friday/Cyber Monday with real numbers, not theory. Zach Stuck comes out of paternity leave to break down his most recent Twitter "Beef" on why most Google agencies have their incentives completely misaligned (especially when they're charging % of spend on branded search). He also goes over how his team engineered a BFCM weekend that drove huge revenue without torching margin. We walk through this offer that took hourly revenue from ~$50k to $142k and then again to $172k while still holding around 9x MER. We cover the exact structure of the offer, how it affected AOV, and why time-boxing the offer beat running a gift-with-purchase the entire weekend. You'll also hear how they built daily and hourly pacing models out of Shopify and ad platform data so they knew by midday whether they were ahead, behind, or needed to push harder. From there, we get into the channel and creative side: how much budget actually went into BFCM-specific ads vs evergreen, the retention structure that printed 10x+ ROAS and the specific ad concepts that spent over Black Friday and held strong through Cyber Monday. We even talk about total amount of emails and sms messages that went out on Black Friday alone, and why the list didn't revolt. If you're a media buyer or e-com operator looking to turn BFCM from "hope and vibes" into a repeatable system, this episode is basically the playbook you'd normally only get inside a private Slack group (like the Foxwell Founders Community). Key Takeaways: What actually happens when you time-box an offer to a single hour on Black Friday. How many emails and texts you can really send on Black Friday before you burn your list The importance of building a BFCM pacing sheet to know if you're behind and need to push. How much budget actually went into BFCM-specific creative vs evergreen ads. What a "creative diversity" roadmap for BFCM actually looks like in practice. How you can structure a Meta retention campaign that prints a 10x+ ROAS without lying to yourself (or clients) about incrementality. How to let creative do the targeting and still keep accounts manageable through the BFCM chaos The specific BFCM ad concepts that actually spent $90k+ and worked. To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/ Learn more about Andromeda and GEM as Andrew breaks them down on the Perpetual Traffic Podcast. https://www.foxwelldigital.com/blog/the-new-meta-gem-era-how-andromeda-creative-diversification-amp-organic-signals-are-reshaping-performance-marketing

This episode is basically a masterclass in how media buyers and UGC creators should actually work together, not just pretend to. Courtney walks through her unique vantage point as both a media buyer and a creator: she runs strategy and ad buying for brands from that spend from $3k/month all the way up to $1MM/month in spend, leads the Foxwell Founders "small spenders" cohort, and also produces UGC herself. This dual role lets her see where brands and creators constantly miss each other. Key Takeaways: They creative types that are currently working without overcomplicating things. Why your best-performing ad doesn't have a great hook rate, but is still printing money. Are you over paying creators for "usage rights" you don't actually need? What Courtney believes you should be paying creators for a piece of content. The 1 thing media buyers wished UGC creators understood about spend and why some creatives never leave the learning phase. How your creative brief might be the #1 thing killing authenticity and performance. How performance results could change by evaluating your creators on these two criteria over their logos and case studies. Why you shouldn't be asking creators to "go viral" and instead be building a system for consistent, high-quality, testable content. The amount of performance you are likely leaving on the table by chasing trends, and other no-nos when working with creators. Are you quietly over-indexing on marketing Twitter and case studies—and under-indexing on the nuance inside your own accounts? This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you're ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability School sent you. Join the club. To connect with Courtney Fritts, you can email her at Courtney@axiommarketing.co or in one of the Foxwell Digital Communities: www.hivehausugc.com or FoxwellFounders.com To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

This episode dives deep into how much your tracking setup actually controls your Meta performance, and why most brands only pay attention to the pixel when things break. Brett walks through his journey from old-school media buying into early Facebook ads and how that evolved into Tag Hero, a specialist shop focused purely on technical conversion tracking across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. He explains why data quality is the real throttle on performance and how you can have the best creative in the account, but if Meta isn't getting clean signals, the algorithm just can't do its job. Key Takeaways: How you can tell if your Shopify → Meta tracking setup is actually "good enough"… or silently leaking conversions. If Meta says you're getting 8–13% more events with CAPI, are you actually set up to capture that lift—or just assuming you are. The easiest way to verify your pixel and CAPI events are deduplicating correctly instead of double-counting purchases. The Event Match Quality scores you should care about, and when a score is good vs a legit red flag Why this one tracking perameter is arguably more valuable than email for optimization. Why optimizing around a specific EMQ score might just be gaming a number that doesn't move revenue. When Shopify's default Facebook Sales Channel App is the right call and when it might be time to graduate to Elevar/Blotout/EdgeTag-style stacks. The incremental tracking upgrades that actually pay for themselves after you start spending 6 figures or more a month in ads. The truth of what exactly happens when Meta flags you as 'Health & Wellness' brand and depricates your lower funnel. How you can still win in health & wellness categories on Meta The key steps to confidently rule out tracking as the culprit when your ads stop working so you're not re-building creative for a data problem? This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you're ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability School sent you. Join the club. To connect with Brett Fish over at TagHero, you can DM him at https://x.com/brett_fish or head over to their site: https://taghero.io/ To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

Traditional e-commerce dashboards often mislead due to unclear metrics and missing cost inputs. Hosts highlight the importance of focusing on contribution margin and differentiating new customer metrics from blended performance. They stress that understanding cash flow is crucial, especially for non-subscription brands where LTV can be deceptive. Additionally, operational metrics like sales breakdowns and spend velocity are essential for making informed daily decisions in media buying. The episode emphasizes establishing a clear metric framework to drive profitable growth.

Dive into tactical strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Discover how to pace your budget wisely and craft offers that boost average order value without harming margins. Learn to optimize ad campaigns on Meta and Google, measure success effectively, and handle inventory challenges with finesse. Uncover creative angles that resonate with gift-buyers and fine-tune your channel tactics for maximum impact. Wrap it all up with a concrete action plan to execute your holiday strategy smoothly!

In this conversation, Brad discusses strategies for maximizing revenue during Black Friday and the holiday season. He emphasizes the importance of understanding revenue peaks, analyzing advertising costs, and planning effective promotions. The discussion also covers the significance of timing in marketing efforts, particularly around key shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and how to leverage gifting opportunities leading up to Christmas. Finally, Brad highlights the need for brands to adapt their messaging and strategies as they transition into the new year. Key Takeaways Understanding when to expect revenue peaks through BFCM How analyzing historical data helps in planning marketing strategies. Why your CPM and conversion rates will fluctuate significantly during Q4 When its best to start promotions to capture initial demand effectively. Why gifting messaging should ramp up as Christmas approaches. How to ensure your brand is correctly adjusting ad spend through the holidays How utilizing this free tool can maximize sales opportunities. The Post-Christmas strategies you should focus on to gain new year momentum. To grab the Q4 Calendar head here This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you're ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability sent you. Join the club. To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

We break down ABO vs CBO, budget pacing, offer architectures (sitewide %, tiers, gifts, bundles), landing-page quick wins, and the email/SMS cadence that stacks revenue—plus day-of MER guardrails and intra-day pacing. #BFCM #Ecommerce #MediaBuying Key Takeaways ABO or CBO: When each campaign structure can win and why The simples offer architectures that won't wreck margins Pacing budgets so you don't blow learnings (or spend) before the big days The landing-page tweaks that move the most revenue during BFCM Can a small site-wide + stacked gift be smarter than a deeper discount? How shipping cutoffs should be shaping your promo calendar and messaging The day-of MER guardrails and hourly checks that will keep you on target This episode is sponsored by Northbeam, the marketing attribution platform that we love here at Scalability School. If you're ready to cut through the noise, stop guessing, and actually see which ads are driving your business, book a demo at northbeam.io/demo, and tell them Scalability sent you. Join the club. To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

The WI crew dives straight into answering you, our tens of listeners burning questions (Or just the ones folks replied to Zach's tweet with), we look at when (and if) agency folks should spin up their own DTC brand, the hidden costs (time, cash flow, ops, P&L) most marketers underestimate, and a very practical rundown of how to go 0→1 and then scale. We chat through how to avoid the classic trap of riding one "hero" ad too long and you'll hear real budgets, campaign counts, inventory constraints around a holiday push, how to pick lower AOV vs higher AOV for faster learnings and better cash flow. We also get candid on the financial reality for founders (who are often "broke until an exit") and how to think long-term. Key takeaways: Should an agency owner actually become a DTC brand owner or is that just shiny-object syndrome? What's the true time/capital tax of switching from retainers to inventory + P&L risk? How different is cash flow in an agency vs. e-com brand? What a clean 0→1 playbook looks like for paid. What "real" scale looks like in a Meta account on a holiday week. Why you can't we scale past a certain daily spend even when a video "works". How many winning ads you actually need to push beyond $1–3k/day (hint: more than one) The AOV you should launch with if you need fast learning + sustainable cash flow. How category passion + founder advantage will impact messaging and LTV over 1–2 years. The uncomfortable founder realities no one says out loud. This episode is sponsored by Wayflyer, a smarter way to use debt for growth. To learn more about them and how they may be able to help your brand grow head here This episode is sponsored by ROKU. Did you know Roku integrates with Shopify, allowing you to see marketing spend and performance of your ad campaigns in Shopify? Oh and you can LITERALLY HAVE SOMEONE SHOP ON THEIR TV using Roku. Action ads let Roku viewers purchase products from your online store directly from their TV. To give them a try head here. To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM at https://x.com/brad_ploch To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM at https://x.com/zachmstuck Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community at https://foxwellfounders.com/

Simon Robert, CEO of Statiq, shares insights on leveraging creative strategies for DTC brands. He emphasizes the importance of founders leading creative efforts, asserting that one standout ad can outperform many mediocre ones. The discussion covers the need for fresh ideas beyond common templates, and the balance between branding and performance. Robert also highlights the risks of outsourcing creative too soon and offers frameworks for effective ad testing and team structures. His practical advice is essential for media buyers aiming to unlock consistent growth.

This episode of Scalability School explores how DTC founders can leverage debt as a strategic growth tool rather than a dangerous crutch. Zach, Brad, and Andrew walk through the math every media buyer should understand before scaling (EPCs, conversion rates, AOVs, margins), highlight why inventory-backed debt can be the smartest use of capital, and break down how to model financials in a way that impresses lenders. The episode blends media buying fundamentals (math, margins, bundling strategy) with financial strategy (when and how to use debt, what lenders look for, and how to avoid financial "fuckups"). Key Takeaways: The math (CPCs, CVRs, AOVs) you need to know before spending a single dollar on Facebook ads Understanding the hidden costs that will erode your true margins and must be worked into your modeling The importance of negotiating everything to improve margins before raising prices? How building out this team offshore can be one of the highest-ROI scaling moves for your brand The one thing that convinced Hollow's founders that debt was a better option than raising equity How to you convince lenders to fund a young, $1M brand (and the data they really want to see). The big reason robust financial models essential even for early-stage brands Are you using debt this way? 3 of the most dangerous ways brands misuse debt The #1 rule when working with lenders This episode is sponsored by Wayflyer, a smarter way to use debt for growth. To learn more about them and how they may be able to help your brand grow head here to learn more. To connect with Andrew Foxwell send an email Andrew@foxwelldigital.com To connect with Brad Ploch send him a DM. To connect with Zach Stuck send him a DM Learn More about the Foxwell Founders Community head here to learn more.