3 Core Specialties for a Mobile User Acquisition Team

Rising and likely permanent mobile advertising costs make in-house user acquisition expertise a competitive necessity, and this 2015 essay argues that a self-sufficient team, one that doesn't depend on outside agencies, requires three core competencies. Because app discovery is hard and product quality alone doesn't guarantee commercial success, efficient distribution at scale becomes essential. The field is immature, and few people have run campaigns at the level of a Top 50 grossing app, so developers often struggle to know which skills to hire for.

The first competency is data management and modeling, covering the front- and back-end work needed to make marketing decisions from past user performance. It includes analytics instrumentation, data storage and manipulation, and the definition of metrics such as LTV so that profit and ROI can be projected by cohort. Its output is the set of parameters that governs campaigns: target bids by channel, demographic and device, ROI projections, and timing guidance such as day parts and weekly cyclicality. This group is described as the hardest to hire for.

The second is campaign management, the most visible and most automation-prone function. It splits into day-to-day campaign optimization (A/B testing, bid and targeting changes, reporting) and creative production, including ad imagery, copy, press materials and branding. Both closely resemble desktop PPC and paid search work, so experienced candidates can become productive quickly.

The third, and arguably the most overlooked, is exploration of new channels, tools and services. This combines business development and curiosity: working with early-stage ad tech start-ups, testing new formats, and finding greenfield traffic the largest developers aren't targeting. Individual discoveries are not durable, but a habit of being first to new technologies can produce a lasting cost advantage.

The author concludes that a team covering these three prototypes, the Analyst, the Campaign Manager and the Explorer, can run campaigns without surrendering margin to agencies, though individuals may span more than one role.