The science behind media mix optimization - Paul Kovalski (Self Financial)

With so many factors to consider when bringing an app product to market, where should growth marketers focus their time and attention to maximize return on investment? To answer this question, Remerge host Taylor Lobdell interviews Kevin Kawai, a seasoned growth marketer with over ten years of experience. In this episode, Kevin shares key growth marketing tips on no-cost growth tactics, waitlist campaigns, lifecycle and paid user acquisition, optimizing onboarding, driving virality, paid advertising, performance metrics, and where growth marketing is headed with AI. Kevin is the Lead Growth Marketer at NewsBreak, a news app for current events, news, and weather alerts for your local community.Questions Kevin answered in this episode:What are some universal growth strategies that apply across the board of the different verticals you’ve worked with?What do your weekly or monthly goals look like for NewsBreak?You handle B2B and the lifecycle marketing for users. What strategies do you find more effective for managing both sides of the equation?What are some key tactics you use to make sure people stay with your app?What tips would you give someone who is trying to break into growth marketing? What background do they need to have?How do you help boost signups, execute waitlist campaigns, and ultimately, conversion rates?How are you marketing to get B2B advertisers on NewsBreak?What’s your favorite go-to growth strategy?How do you think growth marketing is going to change in the near future with all these AI tools?How do you gauge the interest of users with a new feature?How do you encourage someone who uninstalls your app to complete a survey?Can you talk about balancing short-term tactics with the long-term view of unit economics when scaling an app?Timestamp:0:53 Kevin’s background2:58 Kevin’s role at NewsBreak5:18 Tips for successful onboarding7:04 Breaking into growth marketing8:59 Implementing “waitlist” tactics10:53 B2B marketing for NewsBreak’s ad platform11:57 Tools and resources for go-to-market strategies14:18 How AI will impact growth marketing17:38 Where to focus your attention19:30 Success with user surveys21:40 Balancing short- and long-term goals for scaling23:53 Where to go in the South Bay of SFQuotes:(2:17-2:33) “I think one of the bigger misconceptions with early-stage organizations is that they try to achieve results in an immediate fashion, but a lot of these growth tactics tend to be more long-term projects.”(12:05-12:19) “I’ve seen a lot of go-to-market strategies come from AI these days. And I think from the AI perspective, it probably gets you about 50 percent of where you need to be for a full strategy.”Mentioned in this episode:Kevin Kawai’s LinkedInNewsBreak App

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

Questions Roy answered in this episode:What is AppsFlyer and what do you do for them?Can you define ATT for our listeners?How can mobile marketers increase user opt-in rates?Why do you think opt-in rates are increasing?What have you seen on the ad spend side since these shifts?Can you talk about Remerge and AppsFlyer’s test of the Protected Audience API (formerly known as Fledge)?How do you see Apple’s new AdAttributionKit changing marketing, especially with re-engagement?How do you keep up with everything?What should product managers be testing?Can you define media mix modeling and how you’re thinking about it at AppsFlyer?How does AppsFlyer think about privacy?Timestamp:0:38 Intro to AppsFlyer and Roy1:38 Defining App Tracking Transparency (ATT)5:20 Opt-in rates since the launch of ATT6:00 Why is opting-in catching on?7:30 Effects on ad spend8:54 Google’s solutions to its depreciation of GAIDs10:02 How does the Protected Audience API work?11:28 What does AdAttributionKit change?12:50 Roy’s secrets to staying on top of the latest changes13:55 What should you be testing?15:15 Why AppsFlyer?17:15 How to break the ceiling in your career19:49 What is Roy excited about?21:50 Media mixed modeling defined27:38 AppsFlyer’s approach to privacy29:13 How to spend a weekend in Tel AvivQuotes:(5:20) “We’ve seen surprising results. Opt-in rates since ATT started around 20% but have gone up over time. I think this has gone up to around 40% consent across the app ecosystem.”(10:15-10:46) “In the end, the idea behind the Protected Audiences API is that we can manage cohorts of users that you would want to perhaps re-engage later on the device. So every user can be registered within their own device to different cohorts, which can later be accessed by targeting ad networks on different publishers – and all of it without sharing a single identifier across the web.”(11:46-12:18) “Apple only took care of measurement, which is SKAN 4.0. AdAttributionKit is just an advancement of the measurement use cases. There is no remarketing solution by iOS. One can only hope. And actually, they did introduce retargeting measurement with AdAttributionKit, which might give us a little bit of hope that retargeting tools are to follow.” Mentioned in this Episode:Roy Yanai’s LinkedInAppsFlyerEp183 Pioneering on-device bidding for the Android Privacy Sandbox (Google, Verve Group, Remerge)

What is media mix optimization and how do you do it well? Find out as Remerge host Patrick Eichmann chats with an expert on the subject. Paul Kovalski leads growth marketing for Self Financial, a fintech company with a mission to help people build credit. With a multi-channel media mix of TV, paid social, paid search, affiliates, and more, Paul brings useful insights to mobile marketers on maximizing their media mix. Questions Paul Answered in this Episode:How do you approach your media mix at Self Financial?How do you allocate your budget to each channel?What criteria are you thinking about when considering new sources of traffic?How do you approach creative optimization?How do you develop different creatives for different personas and products?Any other best practices you’d like to share?Timestamp:0:46 Paul’s background1:55 What is Self Financial?2:53 Targets for optimizing your media mix4:58 Budget allocations for each channel7:00 Considerations for new sources of traffic9:00 Creative testing for optimizing your media mix13:54 Mindfulness exercise for marketersQuotes:(4:13-4:25) “I don’t think there’s any source of truth in data. Some media mix modeling tools would tell you otherwise, but it’s very much an art and science to determine how to spend your budget effectively.”(8:16-8:34) “When launching a channel, I expect to see some craziness in the first couple of weeks. Once things settle, that’s what I take as the baseline for that channel.”(9:00-9:12) “Creative production and optimization is one of the most important levers in optimizing media mix, particularly because the job of the media planner has changed so much over time.” Mentioned in this Episode:Paul Kovalski’s LinkedInSelf Financial, Inc.

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 guests2:12 Measuring the effectiveness of brand campaigns6:03 Creative strategy tips for re-engagement7:58 Creative strategy tips for UA9:40 Measurement best practices for retargeting13:26 Re-engaging lapsed users incrementally14:51 What problem are you solving for your user?17:25 Marketing challenges20:28 Why a full-funnel approach to attribution is better22:00 Predictions for Google’s Privacy Sandbox24:17 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 LinkedInDaniela Aschentrupp’s LinkedInDiDi