Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

How do you make a mobile game stand out when there are half a million games in the app store today? Today’s guest is an expert in helping apps find their unique position in the market, develop their creative strategies, and grow their revenue. In this episode, he shares his approach to designing app marketing strategies for creatives and revenue growth. Peter Fodor is the founder and CEO of AppAgent, a mobile marketing agency that helps apps ground their user base and revenue. 

Learn ASO hacks for increasing app downloads from Simon Thillay, Head of ASO at AppTweak. Topics include custom product pages, SoundCloud case study, identifying app differentiators, A/B/B testing, and staying ahead of the curve with user motivation. Discover the benefits of working with AppTweak and the exciting changes in Europe's Digital Markets Act.

Can you guess which subcategory of mobile games generated the most revenue in the first half of this year? How about the top three countries for mobile game downloads? Get the scoop on the latest data and trends in the mobile industry’s largest-grossing vertical from our guest Ksenia Yurkina, the Head of Marketing at Apptica.In this episode, Ksenia reveals the highlights from her report, “Mobile games: state of the market H1, 2023.” Apptica’s ad intelligence tool provides marketing analytics on data from over 11 million apps in Google Play and the Apple Store. Questions Ksenia Answered in this Episode:Who is Apptica’s target audience?What are some of the trends that Apptica has identified from its “Mobile Game: State of the Market Report”?What is your take on what revenue trends might come from major emerging markets, like India and Brazil, that are leading in downloads?Have you seen a trend in localizing creatives from app publishers?What does your day-to-day look like as Head of Marketing at Apptica?What’s the latest buzzword or hot topic for leaders in our industry?How has TikTok changed the way app advertisers are thinking about creatives?Who benefits the most from Apptica’s ad intelligence tool?Timestamp:1:00 A little about Apptica4:38 Mobile games: Data trends in the first half of 202310:46 Revenue potential from emerging markets14:10 Localization in creatives17:01 Ksenia’s role at Apptica19:11 Industry buzz23:18 Advertising trends for TikTok28:29 Who benefits from ad intelligenceQuotes:(5:10-5:29) “Gaming is a major player. It’s the main vertical in the mobile industry because gaming covers 51 percent of all the revenue generated in the first half of this year [2023] and around 30 percent of all downloads.”(6:54-7:03) “Three countries account for 60 percent of all revenue coming from the [mobile] gaming vertical: United States, Japan, and China.”Mentioned in this Episode:Ksenia Yurkina’s LinkedInAppticaApptica’s 2023 “Mobile Game: State of the Market Report”

Jenny Pollock, Lead Monetization Program Manager at IMVU / Together Labs, discusses the use of ChatGPT in mobile marketing, the evolution of User-Generated Content platforms, and the potential future of AI in virtual worlds and podcasting.

In this episode, app marketers will learn about a product manager’s perspective on the process of building an app product: how to prioritize various requests for product features, and the keys to fostering excellent collaboration and communication among all stakeholders throughout the journey. Reut Lazo is the Senior Product Manager at Akili, an app to help kids with ADHD. Akili is the first FDA-authorized prescription video game treatment for ADHD. Reut began her career as a product manager at Meta Co., an augmented reality headset company, before moving on to become a product manager at IMVU. 

Amanda Vandiver is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Branch, a mobile attribution provider. In this episode, Amanda explains the importance of deep linking for user experience, measurement, and attribution in this post-IDFA era. She also discusses retention strategies that mobile marketers can leverage across owned and earned channels. 

Today’s guest says IDFA only ever gave mobile marketers the illusion of certainty. In this episode, John Koetsier, the CEO of Sparkplug9, discusses how to use the measurement tools available today, like SKAN, to arrive at what he calls “truthy,” or within the parameters of an accurate perception of reality. John encourages marketers to move on from the past and embrace the reality that’s always existed: Mobile measurement techniques aren’t always perfect.John Koetsier also writes for Forbes about technology, including mobile, AR/VR/MR, IoT, AI, and robotics, and he hosts the TechFirst Podcast. Sparkplug9 is a business consultancy that helps tech startups win via data, insights, branding, and attention.  

In this episode, you’ll hear the latest news about Google’s Privacy Sandbox on Android –  straight from the source. Pan Katsukis, the co-founder and CEO of Remerge, sits down with Amit Varia, Director of Product Management at Google, and Niv Klein, Product Team Lead at AppsFlyer, to unpack how the Privacy Sandbox will change the future of mobile advertising on Android. Find out how attribution, retargeting, and user acquisition can be done with the Protected Audience API, learn how it limits the sharing of user data with third parties, and find out how it operates without cross-app identifiers like advertising IDs. You’ll also get advice on what app businesses can do to prepare for the upcoming changes, why this is happening now, and what opportunities are to be expected from the privacy-safe future of advertising.Questions Amit and Niv Answered in this Episode:What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox?Why is this shift happening now?Do you see other advantages to the new framework compared to where we are right now?How will Google advertising IDs change?How are attribution and retargeting being done in the Protected Audience API environment?How can we get everyone in the app ecosystem onboard?Is there anything app developers should be doing right now?What is the thinking behind the timeline to launch Android Privacy Sandbox?What is the vision of what app advertising will look like in five years?Timestamp:3:05 What is Android Privacy Sandbox?4:25 Why the shift in advertising privacy8:15 Current use of Google advertising IDs11:21 Protected Audience API (formerly Fledge)14:22 How will attribution be done17:09 Changes in retargeting mechanisms18:55 Changes in user acquisition20:40 TEEs: Trusted Execution Environments23:02 SDK run time25:10 Getting the app industry on board33:34 Steps app developers can take now36:11 Preparing for the release of Android Privacy Sandbox38:52 The vision of privacy-safe advertisingQuotes:(4:00-4:11) Amit Varia: “I’d love for everyone to think of these technologies as building blocks that app developers and ad tech companies can use to build their private advertising solutions.”(4:52-5:05) Amit Varia: “Users are becoming more aware of how valuable their own data is, how it’s being collected, and how it’s being used. As a result, we’re seeing people demand more transparency and control over their data, especially when it comes to online advertising.”(14:45-15:23) Niv Klein: “Generally speaking, the main move in attribution is from device-level reporting to aggregated reports. So, a bit similar to what we experienced in iOS, but the difference is that we’ll have a designated attribution API on the Android Privacy Sandbox that will allow for both aggregated reports—according to very flexible aggregation data levels—and event-level reports to communicate events at the click ID to the partner ad networks.” Mentioned in this Episode:Amit Varia’s LinkedInNiv Klein’s LinkedInPan Katsukis’s LinkedInResource: developer.android.com

Ludovic Thevelin advises app advertisers on their international growth strategies at Google. In this episode, host Maria Lannon talks to Ludovic about go-to-market considerations for different verticals, like gaming and fintech, how to make strategic decisions on international growth, today’s most promising untapped markets, and the LTV opportunities of, what Google calls, Next Billion User Markets.  Ludovic started working with Google eight years ago at their European headquarters in Dublin before moving to New York City and joining the international growth team five years ago.Questions Ludovic Answered in this Episode:As far as apps that you’re advising, is there a specific vertical that you’re working on?What types of mobile games expand the best? What’s the most challenging part of localizing apps?How do KPIs differ for each market?Can you give an example of when a plan for expansion didn’t work out?Do you see success in specific verticals?How do we think differently about LTV in emerging markets?What market should apps start thinking about?Timestamp:1:29 Ludovic’s role at Google3:55 Scaling gaming apps internationally8:47 Making strategic decisions on regions10:11 Considerations for emerging markets11:01 When international growth strategies don’t work out14:21 Growing fintech apps17:03 LTV opportunities in emerging markets21:22 Untapped markets & verticals27:30 Creative excellence32:31 ResourcesQuotes:(5:03-5:21) “A lot of advertisers think they’re restricted by not having a different language outside of English, but we use something called an English Proficiency Index. If you Google that, there are a lot of external tools, free, that you can use to rank or rate markets based on how comfortable users are converting in English, and those are often markets that surprise your advertisers.”(5:29-5:50) “I think the most challenging part is the culturalization piece. So when we talk about localization, you can think of it as a spectrum. The first step in that translation piece. And yes, now you can address a local audience in a local language; but what we find is U.S. advertisers are copy-pasting what they’re doing in the U.S. when they go to Germany and when they go to Japan and when they go to LATAM, but the users are very different.”Mentioned in this Episode:Ludovic Thevelin’s LinkedInGoogle’s Market FinderGoogle’s Next Billion UsersGoogle’s Mobile Insight Report

Today’s guest is an expert in helping startups successfully launch new mobile apps and web products. In this episode, David Jumper, a managing partner at Hyper Digital Partners, shares the top five most common mistakes he sees startups making in their performance marketing, and offers his advice on what to do instead. David Jumper is a managing partner at Hyper Digital Partners. He’s a growth expert with over 15 years of experience in scaling apps and web products across the gaming, entertainment, and e-commerce verticals. Questions David Answered in this Episode:What does Hyper DP do and do you work with specific verticals?What are some of the key mistakes startups make when launching and marketing their apps?What advice would you offer about MMP integration to ensure reliable tracking?What is your point-of-view on how startups should or shouldn’t be thinking about creatives when it comes to growth marketing?What advice do you have on optimization and the funnel for new apps?What do you have to say about budgeting when it comes to running campaigns?Timestamp:1:22 David’s background and Hyper DP8:51 Attribution: sacrificing measurement12:00 Caution when integrating with MMPs14:45 Making creative an afterthought18:30 Optimization errors and bidding down the funnel22:40 Spreading the budget too thinQuotes:(16:27-16:40) “Carve out a budget to make your creatives and set yourself up to make iterations of these in the future. If you don’t make this investment, maybe you’ll get lucky but more often than not, you won’t.”Mentioned in this Episode:David Jumper’s LinkedInHyper DPFrom Hyper DP’s blog, “Top 5 Mistakes Startups Make When Launching Performance Marketing”