Author
Forrest Motz
Founder and editor, The Spend Report
Operator on the buy side of paid media for the last decade. Has hired, managed, and fired more agencies than he would care to count, which is the experience The Spend Report is designed to be useful to.
Forrest writes the pillar guides and reviews every article before publish against the standards on the editorial standards page. When the full-time content lead is hired, named bylines appear on individual articles and the editor role updates accordingly.
Reach Forrest directly: editor@thespendreport.com.
Articles reviewed or written
Until named bylines roll out, every article on the site is reviewed by Forrest before publish.
Operator SkillsHow-to
How to Run a Weekly Growth Review That Changes Decisions
The cadence, the one-page input, and the room for a weekly growth review that ends in decisions instead of a status update nobody acts on.
SEOHow-to
How to Build SEO That Compounds Against Rising Paid CAC
A practical SEO approach for DTC brands already spending on paid, built to compound into a cheaper acquisition base as paid CAC keeps climbing.
AI for MarketingAnalysis
Where AI Actually Helps a Lean Growth Team in 2026
An honest read on where AI moves the needle for a small DTC growth team in 2026, where it quietly wastes time, and how to tell the two apart before you buy.
Channel StrategyHow-to
How to Decide Which Acquisition Channel to Add Next
A diagnostic for whether to add a new acquisition channel, which one to add, and how to know the new channel is real before you move serious budget into it.
AnalyticsBenchmark
DTC Acquisition Benchmarks for 2026: MER, CAC Payback, and Channel Mix
Directional ranges for MER, CAC payback, and channel mix across DTC revenue bands in 2026, plus how to use a benchmark without cargo-culting someone else's business.
Paid AdsHow-to
The Hidden Costs of Switching Paid Ads Agencies
The cost of switching paid ads agencies is rarely the new retainer. It is the learning lost, the algorithms reset, and the operator attention to get back to baseline.
AnalyticsHow-to
Blended CAC or MER: Which Number Should Run Your Business
When to steer by blended CAC, when to steer by MER, how the two numbers relate, and which one belongs on the wall for your whole team to see.
Paid AdsHow-to
How to Fire a Paid Ads Agency
A clean exit from a paid ads agency relationship without losing the account. The signals, the documentation, the conversation, and the operational steps that protect the work.
Paid AdsHow-to
How to Read an Agency Performance Report
A framework for reading agency performance reports critically. What the numbers actually mean, what gets glossed over, and the five questions to ask every month.
Paid AdsHow-to
First 90 Days With a New Paid Ads Agency
A week-by-week framework for the first 90 days of a new paid ads agency engagement. What good looks like, what the early warning signs are, and how to course-correct in time.
Paid AdsHow-to
How Paid Ads Agencies Price Their Services
The three pricing models you will encounter, what each one rewards in agency behavior, and how to read pricing as a signal about the agency itself.
Paid AdsHow-to
Paid Ads Agency Red Flags
The patterns that say walk away from a paid ads agency, organized by where you encounter them, and the smaller patterns that are warnings but not disqualifiers.
Paid AdsHow-to
The 47 Questions to Ask Every Paid Ads Agency
The working interview script for evaluating a paid ads agency. 47 questions across the four meetings of a real diligence process, grouped by what each one is actually testing.
Paid AdsHow-to
How to Tell If You're Ready to Hire a Paid Ads Agency
Eight honest signals that an agency will move the needle for your brand, and the patterns that say you should hold off and fix something internal first.
Paid AdsPillar guide
The Operator's Guide to Hiring a Paid Ads Agency in 2026
A practical guide for operators hiring a paid ads agency. The four tiers, the rubric we use to rank them, contract terms that matter, and the first 90 days.