Please enjoy this episode first aired in February 2023. Zach Stuck is an agency founder turned ecommerce owner. The agency, called Homestead, runs marketing campaigns for direct-to-consumer businesses. And lessons from those campaigns drive his second venture: acquiring and launching his own brands. His top lesson? A customer from paid acquisition has to be profitable on the first sale. He shares his journey — from running an agency to owning and operating ecommerce brands — in this...
Oct 16
34 min
We asked Rok Hladnik, an ecommerce merchant turned agency owner, how to launch a new product line without confusing existing customers and diverting staff. He advised creating a new brand. "There's nothing wrong with applying learnings to a new company," he stated. Rok's agency, Flat Circle, is based in Slovenia and serves ecommerce businesses worldwide. In this episode, he shares how AI is changing advertising, why product quality matters, and the appeal (and risk) of launching a new ...
Oct 9
32 min
Cheryl Sew Hoy says her company deals with poop. The Austin, Texas-based serial entrepreneur launched Tiny Health in 2020 to help folks monitor essential microorganisms in their digestive systems, which are critical for overall wellness. The process once required in-person doctor visits with cumbersome stool collection. Tiny Health offers the same service with a streamlined home-based kit and a prepaid mailer for the lab analysis. In this episode, Cheryl shares the importance of gut health ...
Oct 2
36 min
Many pro content marketers insist AI-generated text is inferior to humans'. But not Neville Medhora. He's a seasoned copywriter who claims AI is 95% as good as human writing, even for the most complicated work. "It's a hard pill to swallow, but you've got to adapt," he says. Neville is the founder of Swipe File, a curated library of promotional content, and before that, of Kopywriting Kourse, an instructional site. He first appeared on the podcast in 2019. In this episode, he addresses AI ...
Sep 25
36 min
Hal Smith says lowering clients' customer acquisition cost on Meta and Google is a focus of his agency, H Street Digital. He cites 5 performance levers, starting with the offer. Hal founded the D2C-focused agency in 2020 after stints managing political fundraising campaigns. "I learned the importance of the right message," he told me. In this episode, Hal shares his approaches to ad messaging, testing, targeting, and, yes, reducing CAC. For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded...
Sep 18
36 min
Host Eric Banholz asked Kenny Trusnik, founder of the agency Forest City Digital, how an ecommerce startup can attract customers amid today's AI tumult. "Focus on getting the product data as deep and clean as possible in a structured environment," he replied, adding additional tactics for LLM citations and referrals. In this episode, Kenny shares those approaches, along with his agency's focus, underlying principles, marketing playbooks, and more. For an edited and condensed transcript wi...
Sep 11
32 min
Please enjoy this repeat of a popular episode aired in August 2024. Mike Tecku first appeared on this podcast in 2019 as an Amazon marketplace seller. He then sold that business, a maker of floor mats, shortly afterward. He retired, became bored, and in 2022 launched Momentum, a direct-to-consumer nutritional shake producer. He and I discussed that venture last year in his second appearance. He's back. Momentum Shake is flourishing, as is Tecku. He's evolved from the nuts and bolts of making...
Sep 4
38 min
We've followed the growth of BK Beauty since its launch seven years ago. Paul Jauregui co-founded the direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Lisa. Host Eric Bandholz has interviewed him multiple times since then. The company had hit $1 million in first-year revenue when they first spoke in 2020. Then in 2023, Paul shared the business's early wins with TikTok Shop, a new marketplace. The potential U.S. ban of TikTok in 2025 contributed to BK Beauty moving a...
Aug 28
38 min
How does an ecommerce entrepreneur land a Netflix series? Not easily. Just ask John Roman. He co-launched BattlBox, an outdoor gear company, in 2015. Its YouTube channel eventually caught the eye of producers who turned it into a Netflix series. The process was long, uneven, and stressful. Along the way, the founders sold BattlBox and bought it back. He shares his journey in this episode. For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com...
Aug 21
35 min
Jeromy Sonne is a Facebook ads pro turned fraud detection expert. His firm, Daypart, advises agencies and big-spend advertisers on the accuracy and legitimacy of their campaigns. Ad fraud, he says, can mean billed bot impressions, scam offers, and even money laundering, adding that the problem is worse on programmatic networks than on siloed platforms such as Meta and Google. In this episode, he addresses the reality of today's ad fraud and how advertisers prevent and detect it. For an edite...
Aug 14
32 min
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