Getting into Mobile, Marketing Theory Questions (7)
*Mods this is mobile related, but if it is too basic please move this to the appropriate forum topic
Hey guys!
Excited to become a member here and feel between the guides, follow alongs, and active community that this is definitely the place to be to speed up the learning curve.
I have a solid budget to work with from my previous career playing poker online so I have decided to focus on mobile. I am aware it is one of the harder traffic sources to tap into but with my budget and the future growth potential I feel its the right move.
I was hoping to get some direction on general marketing theory. These are just my assumptions that are most likely incorrect. I'm looking for some guidance 
Theory I'd like to discuss: Super Targeted vs Broad Targeting
I feel that a cheaper to test, lower variance, higher ROI, (But far less scalability) campaign could be more ideal for a novice that is looking to get their feet wet and become efficient at the process of running profitable campaigns?
A campaign that fits this description could be something like:
1)Look through a traffic source's available inventory and find a group of apps or sites that fit a particular demographic
Example: Decisive > Grindr - gay dating app, impressions available in several countries
2)Find an offer that matches that demographic
Example: Gay dating site offer/APP Install
I'm guessing there would be far less placements to cut because the targeting has already been done beforehand versus more RON style campaigns. I think the budget required to test would be a lot smaller as well. Of course the issue with something like this is scalability. A campaign like this with limited impressions could most likely never reach the $XXXX+ range, making it not worth it for the more experienced marketers out there. Because most of the experienced guys aren't creating these types of campaigns, would this therefore make these campaigns more likely to be profitable due to the lack of competition?
An issue I can see running into here with mobile traffic sources is this strategy would mainly only work on the sources that provide the name of the app/site your traffic is running on. Some networks are blind, such as inMobi, where you are pretty much forced to select categories and RON type placements?
Broad Targeting:
Select an offer that has a broader demographic appeal that can be scaled and potentially profitable on several traffic sources. Placements will generally be less targeted overall and therefore a smaller ROI, however the sheer volume of placements and impressions available make this far more scalable. I'm assuming these types of campaigns require a larger budget and knowledge of how to efficiently run on several traffic sources. I'm also assuming the competition with these types of campaigns is far more heated.
A campaign that fits this description could be something like:
1)Run the campaign through RON on a traffic source and after collecting data start cutting placements, creatives, handsets, etc that aren't performing well.
Example: Popular APP, Game, or Sweepstakes that would appeal to both men and women from several different age groups
2)Optimize the best performing creatives & angles, handsets, etc and find the best performing placements. Clone this campaign to other mobile traffic sources.
I guess what I'm trying to figure out is where I should start focusing. Is it better to go for the more targeted campaigns listed above or are they just a waste of time based on the lack of scalability regardless of experience level?
Are the RON type campaigns for more experienced marketers with larger budgets that have a successful track record of profitable campaigns?
All of the above are simply just assumptions and I am here to learn. Please tell me how wrong or right some of this, all advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
At the end of the day, this game is about arbitraging purchase intent and price for traffic.
- It is easy to get high purchase intent traffic at a high price.
- It is easy to get low purchase intent traffic at a low price.
- It is also very easy to get low purchase intent traffic at a high price, what most beginners (and many clueless marketing agencies do)
- What you want to do is to get the highest possible purchase intent traffic at the lowest price possible.
You can do this via highly targeted traffic or via untargeted traffic or anywhere in between.
But just as in poker, you need to have some sort of edge.
As Warren Buffet likes to say: “If you’ve been in a poker game 30 minutes and you don't know who the patsy is ... you’re the patsy.”
There are a lot of variables that will influence this kind of decision, particularly the type of offer you choose, the type of traffic, and the cost.
There is no ideal choice but as a newbie I would suggest going for the former - i.e. spending your time coming up with very specific angles that are tailored to specific demographics or placements, and going for low volume high ROI to build your cash flow and experience.
However if you already have a big budget...
Thanks for the replies cmdeal & zeno much appreciated.
I am definitely the patsy in mobile right now 
How do you usually go about valuating your 4th point - highest possible purchase intent traffic at the lowest price possible?
Is this pure testing?
Experience from knowing what tends to work?
With offers where users aren't pulling our their credit card for a purchase, example being the grindr > gay dating lead generation is purchase intent still extremely relative?
Zeno I think despite my available budget I will lean towards the former until I can get a profitable campaign up and running.
Thanks again for the replies guys.
When you're looking at free (or "free") offers, purchase intent is replaced by "install intent" or "usage intent".
It's all about barriers: how motivated is your user to overcome the barrier between him/her and the thing you want him/her to do? If that thing is actually whipping out a credit card, there's a lot of resistance to overcome. If it's signing up to an unknown site, there's less resistance, but still some.
Yeah, download intent for something free is not that difficult to get, so as @caurmen and @cmdeal says you need to make sure that YOU are not overpaying for download intent from sources that don't even have that very minimum level of intent. (Basically bot or fake traffic)
For example, if you get 1000 clicks for a free download and yet no one downloads, then you can safely suspect that the traffic is pretty much crap or fraud traffic.
Originally Posted by cmdeal
“If you can't spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then YOU are the sucker.”
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