Gessica Bicego (Director of Performance Marketing at Blinkist - app providing 15-minutes summaries of bestselling nonfiction books) paid social, paid content, offline, display and search performance marketing strategies, and how they mix with branding for optimized “brandformance.”
When it comes to paid content marketing (Outbrain/Taboola) you pay by click so by selecting a specific kind of title or image you can prequalify your audience so you make sure you get people really interested in your product.
Blinkist has a system in place in case someone signs up through a different channel (e.g. download from the App Store) after listening to a podcast and then goes back to the podcast landing page to get the voucher they re-attribute the download to the podcast.
For TV advertising Blinkist uses a tool called TVSquared for optimization that has all the lists of when a spot went live and attributes the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live.
Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
When it comes to paid content marketing (Outbrain/Taboola) you pay by click so by selecting a specific kind of title or image you can prequalify your audience so you make sure you get people really interested in your product.
Blinkist has a system in place in case someone signs up through a different channel (e.g. download from the App Store) after listening to a podcast and then goes back to the podcast landing page to get the voucher they re-attribute the download to the podcast.
For TV advertising Blinkist uses a tool called TVSquared for optimization that has all the lists of when a spot went live and attributes the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live.
Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
When it comes to paid content marketing (Outbrain/Taboola) you pay by click so by selecting a specific kind of title or image you can prequalify your audience so you make sure you get people really interested in your product.
Blinkist has a system in place in case someone signs up through a different channel (e.g. download from the App Store) after listening to a podcast and then goes back to the podcast landing page to get the voucher they re-attribute the download to the podcast.
For TV advertising Blinkist uses a tool called TVSquared for optimization that has all the lists of when a spot went live and attributes the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live.
Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
Notes for this resource are currently being transferred and will be available soon.
In Italy nobody cared about her computer science background but in Berlin it was very different.
It helped a lot, as she could apply her background for performance marketing. Especially to work hand in hand with BI.
In 4 years:
Responsible for growing customer and revenue base sustainability (specific ROI and CAC goals0). Focus mainly on acquisition but also run retention and re-engagement campaigns as well.
Structure by channel (4 teams):
Enough tracking to understand what is more or less the impact but can not track on the user-base level.
They use a survey during sign up where they ask people where they heard about Blinkist but there is also an error margin on this.
User-based attribution not possible.
[💎@15:30] Use a tool called TVSquared for optimization: all the lists of when a spot went live and attribute the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live
→ helps with the immediate effect of TV but not to assess the long-term effect (building a brand, making other campaigns like Facebook better, etc.).
When it comes to TV you need to have a broader look.
Sometimes you do have to go with your gut and think about the future and strategize: for example it took them 8 months to make paid content profitable but it is now one of their most successful channel.
Work a lot with the brand marketing team, which is completely different from 4 years ago.
They cooperate on a lot of things and to create what they call "brandformance":
In November 2019 they did a sort of audit, talked with other companies and realized that their main bottleneck was their creative side: not able to come up with new successful creatives at a pace that would help them grow.
Creatives make 50% of the job, especially in display and paid social
Brand/design wanted creatives on brand, performance wanted successful creatives.
[💎@20:50] Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
They went from producing 8 to 33 videos a month in only 4 months, with the same people.
[💎@21:53] If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
January is a lot about new resolutions and becoming better versions of yourself. This makes it usually cheaper for them to acquire users at this time (despite a lot of companies advertising).
If January goes well, the year goes well. Really important to go into January with everything ready.
They started getting ready in September by analyzing their own data, talking with other companies, etc.
They had an issue with data and did a data cleaning to have things in place.
Gessica initially thought they should have very seasonal creatives. But realized that what works at the beginning of the year usually works all-year round (vs. content just for summer, winter, January, etc.).
Now they focus on completely new concepts beyond seasonality. When they find a "holy grail" they usually last for a long time, then you iterate, etc.
[💎@27:26] Once they find a creative concept that works, they go really deep: 30 or more iterations.
Some creatives have lasted more than 2 years.
They make sure that there is always a rotation and to have a mix between iterations and new concepts.
TV team works with brand team on per-project basis (e.g. new TV Spot). Same for podcasts, etc.
Paid social and brand team work together on an on-going basis. Acting more like a hub for the other performance teams.
Guests talk about things that did not go well (link here).
In Italy nobody cared about her computer science background but in Berlin it was very different.
It helped a lot, as she could apply her background for performance marketing. Especially to work hand in hand with BI.
In 4 years:
Responsible for growing customer and revenue base sustainability (specific ROI and CAC goals0). Focus mainly on acquisition but also run retention and re-engagement campaigns as well.
Structure by channel (4 teams):
Enough tracking to understand what is more or less the impact but can not track on the user-base level.
They use a survey during sign up where they ask people where they heard about Blinkist but there is also an error margin on this.
User-based attribution not possible.
[💎@15:30] Use a tool called TVSquared for optimization: all the lists of when a spot went live and attribute the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live
→ helps with the immediate effect of TV but not to assess the long-term effect (building a brand, making other campaigns like Facebook better, etc.).
When it comes to TV you need to have a broader look.
Sometimes you do have to go with your gut and think about the future and strategize: for example it took them 8 months to make paid content profitable but it is now one of their most successful channel.
Work a lot with the brand marketing team, which is completely different from 4 years ago.
They cooperate on a lot of things and to create what they call "brandformance":
In November 2019 they did a sort of audit, talked with other companies and realized that their main bottleneck was their creative side: not able to come up with new successful creatives at a pace that would help them grow.
Creatives make 50% of the job, especially in display and paid social
Brand/design wanted creatives on brand, performance wanted successful creatives.
[💎@20:50] Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
They went from producing 8 to 33 videos a month in only 4 months, with the same people.
[💎@21:53] If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
January is a lot about new resolutions and becoming better versions of yourself. This makes it usually cheaper for them to acquire users at this time (despite a lot of companies advertising).
If January goes well, the year goes well. Really important to go into January with everything ready.
They started getting ready in September by analyzing their own data, talking with other companies, etc.
They had an issue with data and did a data cleaning to have things in place.
Gessica initially thought they should have very seasonal creatives. But realized that what works at the beginning of the year usually works all-year round (vs. content just for summer, winter, January, etc.).
Now they focus on completely new concepts beyond seasonality. When they find a "holy grail" they usually last for a long time, then you iterate, etc.
[💎@27:26] Once they find a creative concept that works, they go really deep: 30 or more iterations.
Some creatives have lasted more than 2 years.
They make sure that there is always a rotation and to have a mix between iterations and new concepts.
TV team works with brand team on per-project basis (e.g. new TV Spot). Same for podcasts, etc.
Paid social and brand team work together on an on-going basis. Acting more like a hub for the other performance teams.
Guests talk about things that did not go well (link here).
In Italy nobody cared about her computer science background but in Berlin it was very different.
It helped a lot, as she could apply her background for performance marketing. Especially to work hand in hand with BI.
In 4 years:
Responsible for growing customer and revenue base sustainability (specific ROI and CAC goals0). Focus mainly on acquisition but also run retention and re-engagement campaigns as well.
Structure by channel (4 teams):
Enough tracking to understand what is more or less the impact but can not track on the user-base level.
They use a survey during sign up where they ask people where they heard about Blinkist but there is also an error margin on this.
User-based attribution not possible.
[💎@15:30] Use a tool called TVSquared for optimization: all the lists of when a spot went live and attribute the uplift for installs 8-minutes after the TV spot went live
→ helps with the immediate effect of TV but not to assess the long-term effect (building a brand, making other campaigns like Facebook better, etc.).
When it comes to TV you need to have a broader look.
Sometimes you do have to go with your gut and think about the future and strategize: for example it took them 8 months to make paid content profitable but it is now one of their most successful channel.
Work a lot with the brand marketing team, which is completely different from 4 years ago.
They cooperate on a lot of things and to create what they call "brandformance":
In November 2019 they did a sort of audit, talked with other companies and realized that their main bottleneck was their creative side: not able to come up with new successful creatives at a pace that would help them grow.
Creatives make 50% of the job, especially in display and paid social
Brand/design wanted creatives on brand, performance wanted successful creatives.
[💎@20:50] Created a "squad" with people from brand, design, performance: they recreated the entire creative process and all have the same goal. Shared accountability from all the teams involved.
They went from producing 8 to 33 videos a month in only 4 months, with the same people.
[💎@21:53] If you have a brand and a performance team: put them together in the same room, make sure that they talk the same language and make sure that they work on the projects together.
January is a lot about new resolutions and becoming better versions of yourself. This makes it usually cheaper for them to acquire users at this time (despite a lot of companies advertising).
If January goes well, the year goes well. Really important to go into January with everything ready.
They started getting ready in September by analyzing their own data, talking with other companies, etc.
They had an issue with data and did a data cleaning to have things in place.
Gessica initially thought they should have very seasonal creatives. But realized that what works at the beginning of the year usually works all-year round (vs. content just for summer, winter, January, etc.).
Now they focus on completely new concepts beyond seasonality. When they find a "holy grail" they usually last for a long time, then you iterate, etc.
[💎@27:26] Once they find a creative concept that works, they go really deep: 30 or more iterations.
Some creatives have lasted more than 2 years.
They make sure that there is always a rotation and to have a mix between iterations and new concepts.
TV team works with brand team on per-project basis (e.g. new TV Spot). Same for podcasts, etc.
Paid social and brand team work together on an on-going basis. Acting more like a hub for the other performance teams.
Guests talk about things that did not go well (link here).
