This interview I decided to make for leaders and managers of all levels in the affiliate marketing
space. I have always felt that there is a general lack of information on this topic – how to hire,
manage and motivate people in our industry. Yeah, I think we work in a very specific industry
and this specific experience – Is something that can’t be stressed enough, after all everything is
different in our little affiliate planet. Lots of C-level executives tend to stay silent and low profile,
but not all of them! And thanks to that I have made what I was planning happen. Please meet
Jeroen Rozemeijer, СЕО at Yep Ads a global-based mobile performance network specializing in
user acquisition and sales growth on a wide variety of mobile and web platforms,
headquartered in Amsterdam.
Actually, I have known Jeroen for many years. I have been to his Amsterdam office, caught up
with him in Moscow, seen him at many international shows and I have always seen him as a
strong leader; the kind of guy who knows where he is going and, more importantly, knows how
to inspire people to go with him. Combine all of this with openness and sincerity and we got a
recipe for a frank and real conversation.
::: Visit Yep Ads
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Page Contents
How to be a strong leader
For those who don’t know you, how would you introduce yourself?
Persistent, ambitious, competitive. I either do things with full attention and focus, or I
don’t do it at all. I will always do my utmost to succeed in things that are important to me.
In order to achieve this, you will need to do things in life that you really like, both in
business as well as in your private life. Furthermore, I think it is important not to take
yourself too seriously, and never lose your sense of humor. I am also the company’s
birthday singer. That’s not a joke…
What is the hardest part for you managing the team remotely?
You are not part of the daily conversations that can lead to new ideas. So
conversations are easier when you can look each other in the eye. And of course, social interaction is a lot harder remote. I try to see everyone as much as possible. During the
pandemic it wasn’t possible to travel, and I am really looking forward to seeing everyone
in person again.
When you interview people for a job, what is that you pay special attention to?
Appearance, intrinsic motivation and commercial skills and drive.
What helps you to stay focused?
Everyone now and then it is important to realize if the time you spend on certain things or tasks
are well spent, if not, adjust it. I also find it very inspiring to read and watch stories about other
people’s achievements, whether it’s businesspeople, athlete’s, artists e.g.
What makes a good leader great in your opinion?
Never be afraid to hire people that are better than you, and never let your own ego get in the
way.
How to survive a crisis and stay strong
Firstly describe how you have seen this past year and what are your key takeouts?
Over the last year we see the world economies and customer behavior go through significant
changes. Changes that impact our demand, changes that modify our supply, and changes that
shift our human needs and consumer needs. As we look around us it is safe to say the world
will never be the same, but it isn’t all bad during this time of crisis and this change we can see it
more as an evolution. We as an organization realize that the nature of the digital space is
always subject to changes and shifts, and luckily through the fortune of having great team
members comprising a vast array of skills, experiences and global perspectives, we have been
able to stay agile and flexible to our industry. As such we always strive to seek growth initiative
organically through self development or exponentially through strategic partnerships and
alliances.
Can you let me understand how everything is structured, run and tuned so you manage to overcome crises like we have been seeing recently?
While based in Amsterdam Yep Ads is actually a global network and team of experienced
members, with offices in North America, APAC, and remote members in Europe and Russia. We
as an organization provide end to end uptime for customer support. Able to service our global
partners in various languages (English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, French, Russian, Dutch,
Danish e.g.). As a decentralized global company we ensure we have all levels of management
from Senior to Intermediate level in each of our regions to ensure uptime and decision making
speed and efficiency. Running our operations with Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly
management meetings, each frequency targeting different levels of actions we ensure we stay
connected and clear on our company’s mission objectives and goals.
What is the hardest part for you being a CEO?
In my opinion the hardest part is to be able to find the next wave that makes the
company grow. This is an ongoing process. The only certainty you have is that business
models and verticals don’t last forever, so you need to fix your roof when it is not raining.
I am surrounded with very talented people, as a team we come up with these new ideas.
The company also needs to be able to attract and keep the right talent in order to
execute these plans.
What exactly have you implemented and changed in terms of internal processes
While of course like the world we needed to work remote for safety and health, the key was
planning for the worst, pivoting verticals and direction to capture new market interests, and
building technology and tracking features to help navigate the new industry developments.
From a human development standpoint we tried to increase our communication which led us to
better consumer awareness, this helped us make product customization and changes to better
appeal to the global audience and increase our level of user engagement. Many of these
initiatives lead to supply and demand side action items which were crucial in our survival during
this critical time.
Do you think that you can single out one key factor that helped you survive?
The reality is that the answer is still pending, as we are not completely out the crisis and like
many of our partners we help all in it to survive until the market norm recovers. We still maintain
caution in our planning, we still maintain awareness in our communication and sales direction.
We still try to give leadership within and to partners on new survival strategies as we come
across new wins and gains. During this time it will be the companies that see this crisis as a
moment to create partnership dialogue, this will be the key to organization survival and future
growth.
What do you consider the most valuable lesson from the entire COVID situation?
Communication is key, driving discussion with your team members is critical to keep information
and awareness growing, with all of us working from home we need to always strive to find ways
to talk to each other, keep each other connected mentally, socially, and spiritually
How to plan for the future and grow no matter what
What are you planning for this year despite the global crisis? What are your points of growth?
To be considered an evolving organization and a global organization, we are always making
efforts to enter new markets and new opportunities. Some require understanding and some
require resources and positioning, but always it requires time. In our 7th year Yep Ads felt it was
time to in intro vast and extremely viable market the CIS market. As many know this is a market
that requires time, understanding and resources so that a proper direction to provide relevant
products and services can be successful.
As we look to the second half of 2021 we feel we have built the proper integration (language
interface), proper understanding (full relevant campaign portfolio), and infrastructure (Local
language reps and timezone). We know this is a challenging market and we know that it will
take time with continued development. But when we see all the great supply chain partners
looking for global revenue opportunities and demand channels that we have direct access, it
only makes sense that Yep Ads enters this market with flexibility and support so that the CIS
audience may embrace these new revenue channel we have to offer.
We hope through strategic partnerships and communication channels we can establish a viable
network of communication and business partnerships that can allow Yep Ads to be a suitable
and reliable option for digital products for the audience of this great region.
Short advice for all managing people in our industry?
Be open minded so you don’t overlook opportunity and good people.
Be clear on expectation so communication has more effective value.
Be prepared to make sacrifices for your team member so they learn the culture you want to
build to have a strong company DNA.
Interview with Jeroen Rozemeijer, CEO at Yep Ads – you need to fix your roof when it is not raining. Click To Tweet
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