Ep. 136 - New Customers, Not New Tricks - Sam Piliero

In this episode, host Vince Quinn welcomes Sam Piliero to explore how advertising strategy must evolve to serve today’s digital‑brands. Sam explains his agency’s focus on one‑to‑$10 million e‑commerce companies, how his three‑step “M3 Method” underpins their media buying and execution, and why spending ad budget on new customer acquisition (rather than over‑servicing existing/engaged audiences) is a critical shift. He also discusses how founder‑led content drives growth, how he built his agency culture to support performance, and how aligning content, strategy and operations pays off for both clients and team.

Guest Bio

Sam Piliero is the Founder and CEO of The Moonlighters, a performance‑marketing agency that specialises in Facebook and Google advertising for e‑commerce brands in the $1 million‑to‑$10 million revenue range. Previously he worked at VaynerMedia (on the e‑commerce team) and at BarkBox (helping scale the business). He built The Moonlighters around a senior‑only team and a growth‑director model, emphasizing profitability, customer acquisition, modular campaign structures, and founder‑driven content.

Takeaways

• Focusing the majority of ad spend on new customer acquisition rather than existing/engaged audiences can unlock growth and avoid diminishing returns from high‑frequency retargeting.
• The “M3 Method” (strategy/structure + “bet the fastest horse” + cost controls/caps) provides a simplified but actionable framework for scaling performance campaigns.
• A modular campaign structure (e.g., separating new customers vs. engaged vs. existing) improves clarity and performance — instead of simply “top‑mid‑bottom funnel.”
• Time‑of‑day and day‑of‑week analysis (“betting on the fastest horse”) remains a highly under‑leveraged lever in ad strategy: shifting spend into high‑conversion days/times can improve ROI without new creative.
• Founder‑led content creates authenticity, builds trust, and serves as a valuable lead‑generation engine when aligned with the business model (not chasing vanity metrics).
• Building a strong agency culture (paying above market, hiring senior people, giving them skin‑in‑the‑game) reduces churn and drives client results.
• Content strategy should prioritise value to the ideal audience, not just the highest view‑counts.
• Many “easy mode” advertising tactics (e.g., broad only audiences, 24/7 uniform spend, ignoring segmentation) still persist — but advanced performance requires going back to fundamentals.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome & Intro

00:17 Background of The Moonlighters

01:14 Explanation of the M3 Method (Strategy Structure / Betting the Fastest Horse / Cost Controls)

02:05 Modular ad account structure: new customers vs engaged vs existing

03:05 Why many businesses overspend on existing/engaged audiences

04:34 Why audiences aren’t focusing enough on new customer acquisition

04:50 Sam’s background: media buying over the past 12+ years, VaynerMedia & BarkBox

06:44 How The Moonlighters built the team & culture (growth directors, senior staff)

08:38 Why culture and team matters for client performance

09:32 Client results: average 41% profit improvement in first 90 days

10:35 Sam’s content journey: YouTube, building an audience, leveraging his agency insight

11:48 Content strategy: focusing on value, not just views

13:30 Deep dive into M2 (“betting the fastest horse”) — day of week/time of day optimisation

15:36 Specific examples of power of shifting ad spend timing

16:12 Discussion of founder‑led content and alignment with business model

17:08 New one‑on‑one coaching program: demand from audience, pilot launch

18:50 Program launch / closing thoughts

19:38 How Sam balances agency leadership + content creation

21:32 Why content is the #1 focus (leads, education, positioning)

22:34 Closing: Where to find Sam & how to work with The Moonlighters

LinkedIn

Follow Sam Piliero on LinkedIn here:

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