Interview with Gessica Bicego from Blinkist
Today we interview Gessica Bicego, Head of Performance Marketing at Blinkist, a mobile learning startup that gives people the knowledge they need from nonfiction books to become their best selves. Gessica will talk about “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Mobile Marketers” next May 27th at Applause, the App Marketing Congress.
Get to know more about Gessica in this interview and enjoy it 😉
Quick Quiz Gessica Bicego – Blinkist
1. What is your story? Could you please share some interesting facts about yourself?
I studied Computer Science and after a short trainee experience as a Ruby on Rails developer, I decided to move to the exciting world of marketing. My first digital marketing project was working in e-commerce for sex toys, I learned a lot there, from how to setup an Adwords campaign to identifying the best leverages for a social media campaign. I was doing everything with the goal of increasing sales and awareness on the brand, that’s the moment I fell in love with performance marketing.
After that experience, I worked with different companies (agencies, startups, big companies) and now I lead performance marketing at Blinkist, a tech startup in the educational space. I moved to Berlin a couple of years ago to join the city’s buzzing startup community but I still miss sunny Italy and its amazing food. That’s why I’m looking forward to spending a few days in Barcelona 😉
2. How is your day-to-day?
I focus on two things: I support my team by giving them everything they need to achieve their goals and I dedicate time to exploring new marketing channels and directions. When I’m not focused on these two main things, I like to spend my time knee-deep in data. I’m addicted to data. I love finding interesting correlations or looking for new ways to automate and optimize processes.
3. What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?
This has probably happened to a lot of marketers, but I once spent a lot of budget on something that, in the end, didn’t work. The main issues is that there was a way to predict the failure. It’s fine to be engrossed in the details of a project, but don’t forget to keep an overview and take time to stop from time to time and ask yourself the right questions in order to gain a new perspective on a project. The final learning is, I guess, always remember the big picture.
4. If you didn’t work in app marketing sector, what would you be doing?
I find the porn industry really fascinating. If you think about all the technological advancements, porn has always been at the cutting-edge. No, I’m not talking about being a pornstar. I can imagine myself working in marketing for a sex toys or condom company, I think it would be really fun and rewarding.
If I think about something not 100% marketing related, I would loved to have been a data scientist. I’ve done some courses in data science and I absolutely love it!
5. How many years have you been working in the mobile industry? What has changed since you started to nowadays?
I’ve been working in the mobile world for 7 years. It’s hard to pinpoint one change as things are constantly, rapidly in flux — from the evolution of user behaviour to an increasing demand for on-the-go content formats. That’s one of the coolest things about my current company; we invented an entirely new sector that did not exist before.
6. Which are the hottest apps that have surprised you the most?
I’m a huge fan of audio so the two apps that I will mention are in this space. The first one is Aaptiv, an audio fitness app that combines the guidance of a trainer with the perfect playlist for your workout to encourage you during your training.The second is Headspace, a meditation app that provides audio sessions with different objectives and to help you train your mind.
7. What is the main contribution of apps to our society?
The fact that we can do almost everything “on-the-go”. We can learn, buy, read, listen, be entertained, contact our friends, and more.
8. How do you think the app marketing ecosystem will be in 3-5 years?
Crowded and not so easy to tackle. Following the trends and being first in line to test new advertising options will be crucial. Targeted messaging will win out over broad messaging, something that is already happening but will culminate with the dawn of new technologies.
9. If you’d have to give any advice to an entrepreneur/business who’s ready to launch an app, what would it be?
The solution is right in the middle: don’t think too big cause your product will be too general, but also don’t focus on the niche cause this doesn’t scale. Think about an issue that enough people are facing and try to solve it.
10. Could you give us a hint about your keynote?
My presentation is connected to one of our best books in blink, “7 habits of highly successful people” by Stephen R. Covey. I love the idea of building healthy habits; something that you do regularly and that help you achieve the results you hoped for. In this presentation I will give my opinion about the habits that a mobile marketing manager should have, giving real examples (wins and fuckups) based on my experience at Blinkist.
11. What do you think it would be the next app marketing hit?
I’m sure programmatic will always be ahead in term of prediction, automation and optimisation of marketing campaigns. This will make our life easier but there’s still a lot of work to do in this direction.
12. Is there something you’d like to add?
I’d love to talk and share experiences, suggestions, and ideas. Find me on twitter @minigloo and start a conversation! Thanks Applause for the organisation, I’m looking forward to Barcelona!
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