Sarah Mallie, the North American sales manager for EroAdvertising, is by all means a traffic specialist.
She’s spent the past five years predominately specializing in nearly every aspect of adult traffic, joining the EroAdvertising team in early 2014.
People are getting more in tune with their customers; a lot of niches are emerging, especially in dating. MILF, BDSM, etc. have all risen in popularity as opposed to the more generic dating sites.
If you’ve been to the top adult industry shows, you’ve probably met Mallie and learned quickly that she’s a great company representative that knows her product. And that might be one reason that she’s been nominated for the upcoming 2016 XBIZ Exec Awards as Brand Ambassador of Year.
We checked in with Mallie to find out more about what motivates her, as well as the latest exciting things coming from EroAdvertising.
XBIZ: As a sales manager at EroAdvertising, what exactly is your role and what is a typical work day like?
MALLIE: We are a global network with sales managers across Europe, South and North America. My role is to focus on the North American market. I work with managing current accounts and sourcing new clients for my market. A typical day can vary a lot. When I get online the rest of the company, based predominantly in The Netherlands, has been busy working for hours. So there is a lot of to catch up on to get my day started. I spend most of my time on Skype, working remotely means a lot of phone calls and Skype meetings. I clear out my inbox then I focus on contacting clients, letting them know about new a noteworthy sites to test and give them recommendations and suggestions on how to get the most out of their campaigns.
XBIZ: What does EroAdvertising exactly offer in the traffic space that sets the company apart from the rest? And tell me more about new products like Source Optimizer and Banner Pool.
MALLIE: Our technology and our people are what really sets us apart. We have a team constantly working on innovating our platform. It’s not just our ideas either. We really listen to our clients. Need a special report or targeting option? Just ask us! If it can be built we will. You mentioned the two newest tech tools that we are proud to introduce: Source Optimizer and Banner Pool. Source Optimizer is a tool that will save advertisers money on their buys. This tool allows the advertiser to set target CPAs and CTRs. If these targets are not met, Source Optimizer will automatically shut off the traffic sources that are not meeting the specified criteria. Source Optimizer can also block sources if the bounce rate is over a specified percentage. This takes the guess work out of choosing sites to advertise on. The Banner Pool allowing advertisers to upload banners once to a pool and specify rating and language. For each campaign the Banner Pool will automatically choose the best banners based on CTR.
We also have online support available for 18 hours a day, 8 a.m.-2 a.m. (CET), in six different languages — English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, German, French. We really pride ourselves in having direct relationships with all of our clients, they are not just another account on our network we take time to familiarize ourselves with their products and what performs well for them so everyone gets the best results.
XBIZ: What trends lately have you noticed with online adult traffic — in both mobile and desktop?
MALLIE: People are getting more in tune with their customers; a lot of niches are emerging, especially in dating. MILF, BDSM, etc. have all risen in popularity as opposed to the more generic dating sites. Obviously there is a big shift to mobile, this is a trend that will not slow down anytime soon. Advertisers are really focusing on optimizing their conversion funnels for mobile and testing a higher variety of products and offers than we typically see on desktop. We’ve also noticed the increasing demand for traffic from emerging markets. The demand for Chinese traffic is also the rise.
The line between adult and mainstream is also become a lot more blurred. Adult traffic is gaining acceptance and popularity. With the low price and high volume, adult traffic can be considered very lucrative for advertisers who would have previously considered adult traffic too hardcore. We are working with more and more “mainstream” companies that would never have considered being associated with adult previously. It heavily depends on the offer and approach, but we do see certain mainstream offers convert quite well.
XBIZ: Where are some of the new markets that EroAdvertising is looking to expand in?
MALLIE: We are more focused on mobile now than ever so while it’s not a new market, it is definitely a market that we are growing in. As I mentioned there is an increasing trend towards emerging markets so we are looking to expand in two huge markets, Asia and Africa. Also with the rise of acceptance from more mainstream publishers and advertisers we are attending more mainstream shows. The gay market, while not new to us, is a market that we are looking to expand our reach in.
XBIZ: What’s coming up for EroAdvertising as we look forward to 2016?
MALLIE: The first thing on our list for 2016 is to attend the XBIZ show in LA! Then we will be having a big celebration for the company’s 10-year anniversary during the 2016 Amsterdam show. Stay tuned for fun details about this!
We are beta testing a lot of new technology features that we are looking to launch in 2016. With a special focus on building our optimization techniques so each ad impression is more valuable for advertisers and publishers.
We are currently testing a new dual currency bidding platform which will be invaluable to our clients working in U.S. dollars. Users can currently view and export stats into U.S. dollars but still work with Euros for bidding. The dual currency bidding will give advertisers working in U.S. dollars not only a more streamlined process but will allow them a clearer transparency on how campaigns are performing at a glance without having to do any currency conversions.
We will also launch our brand new website. We are working on a complete ultra-modern redesign with a user friendly interface. So 2016 is shaping up to be a big year for EroAdvertising.
XBIZ: How important is it to attend the various online adult tradeshows?
MALLIE: It’s really important for us. In an industry where most people work remotely and globally it’s really important for us to come together at the shows and connect with our advertisers and publishers. We attend and sit on the panels at these shows also, so it’s a great way for us to learn, share our knowledge and stay on top of trends in such a constantly evolving industry. We have a lot of our international account managers working remotely so the trade shows are also a great time for us to get together as a company. We are attending more shows than ever, our employees are all over the world so we attend a lot of local shows in Europe and the U.S.
XBIZ: When not thinking about the biz, what do you like to do?
MALLIE: When I’m not working I am outdoors with my dog and my husband. We have a black lab called Leroy. While the beach is his favorite activity he doesn’t mind hitting up the local breweries for a beer. We live in San Diego so it’s pretty much beach weather year round, it’s a very outdoorsy life style. Hiking, going to the beach, drinking mimosas on a patio are all very standard San Diego weekend activities. I am also pretty fanatically about yoga. It’s a great stress relief.
