Good morning,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Greenhaus, Shopsmith AI, and trueCABLE. 👋
😓 Running an Agency Is Hard. Really Hard.
You solve client fires.
You lead a team.
You make the big calls.
And the moment you catch your breath, something else needs your attention.
That is why we built Agency, a vetted peer network for 7 to 9-figure agency leaders who want clarity, connection, and real support.
Inside Agency, gain access to:
If you’ve ever wished for a circle of operators who genuinely get it, this is where you will find them.
Agency exists so growth stops feeling heavy and starts feeling human again.
💰 5 Ways To Start Off Strong in Q1
After weeks of discounts, urgency and scaling, most ad accounts need a little extra love heading into Q1 to refresh and build a foundation of evergreen content.
The Pilothouse team recommends using January as a recovery phase to revive creative and start to gain learnings into the new year.
Here are a few tips from the team for bouncing back from Q4:
1️⃣ Review Last Year’s Q1 Winners
Travel back in time and check what worked last Q1. Pilothouse recommends reviewing Q1 as a whole and then digging into each month.
💡 Look for trends across angles and even bring back a couple of your top evergreen ads from last year to see if they’ll scale again.
2️⃣ Do A Tracking Deep Dive
You probably did tracking checks before Q4 but it’s a good idea to review and test events to verify everything is firing correctly.
💡 Compare between events manager, Shopify, Google Analytics, and any other platforms you use for accuracy to kick the year off hot.
3️⃣ Focus on Top of Funnel
Chances are, your retargeting pools have been hammered with sale ads for weeks. Time to give them a break and ramp up exclusions.
💡 Make sure you’re excluding all past purchasers, site visitors, engagers, etc in your TOF campaigns to start rebuilding your retargeting traffic.
4️⃣ Review the Top BFCM Ads
Scaling in Q4 = a goldmine of insights.
Go back and review what creative styles and angles performed the best during BFCM and Q4 as a whole. Use that data to plan out your Q1 tests.
5️⃣ Rebuild Your Testing Rhythm
After high-intensity Q4 execution, many accounts lose their testing strategy since sale campaigns typically scale immediately.
Re-establish your testing structure early in Q1 with this clear process. 👇
Structure:
Testing volume:
Ask yourself:
The brands that dominate later in the year are the ones that use January to rebuild. Give these tips a try and set your brand up for success in 2026!
🎧 How Pilothouse Cut BFCM CPMs With Smarter Creative (2025 Recap)
In this AKNF episode, Grayson, Head of Ecommerce at Pilothouse, and Abby, Lead Strategist, dive into how Andromeda changed Meta, why “targeting with creative” is no longer optional, and how the brands that won BFCM weren’t louder, they were clearer.
What you’ll learn:
▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube.
🎧 Or click here to listen on Spotify.
Neil Patel shares how companies are allocating their social ad budget going into 2026.
The survey asked over 9,201 global marketers if they plan on increasing, decreasing, or keeping budgets the same for the top 8 social platforms.
Surprisingly, this platform had the biggest increase in budget while TikTok came in second.
Discover the freshest and most innovative brands that caught our eye! Here’s a few exciting companies redefining their industries.
📥 Got a B2B Biz?
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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.
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