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How Culture Impacts App Campaign Performance: the US and Japan

Sisi Ji moved into mobile marketing after working for an international education agency,pursuing her passion for gaming. As a student, Sisi spent many hours playing mobile and PC games. After doing some research and learning about mobile marketing, she was convinced that it was a right fit. Sisi was excited about the fast pace and dynamic nature of the mobile industry. She found a job at a small company, where she quickly grew her skill set as a user acquisition manager. Sisi was then offered an opportunity to join ME2ZEN, the world’s leading social casino and card game developer, where she currently works as a Gaming Marketing Manager. Learn more from her Mobile Hero profile.

As more mobile app developers look overseas for growth and expansion, understanding the culture of each country and region becomes critical. In that respect, the Japanese and U.S. cultures couldn’t be further apart. And yet both countries present equally compelling opportunities to acquire mobile users with significant purchasing power and high LTV.   At a high level, the Japanese market is more closed compared to the U.S., with many local companies successfully catering to the country’s unique tastes and needs. For example, manga apps are very popular, and people primarily use Line for communication and Yahoo for search. In mobile gaming specifically, Japanese users often prefer hardcore games, such as strategy and battleship, while American mobile gamers like role play, casino, and puzzle games. The differences in tastes, demographics, and culture in general have an impact on how we market our apps in the U.S. and Japan. As a Gaming Marketing Manager at ME2ZEN based in Beijing, I’ve come to appreciate the impact that culture can have on UA campaign performance. Below I share some tips to help you navigate the cultural differences between the US and Japan and improve your mobile user acquisition campaigns in both countries. Localize your copy and your design The obvious first step in global marketing is localization. Both copy and design are important, but compared to the U.S., Japanese users pay a lot more attention to copy. That’s why we translate all ad copy into Japanese. For example, we would use “クラシック ソリティア” for “Classic Solitaire,” or “友達と遊ぶ” for “play with friends.” Based on my experience with Solitaire apps, the classic interface with a green background reminiscent of the old-school PC version performs better than the more “modern” take. In Japan, we also use a lot more emojis and “J-factors,” i.e. unique elements of Japanese culture, such as cherry blossoms. Our experiments have shown that solid colors and cool tones work best. When advertising apps in the U.S., we focus more on design and less on copy. While American users also like creatives in classic, old-school Solitaire style, they are also more open to new styles, such as multicolored backgrounds and trendy designs. In both countries, I recommend using region-specific landmarks in your ad creatives, such as Fujisun in Japan and the Golden Gate Bridge in the U.S. Prepare to work with agencies in Japan Choosing the right partner is key to great performance globally. In the U.S., we advertise on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and through established DSPs and ad networks. In Japan, it’s best to work with a local agency in addition to these channels. Local agencies have direct relationships with local publishers and DSPs and can help you with localization. Of course, you can work directly with local publishers and DSPs, but communication and time differences can quickly become an extra challenge. As you can see, advertising mobile apps in Japan takes a lot more than simply translating ad creatives. Partnering with a local agency can help you localize ad creatives more effectively and maximize your return on investment.  

The post How Culture Impacts App Campaign Performance: the US and Japan appeared first on Liftoff.

How Culture Impacts App Campaign Performance: the US and Japan published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Introducing Firebridge: Firebase Admin access anywhere

The wonderful world of serverless development brings us many gifts for a relatively low price, but as with everything there are also downsides. We are using Firebase, a serverless framework by Google, and we love it. However, let’s focus for now on a problem we encountered, and the tool we have created to make it... Read more

Der Beitrag Introducing Firebridge: Firebase Admin access anywhere erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Introducing Firebridge: Firebase Admin access anywhere published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Liftoff Gives: Our Culture of Giving Back

Here at Liftoff, we strive to create a culture that is inclusive and fun, but also meaningful for our employees. With that spirit in mind, we created a volunteer program called Liftoff Gives. Liftoff Gives provides volunteering opportunities to all Liftoffers with the goal of giving back to our local communities easily.

Most recently, we celebrated our 2nd annual Liftoff Gives event for Earth Day, hosted at our HQ office in Palo Alto. Liftoffers, their families and friends came together to pot their own plants, promote sustainable farming practices and reduce our carbon footprint on the earth. We enjoyed getting our hands dirty together and look forward to seeing what our green thumbs grow!

The post Liftoff Gives: Our Culture of Giving Back appeared first on Liftoff.

Liftoff Gives: Our Culture of Giving Back published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Apache PLC4X, the missing link for industrial innovation

When reading the current media or talking directly to people in the industry, it seems the industry is currently undergoing one of its greatest revolutions. It’s all about “Industry 4.0”, “smart factories” and “digitization” in general. Usually this implies: optimizing production, increasing product quality, reducing waste, speeding up production, eliminating downtime right down to being... Read more

Der Beitrag Apache PLC4X, the missing link for industrial innovation erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Apache PLC4X, the missing link for industrial innovation published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Liftoff Recognized as 2019 Bay Area Best Places to Work

Liftoff has been recognized as one of the 2019 Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal, ranking #11 in the Midsize Companies category. This marks the third consecutive year we’ve made the list, which is gratifying and humbling to all of us here at Liftoff.

This award is a recognition of our successful efforts and initiatives that make Liftoff a great workplace, and our team members’ careers rewarding. We continue to invest resources to foster an environment that is supportive, transparent, and encourages continual growth and change. Living by our values daily translates to Liftoffers genuinely feeling appreciated, supported, and empowered, not only when things are going well, but also — especially — when things need improvement.

What distinguishes the Best Places to Work award and why we feel so honored is because winners are exclusively determined by employees. The fact that Liftoff continues to be recognized as one of Silicon Valley’s best workplaces is a delightful confirmation that Liftoffers love working here! Some fan favorite perks and programs include onsite massages, community involvement (Liftoff Gives), summer picnics, company and team offsites, ride-share credits, and manager training program (Liftoff Elevate).

Check out the full press release, and visit our Facebook album and Glassdoor page if you’re intrigued about our unique culture. Of course, we’re always hiring so check out our Careers page!

Visit our Facebook album and Glassdoor page if you’re intrigued about our unique culture. Of course, we’re always hiring so check out our Careers page!

The post Liftoff Recognized as 2019 Bay Area Best Places to Work appeared first on Liftoff.

Liftoff Recognized as 2019 Bay Area Best Places to Work published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) for Qt and Felgo

Felgo aims to improve your whole development process, from idea to app store. Today you get access to another piece of the puzzle. Introducing: Felgo Cloud Builds

Boost your Qt and Felgo development with continuous integration and delivery for Qt and Felgo projects. As the only CI/CD exclusively for Felgo/Qt, it enables users to build and distribute apps with minimum effort and maximum speed.

Here is a short teaser video, introducing Felgo Cloud Builds:

  Felgo Cloud Builds On-Premise

Cloud Builds is available as a hosted solution by Felgo, and on-premise. Contact us if you want to host Cloud Builds on your own servers and integrate it into your existing CI/CD systems.

  Contact Us for On-Premise Hosting

Build your Apps in the Cloud with Felgo Cloud Builds

A great development workflow will make your good developers great, and your great developers exceptional. Deploying a new version to the app stores can be an annoying and time-consuming task. You need to make sure all your native tooling for each platform is set up and working as expected. And unfortunately, those tend to just break more often than you would like to.

Felgo already eliminates the need for native tooling while developing Qt/QML apps with Felgo Live code reloading. When it comes to store deployment, it was still required.

This changes with Felgo Cloud Builds. You connect your source code repository and we build the project for you, for iOS, Android and any other supported platform. Soon you will also be able to build for Windows, Mac, Linux, Embedded & Web (WebAssembly). Contact us if you need any of those platforms immediately.

You trigger a new build with a single button click and then you can:

Download the created binaries

Automatically upload them to your beta channels or the app stores

Try out previous versions of your application

  Build your project with Felgo Cloud Builds

Benefits of Using Cloud Builds

There are a number of benefits in using a CI/CD for developing your projects. First of all, the obvious one, time savings:

No setup of native frameworks required

Cut time to provide new test versions

Cut time for publishing new versions

Release more frequent updates for your users

The whole build and deployment process to both app stores only takes about 5-10 minutes.

Apart from that, there are several other advantages that you can benefit from:

Easy integration with Git

Automatic upload to iOS TestFlight and Google Play testing tracks

Deploy to iOS without the need for a Mac

Soon you will also be able to select different Felgo and Qt versions to build with

Why we built Felgo Cloud Builds for Continuous Integration and Delivery?

We built hundreds of projects using Qt on mobile platforms. Looking back at all the time spent on building and uploading binaries for every supported platform, we knew this had to change. With Felgo, we already made a lot of things simpler and faster during development, but manual publishing was still a major time-consuming process.

This is why now is the perfect time to use Felgo Cloud Builds. Cross-platform cloud building and publishing. Out of the box. Rapidly.

How to build apps with Felgo Cloud Builds

Your project is easy to set up. And after done once, there is no need to touch the configuration again, just build!

1. Create a new Project

Visit https://felgo.com/cloud-builds and create a new project.

First up are the general settings. You will also be able to choose different Qt and Felgo versions for your builds soon.

2. Connect your Git repository

In order to fetch your source code for building, you need to provide access to your Git repository.

For public repositories, this is the easiest, as you can just provide the HTTPS URL.

For private repositories, we recommend to generate a new SSH key pair. Then you can add the public key to your repository, and the private key to Cloud Builds (just as if it was your local development environment).

You can use GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and custom private Git repositories.

3. Select target platforms and provide signing details

You can decide what platforms you want to build your application for.

iOS

Apple requires you to have an active App Store Connect account, in order to sign your application. To create a build that can be distributed and installed on your device, you need to provide your Certificate (*.p12 format) and Mobileprovision.

Please follow the Apple developer documentation if you are not familiar with how to obtain this information.

Android

Android is less restrictive when it comes to signing and deployment. You can use the Development Build option to create test builds without providing any further information.

Make sure that your Android device allows installation of apps from unknown sources (not via Google Play Store), to install the development build directly on your device.

If you want to create a distribution build, signed with your own certificate, you need to provide your Keystore, together with the associated credentials.

Please follow the Android developer documentation if you are not familiar with how to obtain this information.

4. Configure app store uploads

Felgo Cloud Builds also allows you to upload your builds to the app stores. Then you can release them as test versions or publish updates for your users.

iOS

For iOS, it is required to provide the credentials of an App Store Connect user account. To guarantee the maximum access control for you, we recommend adding an own user to App Store Connect for Cloud Build access.

Android

In order to fully configure an app in the Google Play Store, one manual APK upload is required. Before this, the App Identifier is not set within the Play Store, and the automatic uploads of Cloud Builds cannot be matched with the store app.

To enable app store uploads on Android, you need to provide the Google Play API JSON file of your Play Store account.

5. Build the project and grab a (quick) coffee

Now you are all set and can trigger a new build. This will only take about 5-10 minutes, depending on your configured platforms and if store deployment is enabled as well.

You can start a build using the “New Build” button. Then you can define the branch (or leave default) and enable deployment to app stores.

6. Download and Install Binaries

Once the build is finished you can download the binaries and test them on your devices. For iOS builds, the recommended procedure is to use automatic store deployment and to install the app using TestFlight.

7. Release Test Versions or Publish Updates

If store deployment is enabled, your new builds will appear in the configured stores. You can release them as new test versions or updates for your published apps.

Can I use Felgo Cloud Builds?

Felgo Cloud Builds is designed to work with any Qt and Felgo project. It is free to start on a fair-use policy, for any Felgo user. Just sign up for a Felgo account and you can start building.

  Sign Up and Start Building

  If you require advanced options, you will soon be able to customize your builds, with settings like:

Select Qt version

Select Felgo version

Select Android SDK & NDK versions

Select Xcode version

Integrate custom pre/post build scripts

Felgo Cloud Builds can also be hosted on-premise.

Contact us if you need early access to any of those features.

More Benefits with using Felgo

Felgo adds a lot of features on top of Qt, which you can also use with Felgo Cloud Builds.

Auto-incrementing version codes for cloud builds

Native UI for iOS and Android apps

Responsive design

Advanced mobile components and native features

Custom UI and visual effects

Game engine and gaming components

Plugins for augmented reality, machine learning, monetization, analytics and many more

This might also be Interesting for You

V-Play is Now Felgo – New Release & Roadmap QML Tutorial: How to Create Native Cross Platform Apps with Qt and Felgo | Free Udemy Course Make Cross-Platform Mobile Apps with Qt: Felgo Apps for iOS, Android, Desktop & Embedded

The post Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) for Qt and Felgo appeared first on Felgo.

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD) for Qt and Felgo published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Serverless GCP functions – Look Ma, no servers!

Serverless computing promises to provide easily scalable applications and provide a straightforward programming model that allows developers to focus on features instead of technological details. In this blog post, we develop a simple sample application. We implement it and deploy it as a serverless GCP Cloud Function. We hope this tutorial helps you move beyond... Read more

Der Beitrag Serverless GCP functions – Look Ma, no servers! erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Serverless GCP functions – Look Ma, no servers! published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019

With less than 4 weeks to go until the largest mobile app marketing conference in the U.S., we’re fully immersed in MAU planning here at Liftoff. And you can bet we’re going bigger and better than ever. Read through all the fun details below to make sure you don’t miss out!

Kick Off Tuesday Night with MAU & CHILL

Whether it’s a 2,000 sq. ft. virtual reality arena or a penthouse bash with breathtaking views of the strip, Liftoff knows how to party at MAU. This year, join Liftoff & App Annie on the Tuesday eve of MAU at the coolest experience in Vegas – literally.

Come chill with over 90 tons of ice at minus5° Ice Bar, including a Game of Thrones inspired Iron Throne (made completely of ice) that is sure to draw the envy of your Instagram followers. Enjoy artisanal cocktails & light fare while exploring this unique, one-of-a-kind venue filled with amazing, interactive ice sculptures. You’ll leave with some cool memories and a few more friends in the industry.

And don’t worry – we’ll protect you from the elements with parkas and gloves. Or if igloos aren’t your thing, stay warm over a round of pool or ping pong in the large heated bar area (where the only ice is the one in your drink).

Space is extremely limited so if you’re a marketer at an app publisher RSVP now!

RSVP NOW

Unwind and Relax at the Mobile Heroes Cabanas

This year, we’ll have not one, not two, but SIX Mobile Heroes Cabanas surrounding the Private Reserve pool at the MGM. Sip on refreshing handcrafted drinks while networking with fellow marketers, and join the Women in Mobile meetup led by Mobile Hero Cassie Chernin on Thursday May 2nd, 2:30pm.

Take a break from the conference to unwind with therapeutic poolside massages (yes, you read that right – massages for your tired, aching feet) while refueling with mouthwatering tacos, salads, and other American fare. And don’t forget your bathing suit – our giant pool floaties have your name all over them.

Whether you’re looking to kick back & relax, or turn it up & party, Liftoff’s Mobile Heroes Cabanas will be the ultimate MAU destination from 10am to 6pm on Wednesday and Thursday. We have very limited VIP wristbands for mobile app marketers so reserve your Mobile Heroes Cabana Pass pronto. And if you’re a Mobile Hero, we’ve got your wristband reserved for you.

RESERVE YOUR PASS

What Do Facebook, Fyre Festival, and Fraud Have in Common?

2018 was a watershed year with stories of massive fraud breaking into the mainstream. From a pure dollars perspective, the worst fraud is being committed right here in our own industry.

Join Liftoff as we open-source our internal playbook on how to fight mobile ad fraud – learn all about the techniques being deployed to identify and blacklist suspicious sources in the programmatic world. If you want to protect your ad budget, don’t miss out on this session taking place Thursday, May 2 on the Growth Track at 11 AM sharp.

Join the 3rd Annual Mobile Heroes Dinner

Ready for some extra indulgent fun, knowledge sharing, and networking with the best of the best in the industry? Liftoff is treating our Mobile Heroes to an exclusive evening at an ultramodern Las Vegas destination. We can’t say much more… other than it will be a night to remember.

Want to be part of this invitation-only event next year? Learn what it takes to be a Hero and nominate a friend, colleague, or even yourself here.

Stop by Liftoff Booth #201

Last but certainly not least, stop by our booth to learn how Liftoff works with leading mobile app publishers to scale growth and generate the best ROI for your app. While you’re there, don’t forget to pick up a copy of our upcoming Mobile Heroes comic – Attack of the Fraud Bots. You’ll find us at booth #201 in the exhibition hall. If you’re interested in user acquisition or re-engagement for your app, let’s talk.

BOOK A MEETING

No FOMO

Phew! Are you excited yet? We can’t wait to see you at this action-packed, 2019 edition of MAU. Get yourself a ticket to Vegas now to avoid FOMO (fear of missing out) later.

The post Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019 appeared first on Liftoff.

Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019 published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Brand Marketers and Performance Marketers Work Better Together

Elisa currently works as an Enterprise AE at Liftoff, helping companies meet performance goals through programmatic marketing. Previous to her role at Liftoff, she worked at both iHeartMedia & Entercom on their sales teams, helping to design and execute brand and performance marketing campaigns for various companies across the nation.

Brand marketers and performance marketers are two powerful departments, crucial to the growth of a company and, unfortunately, can sometimes be at odds with each other if not managed properly. Brand marketing success is often measured by brand recognition amongst consumers. In contrast, performance marketers measure success by looking at hard metrics such as revenue generated amongst others. While brand recognition and performance metrics might not seem to overlap, by working together, brand and performance marketers can help improve the success of both teams.

Coordinate brand and performance marketing campaigns for maximum effect

Brand recognition often creates a higher likelihood that consumers will make purchases, download your app or use your services. When a brand remains relatively unknown, performance marketing campaigns can fluctuate in both cost and outcome. A great tip to bridge the gap between the brand marketing team and performance marketing team is to hold a quarterly planning session. Brand marketers should come prepared with their marketing plan including run dates, target geos and any other details specific to the anticipated target consumer. Performance marketers should be prepared to make adjustments to their plans to better align with the brand campaigns. If performance marketers leverage the timing and strategy of the branding team, performance campaigns will run more efficiently.

Learning is better together

Performance marketers have insight into your most engaged consumers, especially on mobile. This can help validate brand team assumptions as true, false, or partially true. If you as a performance marketer understand the specific demographics of the power consumers who engage with your products/services, it can meaningfully impact your brand strategy.

An easy way to gather these data points is to ask performance marketers to provide metrics on the highest performing campaigns within the previous quarter, including demographics such as age and gender, geographic location, and other commonalities amongst engaged users. Asking performance marketers questions about their results will give brand marketers insight into who your branding should be targeting as well as potential audience segments you should target.

Grow organic performance as a team

Organic performance grows when consumers are familiar with your brand. Performance marketers can test this by measuring the organic performance of app installs, web traffic, purchases, etc. during an active branding campaign. It is important to limit this measurement to the geographic locations where the brand marketing campaigns are running. To backtrack, take the calendar of brand marketing campaigns and compare your performance campaign results against the times when brand marketing is running vs not running. You’ll often see a lift in performance you might have otherwise missed. As for brand marketers, you can ask the performance marketing team for their insights on organic growth in order to test the effectiveness of your ongoing campaigns.

Not every company has both brand and performance marketing teams, but for those who do, many are missing out on lower cost marketing campaigns, in depth metric tracking, and working together to drive organic growth. I encourage your marketing teams to partner with each other and build relationships to make both of your jobs easier!

The post Brand Marketers and Performance Marketers Work Better Together appeared first on Liftoff.

Brand Marketers and Performance Marketers Work Better Together published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019

MAU 2019 Starts in:Countdown

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With less than 4 weeks to go until the largest mobile app marketing conference in the U.S., we’re fully immersed in MAU planning here at Liftoff. And you can bet we’re going bigger and better than ever. Read through all the fun details below to make sure you don’t miss out!

Kick Off Tuesday Night with MAU & CHILL

Whether it’s a 2,000 sq. ft. virtual reality arena or a penthouse bash with breathtaking views of the strip, Liftoff knows how to party at MAU. This year, join Liftoff & App Annie on the Tuesday eve of MAU at the coolest experience in Vegas – literally.

Come chill with over 90 tons of ice at minus5° Ice Bar, including a Game of Thrones inspired Iron Throne (made completely of ice) that is sure to draw the envy of your Instagram followers. Enjoy artisanal cocktails & light fare while exploring this unique, one-of-a-kind venue filled with amazing, interactive ice sculptures. You’ll leave with some cool memories and a few more friends in the industry.

And don’t worry – we’ll protect you from the elements with parkas and gloves. Or if igloos aren’t your thing, stay warm over a round of pool or ping pong in the large heated bar area (where the only ice is the one in your drink).

Space is extremely limited so if you’re a marketer at an app publisher RSVP now!

RSVP NOW

Unwind and Relax at the Mobile Heroes Cabanas

This year, we’ll have not one, not two, but SIX Mobile Heroes Cabanas surrounding the Private Reserve pool at the MGM. Sip on refreshing handcrafted drinks while networking with fellow marketers, and join the Women in Mobile meetup led by Mobile Hero Cassie Chernin on Thursday May 2nd, 2:30pm.

Take a break from the conference to unwind with therapeutic poolside massages (yes, you read that right – massages for your tired, aching feet) while refueling with mouthwatering tacos, salads, and other American fare. And don’t forget your bathing suit – our giant pool floaties have your name all over them.

Whether you’re looking to kick back & relax, or turn it up & party, Liftoff’s Mobile Heroes Cabanas will be the ultimate MAU destination from 10am to 6pm on Wednesday and Thursday. We have very limited VIP wristbands for mobile app marketers so reserve your Mobile Heroes Cabana Pass pronto. And if you’re a Mobile Hero, we’ve got your wristband reserved for you.

RESERVE YOUR PASS

What Do Facebook, Fyre Festival, and Fraud Have in Common?

2018 was a watershed year with stories of massive fraud breaking into the mainstream. From a pure dollars perspective, the worst fraud is being committed right here in our own industry.

Join Liftoff as we open-source our internal playbook on how to fight mobile ad fraud – learn all about the techniques being deployed to identify and blacklist suspicious sources in the programmatic world. If you want to protect your ad budget, don’t miss out on this session taking place Thursday, May 2 on the Growth Track at 11 AM sharp.

Join the 3rd Annual Mobile Heroes Dinner

Ready for some extra indulgent fun, knowledge sharing, and networking with the best of the best in the industry? Liftoff is treating our Mobile Heroes to an exclusive evening at an ultramodern Las Vegas destination. We can’t say much more… other than it will be a night to remember.

Want to be part of this invitation-only event next year? Learn what it takes to be a Hero and nominate a friend, colleague, or even yourself here.

Stop by Liftoff Booth #201

Last but certainly not least, stop by our booth to learn how Liftoff works with leading mobile app publishers to scale growth and generate the best ROI for your app. While you’re there, don’t forget to pick up a copy of our upcoming Mobile Heroes comic – Attack of the Fraud Bots. You’ll find us at booth #201 in the exhibition hall. If you’re interested in user acquisition or re-engagement for your app, let’s talk.

BOOK A MEETING

No FOMO

Phew! Are you excited yet? We can’t wait to see you at this action-packed, 2019 edition of MAU. Get yourself a ticket to Vegas now to avoid FOMO (fear of missing out) later.

The post Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019 appeared first on Liftoff.

Get Ready for Liftoff at Mobile Apps Unlocked 2019 published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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NEW! 2019 Finance Apps Report

In mature mobile markets, finance apps have won a pivotal position in users’ lives. People use banking apps to manage their savings, pay credit cards, make investments, and more. This year, however, will mark a new phase in the global adoption of mobile finance apps, in which mobile will significantly change the way people bank in emerging markets. The 2019 Finance Apps Report by Liftoff and Leanplum reveals the biggest trends, opportunities and challenges for mobile app marketers in fintech. For the first time, the report is also available in Japanese and Spanish.

DOWNLOAD REPORT

The report draws from Liftoff internal data from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, spanning 10.3 billion impressions across 2.7 million app installs, 168 million clicks and 1.7 million activations and registrations. The report tracks costs and conversions across a range of mobile engagement activities and breaks down data by platform, user demographics and region. The report also sheds light on the best months of the year to acquire and engage users.

Download the report to learn:

Which markets lead the way in finance apps Compare YoY costs and engagement rates in APAC, EMEA, and North America

How big is the “gender gap” in finance apps View the data breakdown by gender

What’s a good retention rate in finance apps Benchmark your retention rate on Day 1, 7, 30, 60 & 90 against other apps in the finance category

As the competition in fintech grows more fierce, marketers armed with the knowledge of industry benchmarks and trends will have the best chance to succeed. For more insights and 2019 engagement and retention data in the Finance app category, download the full report.

The post NEW! 2019 Finance Apps Report appeared first on Liftoff.

NEW! 2019 Finance Apps Report published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Explain non-blocking I/O like I’m five

Introduction Ten years ago there was a major shift in the field of network application development. In 2009 Ryan Dahl invented Node.js because he was not happy with the limited possibilities of the popular Apache HTTP Server to handle thousands of concurrent connections. The Node.js project combined a JavaScript engine, an event loop, and an... Read more

Der Beitrag Explain non-blocking I/O like I’m five erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Explain non-blocking I/O like I’m five published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Traefik 2.0 – Configuration & new routing rule syntax

Back in 2015, the first version of the by now famous edge router Traefik saw the light of day. Lots and lots of work has been put into the application, making it one of the most used proxies in the whole containerized infrastructures landscape. Recently, they announced a huge overhaul and refactoring to make Traefik... Read more

Der Beitrag Traefik 2.0 – Configuration & new routing rule syntax erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Traefik 2.0 – Configuration & new routing rule syntax published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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5 Tips for Working with a Mobile DSP

Misha currently manages a team of UA experts working on Ad Networks and DSP media buying. He joined Huuuge Games 3 years ago. Prior to his current role as Head of of Ad Networks and DSPs, Misha lead Huuuge Game’s Billionaire Casino UA team. Misha has over 5 years of digital marketing experience, with previous experience working in mobile ecommerce.

Learn more from his Mobile Hero profile.

Every mobile marketer wants to acquire users that generate the best ROI. That’s exactly what most DSPs promise: to help us, UA managers, identify and acquire users that will most likely convert deeper in the app funnel. But here’s a dilemma: UA managers prefer to optimize, change bids, whitelist, blacklist, and otherwise manually manage campaigns. If you work with a DSP, everything is often handled by machine learning or an ad operations team.

For a UA manager, the only work left is to manage the budget, create or close campaigns, and upload creatives. In other words, the strategies that work on Facebook, Google, and other ad networks will not apply to a DSP. The good news is, there are still some things you can do to improve your programmatic campaigns. Here’s my five tips for successfully running campaigns with a DSP.

1. Bundle geo campaigns and run more than one campaign per geo

Most DSPs will only run one campaign per geo to simplify targeting and optimization in one region. These are usually large countries, such as Russia or France, which offer the scale to quickly collect enough data for post-event optimization. In smaller countries, such as New Zealand and Ireland, it could take months to collect the required number of installs. Work with your DSP to bundle smaller geos where it makes sense. For example, you can bundle all English-speaking countries, tier-one countries, or even all your international campaigns.

And then there are countries like the United States, where you can easily run more than one campaign. Currently, we are targeting different audiences in such campaigns. At the same time, we are also considering testing identical campaigns running in parallel in the same country.

2. Look at the right cohort windows

Marketers usually optimize campaigns based on ROI metrics, especially in mobile gaming where apps are monetized via in-app purchases, ads, and/or subscription models. ROAS D7 is one of the standard metrics to measure campaign performance for many advertisers. Often, DSPs claim that even though D7 KPIs might not be at the required level, users mature later and develop on D30 or D90. But we have noticed that if the campaign doesn’t show strong performance on shorter cohorts (D7), there is a very low chance that we’ll have great results on longer cohorts. That may be different for other apps, so make sure that you are looking at all the possible cohort windows.

3. Demand more transparency

DSPs don’t own inventory and buy it on the open-exchange market. If fraud weren’t such a big problem in our industry, there would be no need for transparency and we could just spend money and expect great performance. Because this (ideal) situation is also unrealistic, the best you can do is ask for more transparency and work with the DSP’s team closely to monitor fraud.

For example, if you notice that a specific publisher delivers low ROAS results on one of your other media sources, you can ask your DSP to blacklist that publisher. By having full transparency around campaign data, you can also better monitor fraud and ask the DSP to charge you back for fraudulent installs.

4. Work with your DSP to optimize mobile ad exchanges

Some exchanges don’t perform well for our apps and are less ROAS-positive. If your DSP allows it, work with their team on exchange optimization and blacklist the exchanges that don’t work for you.

Exchange transparency also makes it easier to get extra support from specific exchanges. Companies that sell their impressions are also interested in increasing volumes. Some of them, like MoPub, don’t work with advertisers directly, and can only work with advertisers via DSPs. Knowing the volume of traffic that each exchange can supply helps us, advertisers, speak directly with those exchanges about how to increase metrics that the exchange can influence.

Having a direct line of communication with an exchange can help you get whitelisted. For example, we recently found out that a few publishers blacklisted us on MoPub, so we talked to this exchange directly and began the process of un-blacklisting.

5. Last but not least

Finally, here are a few more tips that worked for us:

Implement creative localization and creative format optimization.

Optimize towards various metrics (CPI, CPA, CPE, etc.) until you find the ones that work best for you and your app.

Consider pre-install metrics, such as CVR, IPM, and CTR, when you make decisions

Run Click-Through and View-Through attribution analyses and consider changing your standard windows. For example, change your View-Through attribution window from 1 day to 1h or even shorter if your MMP allows.

  The post 5 Tips for Working with a Mobile DSP appeared first on Liftoff.

5 Tips for Working with a Mobile DSP published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Augmented Reality: AR sunlight estimation

Shadows play a vital role in perceiving spatial relations between objects. They are an essential tool for creating authentic virtual additions to the scene in Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Approaches matching real-world light conditions in AR usually rely on resource-hungry image processing. Often, a-priori information about the environment and additional physical objects (like mirror spheres)... Read more

Der Beitrag Augmented Reality: AR sunlight estimation erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Augmented Reality: AR sunlight estimation published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Using Google Sheets as database

(feature image by unsplash-logoVincent Botta) Motivation Sometimes you just need a simple database and also the ability to have a really simple way to edit the data in a quick and straightforward way, without compromising on integrity or accountability. This is where Google Sheets offers a totally valid solution! Google Sheets provides us with an... Read more

Der Beitrag Using Google Sheets as database erschien zuerst auf codecentric AG Blog.

Using Google Sheets as database published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy

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Turner Kirk (MOOV): Tips to Grow Your Mobile Marketing Career

When Turner Kirk joined MOOV, the maker of fitness and wellness products, a year and a half ago, he was tasked with leading growth and user acquisition for a brand-new product. The app called Sanity & Self, a self-care app for women, has since climbed to the top 50 in Health & Wellness and now features nearly five thousand five-star reviews on the App Store alone. We caught up with Turner at the App Growth Summit to chat about his career and tips for becoming a better mobile marketer.

How did you get into mobile user acquisition?

Before moving into paid user acquisition, I managed organic growth programs at Smule, a music app. I was drawn to paid growth because I wanted to learn how to optimize campaigns and become even more efficient. With paid growth campaigns, you see the results of your work very quickly, and the best part is watching the numbers go in the right direction. 

What are your top tips on becoming a better mobile marketer?

There’re no shortcuts, and learning is truly the only way to get better. Here’re my top five recommendations:

Shadowing. The fastest way to learn is to be around a team of people who are really good at what they do. Talk to your co-workers at lunch, learn what they are doing, and find areas where you can help them. It sounds like a very old-school way of learning, but it works. I was lucky to get to work with Alessandra Sales at Smule, who was recognized as a Mobile Hero for her app marketing achievements, and learned a lot from her.

Attending conferences. Conferences like App Growth Summit are another great place to learn. The best way to network is to find the person you want to talk to about a specific subject. But if you are very new in the industry, you can always find the most interesting person in the room and just be a fly on the wall around them.

Research & reading. Perhaps, the easiest approach for anyone is to learn online. There are many resources out there to learn about marketing. For example, Neil Patel shares interesting and actionable content. But for me, the fastest way is to research information about a specific part of the acquisition process you want to learn about, like app store optimization or keywords. Resources like Udemy or Lynda.com are great for getting your feet wet in a short period of time.

Talking to partners. Finally, you can learn by talking to your partners. Especially if they launch new features, they can share tips that will make your job a lot easier. Plus, as a mobile marketer, you spend most of your time adjusting bids and looking at numbers, so sometimes it is just nice to talk to people.

Follow Turner Kirk on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The post Turner Kirk (MOOV): Tips to Grow Your Mobile Marketing Career appeared first on Liftoff.

Turner Kirk (MOOV): Tips to Grow Your Mobile Marketing Career published first on https://medium.com/@TheTruthSpy