Aleksey Zvertovsky, CEO of Zorka.Mobi, a mobile app marketing agency, talks to us on his journey with the company and how it's an influencer and performance agency like no other.
When we started in 2014, it was a period of active development of the performance marketing segment in the digital sphere. Also, on the part of many advertisers, there was a high interest in dealing with mobile traffic.
The two founders of Zorka.Mobi used to work in different segments of the digital market. One had extensive experience in performance and affiliate marketing, and the other had been doing business in the traditional media segment of digital marketing for many years. As a result, the idea came to combine expertise in these two areas within the same business. It turned out that these two market segments intersect very little.
At the first stage, Zorka.Network (affiliate network) was launched, then appeared own media buying team, then the direction of working with video bloggers began to develop, and a number of other areas in which we always experimented a lot. Currently, Zorka.Mobi is an Influencer & Performance Marketing agency that works with world-known developers and brands, combining media reach and targeted advertising campaigns.
About the internal environment, I was pleasantly surprised by how energetic and proactive people in the team were. Over the past year, we have significantly restruсtured and developed the team and the current top management of the agency. That was quite challenging and required a lot of effort from existing members of the team, so as from newcomers. Certain departments were to be formed from scratch. It was impressive how quickly everybody summoned up their skills and spirits.
These are very ambitious guys who are not afraid to take responsibility and suggest new initiatives. When we talk about external noteworthy events, there are several advertisers that rightfully trust Zorka.Mobi with really huge budgets for their marketing campaigns. Moreover, monthly turnover figures record for the whole agency’s history. In such challenging circumstances, it was amazing to see that we were able to be on top.
The business environment in which we operate is very dynamic. Constant challenges and market changes make us keep up with the technical issues which are indispensable today. For example, we were one of the first agencies in Influencer Marketing that could offer our customers calculation of the advertising campaigns’ effectiveness even before they were launched, based on an internal analytical database.
In addition, today we are among a limited number of agencies that offer customers a mix of Influencer & Performance marketing as part of a single promotion strategy. This allows brands to build clever communication with the end-user and maximize the ROI for the client.
If a business is international, then, in any case, you have to deal with the cultural peculiarities of a particular region. For us as an agency, the ability to understand these differences and to follow them is vital.
For example, our employees speak 11 languages, including Japanese, Korean, Russian, Turkish, Spanish and others. This gives us the opportunity to freely communicate with customers around the world as well as to launch and scale advertising campaigns in various regions according to specific knowledge.
An interaction model can be seen in our case with Gamevil and their mobile game Talion – an open-world MMORPG. This case proves that this mix is not only reasonable but can greatly improve the result. On the one hand, influencer marketing increases the audience’s loyalty and gives the opportunity to provide users with a detailed product overview.
As for performance marketing, it delivers narrow targeting and works well with influencers. This synergy creates a viral effect that significantly improves the overall result.
Yes, that's true. We use the resources of not only the internal media buying team but also of external partners. This allows us to expand our capabilities as an agency, as well as distribute the work. In addition, it means more competencies and therefore opportunities.
In our affiliate network, we are glad to see everyone. But inside we have set fairly strict selection criteria based on which we identify only experienced and reliable traffic providers.
Everyone is striving towards a fully automated purchase of advertising. And if everything is simpler with classical media buying (the processes are already formed and clear there: DSP platforms, programmatic advertising, etc.), things are a little more complicated when it comes to Influencer Marketing. There is no tool that would completely replace the “manual labor” of managers yet. Bloggers are a specific category that needs the same specific approach. Yes, there are many, supposedly automated, platforms, but each of them is the work of ordinary managers and live communication with opinion leaders.
Speaking of Zorka.Mobi, we are using cutting edge technology to deliver innovative results. With the help of internal development – a platform for working with opinion leaders – we aggregate data across thousands of channels and profiles. Such useful insights help us select the most relevant ways of promotion for the client.
In addition, recently we have launched the CPI platform for bloggers – Bloggerhood. We will be glad to see all ambitious bloggers there and are ready to help them with the monetization of profiles, channels, as well as the development of their personal brand.
In the development and publishing of mobile apps, as in any business, it is important to understand that success is always a reward for taking risks. Launching testing campaigns, optimization, further testing and, finally, scaling of advertising campaigns are of great importance. Many developers neglect this sequence, and in the end, the process often costs even more. For some of our clients, we even offer to conduct tests for free to convince them of the importance of this stage.
Moreover, developers, who have not yet integrated tracking systems into their product, often contact us. We can help with this issue.
First of all, we look forward to mutually beneficial cooperation. It is extremely important for us, as an agency, that the client remains satisfied and therefore recommends us as reliable partners. If the initial briefing stage proves that the desired KPIs are unlikely to be achieved, we won’t work on that project. Some service providers, unfortunately, do not understand that getting a few thousand dollars in the short term, they lose dozens in the long term.
Trust is also of utmost importance for us. Thanks to transparent and open relationships (which are the only ones that we advocate), the effectiveness of projects increases significantly. For example, we work with clients who give us access to their in-product analytics. This allows us to optimize advertising campaigns instantly and not waste time sharing client-agency information on both ends.
The main thing — you don’t have the luxury of neglecting the continuous development that must be encouraged and focused on within the company. The market is changing, tools, perception, and we ourselves are changing. It is extremely important to build such a flexible internal environment that would be able to respond quickly to external changes. The team should be trained constantly to keep up with all the trends and required styles of work.
She is a writer and content marketer at MobileAppDaily. Her knack around the mobile apps is merely splendid. Her experience in the tech industry has assisted her in churning out the best and more importantly, unbiased mobile app reviews.
Stay updated with the top stories of the mobile industry.
Cut to the chase content that’s credible, insightful & actionable.
Get the latest mashup of the App Industry Exclusively Inboxed
