Interview with Jennifer Shambroom, Chief Marketing Officer at YouAppi

On Mobile Ad Technology

MTS: Tell us a little bit about your role at YouAppi and how you got here.

As the Chief Marketing Officer at mobile growth solution YouAppi, I lead global marketing offices worldwide. I own the marketing strategy including branding, messaging and positioning, lead generation, product marketing, events, public relations, investor relations, marketing communications and sales enablement.

MTS: With programmatic ad platforms being de rigueur in the industry, how do you see this segment evolving over the next few years?

Programmatic advertising will continue to grow, adding more regions and advertising vehicles, including more traditional advertising channels like print, TV, and radio. And at YouAppi, we’re big believers in programmatic marketing, enabling clients to use programmatic platforms to find mobile users.

Programmatic is really part of a larger trend in digital marketing towards automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. We now have technologies which facilitate processing a treasure trove of data instantly, which enable us to make smarter marketing decisions on the fly. YouAppi’s own machine learning algorithms and predictive matching technology allows us to uncover profitable mobile users based on mobile usage patterns and behaviors, so we understand first-hand the power and value of such technology.

MTS: What do you see as the single most important technology trend or development that’s going to impact us?

That’s easy: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These technologies are enabling marketers to do their jobs better and more effectively by uncovering data patterns and insights which are difficult for people to detect, facilitating fine-tuned marketing programs in real-time. Beyond marketing, machine learning and AI technologies are making all technology-driven products better.

We recently surveyed several hundred YouAppi clients about which technologies they plan to invest in during 2017, and Machine Learning and A.I. were ranked #1 and #3 respectively (Mobile Payments was #2).

MTS: What’s the biggest challenge for startups to integrate a mobile ad platform into their stack?

The biggest challenge for startups to integrate a mobile ad platform into their stack is related to data. The first challenge involves quantifying the right data. Data is the fuel in our A.I.-driven technology world, but for the marketing stack to be optimized, it has to run on the right data points which enable optimizing campaign performance and maximizing ROI. Not all marketers have access to the right data. Sometimes it’s siloed within a specific team’s IT, and other times, companies don’t capture the right data across all channels. Marketing data needs to be consolidated and centrally stored and managed, providing unfettered access to the marketing stack.

The second data-related challenge concerns the willingness to share data with external technology partners. I understand the guarded nature marketers have about their data, but the best way to optimize campaign performance is to provide technology partners with data. We can only improve campaign performance when we understand which customers converted based on which data points, and that means having access to the relevant marketing data.

MTS: What startups are you watching/keen on right now?

At YouAppi, we’re watching the Chat Bot segment with interest, as it’s one of the fastest growing segments in mobile marketing. We want to understand how users are engaging with Chat Bots and what their role will be in the customer journey. A company we’re watching in this space is Exceed.ai, a developer of Chat Bots for marketing and user engagement.

MTS: What tools does your marketing stack consist of in 2017?

The tools I currently use in my marketing stack include Hubspot for marketing automation, email and social media marketing, Asana for project and file management, Slack for team communications, WordPress for website management, Google Analytics to track traffic patterns on our website, Google AdWords for campaigns, Salesforce.com as our CRM system, Stocksy for stock photos and Right Relevance for news tracking. I set these up as one Google Chrome window with 65 tabs across on the largest Thunderbolt monitor and my team thinks I’m insane.

MTS: Could you tell us about a standout digital campaign? Who were your target audience and how did you measure the success?

One of the reasons I joined YouAppi in 2014, is because I was impressed with how our technology was finding new app users for our clients based on user profitability instead of merely chasing downloads, which was how many user acquisition companies operated in 2014. And today, we’re even more effective in generating users based on performance-based KPIs to ensure that our customers are profitable.

A recent campaign that comes to mind is one for auction app Tophatter (https://tophatter.com/).  By running 90 second auctions for users to win deals 80% off on jewelry, electronics, beauty and fashion, Tophatter has created an entertaining marketplace which is bringing an exciting shopping experience to retail. To make user acquisition both precise and cost-effective for Tophatter, YouAppi is able to deliver users according to their Cost for First Purchase KPI, ensuring that Tophatter is acquiring profitable users.

MTS: How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a marketing leader?

I’m a data geek so I’m really excited by the opportunities that AI-driven marketing will enable. For example, I can’t wait to be able to integrate A.I. technology to analyze my lead generation efforts in order to uncover patterns which I’m missing that will enable me more effectively select the right marketing channels to provide sales with better leads at a lower cost. This will free up more time for the creative side of the business, which will also benefit from the data-driven insights uncovered using A.I. technology.

THIS IS HOW I WORK

MTS: One word that best describes how you work.

Multi-Tasking. I know it’s a buzz word, but marketing today is all about multi-tasking – doing many things at once that are all interrelated. For example, the data which I’ll use in a presentation will then be re-used in a press release and in our social media and search engine marketing campaigns, white papers and other lead generation efforts. So, though I’m working on many marketing projects simultaneously, they’re all interconnected.

MTS: What apps/software/tools can’t you live without?

The tools I can’t live without are the ones listed above, I use them all day, every day. Hubspot for marketing automation, email and social media marketing, Asana for project and file management, Slack for team communications, WordPress for website management, Google Analytics to track traffic patterns on our website, Google AdWords for campaigns, Salesforce.com as our CRM system, Stocksy for stock photos and Right Relevance for news tracking.

MTS: What’s your smartest work related shortcut or productivity hack?

Asana calendar view of all of my campaigns and tasks is my go to productivity hack!

MTS: What are you currently reading? (What do you read, and how do you consume information?)

I’m reading Play Bigger, How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators create and dominate markets. It’s about inventing a whole new game—defining a new market category, developing it, and dominating it over time. You can’t build a legendary company without building a legendary category.

MTS: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Learning to move on after making a mistake. People sometimes have a tendency to over analyze performance, but if it already happened, the best advice is to recognize your mistake and move on. Tomorrow is another day, and in today’s marketing world, where everything moves at the speed of light, it’s best to just move on.

MTS: Something you do better than others – the secret of your success?

Tying into multi-tasking, one thing I do very well is putting together the various marketing elements across channels to create one cohesive voice / series of messages when communicating with clients / partners / stake holders. With all of the channels needed in marketing in 2017, it’s easy to create a lot of noise that is inconsistent. My strength is understanding the value delivered by each channel and putting it all together.

MTS: Tag the one person whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

I’d love to read the answers my 3 year old son Cole will give to these questions in thirty years to see how close he develops to how he is today and to see how close his answers will be to mine.

MTS: Thank you, Jennifer! That was fun and hope to see you back on MarTech Series soon.