Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

Jeff Perkins, CEO of ParkMobile, helped grow America’s most popular parking app from 8 million users to 31 million, and counting. Of all the marketing strategies to throw money at, listeners will be surprised to learn what tactic had the greatest impact. Jeff also shares what he’s learned about engaging with users in a way that’s helpful and not, well, annoying. Jeff is the author of How Not to Suck at Marketing. In this episode, he touches on what he calls the three fundamentals for modern marketers: focus, flexibility, and resiliency. He also discusses how he repositioned himself through personal branding to move past the limitations of his Marketing Manager title to become a Chief Marketing Officer.Questions Jeff Answered in this Episode:Was it always a career aspiration to become a CEO?What’s the biggest jump you’ve made in your career?What will people learn from your book?What’s the biggest problem you’re currently facing at ParkMobile, and can marketing solve it?What’s one of the most impactful marketing strategies you’ve applied at ParkMobile to grow to 31 million users?How do you retain and engage your users?Timestamp:2:44 Jeff’s background5:06 Breaking out of the “Marketing Manager” title10:15 Advice on LinkedIn profiles12:46 How Not to Suck at Marketing19:31 A ParkMobile example of focus23:00 Their most important UA strategy26:40 Retention & engagement28:54 Lesson learned in appropriate messagingQuotes:(2:11-2:20) “Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve probably had points in my career I could never imagine being a CEO either, but like anything, you don’t know what you can do until you try.”(7:38-7:46) “The big step for me was redefining my brand because if you don’t define yourself someone else will.”Mentioned in this Episode:Jeff Perkins LinkedInParkMobile Parking AppHow Not to Suck at Marketing by Jeff Perkins

Renato Camargo is the Country Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of RecargaPay, one of the biggest fintech companies in Brazil. He left retail to work for the financial services app for two reasons: He saw a business opportunity in democratizing banking in Brazil where over 60 million people can’t access banks; and, the mobile marketing industry provided a space for Renato to be himself and use his voice. He is passionate about leveraging his corporate power to create more inclusive opportunities for the LGBTQ community and other minorities.Renato was nominated as one of the Outstanding Top 100 Executives of 2021 by Yahoo Finance. He is based in São Paulo.Questions Renato Answered in this Episode:Coming from a retail background, why were you interested in fintech?What is RecargaPay?How have you worked towards inclusively in your business?How are your messages about inclusivity generally received in the fintech space ?Timestamp:3:30 Mobile tech boom in LATAM5:22 Renato’s journey to CMO10:33 The fintech opportunity in Brazil15:25 What is RecargaPay19:18 Being a voice for LGBTQ24:01 Black Voices Matter - Taking over LinkedIn28:12 Hiring for diversityQuotes:(11:21-11:33) “About 44% of the population in Brazil does not use banks nor have access to financial services. They pay in cash, so they store cash at home.”(22:32-22:54) “I need to understand my privilege, recognize them, and to use my voice, my corporate power, to be more inclusive with the people. It’s almost an obligation for me to give back to the world all the things I had the privilege to receive throughout my career.”Mentioned in this Episode:Renato Camargo’s LinkedInRecargaPay

Laura Spikermann began her career in mobile marketing from the ground up at Customlytics, a full-stack app marketing agency based in Berlin. Today she is responsible for managing the company’s six service departments as the Client Services Lead. In this episode, Laura shares what she’s learned about stepping into a leadership role—from setting boundaries with friends at work and discovering her leadership style, to restoring her energy through yoga and mental health services.Questions Laura Answered in this Episode:What does Customlytics do and what’s your role there?Can you tell us about your transition into a leadership position at Customlytics?What was it like making the case to the CEOs that they should hire you before you had any mobile marketing experience?How have you been able to discover your leadership style?What do you need in your routine to be successful in such a demanding role?Do you have any advice for women starting their careers in mobile marketing?Timestamp:1:13 Customlytics & Laura’s role2:58 Laura’s transition to Client Services Lead9:14 Challenges of stepping  into leadership11:22 Not always being prepared12:40 Growing into your leadership style14:27 Managing your time17:24 Adjusting to working remotely19:18 Keeping your balance21:13 Career advice for younger women24:43 Recommended resourcesQuotes:(11:27-11:36) “As a manager, you always have to be adapting to new situations because in the end people come to you with new problems, things that have never been there before, and conflicts that are boiling up.”(22:14-22:24) “Don’t be afraid to get into a room and start a conversation. It’s fine. You’re worthy of being there. And most people will be open and happy to speak to you.”Mentioned in this Episode:Laura’s LinkedInCustomlyticsEmail: laura.spikermann@customlytics.comFeedly

Liia Palipea, Global Head of Food Marketing at Bolt, joins Apptivate’s Women in Mobile series to talk about working smarter, not harder. Liia brought the ride hailing app’s new food delivery feature to market in over 20 countries and 70 cities in Europe and Africa during the pandemic. This experience taught her how to evaluate what’s important and how to cope with stress when nothing can be cut from the to-do list. That’s not all. Liia encourages marketing managers to model work-life boundaries and to take long vacations. She also brings a refreshing perspective to women in the mobile tech industry who fear they will be penalized for what they’ve missed while on maternity leave.Liia is based in Estonia. Prior to Bolt, she worked at an agency as a freelance strategic marketing consultant.Questions Liia Answered in this Episode:How do you deal with the stress of such a demanding role?How did the pandemic transform what you do as the global lead for marketing Bolt’s food delivery services?What does your day-to-day look like? And, what have you learned about prioritization?How have you encouraged your employees to take care of their wellbeing?As a manager, how do you balance being available but respecting your offline boundaries?What’s the best advice you’ve received?How can we help women leave the ever-changing mobile tech industry on maternity leave without penalizing them for what they've missed while they were out?What advice would you give to women just starting out in their careers?Timestamp:1:29 Bolt & Liia’s role3:52 When food delivery exploded8:11 A culture of supporting mental health10:19 Modeling work boundaries for employees15:45 The value of a project17:21 Fixable vs objectively tough moments21:40 Taking a proper vacation25:10 The state of maternity leave policy29:44 You will bounce back from time away32:00 Advice to women beginning their careers39:28 Resource recommendationsQuotes:(22:22-22:39) “I took a month off and it helped a lot. It helps give the perspective you need to better understand the value you’re bringing to the table. And, it helps my team, and hopefully other teams, to resolve certain bottlenecks—things they think are on my table but actually aren’t.”(30:40-30:53) “At a high level nothing changes with mobile marketing, so in that sense people shouldn’t be scared to take some time off—be it traveling around the world, having kids, or doing whatever else they want to do, save penguins or turtles.” Mentioned in this Episode:Liia Palipea’s LinkedInBoltInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado PerezNever Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz_Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

When this mobile marketer realized she was the first and only woman in Latin America to work for her company, she knew there was work to do. She is passionate about speaking up, taking action, and building community for the inclusion and representation of women in the mobile space. Camila Carneiro is the Team Lead of Partner Development for Brazil and Latin America at AppsFlyer, the world’s leading SaaS mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform.Questions Camila Answered in this Episode:Tell us about how you grew into your current position as a leader at AppsFlyer.How are you so courageous and confident?What did you rely on to build your confidence when you had to live by yourself abroad?How have you been able to pass on what you’ve learned from Faith?How do we disrupt discriminatory social norms in the workplace?Do you have any male mentors or allies that have helped you?What advice would you give to women starting their careers?How do you recharge your energy so you can be the best version of yourself?What are some resources that you might recommend to others?Timestamp:1:20 Camila’s background & AppsFlyer5:01 Being the first woman at AppsFlyer in LATAM7:05 What’s made Camila stronger9:09 The stranger who inspired Camila12:34 How to encourage other women in mobile14:00 Refusing to promote events that aren’t inclusive17:15 Are you represented?22:12 Exemplary male allies and organizations25:17 Number one advice to younger women27:57 Finding your purpose31:03 Defining who you are beyond your job37:50 Book recommendationsQuotes:(5:56-6:25) “Being the only woman, I found myself sometimes having to listen to men say bad things about women while I was in the room. I was like, ‘Guys, I’m here. I’m a woman. Stop saying bullshit.’ And also I’d make them understand that I wasn’t weaker. I had as much potential as they did, so I should be included in higher-level conversations; I should be involved in meaningful projects. Don’t take it easy on me just because I am a woman.”(12:54-13:05) “When I started to hear things that weren’t making much sense to me, things that I thought were unfair, I tended to speak up even if I wasn’t heard. And most of the time, I was heard.”(21:18-21:28) “If you feel uncomfortable in whatever situation that you might be in because there are only men in the room or because you are feeling judged for being a woman, you need to build the courage to speak up.”Mentioned in this Episode:Camila Carneiro’s LinkedInAppsFlyerEmail - camila@appsflyer.comBook - The Servant by James C. HunterBook - Becoming by Michelle Obama

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Apptivate’s Women In Mobile series will take over the podcast in March. Maria Lannon, VP Account Management at Remerge, will be our host for the month.Our guest for this episode is Fabiana Ayala, Growth Marketing Manager at Truebill. Fabiana shares her experiences speaking up in the workplace with English as a second language. She also discusses her work "must-haves" when traveling the country with her fiancé and why she schedules her personal life on her professional calendar.Truebill is a personal finance app and Fabiana oversees its paid social channels. Before that, Fabiana worked at the advertising agency Bamboo, where she cut her teeth in marketing mobile apps.  Questions Fabiana Answered in this Episode:Tell us more about how you got into mobile marketing?Do you feel pressure to do more? How do you manage that?Walk us through your work day managing six social channels. What are your deal breakers and must-haves when managing your time?How have you adapted to working remotely while traveling the country?How have you been able to bring your personal life into your work environment?What has been the most challenging experience so far in your career? How were you able to turn that into something positive?What’s a piece of advice you’ve received that’s helped you with your career?How could the workplace encourage more personal development?Have you had a female mentor that’s helped you along the way?What resources would you recommend for other women?Timestamp:0:44 Fabiana’s background & Truebill3:08 Taking on multiple marketing channels4:50 Big impacts with small marketing budget7:46 It’s okay to put things on pause10:29 Fabiana’s must-haves for the work day13:11 Managing work on the road15:10 Putting personal life on work calendar16:47 Patience & self-worth21:25 Attitude is a choice24:03 Using your voiceQuotes:(18:00-18:07) “I think we need to understand our self-worth and be open and vulnerable about our frustrations, especially to our mentors.”(24:02-24:35) “We need to keep reminding ourselves that we shouldn’t be afraid of using our own voice. We have the right to have our own point-of-view, our own opinion. We’re allowed to disagree, and we shouldn’t be afraid of confrontation. We should always come with an open heart and mind into this communication; and if we still disagree, it’s okay to agree to disagree. I feel like we shouldn’t let anyone diminish our voices because of our gender.” (24:54-25:09) “With English not being my first language, I sometimes say something and think, ‘That sounded better in Spanish.’ So I need to push myself to just say it. Say it as it comes, and if people don’t understand they’ll ask questions.”Mentioned in this Episode:Fabiana AyalaTruebillEmail - fabiana@truebill.com // fabianaayalahopp@gmail.comInstagram - @fabianaayalahHow I Built This PodcastThe GaryVee Audio Experience

Yury Bolotkin is the Marketing Director of StarBerry Games, a mobile games publisher and developer based in Berlin. Prior to StarBerry, Yury was a Growth Specialist at Popcore, a UA Manager at Wooga, and a Senior Account Manager at Fyber.Questions Yury Answered in this Episode:Why were you interested in making the shift from sales and account management to the media buying side of app marketing?As Marketing Director, what’s the first strategy you put in place for a new mobile game?How do you implement automation today versus in your past?Do you make decisions based on the results of new testing platforms that enter your automation, or is that something that happens once it reaches a certain threshold?Is there any kind of automation that would apply to a single network to help improve its performance?Where do you spend your time with creatives?Have you been able to run the campaigns you mentioned since the IDFA changes?Timestamp:2:53 Yury’s background7:57 What inspired Yury’s marketing career9:50 The atmosphere at StarBerry Games11:53 Burning questions for a Marketing Director13:54 How Yury uses automation now20:37 When the industry influences automation27:10 Understanding why certain creatives work28:52 How IDFA impacted their automated campaignsQuotes:(10:05-10:28) “I really love this feeling of having a small, passionate team of people who believe and trust each other. They have this goal of delivering something beautiful to the world. And they just live for this idea, going through challenges every day to deliver this vision, this product, to bigger audiences.”(14:58-15:02) “Reporting is actually the first block in your automation puzzle.”Mentioned in this Episode:Yury BolotkinStarBerryStarBerry is hiring!

Hannah Parvaz, Head of Marketing at Uptime, discusses what makes a great app marketer, Uptime's content development and curation efforts, bringing a new product to market, surprising learnings from customers, creative strategy for educating potential consumers, the role of content in acquiring new customers, and the optimal mix of keywords for web traffic.

Alexander Savelyev is the Vice President of Product at Verve Group. Verve is a privacy-first omnichannel ad platform. It offers  programmatic solutions that connect advertisers and publishers to people in real time. Alexander lives and works in Berlin.Questions Alexander Answered in this Episode:What is your team looking to achieve at Verve?As a VP of Product, is it difficult overseeing 5-6 teams focused on different goals? How do you direct where the teams focus their time?How do you see the perspective of advertisers and publishers as it relates to omnichannel marketing? How different are they?Is a publisher missing something by not having an omnichannel presence?How do we achieve omnichannel marketing in a privacy-first world? If you cannot identify a specific user on a mobile device, how do you deliver a relevant message to them on another platform or from a single advertiser?Is part of the safety net for user privacy the size of the cohort or audience? Is there a minimum threshold for how large or small it must be to preserve that privacy?What’s needed and crucial for the market?Timestamp:3:48 Alexander’s background8:00 Verve, for advertisers and publishers11:46 On managing a team of teams15:12 Omnichannel for advertisers vs publishers25:48 How to do privacy-first omnichannel30:11 Size minimums for proxies to protect user privacy32:24 Not possible but needed and crucialQuotes:(8:48-9:08) “By having the ecosystem, meaning by having an SSP, an ad exchange, an SDK, and a DSP, we think that we can make advertising cheaper through the economies of scale and through the efficiencies between the components that would normally be different companies with completely different sets of goals.”(32:43-33:00) “What advertisers need to be able to do is execute different campaigns on individuals within a minimized group and a/b test  different, sequential multi-device storytelling strategies in real time.”Mentioned in this Episode:Alexander Savelyev’s LinkedInVerveAlexander’s email: alex@verve.com

Tarik Amzil is the Marketing Growth Manager for EMEA at Binance, the cryptocurrency platform. Prior to joining Binance, Tarik was a growth marketing manager at ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, focusing on growing TikTok within the Arab community. Questions Tarik Answered in this Episode:Why did you decide to leave TikTok and shift from a social media platform to Binance, a fintech platform?How did you train yourself to be a growth marketing manager in the financial space when you didn’t necessarily have that background?What makes Binance special? What’s made it one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, if not the largest?What’s your approach to acquiring more customers? And more specifically, how do you go about acquiring customers who are newer to the industry?Given that your consumers range from 18 to 55+, is there a core demographic where you focus your marketing efforts? Is there a primary media platform that you use to get in front of those consumers?What’s got you excited about the future of the bitcoin space?Timestamp:1:53 Tarik’s background7:24 Shifting verticals–from TikTok to Binance9:46 What makes Binance unique15:36 Getting listed on Binance18:45 Growing the bitcoin app consumer segment24:04 New age tools for media buying25:55 Metaverse trendsQuotes:(19:32-19:44) “Binance makes sure it’s localized in most spoken languages worldwide.”(24:55-25:03) “Part of being in a rapidly evolving industry is having to keep up with the trends. So anything that’s going to make us accessible and reachable to our users, you’re going to find us there.”Mentioned in this Episode:Tarik's Twitter - @tarik4gameTarik's Instagram - @tarikamzilBinance