Matrix Group International

Tag: Matrix Group

  • International Association of Chiefs of Police Website Launch

    International Association of Chiefs of Police Website Launch

    Matrix Group  has been a long time partner of the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit membership organization of police leaders, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) who decided to launch an online clearinghouse of information and free resources to help members develop or enhance their agencies’ use of social media and integrate the tools into their daily operations. To create this online resource center, IACP turned to Matrix Group. Matrix Group collaborated with IACP staff on a new website, using the agency’s user-focused methodology to develop and implement the strategy around the website.

    Matrix Group:

    • Developed a user-friendly navigation with a clear understanding of the users’ motivations and behaviors.  Matrix Group considered all types of users for this website, from beginners to more experienced users. The topic-based navigation directs visitors clearly to specific areas of the website based on their needs.
    • Created and integrated an online directory of law enforcement agencies that use social media, including the URLs of agencies’ social media pages and blogs.  This directory not only showcases the work that the various agencies are doing, but it also helps members develop their own social networking strategies, policies, etc. Members can now browse or search the directory, and view other agencies Facebook pages, Twitter profiles, blogs, etc.
    • Created a catalog of resources, templates, case studies related to law enforcement use of social media. The new website is a “one stop shop” where chiefs and officers can find examples of social networking policies and strategies, download guides and fact sheets on how to create profiles on social networking sites, and read case studies about how other agencies are including social networking in their work.

    View the International Association of Chiefs of Police – Social Media Website.

  • Sheet Metal Workers – National Pension Fund Website Redesign

    Sheet Metal Workers – National Pension Fund Website Redesign

    Matrix Group recently worked with the Sheet Metal Workers – National Pension Fund (SMWNPF) on their website,  which  provides pension fund participants with information about the Fund, plan of benefits, financial information, forms, contact information, and frequently asked questions about the Fund.  Matrix Group worked closely with SMWNPF staff to design a “user-centered website” that now speaks clearly to SMWNPF’s target audiences of employers, retirees, participants, trustees, SMWNPF staff and business managers of local union affiliates.

     Matrix Group:

    • Developed a robust navigation that helps visitors navigate to specific sections based on their needs.  Visitors can navigate by audience, topic or most frequently requested information.
    • Created a design that is friendly, professional but not slick, accurately echoing the image of the Fund.  The design includes prominent calls to action, e.g., Participant Sign in and Employer Sign in.
    • Implemented a content management system that allows SMWNPF staff to update the entire site without knowing html skills.
    • Supported the launch of the website by developing a postcard and video that showcase the new site.

    View the Sheet Metal Workers – National Pension Fund Website.

  • You Don’t Need a Full Redesign to Improve Your Website

    You Don’t Need a Full Redesign to Improve Your Website

    A couple of weeks ago, we unveiled a new home page for the Matrix Group website. We didn’t change the overall navigation and we didn’t create a new look and feel for the site. All we did was revamp the branding area and re-arrange elements on the home page. Small changes, big impact.

    Most organizations go years between redesigns. It’s a big deal to redesign a website; it takes a boatload of time, effort and money. But in between redesigns, most organizations become unhappy with their sites. We have clients come to us because they’re unhappy with everything on their site, which was last redesigned 3, 4, or 5 years ago. Does it have to be this way? I think not.

    There are many, many reasons to redesign your website, including:

    • Your organization’s mission, name, logo and/or brand have changed dramatically.
    • Visitors complain about not being able to find what they’re looking for.
    • Your products and services have changed or you’ve added new offerings and you don’t know where to put all the information.
    • You are rethinking how your website fits into your company’s overall marketing strategy and want to redo all or nearly all of the content.

    BUT, if you’re largely happy with the design and navigation of your site, visitors are able to find what they’re looking for, and your company branding and messaging remain the same, perhaps all you need is a website refresh. Here are some ways in which clients have refreshed their sites:

    • One client changed the headers graphics throughout the site and added social media widgets.
    • Another client made the entire website wider (the site had been designed for 800 x 600 pixels) and added another column on the home page for events and a featured publication.
    • Yet another client revamped important landing pages and improved pages by editing the text and adding images and formatting.

    If you don’t have the budget for a full redesign this year, opt for a refresh and focus on content and making calls to action more prominent.

    BTW, here’s a photo of the new Matrix group home page and reasons for the refresh. I’d love to know what you think.

    How about you? What’s in store for your site in 2011? Full site redesign or refresh?

  • Turning Facebook Fans into Funds

    Turning Facebook Fans into Funds

    Last year, Matrix Group decided not to send out printed holiday cards.  Instead, we sent an e-card and donated the money we would have spent on printing and mailing and donated it to several local charities.  This year, we’re doing something similar, but with a social media twist.

    We’re taking the money we’re saving by not mailing printed cards to our entire list and once again donating it to charity. This year, however, we’re trying to increase the amount that we give away.  For every new Facebook fan who “likes” our fan page (the deadline is December 14), we’re adding $10 to the charity pot.

    Next, we’re asking our entire network of clients, partners, vendors and supporters to tell us how to give away the money.  I polled the staff and asked for recommendations for charities they thought were worthy of a gift.  We came up with the following organizations:

    In our Facebook page, we set up a Poll that allows fans to vote for their favorite charity from the list above. So far, we’ve gained over 100 new Facebook fans and nearly two hundred people have voted.

    I like this year’s holiday campaign because we’re able to increase the amount of our donation this year, we gain new fans, and we are able to showcase effective and well managed charities in the DC area. It’s also been fun to promote this holiday campaign to our house e-mail list, on our social media pages, and to our network of friends and supporters.

    Here’s how you can help:

    • “Like” our Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/MatrixGroup
    • Vote in our poll
    • Spread the word about the campaign to your network of colleagues, friends and family

    We’ve got a goal of $5,000.  Help us support some terrific charities this holiday season!

    P.S. In case you’re wondering, we decided to still mail printed cards to our key client contacts because we were worried about some clients and partners not receiving the e-card because of a firewall or anti-spam software. In the end, we liked the idea of clients receiving something tangible from us and the ability to sign and personalize cards.  But instead of mailing nearly 1,000 cards, we’re mailing fewer than 200 cards.

  • Why Having a Baby Will Be Good For My Business

    Why Having a Baby Will Be Good For My Business

    I’m having a baby tomorrow (maybe sooner, we’ll see) and then I’ll be home with baby Marcus John.  For a few weeks at least, I’ll be dealing with lack of sleep, no set routine, and hundreds of diaper changes.  The big questions that always pop up when speaking with family, friends, staff, clients and vendors are:  How much time are you taking off and how will your office survive without you?

    The answer to the first question (how much time are you taking off?) is not clear cut.  When you’re a small business owner, you can’t exactly just disappear for a few months. When you’re the owner, the business is your baby, it’s part of your life and your identity.  That said, I’m giving myself the flexibility to work as much or as little as I want, come in when I feel I need to, and decide when I’m ready to come back to the office full-time.

    The answer to the second question (how will the office survive without you?) is “Just fine, thank you very much.”  In fact, just like the last time I was out with my first son, I expect the office to thrive. Here’s what I’ve done to prepare myself and the office for my absence:

    What Is It That Only I Do, or Can Do, At the Office?

    When I first announced to my management team that I was going to have a baby, the questions I asked of myself, the Directors and Project Managers was: “What is it that I do, that only I can do, that you rely on me to do?”  Then we got to work documenting the list and figuring out a plan for getting those tasks done in my absence.

    For example, I review the monthly billing reports after the Project Managers (PMs) have reviewed them to double check that we are properly marking work as billable or unbillable.  Over a period of a couple of weeks, I went over dozens of reports with the PMs, discussed why I question certain items and provided suggestions for how to handle ambiguous items and make sure clients are never surprised by their invoices.  The Director of Client Services will also now review invoices in my absence.

    Documenting What’s in JP’s Brain

    When you’ve been in the Web business for as long as I have (since 1994 but please don’t try to calculate my age!) and when you’re responsible for landing a lot of the company’s business, you just accumulate a lot of knowledge about clients, process, and projects. Even though I use our intranet religiously to document all of my communications with clients and prospects, there’s just a lot of knowledge that I carry around in my brain.

    So over the past few months, I worked with my team to document the strategies, best practices, and potential land mines I’ve encountered while working on myriad projects. I paid special attention to the project components that I tend to spearhead, including Goals and Personas, Content Strategy, Integration with a Back Office CRM (customer relationship management system) or AMS (association management system), CMS (content management system) reviews, and Social Media.  These are now called PM Guides and they live in our wiki. All staff are encouraged to modify them as needed.  The guides are reviewed before the start of each project, and the PMs are loving the sample agendas and notes for running meetings. (more…)

  • How We Doubled Our Facebook Fans and Raised Money for the Gulf Recovery Effort

    10 days ago, the Matrix Group Facebook fan page had 280 fans.  As of tonight, we have 576 fans, more than double our starting number. How did we do it?  We launched a campaign and created an incentive for people to “Like” us.

    The Background

    Matrix Group has had a Facebook fan page for a couple of years now and we had been slowly building up our fan base. We did all the usual things to generate new fans: we let our customers know about our Facebook page, we linked to it from our Web site and blog, we asked staff to invite their friends to “like” us, we included the link in staff e-mail signatures, and we asked our Twitter followers to fan us.

    I had recently read an article about how the Weekly World News got to 40,310 fans in 4 days (up from 3,244 fans!) and got inspired to launch our own campaign.  Weekly World News offered an exclusive video, they changed their ad daily, they did A/B testing on their ads and they leveraged their huge user base.  But what kind of incentive could we offer?  Unlike Snapfish, the photo printing site, which recently offered a coupon for a free 8 x 10 photo collage for “liking” its fan page, Matrix Group doesn’t have products to offer.  And we don’t have a customer base of tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

    The Campaign

    We decided to use good, old-fashioned corporate philanthropy to incentivize people to “like” us.  The campaign was incredibly simple:  we would donate $10 to a specific charity for every new fan we got between June 21 and June 30.  We selected the National Park Foundation’s (NPF) Disaster Recovery Fund in the Gulf to be recipient of our campaign.  NPF is a Matrix Group client and the entire Matrix Group staff, like the rest of the country, is upset about the Gulf oil spill.  Selecting this fund only made sense for us.  BTW, we put a time limit on the campaign because we know that people are more likely to act when they have a deadline; hence the June 30 end date for the campaign.
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  • Moving the Matrix Group Underground to the Foreground

    Moving the Matrix Group Underground to the Foreground

    With all the hiring we’re doing right now, my team decided that we better revisit all of our orientation guides. Orientations work like this at Matrix Group:  we ask staff members from all teams to help with the orientation; we give them an outline and they do the session.  Spreading the orientation schedule around means we cover more in a short period of time and new staff get introduced to all teams in a more meaningful way.

    When we started reviewing our existing guides, we found that the majority of them were too sparse. If you were lucky enough to do orientation with an earnest old-timer, you got lucky; otherwise, lots of things were missed.

    So a bunch of sat down, revisited topics, and came up with 2-4 page guides for each topic.  Each topic has a sub-topic and talking points + specific things to cover.  The guides are working out very, very well.

    One new thing we decided to create is a “Matrix Underground” guide, or the things you should know but nobody every tells you. We realized that it’s things on this guide that tend to trip people up or leave people bewildered.  For example, there are expressions that we expect people to know, acronyms,  and Joanna-isms that a person could take years to figure out.

    Most things on the guide are funny, but some are dead serious.  Some examples:

    • Sumner is the part-timer on the MatrixMaxx team who works in the afternoons (recent hires said they spent six months trying to figure out who the heck Sumner is).
    • When Joanna says “can you do me a favor?” or “I need something from you,” it means “she needs something done NOW, not tomorrow, not next week, now.”
    • When someone says “the cheese has moved,” it refers to the book “Who Moved My Cheese?” that we read as a company several years ago and it means “dude, the situation has changed, let’s move along and get over it.”

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  • In Business, I Get the Chance to Win Gold Every Week

    In Business, I Get the Chance to Win Gold Every Week

    I’m watching the Women’s Downhill competition during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics this evening.   I saw several women crash on the course, their Olympics dreams and year of preparation, go up in smoke.  Business books are full of sports analogies, but for my part, I’m glad that the world of business is not really like the Olympics.  Here’s how:

    The Olympics are for the Young

    Although there are a few 30-something and 40-something athletes, the Olympics are dominated by elite competitors in their teens and 20s. After a dozen years of competing, their careers are over. I’m grateful that after 18 years in the online business, I still have many years ahead of me. Perhaps I’m a late bloomer, but I feel like it’s really only in the last five years that I’ve really hit my stride and seen Matrix Group really thrive and expand.

    In Business, Teams Rule!

    Although there are a few relay races, the Olympics are dominated by the talents and achievements of individuals. In business, you can’t complete projects of any significant size and scope without a team effort. Take any redesign project at Matrix Group; these projects involve a project manager, an information architect, multiple designers, at least one front-end developer, at least one developer, and at least one tester. The work of one person affects every other team member and if one team members screws up, the whole project is threatened.

    In Business, You Want a Lot of Winners

    It’s easy to compare the world of sales with the Olympics: lots of competitors, one winner. But I would argue that the true race or competition begins once the sale has been made and implementation begins. Paradoxically, at this stage, you don’t want any losers. You want the client, the vendor, the third party partners, and the customers to all win with whatever widget, Web site or product you are building. (more…)

  • The Great “Work From Home” Experiment

    The Great “Work From Home” Experiment

    Man Working From Home with LaptopLast Thursday, when the National Weather Service was calling for a blizzard in the DC area, I had a choice to make:  open on Friday but probably close early, close the office OR keep the office open but let everyone work from home.  On Sunday night, with roads still largely impassable, federal and local governments announcing closures and public transportation down for the count, I faced a similar choice: declare the office closed on Monday and give everyone a snow day OR keep the office open and let everyone work from home.

    While I’m sure most of my staff would have loved a snow day or two, as a small business owner, I know that when my staff isn’t working, we’re not generating billable time, which means a bad month in revenues, or worse.  So, since Friday, I’ve kept the Matrix Group office officially open but let everyone work from home. Here’s why:

    • Most staff appreciated not having to battle the bad roads to keep working and avoid taking vacation days.
    • Although most of our clients are in the DC area, we have clients all over the country; the latter expect us to be open.
    • It’s precisely when our clients are not able to serve their customers and members physically that they rely on their Web sites to be open for business virtually.
    • Letting staff work from home let us put our pandemic/DR plans to the test.

    The results have been mostly good. With the exception of staff who lost power at home, everyone scheduled to work has been able to work.  Here’s what helped: (more…)

  • Is it Easy to Do Business With Your Company?

    Is it Easy to Do Business With Your Company?

    Two figures shaking handsI was arranging lunch with a vendor and suggested Kora, the hip, new Italian restaurant in Crystal City.  I wanted to e-mail my contact Kora’s address, phone number and a link to a Google map.  Alas, the entire Kora site is in Flash, which is beautiful, but it’s not very user-friendly.  The biggest problem?  I can’t copy and paste the contact info to include in an e-mail and  paste into Google Maps.  I know, I know, it’ s not a big deal to retype the address, but I’m a picky consumer.  I want to be able to copy and paste easily.  Even better, I’d love a way to share the address page or just click on a map.

    This got me to thinking.  What are all the ways, big and little, that we make it difficult for our customers and potential customers to do business with us? Consider these examples.

    • A few years ago, my husband and I were shopping around for a mortgage.  I called three bankers.  One was only available between 7am and 3pm.  Another sent me 20 pages to fill out about our assets.  The third asked me when it would be convenient to call (7pm), asked me to send bank and 401(k) statements so that he could fill out all the paperwork.  Guess who got the business?  At that point, I knew each banker would give us a competitive rate, but Craig Miller from BF Saul made it easy for us to work with him.
    • During the planning for our office move, I called several vendors about office furniture systems.  One never called back.  One asked me to send her the architect’s drawings and information on what we wanted (I didn’t yet know what we wanted so I didn’t call back.)  The third, Michelle Ferrari from Office Images, offered to come by with catalogs, look at the architect’s drawings with me and discuss our needs.  There was no contest.
    • I called a company to get a reference for someone applying for a job at Matrix Group.  It took me 3 tries before I could figure out how to leave a message in the general mailbox.  I couldn’t even imagine calling as a prospective customer.
    • I’ve had a relationship with Insurance Designers for a very long time.  Every time I have a question, I call or e-mail Neal or Wendy Cohen and they get back to me promptly.  One time, Matrix Group was applying for some new type of insurance and Neal’s office sent over a very long questionnaire, which I couldnot figure out.  I called Neal and he said, “don’t worry about it, let’s fill it out over the phone.”  I love the guy.

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