Matrix Group International

Author: Joanna Pineda

5 Reasons NOT to Rebrand Your Organization
In my last blog post, I discussed the 7 good reasons to rebrand your organization. But when does it NOT make sense to rebrand?

Here’s what my friend Jane Barwis, CEO of BRG Communications, and I have to say about this topic. We recently did a webinar on rebranding because many of our clients are rebranding or thinking about rebranding.
- Significant brand equity – If your name, logo and other corporate identity pieces are so well known and have really positive brand recognition, we recommend not rebranding. The money you’ll spend updating your brand and then marketing it to your stakeholders may be cost-prohibitive and you may never achieve the same level of brand equity again. Imagine if Coca-Cola changed its name, or changed Coke to something else, or started using blue as its color. How much brand equity would be lost?
- Celebrating a significant anniversary – We see this a lot. Organizations are coming up on their 50th or 100th anniversary and they decide to rebrand. In our mind, celebrating an anniversary is not good enough reason to rebrand, unless other factors come into play, including the reasons we listed to rebrand, e.g., your audiences have changed, your industry has changed significantly. If this is the case, then it makes sense to use the anniversary as an opportune time to present a new brand.
- Board feels it’s time to “shake things up” – Sometimes, Boards are unhappy with their organizations because membership is on the decline, meetings revenue is flat, members aren’t happy, yada, yada. Trouble is, a new brand will not fix those problems, which often have to do with poor leadership, strategy and/or execution. By all means rebrand if your organization is making strategic changes and needs to craft a new image, but don’t think that a new name or logo will fix your problems. When did a new logo alone ever fix declining revenues?
- New leadership wants to “make their mark” – I love this reason. No, not really. Rebranding to make a mark is all about the people wanting to make a mark, and less about the strategic needs of the organization. If you go down this path, your new name, logo, or whatever, will reflect the tastes of your current leadership. What happens when that leadership is gone? Wouldn’t leadership rather be known as the regime, for example, that fixed the organization’s revenue problems, ushered in a new membership model, created a new incentive program for staff, made the decision to go international?
- Other organizations are rebranding – If other organizations in your space are rebranding because of fundamental shifts in the industry or profession that you must address, then yeah, rebranding makes sense. But if those other organizations are rebranding for any of the reasons above, I say let them spend their money while you focus on increasing membership and revenues.
Do any of these criteria apply to your organization? If so, I suggest finding ways to respectfully ask your leadership to rethink the reasons. Better yet, redirect them to address more pressing organizational issues, like membership, fine tuning your message for the upcoming election, etc., etc. Good luck!

In the next blog post, I’ll talk about how to deepen brand equity and recognition. Stay tuned!
November 20, 2019
7 Reasons to Rebrand Your Organization
A brand is not a logo. A brand is not an identity. A brand is not a product. A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organization. — Marty Neumeier, Author and speaker on all things brand

I recently did a webinar on branding and rebranding with good friend Jane Barwis, CEO of BRG Communications. We decided to do the webinar because many of our clients are rebranding or thinking about rebranding.

Before we go into when it’s time to rebrand, let me tell you that rebranding will not fix your organization, increase event registrations, or increase membership. Rebranding could be part of a larger initiative to address organizational challenges, but rebranding on its own will not fix your problems.

So when IS it time to rebrand? Jane and I think it’s time rebrand or seriously consider a rebrand when any of these apply:
- Acquisition and/or merger – You’ve merged with another organization, you’ve been bought, or you’ve bought another organization, and together, you want to create a larger, differentiated identity.
- Industry/profession has evolved – Perhaps your field has undergone some major changes, and you want to demonstrate that your organization has changed with the times and continues to be highly relevant.
- Audience has expanded or changed, or you want to reach a new audience – Some of our clients now want to communicate directly with the public, or students, or customers of their members. Or maybe they now want to reach Capitol Hill. Targeting new audiences often requires a redo of your core messages and overall brand identity.
- Products and services have changed – If your organization offerings have changed significantly, you may need to show a new brand to explain the why behind the new offerings, to tie them all together.
- Need to distance from a negative image – Some organizations rebrand to start over and make a clean break from a scandal, a large misstep, or bad leadership.
- Need to differentiate from competition – If the competition is fierce and you’re all looking about the same, a rebrand can help you distance yourself from the pack. A rebranding effort will force you to hone in on your (new) core mission, values and benefits, allowing you to more clearly communicate why you are different and better.
- Geography change (state to national, domestic to international – Going from a smaller to a larger audience often means transitioning from a local or hyperlocal image and mesaging to a broader one. It’s a tricky transition, for sure!
Do any of these criteria apply to your organization? If so, then you may be ready for a rebrand.

In my next blog post, I’ll take about when it’s NOT time to rebrand and what you can do if your brand doesn’t need to change but your identity is looking a bit dated!

What brand challenges is YOUR organization facing?
November 8, 2019
Don’t Reuse Passwords Already!

A couple of weeks ago, we had a security alert at the office. A client had called to say that a member reported a breach of the association’s website. Employees at a member company had each received an email with an attachment containing their username and password. A quick check showed that the information in the attachment matched the credentials on the association’s website.

Yikes! Did we have a breach on our hands?

Turns out, we didn’t. After some research, we discovered that some employees who had received the email did not have accounts on the association’s website, so that could not have been the source of the information.

So what the heck happened? Or what the heck do we think happened?

The client (and Matrix Group) thinks that the credentials are from the 2016 LinkedIn hack where nearly 120 million accounts were compromised. Why do we think this? Because some staffers verified the credentials as being those they use on their LinkedIn accounts.

Wait, how could the credentials be on the client website AND LinkedIn?

Ah yes, you guessed it. Staffers were using the SAME credentials on both websites. In fact, staffers were (still are) probably using the SAME credentials on multiple websites.

So, for those who are not convinced, let me repeat the advice I’ve been giving for years now: Use strong passwords. Don’t reuse passwords. Just don’t do it.

When you reuse passwords, you compromise all of the accounts using that passwords when one site is breached. And with the rise of automated attacks, it’s just too darn easy for the bad guys to steal unprotected, unencrypted passwords and try them out on zillions of sites around the world.

So let me repeat this advice and add one more element: Use strong passwords. Don’t reuse passwords. Use a password manager to manage all this craziness.

Please share this blog post with your loved ones. Be safe out there!

September 25, 2019
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Our Quest to Have a Sustainable Office Move
You may have already heard the news. Matrix Group is moving. Just down the street. After 10 years, to keep the creative juices flowing, we’re giving ourselves a change of scenery and a change in office format.

We’re moving to a smaller space but we’re not really losing space. Here’s why: we’re moving to a suite that has access to a fantastic kitchen, library, lounge and two state of the art conference rooms. We never would have been able to afford these amenities on our own, so we’re pretty excited.

All of this means that we need less furniture and we need it configured differently from what we have now. We have this beautiful system furniture that we bought 10 years ago. It’s paid for, fully depreciated, made in America, in great shape, and really good looking. I should be able to reuse it, right? Wrong.

Everyone we spoke with said we should buy new furniture. Why? Because it will be too much money to take down, inventory and reassemble the old stuff. Because the new space is different. Because our system is no longer being made, so if we need parts, we’ll be out of luck. Because. Because. Because.

Can we sell the furniture? Not really. Even though there are used furniture companies around, our consultant strongly discouraged us from trying to sell our furniture because it’s no longer being made. “It has to just go to landfill,” we were told. “You will be happier with new furniture and it will cost about the same amount.” Really?

The staff and I decided to take a stand, try to save some money and prevent our furniture from going into landfill. Here’s what we’re doing:
- We tried out a zillion plans but we finally came up with a plan that uses all existing parts in new and different ways. We love the new plan. You’ll have to come see.
- We’re working with a local school to donate our excess furniture because public schools are always in need of supplies. I love the idea that some teachers will be able to reuse our beautiful desks and bookcases.
- We’re also giving away our excess office supplies because once we went through our cabinets, we had dozens of empty binders, boxes of new folders, and reams of legal size paper we’ll never use.
- We’re giving away desks, frames and kitchenware to staff and eventually to Goodwill. Our large conference room has been a bazaar for the past few weeks; if it’s on the table, anyone can take it.
- We had dozens of awards (statues and frames) that we just can’t bring with us. We just won’t have the room and some are quite old. Believe it or not, there are places that will take used awards, strip out the labels and reuse them. Imagine this: some drama student is going to get an award previously used for a web design award. Makes me chuckle.
- We’re giving away a bunch of stuff through a Buy Nothing group on Facebook. What’s a Buy Nothing group? It’s a group on Facebook where all the members agree to ask for what they need and give away their excess. No money is ever exchanged. I love, love, love the Del Ray/Alexandria Buy Nothing group. I’m giving away chairs, office decorations, the works.
It would be much easier to pay our furniture consultants to haul away the old stuff and install new furniture. We also could have just tossed all of our old things. But heck, our landfills are full and China won’t take our recycling. If we don’t even try to reuse, reduce, recycle, they’re just empty words.

In the end, we will save money; we estimate that we’ll be saving half of the cost of buying new by contracting with our consultant to move and reinstall. We will, however, have expended significant staff time to sell and donate our things, but we think it’s been time well spent. Not to mention all the happy people who are getting beautiful, inexpensive or free things from Matrix Group. Rajani (my VP) says it’s good karma to give away all this stuff for nothing or next to nothing.

We’ll post pictures and videos after the move. In the meantime, if you need a desk, call me. Fast.
June 21, 2019
How We’re Using Agile and SCRUM to Manage our Office Move
Matrix Group is moving! We’ve been in this office for ten years and it’s time. Our needs have changed, and my creative team (yes, even developers are creative types, in my opinion) needs a change of scenery.

As with all moves, there are about a million tasks that need to be done. So how are we managing all of these tasks, while still doing work for our clients?

Ten years ago, we set up a SCRUM board for the weekend of the move. This time around, we’re using weekly sprints and a SCRUM board for the entire process. Here’s how we’re managing the work:
- We have a Move Team that meets twice a week to see how we’re doing against the mammoth task list and timeline that we established a couple of months ago.
- The timeline, tasks and decisions are stored in a Google doc. The tasks are grouped by week, so in essence, we’re doing one week sprints.
- Maria is in charge of managing the Google doc, marking things done, adding details, and documenting decisions. I guess you could say she’s the SCRUM Master. Even though she’s remote, she knows everything happening as part of this move.
- I’m the Project Owner because I’m the one who ultimately decided that we needed to move. And I make the high level decisions about what we’re moving, what the new office will look like, timing and budget.
- To get the zillion tasks done, we set up a SCRUM Board in our lobby. Starting Monday, the Move Team has been writing down tasks that need to be done and sticking them on a TO DO board.
- Staff have been grabbing tasks and doing them. Some tasks take 15 minutes, some longer. Once a task is done, the post-it is moved to the DONE board.
- Move Team members add tasks to the TO DO board as they come up. The list of TO DO items will likely grow as we get closer to the move.
The SCRUM Board works because:
- Everyone can help, according to their availability and schedule.
- We have a visual on the amount of work to be done.
- The move becomes a shared responsibility, not just a task for the admin team or the Move Team.
It’s only been a couple of days but already, the results have been amazing.

During the actual move weekend, we’ll have music and food so that the task of setting up the new office isn’t a drag, but rather a party and a celebration!
June 12, 2019
Amazing Member Journeys Start with Member Interviews

Working with some new clients, I’ve been hearing this a lot: My website navigation sucks. Members can’t find information. They call us a lot in frustration.

So how do we solve this problem? It almost always starts with member interviews.

Why? Because if it’s members who are struggling with some aspect of your digital presence (website, AMS, LMS, community, mobile app, you name it), it’s important to get their perspective on what’s not working, what they expect, and what they need.

Some clients balk at the idea of interviewing members, worrying that it will take too long, be a bother to their members, cost too much money. Most clients, however, welcome these interviews as a way to get honest feedback about their digital initiatives. Here’s what we’ve learned when it comes to conducting member interviews:

Recruit a cross-section of members

One client gave us all new members to interview so the perspectives we got were skewed. Ideally, we want new vs. long tenured members, current vs. former members, young professional vs. mature, new to the profession vs. longtime in the industry, satisfied vs. pissed off, senior vs. entry level.

Do the interviews in person or over the phone, one on one.

Having multiple people during the interview changes the dynamic, especially if the client is listening in and the member knows the client is listening.

Connect members with their feedback

Allow members to remain anonymous but do ask if it’s okay to connect their name with their feedback so the organization can follow up.

Keep the interviews short

It’s important to keep the interviews brief, no more than 20 minutes so that members know you are being respectful of their time.

Develop questions ahead of time

and make sure they are designed to give you insight into the members’ pain points. If findability of information is the issue, ask about labeling, ask how they find information, ask if and how they use the search, ask about a recent hunt that didn’t prove fruitful.

Allow for free wheeling conversation

Do allow time for the conversation to stray a bit so that you can get unsolicited feedback about member needs, joys and frustrations. Sometimes you get lucky and you get real gems of insight because you allowed the conversation to wander. A simple, “is there anything else you wish the website did?” or “Is there anything else you wish x organization knew?” can elicit some great insights.

Thank you goes a long way

While I don’t think a thank you gift is necessary, a thank you or some type of follow up is a must. Even if it’s just a thank you email and then later on, an update on the project.

I hope you’ll include member interviews in your next digital project! You’ll be glad you did!

June 3, 2019
Your Member Journeys ARE Your Brand

I conduct a lot of branding and user experience workshops. And my design team works on a lot of corporate identity kits; we redevelop logos, templates, print collateral, email templates, yada, yada.

While logo, font, and color are certainly important aspects of a brand, we believe that the user experience is the largest driver of the brand experience.

Why? Because an organization can have the most beautiful logo and color palette in the world, but if the user experience is crappy, the brand will be crappy.

And to us, the user experience is ALL the ways in which people can interact with the brand. What do you stand for and HOW do you make that known? What are your signature benefits and HOW do you deliver them? Why do people and companies join and HOW do they join? HOW do you answer the phone? HOW quickly and completely do you respond to emails? HOW easy is it to find information on the website and make a purchase? HOW does the brand respond to adversity?

Of course, strong brands must have a strong visual identity. That’s where beautiful websites, social media pages, videos, meeting microsites and publications come in. These brand representations must be backed up by strong and consistent member journeys.

If you have members and customers complaining about your store or membership join form, know that these experiences are hurting your brand. Resolve to fix them. Fast.

May 20, 2019
Don’t Redesign Your Website, Redesign Your Member Journeys

I read a lot of Website Redesign RFPs (request for proposal). They almost always focus on the need for better navigation, a great search, a content management system (CMS) with lots of functionality, a better mobile experience, yada, yada.

Here’s the problem with these RFPs: they almost always focus exclusively on the website and CMS. What’s wrong with that?

Well, when we meet with prospects and clients and ask them about their target audiences, goals and most important member journeys, they almost always describe journeys that cross systems. They describe flows through websites, especially membership databases, CRMs, learning management systems, online communities, and other properties.

In other words, organizations want it to be easy and intuitive to join, renew, register for an event, purchase a publication, access the library, search for content across their myriad properties, etc.. But when they issue RFPs to improve just the website and make statements like, “the membership join form is part of the AMS, that’s not in scope,” they are missing the point. The flows from email to CMS to AMS, for example, are some of the most important journeys a member can make through an organization’s digital properties. Issuing an RFP then for just the website is incomplete and almost guaranteed to fail. You might end up with a beautiful website, but your join flow might still be broken and awful.

I get it. Communications is usually in charge of the website, IT is in charge of the database, education is in charge of training, marketing is in charge of promotions, yada, yada. It’s really hard to get various departments talking to one another, let alone optimizing user flows together. But they must talk and work together to craft intentional and amazing member journeys.

May 14, 2019
The Best Way to Develop an Elevator Speech for Your Organization
I conduct a lot of branding and strategy workshops. My Creative Director Alex and I conduct them and we cover a lot of ground. We ask about the history of the organization, what they stand for, their signature benefits, why individuals and organizations join and why they remain, and so much more!

My favorite part of the workshop comes when we ask clients how they describe their organizations to:
- Their mom
- Their neighbor at a BBQ
- A 12th grader
- A 5th grader
- A legislator
The discussions usually begin with talk of mission, vision, and values. We dissect a lot of industry jargon and we unravel a lot of acronyms.

Inevitably, the best descriptions come when staff and members tell us how they describe their organizations to 5th graders. There’s something about stripping away the acronyms and the jargon that usually produces a succinct and compelling elevator speech.

Some of my favorites from over the years:
- A trade association: We help our members make money and stay out of trouble.
- A union in the construction trades: We make the buildings in our city beautiful.
- A company that manages a database of government RFPs: We help the federal government get the highest quality work, for the least amount of money.
- A professional society in engineering: Our members make the world’s waterways safe for commerce and travel.
The next time you’re struggling with a way to describe your organization, try talking to a 5th grader. Then capture the language that resonates best with said 5th grader, make it graceful, write it down, and train your staff and members to use that language.

What’s the Matrix Group elevator speech? We help associations and nonprofits create amazing member journeys. We do it through web, mobile and social.

What do you think of our elevator speech? What’s YOUR elevator speech? Please share!
May 9, 2019
How Do You Create a 7-Star Member Journey? Lessons from Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb
A couple of months ago, I listened to an interview with Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb. Brian talked about how he and his team did a brainstorming exercise where they imagined what a 7-star, 10-star, even a 12-star experience on Airbnb would be like.

Wait, aren’t star scales always five stars? What the heck is a 7-star or 10-star experience? That’s exactly what Brian and his team set out to explore. Some of their advice includes:
- Talk to your customers. User feedback keeps you honest and helps prevent costly mistakes in product development that customers won’t want.
- Ask your customers about the product or service of their dreams. Ask “what would it take for you to tell every person you know about this product?”
- Imagine what a 1-star or 3-star experience looks like and then try not to create just a 3-star experience.
- Imagine what a 10-star experience looks like. For example, a 10-star experience is a “Beatles experience” with hundreds of people waiting for your plane and tickets to the most exclusive restaurant in town.
- Imagine what a mind-blowing, 10-star experience looks like and then talk to your staff and partners to see how much of that experience they can make happen.
In essence, you first need to design an extreme experience in order to scale back and create an amazing, affordable, possible experience.

The next time you’re designing your website, store, conference or new member onboarding campaign, instead of designing just an acceptable and affordable, experience, trying imagining a 7-star experience and then see what’s possible.
April 23, 2019