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THE MILK BOTTLE ECOMMERCE SHOW · 14 EPISODES
Paid media for ecommerce has never been more measurable or more competitive. The channels that drove easy returns in 2018 — Facebook retargeting, Google Shopping — are now saturated, more expensive, and harder to attribute accurately with the deprecation of third-party cookies and platform-specific tracking changes. The merchants winning on paid media in 2026 are the ones who've built their own first-party data foundation and are using it to make every channel more efficient.
Meta remains the highest-reach channel for most DTC brands, but the game has shifted from pixel-based retargeting to Advantage+ campaigns, broad audience signals and creative quality. The creative is the targeting now — the algorithm finds the right people for the ad, so the ad has to do more of the work. Testing creative systematically, at volume, is the discipline that separates growing brands from plateauing ones.
TikTok has moved from experiment to serious channel for brands targeting under-35 buyers. The content format is native-video — not repurposed square ads — and the community dynamics are different from Meta. Brands that have built organic presence on TikTok before paying to amplify it consistently outperform those that go straight to paid.
SMS marketing, covered in several episodes here, has some of the highest engagement rates in ecommerce marketing when it's used correctly: conversational, timely, and genuinely useful. The key constraint is permission — SMS lists built on genuine opt-ins from engaged customers behave completely differently from bulk-blasted lists.
The episodes in this hub cover Facebook strategy, TikTok, SMS marketing, marketing automation tools, and the analytics frameworks that help merchants understand what's actually working versus what the platforms report.
EPISODES
Episode #108
John Readman, CEO and Founder of Ask Bosco, joins Keith to share his vision for transforming e-commerce marketing through AI-powered intelligence. With his extensive background in digital marketing, John understands firsthand the frustrations businesses face when trying to make sense of their market
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Episode #100
For our 100th episode, we chat with DP Fitzgerald and Matthew Gavin from Mycel, a Dublin-based performance marketing agency with a focus on TikTok. They share their insights on the evolution of TikTok, its impact on digital marketing, and how businesses can harness the power of this platform to conn
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Episode #93
Join us as we sit down with Leigh Marcum Phelps, a prominent figure in the world of SMS marketing and customer engagement. Leigh is a senior manager at Attentive, a leading SMS provider that revolutionises the way eCommerce brands connect with their customers.
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Episode #74
Brendan Hughes is CEO of Optily, a solution for Shopify merchants to manage and optimise advertising across multiple platforms. This episode discusses the complexity of this core part of DTC brand management while Brendan shares his solution.
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Episode #74
Irish-based, Core Optimisation is one of Europe's fastest-growing digital marketing, SEO & PPC agencies. Caroline Dunlea, CEO of Core Optimisation discuss being an entrepreneur, the digital landscape and the upcoming Google Analytics 4 changes.
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Episode #42
Do customers love your brand? Raúl Galera from ReferralCandy chats to Keith about how customer referrals can bring more traffic and sales to your Shopify store.
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Episode #38
Ray Mongey chats to Keith about his dynamic video marketing tool Octovid Player. An interesting channel for Shopify merchants who want to connect better with their audience through video in real-time.
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Episode #37
Peter Carter knows everything about how to excel with your Facebook ads. In this episode, Peter shares useful tips for Shopify merchants, on how they can make the most of their Facebook marketing in the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
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Episode #36
Messenger marketing can fill the gaps that email marketing leaves. With a 90% open rate, we wanted to learn more about Recart; the #1 Messenger App for Shopify. Keith chats to Nick Romaya from Recart to find out more.
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Episode #33
As video marketing is being adopted more and more by brands, Keith catches up with Aidan Geraghty from Videotree Marketing. Aidan shares his views and suggestions on improving video and photography for your ecommerce store.
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Episode #23
Mike and his team are leading the way in the resurgence of SMS. SMS is a great tool to communicate with the customer; no wifi connection is needed and there is a 99% open rate compared to other marketing channels.
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Episode #20
Felix Süllwold chats to Keith about the power of push marketing and how a merchant can send notifications of abandoned carts, shipping notification shipping notifications and back in stock alerts to gain more sales.
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We chat to Reza Khadjavi co-founder and CEO of Shoelace. Shoelace is an app that believes ad experiences should be more engaging by telling a story which builds an emotional connection to create loyal customers.
ListenMILK BOTTLE LABS
Milk Bottle Labs is a Shopify agency based in Dublin. We work with Irish and international merchants on paid media — from strategy through to implementation.
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