1 free read left. Create a free account for unlimited reading + AI research.

Create free account

PocketGamer.biz8 Sep 2015

PechaKucha: Eric Seufert's Mobile Ads Marketing 101

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Mobile ad sales are characterized by a high-pressure, confrontational model that prioritizes aggressive outreach and volume over professional relationship-building.
02
Sales tactics frequently rely on deceptive practices, such as name-dropping high-profile clients to establish false credibility and using unsolicited communication to secure initial test budgets.
03
To maximize scale, representatives may bypass technical protocols by forcing SDK integrations and ignoring campaign constraints regarding traffic sources and geographic targeting.
04
Operational strategies often prioritize vanity metrics like daily active users over actual return on investment or traffic quality to maintain the appearance of growth.
05
The industry often utilizes manipulative techniques such as forced redirects, creative asset editing for click-through rates, and reselling third-party traffic to inflate performance.
06
Accountability is systematically avoided by obfuscating data with unintelligible reporting or exiting positions when clients demand transparency regarding poor performance.

Ask AI about this video

Transcript

[Music] [Applause] [Music] uh don't take offense at this it's not meant to be offensive it's all good fun my girlfriend works in Mobile sales uh so I've been in mobile user acquisition for 5 years and I've been pitched a lot of times and I've dealt with a lot of salese and I think I've picked up the crap so what I want to do today is give a mobile ad sales 101 sales class seminar so if if anybody's thinking about moving uh moving Industries take note so I think in general when people hear the word sales they associate that with certain skills and traits like relationship management communication time management persuasiveness having an engaging and charismatic personality empathy mobile mobile ad sales don't require any of that basically mobile ad sales are a war and it's a spefic spefic type of War

it's a war of attrition except instead of bullets and bombs your weapon is email you are trying to conquer the budgets of your victims and you will take no prisoners the first weapon in Your Arsenal is the unsolicited phone call lots of people leave their phone numbers in their email signatures and it's a lot harder for someone to say no on the phone and if UA managers didn't want you calling them out of the blue why would they give you their phone numbers and their emails the next weapon is the LinkedIn message some people think that LinkedIn is a place to connect in a professional capacity with colleagues that they've met in person but those people are wrong LinkedIn is a place to do sales Skype is also a great place to sell because most reasonable people would never expect someone they've never met before to send them a con request in

fact many people might consider it clinically insane to add someone as a Skype connection without having ever met them or agreed to talk in advance those people are wrong to be successful at your job you need to learn all of the industry buzzwords don't worry you won't be expected to use them in a coherent sentence you just need to be able to recall them in conversation so that people see you as an industry expert for instance you might ask a UA manager how heavy their LTV is or what color their May it's critically important that in every email you ever send to a prospective client you mention that you're working with supercell no you can say that without actually working with super you should be really aggressive and rude if people don't respond to your emails UI managers like to play hard to get and they also like people who aren't AF afraid to offend them don't worry you

can't possibly send too many emails or be too Bell Co with a UA manager they owe you their business and they not the best place to reach potential clients is at conferences this is where the big budgets are spent UA managers don't need to test your ad Network's traffic or understand how your API Works they just want to close deals over coffee but keep one thing in mind although you're in sales you should never ever treat a potential client to lunch or even a coffee make them pay for it what are they going to spend all that VC cash on anyway sometimes at conferences UA managers like to pretend they're having interesting conversations with former colleagues and friends but they're not they're just killing time before talking to you feel free to interrupt conversations at will and Corner people at conferences UA managers are shy and don't know how to introduce themselves they need you to be aggressive once you've successfully cornered a UA manager a conference and closed a deal it's time to get down to Brass Tax test budget

don't wait for the UA manager to agree to anything just send them an IO with a patently ridiculous suggestion for an initial test something in the 20 to $330,000 range once the iio is signed it's time to mention to the UA manager for the first time that they have to integrate an SDK into their app before you can run the campaign this is no problem adding your SDK takes only three lines of code piece of cake now that you're running their campaign it's time to cut some Corners you know how the UA manager mentioned that they absolutely do not want any incent traffic from you they were lying they really don't care whether the traffic you give them is incent or not they just like to make a lot of Demands to feel important after all who cares about Roi on VC cash it's like play money you know how the UA manager also mentioned that they only want to run their campaign in the US again they're just being picky to try to feel important you can send them a bunch of

Chinese traffic if you want the only metric that matters is Da and as long as it's going up and to the right you won't have any problems UA manners are really terrible at understanding what ads work sometimes you'll get an ad from a UA manager that showcases the game almost as if they're intentionally trying to only appeal to people that would really like the game idiots feel free to edit the creatives you get to optimize for clicks if you really want to pour some jet fuel into a campaign run forced redirects on the mobile web UA managers think it's awesome when their game is associated with spammy ad formats and those handful of killjoys that leave onear reviews on the game because they're annoyed that their browser Got Hijacked who cares reviews don't matter clicks matter don't worry if you don't have enough traffic to fulfill a campaign promise you don't have to did you know that you can buy traffic from another

Network and have them run your client's ad it's a neat little productivity hack and your client won't won't care because hey you got them inventory up and to the right just don't mention the 30% markup metrics who needs them what is this the math club if your client asks for a report about campaign performance just dump some unintelligible numbers into an Excel and send it over better yet past them unfor added into an email sometimes a UA manager with their unreasonable expectations will get a little angry when you deliver 500 installs for their $10,000 test budget as much as it shouldn't matter what the quality of your company's service is UA managers can make a big deal over poor performance and claim they'll never work with your network again but there's a solution just change jobs wo W wo

[Applause]

Summary

Mobile advertising sales operate as a high-pressure war of attrition rather than a traditional relationship-based business. Success in this sector relies on aggressive, persistent outreach tactics that disregard conventional professional boundaries. Key strategies include the use of unsolicited phone calls, intrusive LinkedIn and Skype connection requests, and the constant, often dishonest, invocation of high-profile industry clients to establish false credibility. The primary objective is to secure test budgets through sheer volume of communication and an unapologetic, confrontational approach to prospective user acquisition managers.

Once a client is engaged, the operational focus shifts to maximizing scale while minimizing technical transparency. Sales representatives are encouraged to bypass standard testing protocols, such as forcing the integration of software development kits under the guise of simplicity, and ignoring specific campaign constraints regarding traffic sources or geographic targeting. The prevailing philosophy prioritizes vanity metrics, such as daily active users, over actual return on investment or traffic quality. Tactics like editing creative assets to prioritize click-through rates, utilizing forced redirects, and reselling traffic from third-party networks are presented as standard methods to maintain the appearance of growth.

The industry environment described is characterized by a lack of accountability and a disregard for long-term client satisfaction. When performance inevitably fails to meet expectations or when clients demand transparency, the recommended course of action is to obfuscate data with unintelligible reporting or simply exit the position to avoid the consequences of poor service. Ultimately, the mobile ad sales landscape is portrayed as a volatile, short-term game where aggressive acquisition and the manipulation of metrics are prioritized over sustainable business practices or professional integrity.