How to Stay Profitable In A Post-Privacy World
Success in a post-privacy world is highly unpredictable. To make matters worse, the headwinds facing the global App Economy have reached gale-force speeds, turning up the pressure on marketers to conserve cash, not burn it on UA. And finally, the marketplace has become a monstrously large and massively noisy space where apps compete for audience attention. This is where a strong brand pays dividends.
“Unless you’ve built a brand, the user journey to conversion typically remains longer due to a lack of top-of-the-mind awareness,” Piyush Mishra, Head of Growth Marketing at Product Madness, Mishra told me during a recent podcast interview. Short user attention spans and limited budgets represent dangerous disconnect marketers can only bridge with a strong brand.
From data-driven user acquisition (UA) marketers to performance marketing pros and from lifecycle experts to retention specialists, I have interviewed hundreds of marketers across all app verticals over the last few years. One message comes through loud and clear: targeting on Apple’s iOS is tougher than ever – and you can bet the farm Android will follow suit.
Marketers may be struggling with the lack of data, but they are blown away by the requirement to establish a brand that will win them consumer loyalty and trust for the longer term (and boost customer lifetime value in the process).
Fighting smart with strong brand
The good news: marketers are beginning to grasp the value brand adds in today’s environment. They recognize the decisive role brand plays in the customer journey. It’s what gets people’s attention, it’s what drives their decision, and finally, it’s what keeps them coming back.
Even better, they are building cross-functional teams and talent to capitalize on the brand opportunity.
The not-so-good news: marketers’ efforts are at a crossroads. While it’s clear that even the best performance marketing can’t compensate for a weak brand, the pathway to drive positive margins and brand strength is less defined.
The market needs data and analysis that answer key questions about the real and measurable value of brand. Fortunately, the latest BRAG Index, which stands for Brand Relative App Growth Index, provides actionable insights marketers can harness to ask and answer tough questions. How does brand impact app installs and growth? What allows outperforming apps to maintain their edge and momentum? Why does user sentiment matter?
The resource, published by independent mobile growth platform Digital Turbine, Inc., and Apptopia Inc., an app intelligence provider, distills and deconstructs the winning strategies that distinguish the market leaders from the laggards into their component parts.
Specifically, the index identifies four strategies winning apps have internalized to punch above their weight. I spotlight the winning apps and highlight the strategies companies across the spectrum have executed to build strong brand and beat the market. And surprise: winners are not always the ones with the most app installs.
I also have a blast in the process (pun intended) because I give you a sneak preview of my new upcoming video podcast, which explores building Brand Power — and much more!
And check out my companion article on Forbes – where I also shine a light on two marketing leaders:
- Piyush Mishra, Head of Growth Marketing at Product Madness, who is mapping new methodologies that marketers in all verticals, not just gaming, can use to develop consistent and compelling user journeys.
- Philippa Layburn, who gets high marks for being creative in how she harnesses incomplete data sets. The Senior User Acquisition Manager at Trailmix Games, recently named Pocketgamer’s Rising Star in the mobile games industry, went one step further to innovate new performance metrics to identify and engage valuable users (and their cohorts) from the get-go.
Give brand meaning
As the popular industry adage tells us: When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise.
But marketers must also find new efficiencies.
To drive connection and conversion, marketers are under pressure to re-think their UA strategies and how they measure their results. It demands bold and brave approaches that break the playbook.
And, if you are making the trek to MAU, you’re going to get valuable advice to do just this in spades (!)
✨ Are you heading to MAU Vegas? Why not add my panel for InMobi to your schedule or drop me a PM if you want to meet up:
Rewriting the Mobile App Performance Playbook
Macroeconomic trends and emerging innovations like generative AI, generational shifts in consumer expectations, and the loss of user-level mobile identifiers are all colliding to ignite a full reimagining of the app performance playbook.
A session that is a ‘must’ attend, for those in the mobile industry, where I will be joined by three highly knowledgeable experts.
✨ Chris Kim, Director of User Acquisition, MobilityWare
✨ Anthony Asuncion, App Growth Consultant AppTweak
✨ Dharak Desai, Director of Performance Sales & Client Growth, InMobi Advertising
They will share how industry leaders are transforming these challenges into opportunities to gain a competitive edge in this new era by rethinking various chapters of the mobile UA playbook
📅 24th May at 2.25 to 3.05 pm PST in room 155
Also
✨ My fireside chat with Faith Price, Director of Growth Marketing DoubleDown Interactive:
Soft Launching Games Post-IDFA
Faith is a mobile gaming and growth industry leader and a hashtagMobileHero at Liftoff Mobile. Faith is a big hitter in the mobile industry & I am excited to hear Faith’s review on how gaming soft launches remain a key experimentation lever despite SKAN tracking limitations.
📆 25th May 2.25 -2.45 pm in room 152
