Most marketers use Reddit personally and have no idea how to think about it professionally. This episode changes that.

Jonny Waite is the co-founder of RECHO — one of only two full-service White Hat Reddit agencies in the US. With 17 years in digital and deep roots in SEO, paid search, and omnichannel strategy, Jonny has built Reddit programs for some of the biggest brands in the world.

In this conversation, we break it down in three moves: how people actually behave on Reddit, how that translates into brand strategy, and why it's quietly shaping how AI tools like ChatGPT and Google surface your brand to the world.

What you'll learn:

→ Why 62% of people fact-check AI answers on Reddit

→ The difference between paid and organic Reddit strategy

→ How to engage in subreddits without getting banned

→ Why brands that start now will be nearly impossible to catch by 2027

→ The step-by-step process for getting started this week — not this quarter

Whether you're a brand marketer, agency leader, or just trying to figure out where Reddit fits in your media mix, this one is worth your time.

1. REDDIT IS MAINSTREAM NOW — AND MOST BRANDS ARE BEHIND

Reddit has been around for nearly 20 years but exploded in the last few years thanks to data licensing deals with Google and OpenAI. It's no longer a niche platform for tech enthusiasts. Half a billion weekly active users. 42% Gen Z. 40% Millennials. Most brands haven't figured it out yet — which is the opportunity.

2. PEOPLE GO TO REDDIT TO VALIDATE AI ANSWERS

62% of people who try to fact-check AI responses go to Reddit. That stat alone should change how brands think about the platform. It's not just a social channel — it's where trust is built or broken in the AI era.

3. AI SLOP IS DRIVING PEOPLE BACK TO HUMAN CONVERSATION

The flood of AI-generated content has made people distrust polished brand content. Reddit's anonymity and self-governance make it feel real. Brands that show up authentically benefit from that halo.

4. PAID AND ORGANIC ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STRATEGIES

Reddit ads are still cheap (spend is up 3x YoY but only 2% of overall media mix). Great test channel. Organic is where the real long-term value lives — but it's nuanced, time-intensive, and easy to get wrong.

5. MOST BRANDS GET BANNED BECAUSE THEY SKIP THE RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

The #1 mistake: jumping into a subreddit only when your brand is mentioned. Reddit communities see right through it. You need to be a consistent, helpful presence before you ever mention your product.

6. REACH OUT TO MODERATORS BEFORE YOU POST

Moderators govern each subreddit independently. Being transparent about who you are and what you want to contribute goes a long way. Many will let brands engage if approached respectfully and honestly.

7. START SMALL — 3 TO 5 SUBREDDITS MAXIMUM

Pick smaller, less mission-critical subreddits first. If you make a mistake and get banned, it won't tank your strategy. Use it as a learning environment before going after the big communities.

8. SOCIAL LISTENING IS YOUR FIRST MOVE

Before posting anything, onboard Reddit into your social listening platform. Understand how your brand, your competitors, and your category are being discussed. That data tells you where to show up and what to say.

9. BUILD AUTHENTICALLY — THE BENEFITS FOLLOW

Don't try to game Reddit like Google SEO. Brands that focus on genuine helpfulness — answering questions, sharing expertise, engaging in adjacent conversations — naturally accumulate AI citations, Google visibility, and qualified referral traffic.

10. THE WINDOW IS CLOSING

Jonny's prediction: brands that invest seriously in Reddit now will have an 18-month head start on competitors by end of 2027. That head start compounds — both in Reddit reputation and in AI training data. It will be very hard to catch up.

Most DTC brands aren't losing customers because they stopped caring. They're losing them because they started taking them for granted.

Agnes Seville is the Head of Paid Media at Little Sleepies — a fast-growing DTC children's pajama brand with over 500,000 members in their community. In this episode of The Human Side of MarTech, Agnes breaks down the real drivers of DTC customer retention, why brand and performance marketing fail when siloed, how Meta's algorithm is forcing a creative strategy rethink, and what brands should actually measure to know if their paid media is working.

Whether you're running a lean DTC team or trying to scale paid social without burning budget, this conversation is packed with grounded, practical insight from someone doing it at a high level.

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WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:

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→ How Agnes went from agency side to brand side — and what she learned making that switch

→ Why Little Sleepies built a 500K Facebook VIP community (and what "real" community actually means)

→ The customer loyalty mindset shift every DTC brand needs to make

→ Why brand and performance marketing teams fail when they compete instead of collaborate

→ How Meta's algorithm is penalizing creative repetition — and how to adapt

→ The attribution tools Agnes uses (Northbeam + platform data) and why nCAC is the metric that matters most

→ How to evaluate MarTech without getting burned by the implementation cost

→ What DTC brands consistently get wrong about vendors

→ The one piece of advice she'd give her younger self: "Be brave and do it scared."

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TIMESTAMPS:

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0:00 — Introduction

1:16 — Agnes's career path: from agency to brand side

4:48 — Little Sleepies and what they actually sell

6:21 — How Little Sleepies builds a 500K-member community

8:29 — What most brands misunderstand about their customers

10:10 — The over-messaging problem (the Kuru shoes example)

13:28 — How brands earn trust vs. assume loyalty

14:55 — Performance vs. brand marketing: where does each fall short?

16:52 — Why silos between brand and performance teams hurt results

19:36 — How Agnes measures holistic media performance (Northbeam + platform data)

20:53 — Is revenue the right north star metric?

22:00 — Why new customer acquisition cost is the real metric for Little Sleepies

24:25 — If forced to choose: brand or performance?

26:24 — Meta creative fatigue and the algorithm problem

29:42 — What a great e-commerce experience actually looks like

32:16 — How to evaluate marketing technology on a lean team

34:10 — The hidden cost of new tools: human capital, not just subscription fees

36:24 — Data vs. intuition in marketing decision-making

38:28 — Why human judgment still beats AI in marketing

40:44 — One piece of advice for growing a DTC brand today

43:16 — What vendors consistently get wrong when selling to DTC brands

44:17 — Advice Agnes would give her younger self

45:34 — Closing thoughts

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

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The Human Side of MarTech shines a light on the people behind the technology — the brand and agency marketers navigating complex stacks, tight budgets, and constant change. Hosted by Sean Simon, co-founder of Blurbs (trustblurbs.com) and Cogent Collective.

New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

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CONNECT:

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🎙 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms:

🌐 Read the full episode post: https://themartechmatrix.com/2026/07/04/dtc-brand-customer-retention-strategies/

📋 Discover MarTech vendors without the sales pitch: https://trustblurbs.com

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GUEST:

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Agnes Seville — Head of Paid Media, Little Sleepies

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TAGS

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DTC marketing, paid media strategy, ecommerce customer retention, brand vs performance marketing, Little Sleepies, DTC brand growth, Meta ads strategy, creative fatigue Meta, Northbeam attribution, ecommerce marketing, marketing attribution tools, customer loyalty DTC, community building DTC brands, MarTech evaluation

Most ecommerce brands think their retargeting is handled. They're running Criteo or Performance Max, hitting their ROAS targets, and moving on.

Here's the problem: their platform is only reaching 15–20% of the visitors who bounced from their site. The other 80–85% never see their brand again.

In this episode of Inside the Blurb, I sit down with Jason Blom — VP of Strategic Opportunities at RTB House and former Criteo sales leader — to break down what deep learning retargeting actually does differently, and whether adding a second retargeting partner is worth it.

We cover:

✅ Why no single retargeting platform can reach more than 15–20% of your eligible audience

✅ Deep learning vs. machine learning — what the difference actually means in practice

✅ Why 60%+ of RTB House-driven purchases happen on products shoppers never viewed or carted

✅ The exact framework for setting up a clean incrementality test

✅ What RTB House collects that standard retargeters don't (beyond the 5 standard pixels)

✅ How RTB House's creative philosophy differs from the ugly retargeting ads you're used to

✅ The question most brands forget to ask when evaluating a lower-funnel partner

This isn't a pitch — it's a candid conversation between two former Criteo colleagues who know this space inside and out.

Read the full breakdown + key takeaways: [INSERT POST URL]

Check out RTB House on Blurbs: https://www.trustblurbs.com

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Introduction: How Jason and Sean know each other (Criteo origins)

01:14 — Why Jason spent 7 years evaluating RTB House before joining

04:11 — The moment Jason knew RTB House technology was real

05:46 — What it's like selling against your former employer

08:45 — The Shopkick detour and what retail roots taught Jason about retargeting

13:17 — Deep learning vs. machine learning — what it actually means

16:08 — Why standard DSPs can't replicate deep learning performance

18:11 — How RTB House bids differently than Criteo and Google

22:16 — Where AI is taking performance marketing next

25:41 — The 60% stat: why most purchases come from never-viewed products

30:10 — Consumer behavior online vs. in-store (and why it matters for retargeting)

31:45 — Making the case for running two retargeting partners

35:28 — How to set up a clean incrementality test

39:15 — What it takes to get started with RTB House

41:17 — The first-party data advantage: beyond the 5 standard pixels

43:29 — How RTB House clients eventually consolidate their spend

46:21 — RTB House's creative philosophy and why retargeting ads can look better

48:52 — Rapid fire: most common objection, best question to ask, advice to younger self

52:33 — Closing thoughts

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ABOUT INSIDE THE BLURB

Inside the Blurb is a podcast by The MarTech Matrix where Sean Simon interviews founders and leaders from the vendor side of marketing technology. No buzzwords. No fluff. Just honest conversations about what these platforms actually do and how they do it.

Website: https://www.themartechmatrix.com

Blurbs: https://www.trustblurbs.com

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## TAGS (paste into YouTube Tags field)

retargeting, deep learning retargeting, RTB House, performance marketing, ecommerce retargeting, retargeting ads, incrementality testing, Criteo alternative, retargeting strategy, performance display advertising, machine learning vs deep learning, ecommerce marketing, DSP advertising, programmatic advertising, retargeting ROAS, martech podcast, inside the blurb, the martech matrix, Sean Simon, Jason Blom, product recommendation ads, DPA ads, ecommerce growth