Apptivate: App Marketing Explained

As part of our Women in Mobile series celebrating Women’s History Month, Maria Lannon from Remerge talks to Lana Dubinskiy, an AI product advisor and a co-founder of Women and AI. Women and AI is an initiative highlighting women working in the field of artificial intelligence and providing relevant industry news. It was created so that women could help each other shine within this male-dominated sector of the tech industry.

Questions Lana answered in this episode:

• How did you end up in product advertising? Did you have a mentor?
• Did you ever feel intimidated to speak up?
• How have you been able to get other women to join?
• Are there certain resources that you gravitate towards that have helped you?
• How do you prioritize your day to stay on top of things? How do you prioritize your “you” time?
• What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? And what is the worst?

Timestamp:

• 2:27 Lana’s background
• 4:02 Getting into male-dominated professions
• 5:57 Data points: How to speak with confidence
• 7:18 The creation of Women and AI
• 9:00 Get involved with Women and AI
• 11:40 Growing is uncomfortable
• 14:40 Staying on top of AI news
• 18:25 Compartmentalizing clients as a consultant
• 21:46 Work-life balance
• 24:52 The worst and best advice

Quotes:

(4:26-4:36) “I see a lot of people get to a certain level and they feel like they just want to be on top of the mountain by themselves. I think it’s so important, as women, to give back to our community and mentor other women.”

(8:00-8:23) “We went to conferences and there were only a few women there. We could have spoken at the conference – we had more knowledge than the presenters there. So it was very disheartening. We felt like this is something we can do: We can highlight other women. We can show boss ladies, CEOs, that are working in the AI space, dominating it, and really making an impact.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Lana Dubinskiy’s LinkedIn
• Women and AI
• Women and AI Podcast

Catherine Perloff is the platforms reporter at Adweek, an American publication covering news related to the brand marketing ecosystem. In this episode, Catherine gives us the latest news on what’s happening within the murkiness of cookie depreciation and the advertising industry’s no-ID world. She also discusses emerging trends from AI-powered media buying to retail media and more.

At Adweek, Catherine focuses on how media buyers and brands spend their marketing budgets, what channels are most effective for them, and what struggles they encounter in buying the best media to reach the right audience. She also covers how publishers monetize effectively with digital marketing tools.

Questions Catherine answered in this episode:

• What does ‘platforms’ mean from the perspective of a marketing reporter?
• What's the feedback from the industry on Meta’s AI-powered Advantage+?
• Besides the impacts of privacy, what other trends do you foresee happening this year?
• How do you stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the marketing space?

Timestamp:

• 0:52 Catherine’s background
• 4:39 Unpacking the platforms
• 7:33 ATT’s impact on Meta for advertisers
• 11:00 The scoop on Meta’s AI-powered Advantage+
• 13:46 What’s happening in the no-ID world
• 15:45 The future of AI-driven media buying
• 17:10 Retail media and connected TV
• 21:25 ID bridging: shady business?
• 25:44 Resources

Quotes:

(7:39-7:59) “I think that there was a mindset that you could build a whole business on Meta, like that would be your main channel – and after ATT, I think a lot of businesses, especially DTC brands, realized they had to diversify.”

(15:01-15:20) “The purveyors of premium inventory are always going to say that high-quality inventory will be performative. I don’t think that’s true, but it’s definitely harder to prove. It’s often said that if you can’t track it, it’s branding.”

(16:47-17:07) “AI is being used for creativity in the advertising space. Is generative AI going to replace creative agencies? Is it going to replace copywriters? It poses a real existential threat to media agencies if more of the technology is doing the decision-making.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Catherine Perloff’s LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter (X): @catherineperlo1
• Adweek

In this episode, we speak to Diego Salazar, the Paid Media Lead, and Daniela ‘Dani’ Aschentrupp, the Ad Ops & Acquisitions Lead, at DiDi, one of the world’s biggest mobility and food delivery apps. Get a full-funnel perspective with best practices for re-engaging lapsed users and top tips for acquiring new ones. This episode also covers creative strategies and how to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, along with a round-up of what to do in Mexico City!

Questions Diego and Dani answered in this episode:

• Dani, what’s one story about mobile marketing you have to share with our listeners from a global giant like DiDi?
• How do you measure brand campaigns?
• Diego, can you give us some tips on creative strategy for re-engagement?
• Do you have any favorite call-to-actions for re-engagement on the creative side?
• Dani, what are your tips for UA creative strategies?
• What best practices do you have to share about measurement for UA and retargeting?
• How do you re-engage dormant users?
• What are some of the biggest challenges you face when marketing to your customers?
• What predictions do you have for the Google Privacy Sandbox?
• What should I see in Mexico City?

Timestamp:

• 0:53 Intro to DiDi and the guests
• 2:12 Measuring the effectiveness of brand campaigns
• 6:03 Creative strategy tips for re-engagement
• 7:58 Creative strategy tips for UA
• 9:40 Measurement best practices for retargeting
• 13:26 Re-engaging lapsed users incrementally
• 14:51 What problem are you solving for your user?
• 17:25 Marketing challenges
• 20:28 Why a full-funnel approach to attribution is better
• 22:00 Predictions for Google’s Privacy Sandbox
• 24:17 What is there to do in Mexico City?

Quotes:

(6:40-6:53) - “Regarding creatives, it's very important to keep an updated pipeline with different ideas that you can continuously test to identify the top-performing message.”

(8:11-8:32) “You already know what works [for your creatives]: good incentive, good value proposition, and clear messaging. I would say stick to that. Stick to what works. Once you figure out what works for you, it’s time to test more on the placement side. Compare video versus banner versus rich media, and so on.”

(14:55-15:07) “You have to clearly understand what it is that you are solving for the user. When you come from that mindset, I think everything else falls into place.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Diego Salazar’s LinkedIn
• Daniela Aschentrupp’s LinkedIn
• DiDi

Jesse Lempiäinen’s agency helps apps test their marketing strategies for App Store, Google Play, and Steam pages before their product launches. In this episode, you’ll learn the advantages of a/b testing your app store pages and take away the key metrics to measure.

Jess got his start in mobile marketing at Rovio working on Angry Bird before co-founding Geeklab where he is the CEO today. Jesse is based in Finland.

Questions Jesse Answered in this Episode:

• What have you developed at Geeklab
• Do apps need to have different strategies for different app stores?
• What have you learned since starting the company?
• What are app developers A/B testing in the app store with your platform?
• Are there specific creatives that you leverage more than others?
• How are you leveraging AI at Geeklab?
• What quantitative metrics are you looking at when A/B testing?
• Have you found that apps need to scrap their advertising strategies when they see high download volumes but Day 1 retention isn’t there?
• How have privacy changes affected the testing that you do?

Timestamp:

• 1:40 How Jesse co-founded Geeklab
• 3:52 What does Geeklab do?
• 6:45 App store optimization for Apple vs. Google Play
• 7:47 Early startup learnings
• 10:28 What A/B testing app store pages looks like
• 14:07 Creatives: efficiency vs. performance
• 15:32 Leveraging AI at Geeklab
• 19:07 Key metrics to app store page testing
• 27:27 What we learned from ATT and IDFA
• 30:26 Surveys vs. user behavior

Quotes:

(4:04-4:32) “The reason why we need a tool like ours is that there are certain limitations that come with the native testing opportunities that Apple or Google provides. Like I mentioned, coming up with a new game idea or new app idea, and wanting to figure out what to call the app itself would be something that you couldn’t test with the actual testing pages because they don’t support any testing unless you actually develop the app already and have it up and running.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Jesse Lempiäinen’s LinkedIn
• Geeklab

It’s difficult to find female talent in the tech industry, and it’s a real problem. Apptivate’s Women in Mobile series is back this March to celebrate Women’s History Month and to discuss how to close the gender gap in our industry. In this episode, Maria chats with Laura Schwarz, Airship's Senior Director of Sales for EMEA, who joined a handful of other female tech leaders in launching a program that invites young girls and boys to learn about different jobs within tech companies. To date, the NOW+NEXT program has reached over 6,000 young girls throughout the UK with plans to expand to the U.S.

Questions Laura Answered in this Episode:

• What led you to where you are in your career today?
• How do we encourage women to break into our industry?
• What has excited or inspired some of the girls who’ve gone through our internship?
• Can you tell us about your career story and also introduce Airship to our listeners?
• What makes you excited to be working in your current role?
• Do you have any advice for our listeners?

Timestamp:

• 1:10 Laura’s background
• 5:10 The effect of “bro culture”
• 6:50 Women are still underrepresented in tech
• 8:09 Introducing tech careers to girls
• 14:30 NOW+NEXT
• 16:10 We won’t want men “out of the room”
• 18:12 What helps get young people excited about tech careers?
• 21:42 About Airship and Laura’s role
• 26:55 The forefront of innovation
• 29:28 Career advice for young listeners

Quotes:

(8:40-9:03) “I get 50 applications from male candidates and one female. How is that? Where are the women applying for jobs? This is a real problem, and we have to find a solution to that.”

(15:15-15:30) “I think that’s what a lot of women in different areas of business and research are doing – they’re paving the way and they’re always asking, ‘What’s next?’ We’re not satisfied with the status quo.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Laura Schwarz’s LinkedIn
• NOW+NEXT Program