Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

Questions Drew answered in this episode:How do you go about data analysis and storytelling?Are there data points or topics you like to dig into that are often overlooked?Sometimes the results of internal models don’t match. What do you do when there are inconsistencies?What advice would you give to new managers?Timestamp:1:30 Drew’s background4:57 What is Varo Bank?7:00 Pivot tables for storytelling8:28 How to present your story12:30 Choosing the right segments to focus on18:12 When data is inconsistent22:16 Drew’s approach to leadershipQuotes:(14:33-14:44) “The value of retrospectives is you run a whole campaign and then you break apart everything to find out what the clear wins are.”(22:22-22:26) “Leadership is a privilege – not a right. Employees are your greatest resource.”Mentioned in this episode:Drew Hampton’s LinkedInVaro Bank

Questions Josh answered in this episode:How big is the mergers & acquisitions marketplace for mobile apps?What advice do you have for app developers at an inflection point with their business where they’re not meeting their goals?What categories are BlueThrone’s strengths?What can app developers do to increase their odds of being discovered by an acquisition company?How do you evaluate an app to determine if you want to acquire it?What should founders and developers be cautious about when talking to app buyers?Timestamp:1:24 Josh’s background and a little about BlueThrone4:40 The mobile app M&A marketplace5:47 BlueThrone’s value proposition7:05 What can acquirers do for app developers11:17 How to be discovered by an app acquisition company14:15 What are app acquisition companies looking for in an app17:43 Red flags for app buyersQuotes:(14:20-14:28) “A good litmus test is to see how much of your traffic is organic. If you can sustain the business based on its organic traffic, that really signifies product-market fit.”(15:32-15:46) “A really good piece of advice I often give founders is don’t be shy about the stuff that’s not working. You can very much tell the potential acquirer about it. But the winning formula is to present a game plan on how you’re going to solve that.”Mentioned in this Episode:Josh Peleg’s LinkedInBlueThroneemail: josh.p@bluethrone.io 

Questions Toby answered in this episode:Can you tell me about a significant but small win from your early days as a launcher?When did the advertising component of DoorDash’s business begin?What role did you play in DoorDash’s transition to including non-restaurant categories in your platform? And how does the advertising strategy differ?Can you tell us about a key challenge you faced? Or which milestones you’re most proud of?Are there any trends or new initiatives that you see shaping DoorDash or the DoorDash advertising platform in the next few years?Timestamp:0:38 Toby Espinosa’s background at DoorDash1:36 DoorDash’s founding story & Toby’s first big win9:09 Building DoorDash’s advertising CPA model18:54 Expanding into non-restaurant categories22:09 DoorDash’s newest ad solutions23:33 DoorDash’s challenge and opportunity29:28 How to invest in the future31:51 Best of San FranciscoQuotes:(9:40-9:56) “So we started by building a discounting platform that allowed any one of our restaurant partners to discount an item and target specific outcomes, whether it’s a first-time user, a lapsed user, etc.”(20:05 - 20:16) “We want to bring consumers a relevant piece of content, and we might also bring them a promotion or discount to help increase the conversion rate of that sale.” (23:31 - 23:49) “The way we look at this space is that we were founded on a very simple principle – to help local economies grow. We are probably about two or three percent into that journey.”Mentioned in this Episode:Toby Espinosa’s LinkedInDoorDashDoorDash unveils new platform for enterprise restaurantsDoorDash adds new capabilities for CPG partners

Kevin Kawai, the Lead Growth Marketer at NewsBreak, brings over a decade of growth marketing expertise to the discussion. He shares insights on no-cost growth strategies, optimizing onboarding processes, and leveraging waitlist campaigns. Kevin emphasizes the importance of user feedback to enhance app features and discusses balancing short-term tactics with long-term growth goals. Plus, he explores the potential of AI in revolutionizing marketing strategies. Perfect for aspiring marketers looking to boost app success!

In this live edition of the Apptivate podcast, Remerge CEO and co-founder, Pan Katsukis, interviews the Vice President of DoorDash Ads, Toby Espinosa, about the company’s advertising journey – live on stage at the App Growth Summit in San Francisco. DoorDash is now one of the largest marketplaces in the world for delivering food, goods, and more, generating over 80 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Hear about their humble beginnings in Palo Alto, how they flipped the paradigm for helping restaurants and small businesses to grow through their advertising platform, and where they are today with their retail media network. Questions answered in this episode:Can you describe your role at DoorDash and how it evolved?Do you provide tools outside your platform?How do restaurants budget for advertising on social media with DoorDash?How do retailers tap into DoorDash’s ad tech?How was the process of building your advertising technology?What’s a trend in mobile you see working well?Timestamp:1:37 The evolution of Toby’s role at DoorDash4:30 DoorDash’s beginning7:30 Advertising that works for restaurants9:37 Digital tools for your growth inventory13:44 Payment-withholding for advertising vs CPA15:08 Building business for retailers17:40 Mindset to build an ad tech empire21:05 Understanding your value propositionQuotes:(5:40-5:53) “When we started, that was the whole idea: to provide the delivery service so that these restaurants on Main Street and every small business can grow. So our founding principle was growth.”(9:38-9:51) “We have a perspective within DoorDash that the best businesses are layer cakes, and they’re built over time. And the way you build that layer cake is by basically continuously asking your customer what they need in order to be successful.”Mentioned in this Episode:Toby Espinosa’s LinkedInDoorDash

How do you know you’re on the best path to growing your app? Michelle Murcia, the Head of Growth at Storybeat (a comprehensive image-editing app for social content), unpacks this question for mobile marketers. Michelle discusses the stages, frameworks, and methodologies that she considers essential for driving growth and revenue on mobile.Questions Michelle answered in this episode:Can you tell us about your role as Head of Growth at Storybeat? And what does your typical day look like?How do you find your target app users (content creators and businesses)?What’s your approach to managing the lifecycle of each user and identifying growth opportunities?What is your North Star metric?What skills do you think are crucial for working in mobile marketing today?What trends do you see shaping the future of mobile marketing, especially for smaller companies?Timestamp:1:00 What is Storybeat?1:32 Michelle’s role as Head of Growth3:53 Attracting content creators5:48 Identifying growth opportunities15:00 Defining our North Star17:00 How to become a mobile marketer19:20 Trends in growth marketing strategy23:38 What to do in Barcelona & ColombiaQuotes:(7:20-7:40) “You need to identify the stage of growth that your company is in before you can start to create the [growth] strategy. In terms of growth, there are normally three different stages: the discovery stage of the startup, the optimization, and when it’s more mature, to scale it.”(15:19-15:39) “A North Star metric is a metric that needs to meet at least three requirements: The first one is that it needs to help show you the value of your product to the user; second is to, of course, measure the happiness of the user; and third, that it brought revenue.”Mentioned in this Episode:Michelle Murcia’s LinkedInStorybeat

Could streaming be the next big channel for mobile marketers? Peter Hamilton, Head of Ad Innovation at Roku believes it will be. In this episode, he chats with Taylor about how action ads work on Roku – where viewers can place orders or download an app directly from their TVs. He also discusses their newest product for advertisers called ‘Roku Ads Manager’. Targeting and measurement with CTV just got a whole lot better. Tune in to the episode and find out how.Questions Peter answered in this episode:What does Head of Ad Innovation mean? And what innovations are happening at Roku?How do you make the ads relevant to the viewer?How do action ads work? And what impact have you seen from allowing viewers to place orders directly from their tv?Is there anything besides the action ads that makes streaming such a powerful advertising channel?Who is your ideal customer to be using this product?What can’t I miss on a weekend trip to Seattle?Timestamp:1:02 Peter’s background4:35 Solving the ‘discovery’ problem with streaming6:00 Ad innovation at Roku7:25 Targeted capabilities with streaming8:45 Action ads on tv13:00 Roku Ads Manager17:07 Who is Roku Ads Manager for?20:36 Creatives for CTV27:06 A weekend in SeattleQuotes:(17:48-18:12) “Whether you’re trying to drive downloads, gameplay or mobile subscriptions, Roku Ads Manager is valuable from a targeting and measurement standpoint. We want to prove the value and ROAS of CTV.”(20:36-20:40) “CTV is the next frontier for the growth hacker to solve.”(22:34-22:47) “The number one thing that impacts CTV is your creative. Does it get someone to lean forward and press ‘okay’ on the remote? Does it get them to pull your website up on their phone or download your app?” Mentioned in this Episode:Peter Hamilton’s LinkedInRoku Ads ManagerPeter Hamilton’s Instagram

When Alex Song had to fold a business due to the signal loss from the post-iOS 14 changes in digital marketing post-iOS 14, he set out to solve this problem. In this episode, Taylor interviews Alex about that solution – an AI-powered data intelligence platform called Proxima. You’ll learn how the platform leverages anonymized first-party data to help digital brands access new customers, lower their acquisition costs, and increase their ROAS. He also shares poignant advice to professionals wondering if they should be taking more risks in their career path. Alex is the CEO and Founder of Proxima. Before launching Proxima, Alex founded three direct-to-consumer businesses, after working a decade as an investment banking analyst.  Questions Alex answered in this episode:What is Proxima and why did you start it?Where are you getting your data? And what are you doing with it to make CPAs lower and ROAS better?How did you manage to solve the loss of signal post-iOS14?How do you think the most successful mobile marketers are getting in front of the right customer at the right moment, without a ton of data to rely on?How do you think about attribution and measurement?What do you think the future looks like for AI-powered marketing platforms?Does your platform work with Android, too?Timestamp:0:50 What is Proxima?2:25 Alex’s background8:00 How does Proxima work?12:54 How most marketers are solving for signal loss14:51 Attribution and measurement16:15 Testing audiences and creative concurrently17:10 The future of AI-powered marketing tools19:32 How to test if Proxima would work for you22:15 Career advice & accelerated learning28:47 What not to miss in NYCQuotes:(13:50-14:16) “What we are really focused on is how people can be empowered to test audiences the same way they feel they can test creatives.”(27:34-27:49) “I think the main difference in my learning curve really came from the speed at which I was willing to be wrong and then to learn from it.”Mentioned in this Episode:Alex Song’s LinkedInProxima

Getting mobile games in front of new users on Google, Meta, and other large advertising networks has become increasingly challenging, with more competition than ever before and the high-cost impact of seasonality. In this episode, Sylvain Etard, the Senior Gaming Growth Manager for Tilting Point (the leader in free-to-play games), shares how he manages this challenge by working with alternative vendors and channels, such as Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), CTV, and rewarded ad networks. Questions Sylvain answered in this episode:What’s your role at Tilting Point?What’s the problem with solely relying on the big players for app growth?How do you solve these UA challenges?Why is CTV the most difficult network to get into?How do you go about onboarding these new networks?How do you measure the LTV of these new channels?What KPIs should we be looking at besides ROAS?What percentage of the budget do you recommend going to the big players versus testing these other networks?How do you stay current with these different strategies?What types of things are you looking for in a new vendor?When do you decide to stop working with a new vendor?Timestamp:0:46 Sylvain’s role at Tilting Point2:01 Challenges of marketing your games on Google and Meta3:53 Finding new partners to market with5:00 Marketing your mobile game with CTV6:11 Getting started with new networks6:45 Predicting LTV with new channels8:47 Distributing your marketing budget9:46 How Sylvain stays up to speed with the latest trends11:04 Shopping for a new vendor12:19 Deciding when to stop with a new vendor13:02 Tips for getting into the mobile game marketing industry14:00 Challenges with retargeting16:29 Rewarded platforms18:15 Cross-promoting games21:12 What to do in BarcelonaQuotes:(7:01-7:16) “A good way to do LTV predictions for a game is to look at Day 7, Day 14, depending on your game, and the LTV and retention you have. If you have really good LTV but lower retention than other games, it should be a red flag.”(11:04-11:20) “What I’m looking for in a new vendor is reliability. Having a lot of LinkedIn messages, we cannot always rely on whatever the vendor says. So the MMP benchmark and MMP index is a good source of reliability because if competitors are spending there, there’s a reason.”Mentioned in this episode:Sylvain Etard’s LinkedInTilting Point

Richard Eiseman is the Marketing Tech Operations Specialist at DraftKings, one of the world’s biggest fantasy sports betting companies. Richard focuses on ad tech operations including, tracking, attribution, and driving DraftKings’s privacy attribution strategy. In this episode, Richard shares his perspective on the current landscape of ad attribution. He touches on Apple’s AdAttributionKit, learnings from early tests of SKAN 4, the possible end of fingerprinting on Apple devices, and a whole lot more! Questions Richard answered in this episode:What is your role at DraftKings?How is the current landscape of ad attribution?How are you staying on top of all the changes with ad attribution?Why do marketers need to account for the differences between various types of ad attribution?What are the main differences between Apple’s AdAttributionKit and SKAN?What high-level learnings can you share about your tests with the early versions of SKAN?How do you work with your Mobile Measurement Partner?What’s your take on Apple’s Privacy Manifest announcing it would stop fingerprinting?Is your job easier on the Google side of attribution with their GIDs?What do you think ad attribution will look like in five to ten years?Timestamp:0:33 Richard’s role at DraftKings3:03 Current landscape of ad attribution4:35 Testing incremental attribution at DraftKings7:42 What is Apple’s AdAttributionKit?10:30 How is it different from SKAN?13:30 Learnings from early tests of SKAN 4.016:43 How do you work with your MMP?17:23 Will Apple remove fingerprinting?19:50 Google’s marketer-friendly approach to attribution22:02 Advice for staying on top of the latest changes24:40 What to do in NYCQuotes:(5:38-6:03) “We have our own incrementality testing method at DraftKings where we try to weigh the actual output of everything – not from taking SKAN or Android-deterministic data or web data at the base read-out, but by really trying to measure what percent of the initially reported conversions or KPIs occurred based on that advertising alone.”  Mentioned in this episode:Richard Eiseman’s LinkedInDraftKingsAdAttributionKit