All Posts By
Claudio Frydlewsky
GE Lighting: a turning point for Rednodo
Web Development

GE Lighting: a turning point for Rednodo

Summary: 

The development of the website for GE Lighting in Argentina was undoubtedly a historic milestone for Rednodo. The project gained international recognition within GE, which opened doors for us to provide services across the Americas and expand our company. This collaboration led to a strong business relationship that has endured for over 17 years. 

Introduction: 

In 2005, we encountered the opportunity to develop the website for GE Lighting Argentina due to the company’s need to comply with a global rebranding initiative. At Rednodo, we had a design and programming team that enabled us to offer the solution the client needed to update their website according to the brand’s new global guidelines. In the United States, the company had developed a website with a budget that was impossible to manage locally, and a global solution was not available. The main requirements were to align with the new corporate image, incorporate functionalities from the reference site in the United States, use the ASP.NET programming language following corporate security guidelines, and adhere to a tight development timeline. While our expertise was primarily in PHP programming, we were equipped to take on this challenge. 

Analysis: 

The project presented several challenges that needed to be addressed within a short period of a few months of work. Failure to meet the 90-day deadline would result in financial penalties. The ASP.NET programming language was relatively new to the market, with the first version released in 2002, just three years prior. While version 2.0 was already powerful, development processes were more sophisticated, and complex compared to those required for PHP development. Moreover, the project demanded advanced functionalities available on reference sites in the United States. It required showcasing an extensive product catalog with technical information, generating data sheets, implementing advanced search filters, showcasing success stories, articles, news, press releases, document libraries, and managing banners and descriptive texts for all sections. Many of these functionalities are now common in e-commerce applications, but in 2005, they were not as developed or popularized, especially in a corporate programming language like Microsoft’s ASP.NET. 

Solution: 

The development successfully met all requirements and even surpassed the reference site with functionalities that did not previously exist. The content management system was highly versatile, allowing attributes to be added to products. These attributes were organized into categories with reference help descriptions, creating a technical glossary with various data structure types. The marketing team could add products or expand their information even when technical attributes had not been created. Most importantly, these updates could be done without any need for programming or system updates. The project was completed within the planned timeline, and we even received a bonus for delivering it ahead of schedule. 

Conclusion: 

The project was a resounding success on all levels. Praise from marketing and IT departments reached the highest hierarchical positions globally. The final product’s quality, development time, implementation, and costs were highly commendable. Consequently, the decision was made to extend the project to other business units and later to other regions facing the same global need for website updates. For over 7 years, the sites developed and maintained by Rednodo were used throughout the LATAM region, delivering excellent performance and yielding outstanding results for the marketing department. In 2013, the sites were replaced by a global platform, which Rednodo was responsible for implementing and maintaining for many years until being replaced by another platform. The current platform continues to be maintained by the agency, along with other marketing services that have transformed into even more significant actions for our clients. 

Microservices - Rednodo
Web Development

Microservices

The traditional approach, when developing applications, is called monolith. In this system, all the parts that can be implemented are in that single application, which has certain disadvantages. The larger the app, the more difficult it is to solve problems and, in addition, it presents complications when quickly adding new functions. A microservice-based approach for the creation of applications helps solve this type of problem and promotes development and response capacity. Compared to monolithic applications, microservices are simpler to test, implement and update.

When developing apps, the traditional approach (“monolith”) could show some disadvantages. In this article we want to present to you an alternative: The microservice-based approach.

Under the traditional system, all the parts of the app are integrated, so the bigger the app, the more difficult it gets to solve its problems and to add new features in a fast way.

Microservice-based approach

This approach divides the different parts of the app into smaller and external components. Thus, different service providers generate a “microservice architecture” that, all together, builds the final product. This represents a low-cost solution developed with a high level of programming and functionality. Each microservice is running autonomously while communicating with each other.

Its benefits

This methodology boosts development and response capacity. It is an easier system to test, implement, and update. It is a way of gaining time and potentiality. Its fixed cost, assumed by users, helps reduce or eliminate development costs.

Challenges

Even though microservice architecture is a very attractive solution, it is advisable to understand its weaknesses. Microservices introduce complexity and require management. It requires great effort in automatic deployments, monitoring, failures management, acquiring data consistency, developing a testing strategy, among others. Also, a high level of consumption could elevate its costs.

Cost-benefit

Although the user has distributed costs, as each microservice requires a contract, the cost-benefit is usually very high. Not only because of the savings and speed they offer, but because they are much more powerful than an own development.

Nevertheless, we still have to take into consideration the consumption level the product will have. As we mentioned before, if the usage is high, then the cost will be higher than the benefits. But in general, microservices allow us to create modular applications, capable of working autonomously and being able to be reused efficiently. In addition, they allow us to optimize the use of our hardware, as they only deploy what is really necessary, instead of having to make a complete monolithic application.

Integrations

For integrating the different microservices there are two options: to develop the connection locally, or to outsource the task to a company that performs the integration. We offer both services, developments and/or integrations, allowing us to adapt to our client’s specific needs. If you have any questions about this service, contact us!

Digital Marketing

MARKETING FUNNEL: FROM THE OLD WAY OF DOING MARKETING TO THE NEW ONE

In the past years, the universe of Marketing has been in constant change. The AIDA model (Awareness -Interest – Desire -Action), although still in use, has been adapted to the changes in the marketplace. Especially Digital Marketing.

What is a marketing funnel?

The funnel of marketing describes the experience a customer has with your business. It is a route map from the initial stage when the client hears your offer, to the moment they buy or consume your product or service.

What is the difference between the old funnel and the new one?

The new Digital Marketing Funnel ads precision to the traditional method. It understands the online experience as a non-lineal one and focuses on the behaviors that guide the consumer. It focuses on generating Brand Engagement and consumer education.

It has its roots in the traditional funnel’s four primary stages: attract, nurture, convert and delight; and expand them into ten steps. The first six take place before the conversion, and the last four afterward.

Let’s go through each step:

1. Engagement: This step seeks to achieve “Brand awareness”, that is, to publicize the brand. Nowadays, this is accomplished almost exclusively through social networks. (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Spotify, Pinterest, LinkedIn, among others). The goal is to reach a large number of people and start attracting potential customers from the masses.

2. Education: The discovery phase that started with engagement continues with educating customers about our brand. It is vital to identify consumers’ problems to provide them solutions.

3. Research: At this point, the client seeks to understand why she should choose a particular company, and therefore they look for information. We should offer them the information they are looking for, without overwhelming them.

4. Evaluation: Now, a solution to the problem must be presented. The consumer at this stage is searching for the product that represents the best solution (better benefits – price difference).

5. Justification: Often, marketers succeed in convincing consumers that their solution is the best one for them, but still don’t make a sale due to consumers’ objections, obstacles, or inertia. The justification stage is about

finding ways to overcome these issues. They need reasons to keep on the buying track.

6. Purchase: This phase is where potential customers become consumers. The key here is to assist your consumer, providing them with all the information needed.

7. Adoption: Post-purchase, the company must deliver all its promises. And we go back to the importance of customer support.

8. Retention: Getting a potential client to become a customer is quite an achievement. However, we must focus on keeping them as satisfied consumers.

9. Expansion: Ideally, customers should be satisfied with their original purchases and become repeat consumers. Marketing campaigns should be built around upselling customers’ higher-end products and cross-selling them complimentary products.

10. Advocacy: Satisfied customers can spread the word to a whole new universe of prospects, including peers, colleagues, family, and friends.

When talking about Marketing Funnel, we do not refer to a rigid model that applies to every case scenario. It is up to marketing teams to understand their industry, products, and target audiences — and then create the digital marketing strategy and funnel that best meets their needs in reaching potential new customers.

Digital Marketing

Revenue Marketing: why is it essential to analyze and plan our actions?

What is revenue marketing?

It is a process applied to commercial and marketing actions to identify the generated income’s origin. Thus, one can estimate and optimize the next cycle’s results. The main goal? To make decisions based on evidence and convert inversions into an engine of repeatable, predictable, and scalable income.

How does it work?

It is all about identifying which marketing action generated a specific income (Webinars o Tradeshows, SEO or Digital Advertisement, SM, or PR).

Therefore it is crucial to be clear about the goal of your actions and how to measure them. You should identify if the action corresponds to the first stages of the marketing funnel (customer acquisition) or recalls the last stages (conversion). At this point, a fundamental aspect is to align the marketing department goals to the sales department goals. By promoting teamwork, we seek to measure and organize the flow of data that both generate.

The essential tools to achieve this are CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and Marketing Automation. Both allow automated data centralization in a digital application that serves as operational support for managing, controlling, and evaluating these departments’ performance.

To summ up…

When trying to implement Revenue Marketing, it is fundamental to define the attribution model correctly. We must consider where in the customer journey the interaction with the client takes place; and what percentage of the sale is assigned to each interaction.

Revenue marketing allows a better organization, guarantees and justifies each stages’ budget, and enables making decisions based on evidence.

Digital Marketing

Tips and Tricks for a successful webinar

The secret to achieving a successful webinar is to develop the right level of interaction with the attendees. The goal is for participants to connect with the host and take an active role in the presentation, reducing the churn rate. Here are five tips to encourage the active role of listeners.

1. Call for action: When your audience is asked to be directly involved, the chance to capture their full attention increases. At the same time, it allows for obtaining relevant information about the attendants. An example would be asking them to present themselves briefly.

2. Be spontaneous! If we have a monotone speaker, the webinar will turn out to be monotonous as well. No matter how good the content is, we will struggle to engage the audience. Never stop surprising! Even though the speech should be planned, it is vital to leave the place for spontaneity. Ideas on how to do so: Do a giveaway, pick someone from the public and work with them 1 on 1, create an instant pull.

3. Keep changing: Studies show that our brains will start to get bored after ten minutes, this is why we suggest to switch it up! Plan little breaks throughout the presentation to recapture the audience’s attention. Invite a surprise speaker; add a video or an interactive picture.

4. Blow them away with a great slide deck: Nothing is more tedious than a boring set of PowerPoint slides. The idea is to create an attractive presentation to stimulate interest.

5. Comprehension checks: We recommend you to plan little breaks to check in with the spectators. This is a perfect way to leave room for interacting and not having to wait for the lecture’s end.

In conclusion, the key to success is getting listeners to play an active role in the exhibition. We must plan our Webinar to achieve it and take advantage of these participatory instances to continue to know our audience. The ideal is to give rise to a dynamic exchange, which is beneficial for the arrival of the message and the generation of commitment on the participants’ part.

Lead Generation

Why should you use a CRM?

A couple of weeks ago, I was having lunch with a customer and found out that he did not know about the importance of using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program in his organization. I realized that many small business owners are not aware of what a CRM is and the importance of having one.

What is a CRM?

A CRM is a software that organizes and manages the relationships between a company and its customers. It is the key to implementing and developing an effective sales procedure. Even further, by implementing a suitable CRM, you would be facilitating the collaboration between the marketing sector of your company and the sales sector. You could even create an income marketing plan.

It’s benefits

1. It allows us to know more about our clients: From their profile to the stage they are at the marketing funnel. By knowing this type of information, you will be able to segment advertising to maximize your results, among others.

2. The whole team will be able to make a close follow up of a client ‘s life cycle. For example, if knowing when the prospect is ready to convert, the marketing team could give his or her contact information to the sales team at the right moment. This fastens communications, organization, and the commercial team’s management.

3. Prevents “losing” leads halfway there. Having their information from the beginning of the purchase process makes it easy to keep track of them.

4. It improves productivity and administrative processes.

What should I do first?

If you still do not have a marketing and sales plan well developed, this should be your first step. Defining goals should help your employees organize their work and measurement parameters of results. It is crucial to set KPIs (Key Performance Indexes) to measure your actions’ performances.

When implementing CRM and new processes, it is key to have a flexible team prone to adapting to changes.

Increase your lead generation 3x or more
Lead Generation

HOW TO INCREASE LEAD GENERATION 3X

Our company recently had a significant improvement that increased the lead generation more than three times. That is why I thought it would be great to share our experience. Maybe we can start by trying to answer this question:

How many leads should I be getting per month as a minimum?

Probably, there is no right answer to that. A wise option could be to compare your leads to a benchmark composed of an average to your industry. But generally, that data is hard to find. While I was doing my research on this topic, I found some impressive numbers about conversion rate, but in my opinion, they were too high.

I, therefore, decided to define my own parameters. If you don’t get 20 leads per month in a B2B business and you are not selling nuclear reactors, you can probably do better! If you have a small business, I recommend trying to reach at least 2% conversion rate and 1K visits per month. An enterprise should get at least ten times more.

How could I increase the lead generation by 3 times or more?

The answer is quite simple: make your site look amazing! Improve it! Make it look good! Yes, people care about it!! In our case, our renewed website skyrocketed our lead generation up to three times!

Which website updates could I do?

In our case, we improved its design, included more images, more information, improved our branding image, mobile experience, and tried to do the best possible. However, that doesn’t mean we did a perfect job. We still have a lot of work to do, but we set the difference and saw immediate results.

Now, if you want to improve your conversion rate, take a look at your site and see what you can refine. Something useful is to compare it with your competitors’ and other industries’ sites and see if what you have now is the best you can have.

SEO

SIMPLE TRUE ABOUT SEO

What do you need to know about SEO?

I used to share a simple rule with my customers when they asked me about SEO. I will show you why nobody can make your site #1 in Google or other search engines.

Three things determine your website’s position in search results:

A) Search engine’s algorithms;

B) Your competition;

C) Your website.

It all may sound simple, but if someone promises you that your site can be listed in the 1st place for your industry, ask him how he will make changes in (A) and (B) to manage the results.

You have full control over (C), can build a significant presence on (B), and can know a lot about (A), but that’s not enough to affect the list of results. Google has been working against it since the beginning and has been successful in preventing it.

An honest SEO expert will improve your site’s index position for the most critical keywords in your industry. Each industry has a primary keyword that people search for, that is the most rewarding one and will increase your ROMI. Avoid making a massive list of keywords; you don’t need to.

Finally, it is always advisable to work based on the right metrics and reports to know the starting point and set the right goal.