Well, it looks like our Hot PJ Twitter account has been selected to be part of a small group (probably about 100,000 or so!) that can try out Twitter lists before it’s unleashed on the Twitter-verse.

So what are Twitter lists? Fidn out more at www.hotpj.co.nz/blog/twitter-lists

Posted on October 30th, 2009 by Mark Lincoln
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Rebranding is not an exercise to take lightly – the more established a brand, the more time and attention that needs to be given to researching, developing and launching a new brand.
A rebrand is not just a change of logo! The brand ‘experience’ must match the brand ‘image’. It therefore requires buy-in at all levels [...]

Posted on October 20th, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: Marketing | 1 Comment »

If you are a website owner or administrator chances are you have received an email requesting the placement of a link on your site. Many times the site that they are suggesting has no relevance to your own, so when is it worth adding links to your site?

Posted on October 15th, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: Marketing | No Comments »

How can Twitter and Blogs generate more business for my company?

So let’s talk in real world jargon-free terms for a typical small business. In this example I’ll use two fictional garages in Christchurch; Bob’s and Steve’s.

Try to picture yourself as one of these mechanics, and your closest competitor as the other.

Now both of these mechanics provide a similar offering for a similar price. They’re both situated on the same street and at first glance there’s little to distinguish between the two. Originally, neither garage owner saw the need for much of a website. They figured the majority of their business came through passing traffic and word of mouth. Read more at www.hotpj.co.nz/blog

Posted on October 9th, 2009 by Mark Lincoln
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Have you been thinking about writing a blog or setting up a Twitter account? Or do you have either of these but have yet to send much traffic through to your website?

Have you been hearing all the hype about Twitter but are still unconvinced as to how it can be used to create more leads for your small business?

Then the Hot PJ Twitter and Blog seminar is for you!

Posted on October 9th, 2009 by Mark Lincoln
Filed under: Hot PJ Seminars, Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

8 out of every 10 email messages are spam, according to the architects of The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 in New Zealand. Unfortunately I’d say 99% of that spam comes from outside NZ.

But local businesses can be at fault too – opening themselves up to not just prosecution, but also ridicule from the very people they were trying to attract. This week a local sign company received just that when they sent out an unsolicited email to Christchurch designers.

Posted on October 7th, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: Marketing | No Comments »

During marketing consultations, I’ve been encouraging a lot of non-profits to set up Facebook Pages. One person I spoke to had a concern that they didn’t want their Facebook Profile to become public and openly associated with their organisation.

This reminded me of a job interview I once had at a recruitment agency. During the interview, social media came up. The interviewer admitted that she had tried to find my Facebook page but couldn’t see anything because of my privacy settings. (read the full post at www.hotpj.co.nz/blog/facebook-privacy)

Posted on October 6th, 2009 by Mark Lincoln
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media | 3 Comments »

It really annoys me when unscrupulous companies take business people for a ride to make a quick buck. And for some reason they just keep on getting away with it!
I was chatting to a fellow business person last week about a friend who is a ’search marketing expert’. “Don’t talk to me about search marketing” [...]

Posted on October 5th, 2009 by Wendy Riley-Biddle
Filed under: General, Social Media | 3 Comments »

At Hot Pyjama Productions, we get a lot of people come to us with a logo that they’ve already had created elsewhere at a low-cost price. The logos tend to be made by friends of theirs that know a bit about graphic design (you know, the sort that make their own Christmas Cards each year) (Ed: Yeah I do that).

The logos often look fairly generic. Yeah ok, they suit a purpose but there’s nothing particularly unique about them. But, the reason these people then come to Hot PJ is: the client has had to use their logo for the first time for an actual business use – e.g. they’re getting a sign made and need to supply their logo file to the signwriter or they’re getting some business cards printed and need to supply their logo – and they hit a problem.

Posted on October 1st, 2009 by Mark Lincoln
Filed under: Marketing | No Comments »