In this episode of Always Be Testing, I sit down with Howard Schaffer — a 25-year performance marketing leader, former CMO and VP across major wellness, fitness, and tech brands, and now the founder of HOS Performance — for a deep dive into what really holds companies back from scaling. Howard and I unpack why so many teams are still operating on shaky data foundations, from broken UTM structures to inaccurate attribution and reporting gaps, and he shares the exact diagnostic framework he uses when he steps into an organization.

We talk about what every new CMO should evaluate in their first 30–60 days, how to assess channel performance without bias, and why disciplined tracking and clean measurement matter far more than adding another fancy analytics tool. We also get into AI’s growing role in competitive research and creative iteration, how SEO is evolving, and why creator-led partnerships are becoming more valuable than traditional influencer deals. This conversation is full of practical insights for CMOs, performance marketers, analysts, and founders who want to understand what’s slowing down their growth — and how to fix it.