#185: How do you scale subscription apps for kids with Luisa Zuleta, Growth Lead at Sago Mini & Toca Boca

Feb 12, 2024

Learn how Luisa Zuleta scaled subscription apps for kids, faced marketing limitations, built partnerships, redefined audiences, and optimized LTV. Discover challenges in compliance, adapting to industry changes, and reworking marketing channels. Explore reflections on smartphones, features, and Apple AirTags disappointment.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Challenges and Compliance in Marketing Kids' Apps

03:24 • 11min

Marketing Strategies, Industry Changes, and Building Relationships in Children's Apps

14:26 • 4min

Optimizing Marketing Funnel for Kids' Subscription Apps

18:00 • 19min

Exploring Nostalgia, Messaging, and Ideal Smartphone Features

36:43 • 2min

Reflections on Apple AirTags and Closing Remarks on the Podcast

38:50 • 3min

As so many app developers and publishers would agree, growing an audience for an app is a challenge. Nothing is static - you find a new marketing channel that works and for a while and you feel like you can finally breath again freely but then it becomes crowded with your competitors or the app industry wide change happens like Apple’s introduction of ATT framework and… - back to the drawing board.

But today Luisa will tell you a story of what it takes to scale a subscription app for kids and if you feel like it should be even more challenging, you are right - it is.

Today’s Topics Include:

Luisa Zuleta's background
What Sago Mini and Toca Boca games are about
Limitations in app marketing Luisa faced even before SKAD introduction
Building relationships with partners to go through tough times
Rethinking app audiences
Reworking the marketing channel
Defining LTV for an app
What Luisa managed to achieve as the result
Takeways
What Luisa would like to change about mobile ad tech the most
Android or iOS?
Leaving her smartphone at home, what features would Luisa miss most?
What features she would like to see added to his smartphone?

Links and Resources:

Quotes from Luisa Zuleta:

"So when you're advertising and producing kids apps, you are you have to face two sets of regulations COPA for the US and GDPR for Europe. Those regulations affect not only marketing, but also the app development, publishing, what kind of data you can collect inside the apps, and also monetization strategies. "

"So it's not like any traditional gaming app where you look at your user base and you know that the user that's most engaged is the one who did level one to three in the first 20 minutes, or bought this pack or that. It's not applicable. Sometimes you could have a parent of a four year old having a strict screen time of two times a week."

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Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012