Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

Sylvie Vandevelde is the Head of Business Development and Marketing Communications for Belgian Mobile ID’s mobile app, itsme. Itsme is a form of official identification for all Beligums (and soon Luxembourgers), similar to a government-issued license or passport but in mobile app form. Questions Sylvie Answered in this Episode:Was it challenging for you as a marketer to educate consumers on why they should trust istme as an app for their personal identification? What’s the strategy or media mix you used to educate consumers? What are some of the lessons you learned while developing the itsme brand that you would pass on to another mobile marketer?How do you jump from branding to user acquisition? What is the “digital gap”? And how have you worked to overcome this gap?What do you see as the future for digital identification?Timestamp:5:03 Branding as a tool to educate app users and drive growth6:15 Developing itsme’s branding strategy 7:37 UA: First, be trustworthy, be easy to use9:23 Closing the “digital gap”11:08 Itsme app’s growth story14:39 The future of digital identification in EuropeQuotes:(7:51-8:13) “People, when they need to choose between something difficult and something easy, well it’s human to choose the easy way. And we were easy, secure, and respecting privacy, so it was very easy and obvious actually to use itsme. And we had the government also behind us. That mark of trust is very important. When you’re trusted in a market and they said, ‘They will do it the proper way,’ then it’s quite easy.”(10:05-10:26) “We have a lot of people who are not doing things online. They’re not used to going to the bank online, or they’re a little bit older and it’s new stuff to them. So we are also working with different associations who have an academy where they teach people how to do their banking online, how to do their taxes online, and they also explain how to install the itsme app.” Mentioned In This Episode:ItsmeBelgium Mobile ID 

Maria Fossarello, based in Paris, is head of paid channels at BlaBlaCar, a leading long-distance carpooling app with over 18 million users in 23 countries. Questions Maria Answered in this Episode:What do you attribute BlaBlaCar’s success in marketing to?What were the first things you were looking to automate?How do your core KPIs translate from one platform to another? Do you apply the same acquisition metrics to search and Facebook, or do they have different KPIs associated with each? And if so, does an automated budget allocation tool take that into account?When weighing the potential value of automation, do you consider the reduced workload and need to hire fewer people? Timestamp:9:01 Agility and innovation in marketing10:17 Innovation at BlaBlaCar12:40 Automating search engine advertising campaigns15:14 Automating budget allocation18:45 An incremental attribution approach of KPIs across channels20:45 The effect of automation on employee workloadsQuotes:(9:09-9:22) “I learn everything on the ground because the online marketing framework and practice actually evolves so quickly that there’s not even much to learn in school because everything is going to be updated and outdated in a month’s time.” (18:45-19:05) “What is really the move that we want to make, which we think is the move that will be more significant, is to actually move to an incrementality type of attribution where you’re able actually to consider what is the incremental contribution of each channel; and that way, you would be able to consider all the channels the same way.”(20:53-20:59) “Using automation allows you to unleash a huge amount of new strategic tasks.” Mentioned In This Episode:BlaBlaCar

Scott Tomkins is the sales vice president and general manager for U.S. Digital Turbine, a company that pre-installs apps on newly activated Androids. Digital Turbine claims to deliver more apps to phones in a day than any other company and that there is no other inventory in the world that is as fraud-free.Questions Scott Answered in this Episode:Do you deliver more apps to phones than Google or Facebook?Is it challenging to determine the KPIs for the advertisers that work with you?Are performance marketers too numbers-driven?Do you think performance marketers will shift toward brand advertising in 2020?Timestamp:7:50 What stands Digital Turbine apart from any company11:34 An argument for a more holistic view of user acquisition 16:11 Branding 101 and multi-touch attribution18:00 The change Scott sees in performance marketing24:43 Why we need a brand approach to app marketingQuotes:(12:23-12:26) “I think all ad units can be effective and ultimately perform differently.”(14:43-15:00) “Would you rather for a small fee get your app on that device so you’re there in front of their eyes when they want to book a trip? Or would you rather take the risk of them going to the Play Store where there are 20 of your competitors who all do the same thing and be lucky that you’re the one of 20 that they pick?” (24:45-24:52) “I think you’re going to see the bigger brands come in and open the eyes of performance marketers that there is a ‘k factor’ that needs to be looked into.”Mentioned In This Episode:Digital Turbine

Krishnan Menon is the vice president of growth marketing at Fetch Rewards, Inc., a grocery rewards app that prides itself on being the easiest way to save on groceries. Questions Krishnan Answered in this Episode:How much of your growth do you attribute to paid marketing?Over time, does it become harder to diversify channels? Or does the need to diversify grow more?Are you willing to be more lenient and take fewer efficiencies with new vendors in order to diversify?What do you look for in a sales pitch from a new vendor?Have you had success with the vendors you’ve found in Appsflyer and Singular reports?Timestamp:6:40 Fetch Rewards’s growth trajectory and inflection point9:04 Paid marketing aside, a product still needs to be quality12:15 Thinking about how you will spend the next million 15:24 Testing the waters with a new channel and the goals that matter21:57 What I look for in a sales pitch24:50 Sourcing new vendors from key articles 31:11 The challenge Krishnan gives himself to be successfulQuotes:“For me, at the end of the day, it’s about how many of these users are going to be active 30 days from now? I keep track of the quality of the user that is brought in.”“It’s a case of what else can we do outside of the comfort zone of digital?”“This is a tough industry. You have to be on it and really continue to be hungry in order for successes to be ongoing.”Mentioned In This Episode:Fetch Rewards, Inc.AppsflyerSingular

Meet Nadav Shalit, retargeting department lead, and Dani Magid, retargeting manager, at Playtika. Playtika has a portfolio of 15 large-scale gales that are run from more than 16 global sites by over 3,000 employees. Previous to Playtika, both Nadav and Shalit worked in marketing for agencies. Questions Farhan Answered in this Episode:What is your strategy for launching retargeting campaigns? How do you source data for segmenting users? How closely do you have to work with other departments to run retargeting initiatives/treatments? What else do you focus on when launching retargeting efforts?Was there a shift that motivated Playtika to start retargeting? Timestamp:6:27 Launching retargeting efforts begins with the user experience7:36 Segmenting users with an internal BI system12:10 The internal process of offering segments treatments (or incentives)15:17 Measuring for retargeting 18:04 Playtika’s catalyst to beginning retargetingQuotes:“We are literally learning every day. And I think that’s part of the magic in retargeting.”“The very first thing we look at when we set up a retargeting activity is the user experience. I think that’s the main purpose and that’s the main goal. And that is what the connection between you and the user is all about.”“For certain activities, we might even show an ad even the say after the install saying, “Hey, did you check out this feature? Did you get a chance to look at this?” So it kind of builds up the connection from day one, literally.Mentioned In This Episode:Playtika

Farhan Haq is the head of performance marketing and mobile growth for SYBO Games where he works on the fully organic, most downloaded title on Android of all time, Subway Surfers. Questions Farhan Answered in this Episode:How challenging was it for you to work during the era of Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, and Game of War but not working at one those gaming studios?How did you stay creative in order to drive downloads in a saturated and competitive market? Have you had success using Snapchat or Tik Tok for acquisition? What was your strategy?At Subway Surfers, do you focus on getting more users or engaging current users to drive monetization? Is Subway Surfers a casual or hyper-casual game? Where do you see the future of the gaming industry going? Timestamp:8:50 Growing game titles in competition with big players12:47 Creativity in targeting14:04 Fake ads -- it’s about the feeling16:17 Testing Snapchat20:40 Monetizing the user base22:15 Casual, hyper-casual games, and the futureQuotes:“The cloning model and doing something a little different from a clone still hugely impactful then; actually can still be now but I guess you have to get a bit more lucky, you’ve got to get something right now because people have cloned things a million times over now.”“So, a lot of the older developers kind of struggle to be creative enough and adapt, and they just kept thinking, well look, we’re going to do things the old way. And then that’s why all these new players just keep coming out of nowhere because I guess they’re more hungry and more agile. And then that’s why there’s always been this opportunity to, across the last 5 years, to be like, hang on, we can make an impact in this space as long as we try something a bit newer and back ourselves on it.”“What worked for these narrative games was a combination of three elements that I found, particularly for these story-based games. My trifecta was: 1) pregnancy, 2) cheating, and 3) timelapse.” Mentioned In This Episode:Social Point, acquired by Take-Two InteractiveNanobitSYBO Games

Lorenzo Rossi is the co-founder of Mobile Marketing Italia, a digital magazine and forum with the mission of educating Italians about mobile marketing and growing its culture in Italy. Lorenzo has worked in mobile marketing for 6 years with companies spanning dating, shopping, and ridesharing.Questions Lorenzo Answered in this Episode:What are some of the experiences that have made you an effective marketer?Is it better to market less expensive or expensive products?As a mobile marketer, did you have the authority to offer discounts on products?Were you always testing no matter what the goals were?What is Mobile Marketing Italia?Timestamp:8:13 Building experience through a mix of industries8:48 Experience focusing on scaling10:17 Lorenzo’s best moment for learning performance marketing10:37 Experience focusing on ad ROI and targeting consumers13:30 Benefits of working closely with a product team17:13 Stepping into a management role21:00 OOH campaigns22:22 Mobile Marketing Italia’s missionQuotes:“I was very amazed by this performance marketing world because it’s a mix, I believe, of creativity but also data because you see the results immediately. You can measure your requests, actually. You can measure if the text that you propose is better than the other one.”“I believe that the testing shouldn’t depend on the goal because whatever is your goal you can find a better way of achieving it.”“I cross off all of them [channels] to see which were the common points to see which were the strong point of one point rather than the other one.”Mentioned In This Episode:LOVOOZalandoFree2MoveMobile Marketing ItaliaApperiMobile - Italian meetup for mobile marketing (contact Lorenzo)

Thiago is currently the Director of Growth team at Peak Labs, and is responsible for acquiring and retaining more than half a million subscribers every month whilst reaching ambitious financial goals.Questions Thiago Answered In This Episode:“Going from a booking appointment apps to brain training, did you find that shift kinda daunting and challenging? Was there a lot to learn?”“What are some of the biggest differences and challenges you found in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market?”“You guys chose the strategy of high volume low cost, why choose that strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost?”“How do you go about educating your consumers or your perspective consumers in order to raise a probability that the download would be quality?”“Do you guys have any process in which you are kinda automating the development of the creatives or automating the deployment, how does that overall process look?”“When you launch a new title, how long does it take you and how do you go about determining what your KPI should look like?”Timestamp:01:10 Introduction of the different products at Peak02:30 Thiago’s background at a beauty market place (Booking appointment apps)03:53 Big difference of Thiago’s previous job and current job at Peak04:47 Basic marketing principles06:30 Differences and challenges in bringing Quixel Logic and Rise to the market.07:06 Reason for using the high volume low cost strategy as opposed to lower volume high cost strategy?07:55 Strategy structure for Peak08:30 Strategy structure for Rise09:41 Grabbing the attention of the consumers and then pass the necessary information12:19 Transformative contents14:00 Testing approach on the different Peak apps15:45 Thiago on trying different concepts for the Peak apps18:28 Peak’s creative cycle21:32 Two sources of ideas for Peak’s creative team26:15 Building a product concept and determining its main KPI28:14 Determining revenue for subscription products32:00 Thiago’s future expectations-----------------------------------------“I’m a big believer that, if you go to the core of marketing like the principles, the funnel of the users, etc. - it applies to any product in the world. In general if you follow the basic principles of marketing, you should be ok.”Mentioned:Peak - Brain TrainingRise - Sleep BetterQuixel - Logic PuzzlesFacebookGoogle UACVoodooAquapark.io

Matthew Sadofsky is the chief growth officer and chief marketing officer at Studio, a fitness app providing instructor-led video classes. His experience in the mobile app marketing industry runs the gambit, from dating and gaming to music and fitness.Questions Matthew Sadofsky Answered In This Episode:What are some things that mobile marketers are doing wrong or overlooking?What does your ideal team look like?Where does over-bloating occur the most in regard to job function?Is paid media becoming more or less effective for marketers?How are you measuring incrementality in new user acquisition?Timestamp:6:30 Don’t over bloat the size of your marketing team7:30 The ideal size and makeup for marketing teams9:28 UA is overstaffed, retention marketing is underserved.10:38 Usability tests and surveys at Studio for retention13:00 Today’s value of paid media16:33 Indicators within incrementality analysis in new user acquisition17:18 The similarity method21:51 The importance and barriers to iterating on creativeQuotes:“Don’t over bloat. You can create a lean marketing machine using technology nowadays.”“There are ways that you can build these really robust pipelines and even tools that’ll do automation management for you where you don’t need the size of teams that some companies still have in their marketing departments.”“I think we all strive to balance creativity and analytics, but I think we all skew more slightly toward the analytic side. And very few companies, unless you’re a very large company, have an in-house creative director for their user acquisition program.”Mentioned In This Episode:StudioPaltalkPeerStream (formerly Snap Interactive)Tilting PointTIDALHerClearBrainUberTryMyUI

Berlin-based marketing tech expert, Christian Eckhardt, is the co-founder and CEO of Customlytics. Customlytics provides app marketing, analytics, and technology infrastructure consulting and hands-on help. Questions Christian Answered in this Episode:Why do you think Berlin has seen the growth it has in the tech ecosystem compared to other European cities?What are some lessons you’ve learned about tech infrastructure?What’s the first piece of technology marketers should plan for?How do you go about vetting tech decks? Do you have to educate your customers? What changes are you excited about or expecting to come to mobile marketing?Timestamp:2:53 Berlin’s exceptional tech growth10:29 Start thinking about it - marketing infrastructure is a must12:25 Marketing tech recommendations12:53 Tech deck: start thinking about it early15:04 Methodology for matching tech with client needs18:30 Education and centralized documentation for knowledge transfer24:08 How campaign bid automation will change the job of the marketerQuotes:“The entire topic of marketing technology or even the realization of, ‘I need something in place to enable proper marketing,’ is something that is not a nice-to-have feature or a nice-to-have situation. It’s rather that if you don’t have it then you’re basically completely lost for all things marketing.”“The earlier you start thinking about your marketing tech deck the better. So ideally, as I said before, definitely before you start any paid advertising, but ideally even before the ad launches.”“As it stands right now, with the kind of huge standing in the market with that those bigger advertising platforms have, it feels a bit like they can pretty much do whatever they want. And it’s hard to kind of get away from it if you don’t want to lose their inventory.”Mentioned In This Episode:CustomlyticsMobile Developer Guide to the Galaxy (Free copy)