Interview with Gessica Bicego from Blinkist
Gessica is a computer scientist who is in love with marketing. She has more than 6 years experience in digital marketing on both web and mobile. Following her experience in Italy at various digital agencies, she moved to Berlin to join KAYAK as a Programmatic Marketing Manager, overseeing all social media investment for EMEA, LATAM and APAC. She currently leads the performance marketing team at Blinkist, a mobile learning startup that gives people the knowledge they need from nonfiction books to become their best selves.
Find out more about her!
Quick quiz Gessica Bicego – Blinkist
Gessica will join us on Friday 1st of June at the W Barcelona Hotel. Do not miss the chance to learn from her!
1. How and when did you arrive to the mobile industry? Why did you decide to stay and work on this sector?
After studying Computer Science, and a short trainee as a developer, I decided that marketing was my passion. My first digital marketing project was working in e-commerce for sex toys, I learned a lot there, cause I was involved in so many different projects. That’s the moment I fell in love with performance marketing.
After a couple of experiences, I decided to move to Berlin, in order to learn more and focus on my career. This was definitely a good move, and now I’m the Director of Performance Marketing at Blinkist, a mobile app that inspires millions of people to keep learning. Blinkist gave me the opportunity to focus 100% on mobile, and it’s been an amazing challenge for me. Why I love it? Cause people spend most of their time on mobile right now, but they continue to use their computers, watch TV, listen to the radio. I love the idea of putting all these small pieces together, to create the perfect orchestration.
2. What project are you working on now?
I have some really exciting projects going on at the moment. First of all, I’m trying to automate a lot of processes, especially when it comes to campaign optimization on Facebook and other channels. I’m also working on our attribution model since we are advertising in a lot of different channels, we want to find a way to understand the real value of a marketing campaign.
3. What is the most important professional quality an app marketer can have?
To be honest, I think the qualities are the same for everyone working in marketing. In my previous jobs, mobile was just part of the mix and not my main focus, but I was able to adjust to this quickly. You need to be curious, keep learning, ask yourselves the right questions.
4. What KPIs do you control every day? Which ones are the most important?
The goal of my team is to acquire users in a sustainable way, so the main KPI I’m looking at, is definitely ROI. But I still look at tons of different metrics, especially behavioural ones, that help me to understand the quality of the users I’m targeting or market trends.
5. What problem do you face in your everyday as an app marketer?
Platforms and products are changing fast, and we need to adapt quickly, be ready to change completely the way we market our apps.
6. What is the best option to monetize a mobile app?
There’s no best option, it depends on the app, the target, the device, the market. The subscription model is definitely a trend now, but it’s not the solution for everyone.
7. What advice would you give to a company or startup before launching a mobile app?
Adapting is not a solution. I see a lot of companies “translating” what they have done for desktop, to mobile. That’s easy, but it’s not the way to go. Start from sketch, think mobile first and build something ad hoc.
8. What are the biggest challenges facing the mobile app industry?
Saturation. Every day there are tons of new apps competing with each other on the same audience. Another big challenge is probably attribution, or at least is the one I’m facing now.
9. What trends will mark 2018?
It’s been a trend for a couple of years but I think in 2018 we will hear a lot about automation and big data. How can you make sure that you are targeting the right user? How do you predict your revenue at D0? How do you manage millions of campaigns with a small team? The answers are already there but more and more companies are adopting new methodologies.
10. How do you keep up to date with all the news in the app marketing industry? What sources do you consult?
Networking is the key. I talk with people, go to conferences, organise learning sessions (in person or remotely). Every challenge that you are facing right now, has probably been tackled by another company. And in case you want to learn and have fun at the same time, I’ve released the first episode of my podcast together with Andy Carvell, Mobile Gtowth Nightmares, we talk about failures and what other marketers have learned from them.
11. What will you talk about in Applause 2018? Why the attendees shouldn’t miss your keynote or workshop?
I will talk about how to build a comprehensive marketing infrastructure based on data and why this approach is crucial to the success of your business. Marketing teams need to evolve, learn and understand what they need to do and how they can interact with their BI department. You can’t expect someone else to come in and solve all your issues but most of the marketing team have no idea on how to start. Hopefully I will be able to help them!
Don’t miss Gessica’s keynote on Friday 1st of June at Applause 2018!
