What a journey! When we launched Performance Marketing Minds together with Outbrain Direct Response, the goal was simple: a live conversation with smart people about what really works in performance marketing right now. No fluff or empty buzzwords.
Eleven episodes later, we exchanged experiences with founders, entrepreneurs, and performance marketers and gathered a stack of inspiring and useful ideas for you.
We built a great audience of listeners and subscribers on leading podcast platforms such as Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. To be precise — 1223 listeners. That's 1223 times when marketers tuned in to real stories and working tactics.
We achieved global reach: the USA, India, Israel, the UK, and Germany.
Most of our listeners listen to the podcast on the go: from their mobile phones on the way to work, while doing everyday tasks, and in any other situations.
Season in Stories
We started with Joe Higgins, who helped us understand search through native advertising: how to find quality traffic, work with arbitrage, and maintain efficiency amid changing rules and competition.
Then came Jason Kutas's journey — from the hustle of affiliate marketing to owning offers and running an agency. It's a reminder that strong offers, smart partners, and quality copywriting still win.
Next, we moved to the topic of trust with Eric Schechter, where a truthful story and real reputation create momentum, and to Kyle Dana's map of the rapidly changing world of affiliate marketing: the evolution of VSL, the shrinking number of email partners, the growing influence of creators, and backends that take on more and more work.
After that, Kyle Kostechka expanded the focus to influence based on team habits, mindset, and market understanding, and Anthony Chiaravallo showed that brand and performance can be best friends when storytelling helps hit the numbers.
Raanan Rosenbaum emphasized that instincts, connections, and even neurodivergence can be real advantages in the funnel and in your career. Nadim Batista-Kuttab proved that native advertising is still undervalued if your funnel is set up correctly, and Lane Roza cut through the AI noise with a simple rule: solve real customer problems, measure results, and avoid gimmicks.
We took a broader view with Nick Shackelford, discussing markets, mentorship, and optimism — an operator's mindset that enables learning and growth. Eyal Moshe and David Reznik from MediaForce closed out the season, discussing the balance between in-house resources and the right partners in a landscape where AI and CTV are changing advertising, compliance requirements keep growing, and diversification is becoming a must.
Enduring Patterns
Throughout the season, several themes proved their importance. Results matter more than hype, so tools only matter when they affect the numbers; when you build trust with partners, platforms, and clients, growth becomes compounding.
Native advertising proved to be a smart channel for finding audiences, especially when clear offers and tight funnels keep blended CAC under control. Brand and performance don't contradict each other: with a strong story, direct response works more effectively and more intelligently.
Fundamentals win: simple user journeys, clear offers, and reliable backends beat shiny distractions. AI is most valuable when it does real work: reducing friction, accelerating learning, and improving results.
We also learned to balance between what you build in-house and partners who expand your capabilities, especially in AI, CTV, and areas with strict compliance. Throughout all of this, adaptability remained the key factor: platforms and rules change quickly, and teams that learn faster win faster.
And throughout it all, adaptability remained the key factor: platforms and rules change quickly, so teams that learn faster win faster.
Our favorite insights:
- Customer first. Advice from Lane Roza: start with the customer's problem, define success in advance, run small tests, and measure everything carefully.
- The power of niche. From Nadim Batista-Kuttab and Kyle Kostechka: don't jump into the same crowded niches as everyone else.
- Media mix rhythm. Anthony Chiaravallo's approach: search and social are your most effective channels.
- Trust as a strategy. Eric Schechter: tell a truthful story, show proof (social proof, results), keep your promises. It's timeless and it works.
- AI and copywriting synergy. Eyal Moshe and David Reznik: develop core competencies in-house, diversify strategically, and rely on specialized partners for speed and compliance.
Quick wins you can implement:
- Make AI work: automate routine tasks (bidding, QA, data exports) so your team can focus on ideas and creative.
- Try a native sprint: test 3 creative approaches with corresponding landing pages, turn off the ones that don't work, scale the winners, and watch your blended CAC.
- Fix the top of the page: make the promise crystal clear, add proof next to the CTA, and reduce the number of form fields to maintain high conversion.
- Create scaling rules: decide in advance when to increase budget, pause, or change strategy based on CPA/ROAS and volume.
- Smart make-or-buy choices: keep strategy in-house, and use partners for specialized execution, entering new markets, and working with strict-compliance channels like CTV.
Thank you!
Huge thanks to Joe Higgins, Jason Kutas, Eric Schechter, Kyle Dana, Kyle Kostechka, Anthony Chiaravallo, Raanan Rosenbaum, Nadim Batista-Kuttab, Lane Roza, Nick Shackelford, as well as Eyal Moshe and David Reznik from MediaForce for real stories and actionable tactics.
And to everyone who listened, sent messages, and shared their questions: you shaped this season more than you can imagine.
Performance Marketing Minds is brought to you by Outbrain Direct Response — where great results start with bold thinking.
