Interview with Natalia Kamecka, Chief Marketing Officer @Applover
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Today’s interview is with Natalia Kamecka, Chief Marketing Officer of Applover, a full-stack digital agency. Since she joined it, Applover was twice recognized by Financial Times in the “FT 1000” ranking in 2023 and ranked in the Fast 50 category in 2020 and 2021 by Deloitte. Marketer with over 11 years of experience in marketing for eCommerce and IT industry, creating and implementing brand, PR & social media strategies on a long-term basis. Proficient in interpreting and analyzing data to drive growth. She loves data-driven marketing ideas.
Let’s get started. Enjoy!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into marketing for tech/SaaS? Were there any important events or people that helped you choose this path?
I started my career in a PR agency, where I worked with clients from the IT hardware industry, then moved to eCommerce and then a digital agency that offers custom software development services. I studied marketing: design and visual communication, and that led to this point in my career. I was lucky enough to meet many inspiring leaders on my path, especially during my time in the eCommerce company; they taught me a lot and in difficult times, I always think of them and what they would do in my position. Moreover, I strongly believe that forward-thinking and inspiring leaders are the most important aspects of everyone’s career. You’d rather follow people and want to work with them than in a specific company, where people make your job easier, more fulfilling, or more challenging.
Can you give us an overview of Applover, including the mission, the problems it aims to solve, who the ideal customer profile is, and what sets you apart in today’s super competitive market?
Applover is a full-stack digital agency that offers custom software development services, specializing in the HealthTech industry. Our mission is to digitalize health-related services or products to make it easier for people to take care of their health. Our ideal customer is a HealthTech company that offers services or wants to build a digital product to elevate their business.
What makes a difference is that we are not a SaaS; we offer tailored-made solutions, and we make sure that they truly meet the business needs of our clients. Before any work is done for a client, our experts conduct workshops that verify the business requirements and scope of our work. If this aligns with the client’s business strategy, we then start the kick-off phase, design phase, development, and so on. We have developed over 220 projects so far and this method has proved to be working well for our client. Moreover, Applover is an ISO-13485 certified agency, and thanks to that, it can provide the excellent quality that is crucial in the healthcare industry, where patient data has to be well-secured.
Marketing strategies can vary significantly across different industries and stages of a company. Based on your experience, what marketing strategies have been most effective for your tech/SaaS company, and how have these evolved as your company has grown?
When I joined Applover 4 years ago, there was almost no marketing strategy. Then we tested many outbound marketing strategies and developed a strong SEO & content strategy that fuels our inbound stream of leads. In the past few months, we have leaned toward the Account Based Marketing and this has proven to be really effective. Of course, this evolves constantly, as you always have to react to changing business conditions. But in my opinion, no matter what, you have to have strong fundamentals. Without a strong base, you cannot start to develop new strategies and test new solutions. I believe that this will lead to Applover’s business growth and recognition in the FT1000 in the CEE ranking in 2023 and 2024.
Digital marketing has many tactics, channels, formats, etc. Can you tell us how you choose the best ones for your company? How do you decide where to put your efforts for the best ROI?
Digital marketing has to align with the business strategy. If you know your clients well, you know where they are and on what channels you should focus the most. These are the fundamentals of any marketing strategy and effort. If you do not know your clients, you can only guess and rely on your intuition or experience. Interview the existing clients and ask them what made them decide to work with your company. Find answers to questions like where they found your company, what convinced them, and what was most important to them in the decision-making process. Talk with people in your company that work directly with your clients; gather as much information as you can; they are more useful than you think. People who work directly with the clients do not always realize what it may be useful for the marketing team.
If you could change one thing about digital marketing, what would it be and why? How do you think this change could improve strategies, processes, or outcomes for the industry?
I would decrease the number of tools and channels marketers use. There are so many of them, and integrating them together so you have all the data in one place is really challenging, especially when everything evolves constantly.
What does “success” look like for Applover?
Our success is continuous growth. Our business strategy states that this year we would like to grow by 20% and have more new HealthTech clients in our portfolio. We want to be more recognizable as an agency that helps to digitalize the healthcare industry.
What trends do you currently see shaping the marketing industry, especially within the tech/SaaS sectors? How are these trends influencing your marketing strategies and decision-making processes?
The most obvious answer is AI. Using AI in your marketing efforts and doing it smart, so it brings real results, and not just using AI because everyone is doing so. It shapes our everyday tool set and how we are starting to think about our jobs and tasks. It also brings risks, because nowadays, you have to verify more information and confirm that they are true and not fake news.
Reflecting on your journey in digital marketing, what is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned that you would pass on to someone just starting out in this field?
One of the most important leaders I had always encouraged me to test things, channels, and tools. He was able to create for me a safe space to make mistakes, but also to always learn from them. And I loved it. So now I also encourage my team to test, test, test. You have to try to know, to get experience, and to see if something can be useful for you. Do not be afraid to fail as long as you will be able to learn something new. Everyone sometimes fails, more important is what you do after that.
In your opinion, what’s the best book in the world?
Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers is one of the most inspiring books for everyone, but marketers especially.
About Applover
Applover is an ISO 13485 certified Full-Stack Digital Agency based in the city of a hundred bridges. Our DNA is to work on technologies for the most dynamic and recognizable start-ups in the domestic and global markets. We started in 2016 as a group of 4 friends and technology enthusiasts, and now, we operate as a group of 140 experts. To date, we’ve successfully developed over 220 projects. A testament to our commitment to quality is our ISO 13485 certification, emphasizing our role in developing excellent medical software. Applover was twice recognized by the Financial Times in the “FT 1000” ranking, honored with the Forbes Diamond in 2023, placed in the main category of the FAST 50 ranking in 2021 and 2020, and recognized by Deloitte as a Rising Star (Fast 50 Tech) in the CEE region in 2019.
If you want to find out more about their projects, Follow Natalia on LinkedIn, Find out more about Applover on their LinkedIn profile, or listen to their podcast here.
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