LIFTOFF – May 18 – James Peng is the Head of Mobile App Acquisition at the Match Group in San Francisco.
Q: How did you get into mobile marketing?
A: After 4 years of investment banking and private equity investing, I decided that I wanted to apply my skills in a completely different industry. Mobile marketing was the ideal mix of analysis, business development, and creative thinking for me.
Q: What do you like most about mobile marketing?
A: That it is in its infancy and evolving more rapidly than any other industry in the world.
Q: What is the biggest mistake you made as a mobile marketer?
A: It was early on when I spent my time testing as many channels as possible. I could have exchange notes with other industry professionals and focus on top channels.
Q: What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?
A: The analytical horsepower to assess each user as an ROI opportunity and to dynamically optimize toward your goals. The ability to think creatively about marketing. CPIs are always increasing and that shouldn’t surprise you.
Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception about your profession?
A: That mobile marketing is made up of people with marketing experience and degrees. I more often see people with technical experience and business majors in our industry.
Q: What does a quality mobile user look like to you?
A: An engaged user.
Q: What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?
A: Bringing a user into your app isn’t the hardest part – you then have to engage and retain them to drive value. I recommend understanding what your CRM team is doing to boost user value through unpaid means such as optimizing push notifications and emails.
Q: How do you stay ahead of changes in technology?
A: By keeping a close network of industry peers.
Q: How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook?
A: Relying on FB only is risky. It takes upfront investment to succeed on other channels.
Q: What do you see as the next big thing in mobile marketing?
A: User-level targeting for traditional mobile ad network traffic.
Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team