Fireside Chat with Anuj Kucheria

Anuj Kucheria talks about his journey in setting up CrossInstall.

Know Me…

As Chief Revenue Officer at CrossInstall, I lead our business teams, which include three lines of business — the DSP Performance Business, Brand Sales, and Creative Partnerships — and ensure they are operating efficiently.With CrossInstall’s massive expansion in the last two years, it is critical we execute a thorough and diverse revenue generation strategy.

I’ve worked in the mobile advertising space for over nine years and was able to leverage previous industry relationships I had at AdMob, Google, and Chartboost to help expand the advertiser base at CrossInstall.

As a CRO in a Heavily Tech-Loaded Ecosystem, I Am Exploring More About MarTech

One of the best aspects of martech is that technology rapidly advances so new challenges and opportunities arise on a day-to-day basis. For example, new ad formats are popping up, but there’s still very much a need for traditional ad formats and new and old can be quite complementary. From a demand perspective, there’s a certain type of advertiser who will benefit from native and potentially a different type of advertiser who would benefit from an interactive ad. Change is constant, and our business must adjust accordingly to remain competitive and relevant.

Know My Team

Our business team represents over a third of our company, and we’re all driven by a common goal — To make CrossInstall the industry leader in interactive ads and performance advertising. Our team has extensive experience in ad tech, and we value sharing information across teams and celebrating wins as a business. Whether it’s signing on a new client or launching a campaign, we take the time to acknowledge our successes (and failures).

Considering we are a mobile ad tech company, our team is extremely familiar and comfortable with mobile phones and tablets, in-app interactions, and programmatic buying. Our team can easily explain the mobile interactive ad and buying processes. Their ability to distill what can be a complex ecosystem and break it down into simpler terms never ceases to impress me.

Sales Professionals Should Train Themselves to Master MarTech Skills

The fast-changing nature and number of actors in the ad industry can make it quite complex. However, this challenge attracts a number of intelligent individuals who can mentor young sales professionals. The relationships we develop and our network within the industry are the most valuable assets for us, that we carry throughout our careers and its imperative that any young sales professional develops a personal brand and reputation.

B2B Marketing Strategy

I think that the modern Advertising Sales and Business Development industries have evolved significantly in the past two years.

In the mobile ad tech space, there has been a strong shift towards programmatic buying and traditionally closed networks opening as SSP’s or exchanges. What I’ve noticed is that the idea of an SDK is no longer as appealing to app developers, and they want the flexibility to be able to choose how their inventory is being sold without being tied to a single SDK solution.

I also identify the ‘generational gap’ among the advertising technologies. Currently, I’m interested to hear how blockchain technology can increase transparency in the traditionally opaque world of ad tech.

Modern advertising technologies are pushing the boundaries of present-day brand engagement and customer experience. We measure the performance of our marketing analytics and sales reporting dedicatedly.

Before we even create a campaign, we have a measurement in place and define key performance metrics. Tools like Google Analytics and Salesforce provide important steps in an accurate tracking to ensure we are continuously pushing our business forward. We are measuring how we are doing daily and tying that into long-term quarterly and annual objectives. Our sales team is particularly adept at tracking all of our business development opportunities from prospecting to close to launch to (hopefully) a renewal!

My Ammunitions and Gameplan to Create Effective B2B Content at CrossInstall

We recently hired a Head of Marketing which was a large step in building out our B2B marketing program and content resources. Already, we have launched an Ad of the Month Award. This is where we feature ads that have succeeded and outline the reasons why they worked. We are also building an extensive case study library, launching email marketing and a resource center, and are continually cognizant of working to define our brand voice. Our content is very focused on the visual aspect (after all, we are an interactive advertising company), and the same creative designers that build our marketing visuals make our ads.

MarTech Acceleration Strategies

CrossInstall recently launched our Opportunity Forecast Tool (OFT), a first-of-its-kind solution that enables advertisers to instantly see where adjusting their CPI (cost-per-install) by small amounts will lead to large-scale increases in conversions on an overall campaign level, geographic level, or publisher level. It provides advertisers with increased spend transparency, empowered forecasting, and increased conversions. As martech changes quickly, we continually update our modeling and technology to adjust accordingly.

Types of Content That Resonate the Most with Your Customers

Our marketing strategy is very integrated as we produce content that is published on our blog and also shared on social.

We try to create content that piques the interest of our prospective clients by remaining relevant and commenting on all the changes and iterations of our fast-moving industry. Content that is short, digestible, and engaging resonates more with our audience. This is one reason our Ad of the Month Award (similar to a case study) and whitepapers are compelling. We also produce light-hearted and satirical cartoons which comment on the mobile landscape from our unique perspective.

Customer Success and Technology Insights

The Technology We Use Impacts Our Customer Building/Partnership Model.

Listening closely to client feedback helps us stay ahead of the rapidly moving industry. Based on consistent advertiser requests to leverage our playable across other platforms, in 2017 we launched our Playable Partnerships program. Through this program, CrossInstall has partnered closely with specific ad networks and platforms in an effort to allow clients to leverage the ads we build across other partners.

… Impact on the Customer Acquisition and Success Rate! 

Our technology is the single most important factor as to whether a client will succeed with us. As a DSP, our bidding models have to be constantly updated to ensure that we are seeking out the highest quality traffic for our advertisers. Our industry has shifted dramatically towards measurement beyond the install and hitting every client’s post-install metrics, whether it is retention or purchases, is critical in order for them to continue working with us.

My Thoughts on the Unification of Sales and Marketing Technologies 

My answer to the question ‘if the sales and marketing technologies would unify and evolve together to deliver higher ROI to CMOs’ is — “Absolutely”!

One critical, yet often overlooked function of marketing is the ability to generate inbound leads and work in tandem with the sales teams. To that extent, we are working on developing our own internal customer acquisition cost, so we can get a better sense as to what it takes to acquire each client that we bring on.

Advice to the MarTech Industry

For MarTech industry, I would like to pass one advice that I received myself. Early in my career, a mentor once told me to be good at my current job, but to be great at the job I want to have next. I’ve carried that advice throughout my career and it’s helped me throughout multiple roles and companies.

Tag a person who you would like to feature in our Fireside Chat:

Bobby McFarland, Co-Founder, and President of CrossInstall!

Thank You, Anuj, for answering all our questions. We hope to see you again at MTS, soon.