#292 Marin Istvanic From Inspire Brands Group: Scaling Ecom Brands with $100M in Meta Ad Spend

Hey, Budai Nation! Welcome back to The Ecom Show—the place where e-commerce entrepreneurs, marketers, and agencies share the best strategies to scale online brands. Before we dive in, don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode with a friend. As you know, we don’t run ads, so your support means the world! In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Marin Istvanic, founder of Inspire Brands Group, a performance marketing agency that has managed over $100 million in Meta ad spend. Marin has worked with major e-commerce brands like The Oodie, Nick Shackleford, Ford, and Vessi, helping them scale through strategic paid advertising. But before becoming a marketing expert, Marin had a whole other career—playing semi-pro football in Croatia. We’ll dive into his fascinating journey from sports to scaling e-commerce brands. 📌 Key Takeaways: ✅ How Marin transitioned from football to digital marketing ✅ His journey from a digital marketing apprentice to running a top ad agency ✅ How he helped scale The Oodie from $1K/day in ad spend to an eight-figure brand ✅ Why X became his go-to platform for client acquisition (growing from 400 to 27K followers) ✅ The most important Meta ad strategies for 2025—what works and what doesn’t ✅ How his agency keeps a lean, high-performance team while managing major brands ✅ Marin’s own e-commerce brand that did $31M in revenue in just a few years Marin shares insider insights on creative strategy, audience targeting, media buying, and setting the right expectations with clients. Whether you’re an ecom founder, media buyer, or agency owner—this episode is packed with practical takeaways to help you scale smarter. 🎧 Tune in now and learn from one of the best in the business! 👉 Follow Marin on X and LinkedIN for daily insights on e-commerce and Meta ads. X:https://x.com/IstvanicMarin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marin-i%C5%A1tvani%C4%87/?originalSubdomain=hr  🔗 Subscribe to The Ecom Show for more expert interviews every other week! Before you go, we've got a special resource for you – the ‘Top 100 High-Converting Emails of Budai Media.’ This guide is a goldmine for anyone looking to boost their e-commerce marketing game. Click the link in the description to download it for free! https://www.thebudaimedia.com/top100-emails Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budaidaney/ Find me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKtHC2ojO_7mhMHXQ-qZcHQ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter packed with the latest e-commerce buzz: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/weekly-newsletter-signup Click on the link below to learn more about us: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/ Check out some previous episodes: https://www.thebudaimedia.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.