UA for Start ups: Rocketship HQ : Mobile User Acquisition Agency
Take Your First Steps to MASSIVE Growth - Unlock Unit Economics For Your Early Stage App So You Can Scale With Confidence
Rocketship HQ’s startup launch plans help early stage apps prove out unit economics and unlock scale: even in a post-ATT world.
(Best for apps that have spent less than $10k on marketing, that want to test UA but dont know where to start - or dont have the confidence of starting on the right foot)
With Rocketship HQ’s early stage growth marketing plans, you can
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Get a baseline of unit economics
Understand your product’s baseline CPA/ROAS so you can understand how much you can scale - without breaking the bank.
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Measure clearly
Ensure tracking and optimization infrastructure is in place - without investing in unnecessary SAAS tools.
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Maximize storefront efficiencies
Ensure your app store keywords, screenshots and metadata are primed to get the most juice out of your traffic.
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Test high-performant creatives at minimal expense
Test powerful-but-cost-effective creatives quickly to maximize impact at early stages.
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Zero in on the highest impact platforms
Start off strong with the 1-2 platforms that are the best fit for your product. Lean on the latest insights and features from our partnerships with Meta, Google and TikTok. Access exclusive offers from our partners(free ad spend, creatives and more).
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Process-first:
Lean on our rock-solid processes so you can sustain your growth trajectory.
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AI-powered
Unlock efficiencies and wins with AI tools - to stay on the leading edge of what is coming and new.
Eva Juretic, Growth Marketing Lead, HighriseAs one of the top-spending advertisers on TikTok, we have a high bar for great creatives, and Rocketship delivered on both production and performance. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the team, as they communicated strategy clearly, shared detailed briefs, and were generally very open and collaborative.
Siberia Su, UA Lead, MobilityWareWorking with RocketShip HQ was like working with a full-blown marketing department. They produced an incredible amount of innovative creatives, and offered detailed and valuable insights in our weekly reviews.
We’ve been on the leading edge of post-ATT marketing
…and we routinely churn out top 1% ads(screenshot from TikTok partner portal below).
UA for early stage apps is HARD 😭: here are some of the challenges we solve for
Let’s face it. The playbook for early stage apps is very different from those of established or proven products. These are some of the challenges for early stage apps that have spent very little on their marketing.
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Limited budgets
Before you have an app that is proven to scale, you really dont want a ‘full service’ offering from an agency. In month 1, you want to do just enough to prove that your product can go big - not to blow your entire runway on marketing before your metrics are clear.
💡 How we solve for this: We operate very lean. No or minimal UGCs. No or minimal SAAS tools. No or minimal extensive analysis. We focus on the few things that have the strongest chance of moving the needle: core tools, essential creatives, storefront optimization, key measurement infrastructure.
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Unclear metrics
If you’ve done little to no marketing in the past, you dont know if your metrics are good, bad, ugly or great. If you spend on ads, are you going to make your money back? You dont know if you are able to scale with confidence. This is a chicken and egg problem - you need to spend to get metrics, and you need clear metrics to have confidence to spend.
💡 How we solve for this: We set up an MVP test plan to surface your key metrics - fast.The key question we try to answer is: if you spend on ads, will you make your money back? Based on our proven experience with hundreds of products, we set up campaigns to get early baseline metrics - fast and cost-effectively.
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Messy measurement and data delays
Apple’s privacy policy(App Tracking Transparency) has been a huge mess. It’s obfuscated conversions, delayed data flow, and hampered optimization. The result? Performance is worse. Reporting is worse. It’s not clear if you are doing well or not.
💡 How we solve for this: We ensure you have a proven, robust SKAN schema set up, so we can maximize signal within the constraints of Apple policy. Our detailed tracking audit checklist ensures you have all building blocks in place to mitigate the impact of Apple policy.
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SAAS overwhelm
So many SAAS tools, so little time. :). All expensive, with very long contracts. Should you sign up for specialized tools for attribution, ASO, CRM, creative automation - and everything else you encounter? How do you carve out developer time and bandwidth to integrate all of these?
💡 How we solve for this: Based on your specific needs, we recommend the key free or low-cost tools that are absolutely essential for your product - and lay out a roadmap of when to integrate additional tools. We do all of this with a close eye on costs and developer time - to minimize expenditure of both.
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Channel overwhelm
So many channels, so little time. :). Should you run programmatic channels because XYZ competitor is doing so? Should you run TikTok on day 1 because ABC wrote about it?
💡 How we solve for this: You dont need a Chinese menu of channels in month 1. You dont need to ‘test’ channels where you might lose all your budgets due to underperformance. You need proven, most-likely-to-work channels.
Based on your specific needs, we recommend the 1-2 key channels you need to start off in your early stages. Most typically these are Apple Search and Meta.
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Creatives can break the bank
Should you test tens of creatives? Should you set up a high-velocity creative testing process? How about testing a ton of expensive UGCs? Creatives can be expensive. How much do you invest in them in your early stages when you have limited cash and resources?
💡 How we solve for this: In the early stages we dont go big on creatives. We stay with a limited set of proven creatives that we can produce at relatively lower costs. That means few or no UGCs and mostly proven, performant display ads. This way we prove out key messaging for your product - so you’re able to justify investing in creatives when you’re scaled.
If you’d like to solve for these problems, unlock unit economics and lay the foundation of massive growth for your product - even in a post-ATT world, I invite you to be a part of Rocketship HQ’s signature startup growth program, which has been battle-tested over 100+ products and $100mm in ad spend.
If you join us, here is what the first few weeks will look like:
Week 1 🏁
Intake questionnaire: 📝 We review your inputs to truly understand your brand, your customers, your key metrics, what has worked in the past - and what will drive performance going forward.
Launch strategy: 🚀 We prep a rollout plan that encompasses the first set of key channel decisions, creative strategies, and process changes.
Tracking and infrastructure audit: 🤓 We run your setup through our proven tracking and infrastructure checklist to make sure we’re set up to track everything that we need to - with low cost or free tools - at minimal expense.
App store optimization audit: 🏪 We review your keyword ecosystem, volumes and competition - along with key messaging, screenshots and app store design to prep a roadmap.
Creative strategy: 🎨 We prep an outline of the first set of creatives to be produced - and get them ready to go.
Onboarding call: 📞 We review with you the first set of changes to get your feedback and to ensure these are in line with your vision and your goals.
Week 2 🏃
First set of creatives ready: 🎨 We ready the first set of creatives for launch.
Channel rollout: 📡 We start active management and optimization of your key channels with the first set of creatives(if we’re producing UGCs these typically are ready in week 3).
First set of stat updates and reports: 📊 We send you your first set of updates and reports.
App store optimization execution: 🏪
We prepare metadata recommendations to incorporate in your app storefronts. We prepare design recommendations for your screenshots.
Week 3(and after) 🚀
📏 Implement any customized measurement and analytics solutions.
🖥 Set up a custom dashboard using Google Data Studio (Looker Studio).
App store optimization execution: 🏪 We execute design recommendations for your screenshots.
🛠 Ongoing campaign optimizations This is when things get into a steady state, and we get into an ongoing cadence of optimizations. The cadence here typically looks like this:
🌡 Daily health check: We review high-level metrics to do a pulse check of performance.
🔍 Bi/triweekly deep dives: We do a deep dive of every campaign at every level of granularity.
📊 Weekly report: An in-depth review of all aspects of performance: creative, channels, and campaigns.
🎨 Creative reviews: Review of key creative metrics (upfunnel and downfunnel) to understand creative performance trends, and qualitative insights.
💡 Creative ideation: Review of key creative opportunities based on user insights, and market trends.
📹 Creative production: We produce the actual creatives - typically on a monthly ongoing basis.
Which program is right for you?
You can also avail of these add on services:
We bill on a flat-fee basis that is typically a function of the complexity of the engagement, creative volume, and number of channels: so you avoid typical agency percentage billing pitfalls. For the premium plan, we also offer a 10% discount for async only engagements(no calls).
Other options that you can consider are:
🕵️♂️ Our consulting and advisory services
🎨 Our UGC/creative production services
💯 Our full service growth marketing services
There are a lot of options you can choose from. Why choose this one?
Let’s face it. You’ve plenty of options out there for running your mobile user acquisition activity. You could:
🏢 Hire a digital marketing agency(‘that also does mobile’): do you think they’ll ‘get’ the idiosyncrasies of ATT?
📈 Hire an ASO/organic/creative agency for mobile to also do your mobile user acquisition: will they get the multiple moving parts of UA?
👥 Recruit an internal team: it’ll take you weeks - do you think you’ll have the right person?
📚 Watch webinars or read books to try and ‘figure this out’ yourself. Can you afford the time?
📨 Ask folks on Slack groups what to do. How reliable will their advice be?
🧮 Ask your colleagues or industry friends what they are trying.
The truth is that these things may not move the needle at all for you. You’ve probably tried some of these multiple times.
And sometimes, you don’t want to roll the dice to hire an agency and wonder if it will work. Or watch a 60-minute webinar and apply it all on your own.
Are you doing it right? Is the agency’s strategy right for YOUR situation? How do you even know if this is the right path?
I get it.
Sometimes you just want someone to do it for you.
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Someone that’s been there, done that.
🤓 Someone with over a decade of experience, and a nuanced understanding of everything marketing, everything creative, everything UGC - with experience based on over 200 episodes of the Mobile UA show.
🏆 Someone that’s recognized by and has partnered with Meta, Google, and TikTok - and prides themselves on being on the bleeding edge.
📚 Someone that’s literally written the definitive books on marketing in a post-ATT world.
That is exactly what the Rocketship HQ’s launch services give you. Everything you need to win with user acquisition, proven to perform, delivered to you week on week - so you are ready to roll.
Who is this for?
This offer is right for advertisers that:
Have never run user acquisition campaigns but have early strong product metrics at small scale.
Have some clarity on their ideal customer profile.
Have budgets of at least $10000 per month
Who is this not for?
Companies that are already spending over $10k on user acquisition activity.
Companies that require significant creative testing(please look at our full service offerings that may be a stronger fit for you)
FAQs
How many creatives should I expect to have tested?
We typically test a minimum of 4-6 concepts a month - with variants made as per performance. We use the word ‘minimum’ because oftentimes we end up making more if/when warranted by performance - as early performance is often unproven.
Which channels should I run on?
This typically is a function of your product, your audience, scale and vertical. Typically we recommend running on 1-2 high-impact channels(and not diversifying). Please discuss this with us on a no-obligations consultation.
Can you guarantee that we’ll scale to XYZ levels?
As many factors(product and marketing related) go into scale, it’s not possible to offer a guarantee. However what we can assure you of is our rock-solid process that has been battle-tested over 100+ products and $100mm+ in ad spend. For products with the right metrics, we have in place processes that are proven to perform and scale.
Which program is right for you?
Get a FREE no-obligations consultation to receive a FREE UA strategy that will lay out the exact opportunities for your product.