Mobile advertising is fast becoming  the rule rather the exception and one agency that knows this better than most is the Barcelona-based BcnMonetize. Founded in 2016, the leading mobile advertising agency helps businesses of all sizes generate ROI out of their ad investments.

Co-Fonder and CEO, Emre Atalay, says: “As a people-first company, our management is paying special attention to employee happiness and well-being, which in turn ensures the happiness of our clients. 

We caught up with Emre recently to discuss his international team of mobile marketing experts and what it means to be a truly international mobile advertising agency in 2022.

How was your company born and where are you based?

While I was working at a web advertising company, I noticed that many brands were shifting their marketing budgets to mobile, where they had either launched their own apps or were developing them. I saw an opportunity to tap into this rising demand for app traffic and founded BcnMonetize in Barcelona for that purpose.

What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?

In the early days, we were stuck in a chicken or the egg situation where it was difficult to convince brands to work with us because we were not a well-known company, but to become a well-known company we needed to work with brands. 

Trusted and established media sources also weren’t willing to accept our app advertisers because of their small scale. To break out of this cycle, we had to prove that we could connect the right brands with the right publishers to provide a positive ROI, and retained users.

Which was the first huge success that you can remember?

The fact that we were profitable within the first six months of business. That put us ahead of 95% of startups, which created a tremendous amount of optimism for the team.

What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?

Forecasts show us that brands will continue to shift more of their budget to online advertising, and our business will grow hand-in-hand with this shift. To maintain the link between our success and the growth of online advertising, we are exploring many solutions to improve ROI for the advertisers who have a dedicated budget for our service.

Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?

Everyone in our team has a growth mindset to match their talent and expertise. Management is made up of people with extensive experience in the marketing landscape and they support the team with continuous training, roleplaying activities, and education on the latest trends in the industry — which can change month by month. We never stop learning and looking for new solutions.

How does your team remain inspired and motivated?

We cultivate a cooperative rather than competitive company culture. Our foundations are respect, common goals, and cooperation, through which we’ve built teams who support each other to achieve sustainable growth for the company. 

And as we grow, we make sure the people who drove that growth are appreciated and rewarded with team-building events, bonuses, and career growth plans.

How has COVID-19 affected your company?

Every challenge provides opportunities, and the pandemic was no different. When Spain first went into lockdown, the whole team put our heads together in a creative process to find unique solutions for our clients and provide a continuity of service despite the circumstances. 

As a result, we enjoyed exponential growth through 2020, which was a relief in such a chaotic time.

Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?

As a people-first company, a healthy and supportive culture is very important for us. I look to bigger companies in our space who are renowned for their culture, such as Entravision and Wpromote, for inspiration.

What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?

Even if all your clients are happy with the service you provide, you must never become complacent. There are always competitor agencies who will overtake you if you slow down, so make sure you are continuously improving your services and solutions.

How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)

Our first step is to check the trends in the industry, what kind of apps are getting user attention, and where investment is focused. Once we have a full picture, we select clients and verticals with the most potential and pitch to them. We work on performance models, so we don’t charge retainers — we only get paid when our clients get paid.

What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?

As a performance marketing agency, naturally, I hope that brands continue to shift their branding budget to performance marketing activities.

Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?

The Business of Apps and TechCrunch are the websites I read on a daily basis, and being active on LinkedIn is a great way to stay up to date with industry opinion. For entrepreneurs and startups with a hustle mindset, I would recommend the book ‘Lost and Founder’ by Rand Fishkin.