Nerd Marketing

Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein have run more than 50 Black Fridays between them, at Design Public, E-Dimensional, Karmaloop and AutoAnything. They saw them before Shopify, Google Ads or Facebook existed, and they've seen them since. In this episode they share the lessons that still hold for BFCM 2026: Black Friday doesn't create demand, it moves it around. Know your margin before you discount. Make your money on the upsell, not the doorbuster. Buy attention before ad auctions spike, then lean on channels whose costs stay flat, like email, SMS and direct mail. Lead with your highest-LTV product, not the one that converts best on the first click. Add value instead of cutting price, with bundles, gifts with purchase and upgrades. Your best prospects have already bought from you. Fewer than 10% of most customer files have engaged with email in the last 60 days, so go back years. BFCM is won in December. Brands that send one campaign and stop lose about 85% of their incremental lift by December. Automated win-backs cut that loss in half. Bonus: get your team pumped. It's your Super Bowl. Want help putting these lessons to work this season? Visit postpilot.com.

Direct mail doesn't take months to set up. Drew and Mike walk through how to get a profitable direct mail channel live for Black Friday in about three hours. Using PostPilot's BFCM benchmark data from millions of campaigns over three years, all measured against holdout groups, they cover: Why BFCM direct mail averaged 3.9x incremental ROAS Winning back customers who are years lapsed (it peaks at 636–730 days) Mailing recent buyers: 15–60 days after purchase hits 7.6x incremental Unengaged customers, VIPs and handwritten thank-you cards Abandoned checkout, email and site retargeting (about 6x incremental) Why automations beat one-off sends and cut the December drop-off in half The three-hour launch plan, from installing the app to approving designs Mail deadlines: send postcards by November 9 to land November 18–23 Get the 6x9 upgrade for the price of a 4x6 this BFCM. 6x9s drive 31% more incremental revenue per piece than 4x6s. Sign up at postpilot.com/bfcm-gfo-2026.

In this special Nerd Marketing episode, Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein break down everything new in PostPilot's Fall Editions, the biggest feature drop yet. Featuring AI Benchmarks, Halo (Amazon attribution), and AcquisitionAI, the automation tool transforming how brands acquire customers. Learn how PostPilot is making direct mail smarter, more measurable, and fully multichannel.

In this episode, Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein explain how brands can finally measure direct mail's full impact—not just on Shopify, but on Amazon too.  They share how PostPilot Halo brings true multichannel attribution to life, why direct mail performs best when digital CPAs spike, and how leading brands are using it to win Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Harvard-published marketing professor Jonathan Zhang joins Drew and Mike to unpack research showing how direct mail drives lower CAC and higher lifetime value than digital channels. They dig into the psychology of touch, why Gen Z actually loves mail, and how brands like Amazon and Warby Parker proved it first. A data-driven roadmap for the next five years of marketing.

Preston Rutherford, Cofounder of Chubbies, joins Drew and Michael to share how the brand went from the brink of bankruptcy to a nine-figure exit. They dive into the dangers of ROAS obsession, the shift to a 50/50 brand vs. performance strategy, aligning teams around contribution, and the hard lessons that turned Chubbies into a durable, beloved brand.

Think Black Friday prep starts in the fall? Think again. In this episode, Drew and Michael explain why Back to School is the ultimate test window for Q4 success. They break down four actionable strategies you can launch this summer to identify your most profitable customer segments, validate your creative, and lower acquisition costs—before the holiday rush drives up competition and ad prices.

Recorded on Memorial Day, Drew opens up about the top lessons he learned as a Navy intelligence officer - lessons that shape how he leads today. He and Michael also reflect on personal regrets, from family and risk-taking to life metrics that matter most.

After auditing hundreds of Shopify brands, Zak Cassady-Dorion has a clear message: You're missing easy revenue. He joins Drew to reveal his retention-first approach, killer Klaviyo playbook, and why PostPilot is his secret weapon.

This week, Drew and Michael unpack the latest tariff relief and what it means for DTC operators, break down Zuck's vision for Meta as a fully automated ad platform, and explore the tension between brand and performance marketing. Plus, a deep dive into Aviator Nation's remarkable rise—from Venice Beach to Forbes' richest list.