Last month (April 22nd) saw applications close for the Irish Domain Registry (IEDR) Optimise 2016 fund. The €750,000 fund, which is in its sixth year was designed to help budding start-up Irish companies to prosper by enhancing their online presence by providing access to top professional digital agencies.
Due to our efforts in last year’s fund, Matrix has been chosen once again to provide Digital Marketing Training & Consultancy services to this year’s successful fund beneficiaries.
Our participation in last year’s fund was met with great excitement from all of the Matrix team. We were delighted to work alongside some fantastic new companies and meet some wonderful people along the way.
Although we were providing the training, we ourselves learned a lot of new insights into the overall business spectrum in Ireland. Our work brought us all around the country from Cork to Mayo and introduced us to business owners from a wide variety of fields and all with the same goal: improving their online presence.
While all of these people couldn’t have been more different, they shared the same common goal – online success. We were impressed by the drive & dedication of each and every one of these individuals and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them all.
Each month we will showcase the companies that we had the pleasure to work with and the work that Matrix carried out for them
This company is based in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 and specialises in providing products & services to event planners all across Ireland. The company was formed in 1984 as the Dublin Balloon Company and is run by a father and son team, Peter & Philip Hanley.
After two preparatory meetings with the Hanley Group, both parties agreed on an overall work schedule. The Hanley group currently maintain three separate websites; events, Party shop & elegant linens.
To start off we set up Google Analytics tracking for all three websites to correctly record incoming traffic levels. We also set up goals & event tracking through Analytics.
Our SEO team conducted in-depth keyword research for all three websites. We compiled these findings into an overall SEO audit of all three websites and added our own thoughts & recommendations. This included advice on which long-tailed & unique keywords the Hanley group should rank for and the areas where improvements to the SEO could be made.
We provided on-site training to the Hanley group which covered topics such as social media setup content writing. We advised on which platforms would work best for the company with a particular focus turned on the benefits of Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for advertising. A social media & content strategy was created to help plan ahead in anticipation of seasonal trends & events.
Established in 2005 by Dr Kiera Brown, Physio Extra is a sports injury & physiotherapy clinic based in Rathmines in South Dublin. The clinic offers a whole range of services & classes including acupuncture, back care, massage and pilates.
Physio Extra was seeking a more streamlined & manageable system to allow their customers to sign up for pilates classes. After a number of consultations with our development team, both parties concluded that the best way forward was the through design and development of a custom-built booking system.
With close collaboration with Kiera, we developed this high-quality system & implemented it into their website. The positive outcome ensured a smoother booking process for the customer & a more efficient way to manage classes for the company.
We developed a content plan based on upcoming events & trends. This was created to help Physio Extra to plan in advance which content they could schedule on their social channels and when.
Our in-house AdWords experts delivered a comprehensive training module designed to help Physio Extra to set up, manage & measure their own pay-per-click campaigns. We spoke about determining the right budget, what appropriate keywords were best and how to measure the success of a campaign.
With 4 locations in both Limerick & Waterford, Hook & Ladder is a truly unique concept. The company encompasses a cookery school, cafe and home accessory store all under one roof.
The company also operates a catering service and hosts private events. Artisan food is the order of the day at Hook & Ladder with all produce coming from locally sourced suppliers.
The company first opened its doors in 2013 starting with its flagship premises in Waterford. Following this, three more Hook & Ladder stores opened in Limerick. There are currently 80 people employed by the company across its cafes & cookery schools.
We analyzed the analytics & overall traffic performance of Hook & Ladder’s current website. We then compiled a report based on our findings with a general overview of their overall ranking position and recommendations based on how it could be improved.
Hook & Ladder had identified that there was a problem with their website but couldn’t quite pinpoint the issue. Upon investigating this we concluded that the issue lay in the overall user experience of the website.
We set up a UX workshop with Hook & Ladder and discussed the personas of the average customer, what they wanted & how to provide them with a satisfactory online experience. During the workshop, it became evident that the menu & general structure of the website wasn’t clear enough to satisfy the user.
After discussing this with Hook & Ladder, we created a wireframe of a proposed new mega menu which we felt would benefit the website. Once we got the green light, our design & development teams got to work by creating and building the mega menu and incorporating it into the website.
“Hook & Ladder was one of the lucky companies selected to receive the IEDR Optimise Fund in 2015, helping us grow our business online, was Matrix Internet.
“I would highly recommend the Matrix team, I worked closely with Inaki who was extremely helpful in advising and implementing a design that would make the website more user-friendly and ultimately grow revenue. I would not hesitate to go back with our next project online. Inaki was so professional, and knowledgeable and provided excellent customer service. I would highly recommend the team at Matrix to anyone who is looking to create or grow their online business. Sarah Moloney – Hook & Ladder
Next month we will bring you the second and concluding part of the case study where we will discuss the work that we carried out for the remainder of the IEDR clients including, Total Shave, Graphic & Paper Merchants & The Old Mill Stores.
If you would like to find out more about the IEDR or what we do at Matrix please don’t hesitate to contact us here.
This is a company based in Castlebar, Co.Mayo that specialises in distributing shaving solutions & oils. Total Shave is an offshoot of Pamex Ltd, a marketing company that specialises in promoting pharmaceutical personal grooming products.
As a new company, Total Shave wanted to enhance its online presence and establish a foothold in the marketplace. After an initial kick-off phone call with Pamex Managing Director, Tom Murphy, both parties established that the best step forward was to create a content strategy based on industry news and upcoming events.
We created a very detailed 60-day social media calendar populated with daily content for each social channel. This content was a mixture of fun posts, product news and testimonials. We also integrated a weekly blog content plan into the calendar. This plan offered a recommended topic for each week’s industry news and events.
We assessed the traffic levels to the Total Shave website and created a detailed report and made recommendations about how these levels could be improved. In the report, we also included an SEO audit of the website.
We found a number of issues that needed addressing and we offered recommended solutions to improve the overall ranking of the website.
Total Shave felt that the use of online advertising was a viable and long-term avenue to promote its products to a wider audience. We conducted a workshop based on the different advertising methods that Total Shave could use to promote its brand.
With offices in Dublin and Belfast, GPMI is a leading supplier of commercial paper, board packaging & signage in Ireland. They work in close connection with some of Ireland’s leading companies delivering bespoke packaging products & solutions to individual clients.
After sending out a survey to the company’s staff, we conducted an initial onsite workshop, We created specific benchmarks for GPMI to help the get a better understanding of their direct competitors and their position in the industry. We then undertook a series of persona exercises to develop an understanding of the regular customer of the company.
Based on the findings of the workshop, survey and exercises, we provided a number of takeaway recommendations for GPMI. These included website improvements, email marketing set up and training.
We produced a report on the hist performance of the website and then compiled a follow-up SEO report and acted on the recommendations within. We then measured the general performance of the traffic levels to the site over time and noted any improvements.
Through our survey findings, we identified & advised GPMI on the relevant platforms that they should be active. We then provided training on how to set up each individual channel including; recommended, graphic creation, posting times and social tone.
Once these channels were set up, we held a second training workshop based on social media advertising. Here we discussed the various advertising methods on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We also held a round-the-table questionnaire with the GPMI staff about which platform would be the most suitable to advertise on. From this, almost everyone concluded that LinkedIn would be the most important advertising medium given the B2B nature of the company’s operations.
This is a quaint store based in Leap in the heart of West Cork that specialises in homeware, giftware & unique collectables. The company which was founded by Tom & Claire Murphy over 20 years ago was originally based in Dublin but relocated to West Cork in the year 2000.
We sat down with Tom & Claire and devised a content plan to help them to get the most traction from their website & social media channels. We created a calendar outlining upcoming events in the local area and nationwide which The Old Mill Stores could leverage from through posting on social media & the creation of blog content.
We compiled a full traffic report of The Old Mill Stores’ existing website. In the report, we assessed the current levels of the inbound traffic trends to the website and how they could be improved. We also
Given the nature of their business, email marketing is an essential aspect of The Old Mill Store’s overall strategy. We provided full training on each feature of the Campaign Monitor platform and we also created a calendar around the Xmas period to showcase the optimal days to send a campaign.
We set up & launched a Google Ads account while also providing keyword research to help The Old Mill Stores hit the right target audience. Budget recommendations were also made to establish the most appropriate PPC spend for the company.
‘Our company, The Old Mill Stores were assigned to work with Matrix Internet as part of our Optimise Fund Award 2015. From the outset we found everyone at there a pleasure to work with – they put us at our ease and were completely approachable. We came up with a plan of action together and they were invaluable in helping us identify the shortcomings of our eCommerce website and our social media strategy. Specifically, they outlined how we could improve the look and feel of our site, increase its visibility and reach, where we needed to improve our social media output and helped us set up for email marketing. Overall we are now more tuned in ‘digitally’ and more confident and competent when it comes to web optimisation and social media. Our online sales have increased as a result and our customer and media feedback is way up. Good job Matrix!’
‘Claire’
Following on from our success last year, Matrix were delighted to learn last week that we have been chosen again by the IEDR to work with this year’s Optimise Fund 2016 winners. This year’s winners are:
We are really excited to work alongside each and every one of these companies and once again the IEDR also. We are fully confident that This project will be every bit as successful and productive as 2015.
By Iñaki Castellet Hernández
By Conor McCaffrey