The modern mobile marketing stack: Does yours stack up?

To be a successful mobile growth marketer, there is a lot you have to be on top of. Successful growth strategy means working with a myriad of different marketing tools, being able to ingest and organize mass amounts of data, and needing to continuously test, analyze, and optimize ad campaigns. It’s a time-consuming and highly analytical process that doesn’t leave a lot of room for guesswork.

Over time, we have seen an increase in the number of media sources available to marketers as well as an increase in the amount of data they are obliged to digest. Thinking critically about such an insurmountable amount of information can leave marketers with a case of analysis paralysis. At Singular, our goal is to take the pain out of daily decision-making for marketers, and to do so we need to check the pulse on the current digital marketing ecosystem.

It’s time to take a look at the modern mobile app marketing stack and see how it stacks up against the needs of the modern mobile marketer.

We did a State of the Industry Report with Grow.co where we analyzed survey responses from leading mobile marketers and learned about their biggest concerns, gained insight into their success strategies, and revealed trends of investment in ad partners, infrastructure, and analytics providers. Through these insights, we can learn a lot about the state of the modern mobile marketing stack and what marketers really need nowadays. Here are 6 key findings:

The number of media sources marketers use is increasing – and fast!

At any given time in 2017, the average mobile marketer was using 12 different media sources. Further, 84% of marketers said they planned to increase that number throughout 2018. This trend reflects the growing desire of marketers to diversify where they’re spending their money in search of more profitable channels. Advertisers in 2018 need their mobile growth stack to handle the colossal amount of data they’re receiving, and sort it out in a way that services decision-making.

Self-Attributing Networks (SANS) spend is on the up-and-up

2017 showed a trend in increased spending on Self-Attributing Networks like Apple, Facebook, Google Adwords, etc., by non-gaming app marketers. Some of these marketers expressed an interest in upping spend on Display and Video Networks like Chartboost or Vungle, but they’ll need an analytics component in their growth stack to help evaluate the efficacy of their campaigns. Without a reliable view into their marketing campaign performance and flexible reporting to dive deep into the nitty gritty of their ad spend results, marketers won’t be able to confidently invest in these channels. Marketers in 2018 know that campaign analytics is not a luxury – it’s a necessity.

The average mobile app marketing stack is quite extensive

Based on the results of our survey, we found that the average app marketers’ growth stack is comprised of 17 different marketing tools and services. When broken down by vertical, gaming app marketers tend to use the fewest number of analytics tools, whereas commerce marketers represent the highest number of marketing technologies used. This uptake in the number of tools used in a mobile marketing growth stack speaks to the complexity of mobile marketing strategy in present-day, and demonstrates how far marketing technology has evolved thanks to the needs of the industry.

Marketers are zeroing in on the KPIs that really matter

In-App Purchases represented the largest source of revenue for marketers in 2017, with nearly 40% identifying these purchases as their main source of revenue. With such a hefty portion of overall ROI being reliant on In-App Purchases, it has become essential for advertisers to understand where to get high quality users and how to retain them. This requires a deeply granular knowledge of the customer journey from start-to-purchase, and the ability to really delve into these journey analytics in search of repeatable, strategic moves.

In order to hit their objectives, advertisers cannot live without marketing technology in their stack that fits the bill of their unique needs. Chasing KPIs can only be effective when a UA manager has access to customer journey analytics and can map out a performance-proven plan for growth.

Running through the day with analytics woes

A startlingly measly 13% of marketers reported they were confident in the accuracy and completeness of their data, with only 8% reporting they believed they were attributing campaigns across devices and platforms. Strategic ad spend becomes a fool’s errand when a marketer cannot discern between investing in the right and wrong channels and campaigns. The modern day mobile growth stack must deliver reliable and accurate data – and come with the transparency to prove it.

Marketers are fighting the good fight against fraud

Back in 2017, only 63% of marketers were utilizing fraud prevention systems in their marketing platform, but that number appears to be growing. Fraud is beginning to take center stage as a main concern for marketers looking to protect their advertising budgets and weed out fraudulent users and events. An effective mobile marketing stack will employ fraud prevention tools (and in some cases, preventative automation) and allow advertisers to focus their efforts on their growth goals.

Mobile marketers nowadays are taking many different approaches to creating and utilizing their mobile marketing technology infrastructure to suit their unique goals. It’s important that marketers have access to the tools and services that help them maximize yield and minimize costs. Learn more about some of capabilities that Singular offers marketers and request a demo here!