Know your customer. This is the first rule of content marketing. It’s a rule that most brands don’t follow. But the reasons businesses avoid developing customer personas are not borne out of an individualist streak to break the rules. It’s usually just down to a lack of know-how or the time to invest in working … Read More
You’ve worked hard to build your email subscriber list. You’ve probably invested in marketing automation software. But are you worried that you’re wasting time sending newsletters because you’re not seeing the results you hoped you would? Does that sound like you? You and your team are busy running your online shop, fulfilling orders and supporting … Read More
As a website owner, you’ll know that you need written content. And lots of it. Because a website without the right words is just a silent movie. Don’t get us wrong. We’re big fans of the old black and whites. But we’re doing the day job here. Words are our thing. It’s the words on … Read More
This question is one of the hardy perennials in the content marketing herbaceous border. This year is no different. Marketers, SEO ninjas and blog copywriters are always digging deep to find answers on the best inbound marketing strategies. And when it comes to whether you should still accept guest posts on your site, the answer … Read More
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are” Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin I’m into food and drink. It’s no secret. I spend most of my time thinking what I’m going to have for my next meal. I’ve got a side hustle running a hipster catering company called More Gravy, I ran … Read More
“If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you” – Zig Ziglar When was the last time you reviewed your website About page? If the answer is closer to ‘last year’ than ‘last week’, you’re not alone. Along with the Contact page, About is one … Read More
“Great content is the best sales tool in the world.” – Marcus Sheridan Industry gurus are constantly waxing lyrical about the importance of content. It’s the king (Bill Gates). It’s the kingdom (Lee Odden). It’s the lifeblood of your marketing strategy (Neil Patel). If you own a website, you already know all this. But are … Read More
“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence — it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” Peter Drucker As COVID-19 storms through 2020, hurling our habits and treasured systems against the wall, we all know we have to change to survive. From the domestic adaptations needed to successfully work from home, to … Read More
“Content Marketing is all the Marketing that’s left.” Seth Godin If you want your online business to succeed, you have to invest in content marketing. But, with uncertain times ahead and online competition becoming ever steeper, you need to squeeze every last drop out of your content investment. We’ll show you how. Repost your content … Read More
SEO is a long-term marketing strategy with literally hundreds of actions required to make it a success. But how do you distil this into a report that matters to your CEO? As a marketer, you may well be fonder of graphs than most, and capable of immersing yourself happily in reporting dashboards for hours at … Read More
Despite the meteoric rise of its cooler siblings, email marketing is going nowhere, and continues to provide businesses with a significantly higher ROI than any other marketing channel (Campaignmonitor). With email, possibly more than any other marketing channel, the devil is in the detail. And timing is the most important detail of all. Here, we … Read More
You’ve carefully mapped out your content for the year and then there’s a global pandemic. What the hell do you talk to your customers about now? Way back when you were creating your 2020 content calendar (you do have one, right?), you no doubt planned timely pieces relevant to the year’s key events. Depending on … Read More
Here at Big Star HQ we like to answer a direct question with a direct answer. And the answer to this is yes. It’s a yes because blogging can be your most effective content marketing tactic. The fact that 57% of marketers say they plan to increase their blogging efforts tells us that it’s still … Read More
Are you investing a lot of time and energy in blog content but not seeing anything like the new leads and sales that you thought you would? Don’t panic. We’ve put together an essential checklist to help you optimise your blog layout to make sure you are doing everything you can to encourage visitors to … Read More
As a business you want to provide an inclusive user experience so that your content is accessible to everyone. This includes people with sensory, cognitive, learning or physical difficulties that use assistive technology like screen readers. There are almost 14 million disabled people in the UK (22% of the population). People use screen readers for … Read More
Let’s start with what is pretty much a given. People are talking about your brand online whether you are monitoring (and listening) to these mentions or not. If your company has a social media presence (and you’d have to dig pretty deep to find a brand without one) you will need to be actively monitoring … Read More
Are you hesitating to invest energy and money into content marketing? Well, consider this: no one ever won a game of Monopoly by cautiously navigating around the board without buying Pall Mall, Park Lane, or a station or two. As a business owner, you may be playing a delicate financial balancing game. But, if you … Read More
What’s the return on your content marketing efforts? Is your strategy delivering the results you’re looking for? Is your content relevant and valuable? If you’re a B2C brand and stumped for answers, you’re not alone. 41% of B2C marketers cited the inability to measure content performance as a significant challenge, according to Content Marketing Institute. … Read More
A recording artist like Kate Bush knows her audience. She’ll experiment, challenge and push boundaries with each new release. But her fans know that her distinct voice, artistry and sound mean that every album is unmistakably Kate. When you think about it, content marketing is no different really. Your business establishes its own distinct voice … Read More
Don’t get landlocked on Google Shopping – because your customers aren’t landlocked on Google. As an Ecommerce brand, you should be on the look-out for ways to diversify paid media spend in a bid (quite literally) to get your products in front of consumers on their favourite platforms and shopping sites. If you’ve done your … Read More
“The test messages were entirely forgettable. . . . Most likely the first message was QWERTYIOP or something similar” – Ray Tomlinson Tomlinson in 1971 was the first person ever to send an email. He sent the message to himself. Fast forward almost 50 years and you don’t need to stray far from your own … Read More
We hope you haven’t got Google update fatigue because this is important. Google has made a giant leap in the way it understands the nuance and context of longer search queries with the release of its BERT update in its ranking system. The update means that Google will better understand one in 10 search queries. … Read More
Ok, so ‘content is king’ has become a huge cliché. But we need good clichés, especially when they’re true. “The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.” ― Terry Pratchett Thanks, Terry. We miss you. Content is king. It’s also the kingdom and the … Read More
If words matter to your business (and they should) then finding the right person to write those words is as important as the steps you take to hire the rest of your team. Quality content is the heart of your marketing strategy: we’ll show you how to hire a copywriter who will keep it beating. If … Read More
Producing unique content that is optimised for SEO is part of a good copywriter’s DNA. Building a high quality website and sharing this valuable content is critical to the success of a brand’s marketing strategy. Showing the most relevant results to users is part of a search engine’s reason for being. When these three elements … Read More
Blogging and customer retention aren’t often found in the same sentence in B2B content marketing plans. They probably won’t even be on the same page. In the relentless quest to find new customers, marketers often use blog posts to throw the kitchen sink at acquisition. But this hyper focus on attracting new customers often means … Read More
When was the last time you checked in on a business blog and found the most recent post rustling among the tumbleweed that drifted across the page two years ago? Chances are this happens a lot. Regularly posting moreish content that makes readers want to come back time and time again is hard work. All … Read More
While prevention is always better than cure, most businesses have published duplicate content in one form or another. The majority of brands do this by mistake. It’s unintentional and there are steps you can take to avoid repeating the same mistakes. There are tools to check for duplicate content so you can remedy any issues. … Read More
Blogs and copyright – what you need to know As a blogger there are steps you must take to ensure you are not infringing on the copyright protections of other people’s work. Content that is published online is no different when it comes to copyright protections that those that apply offline. We’ve quickly got on … Read More
Are press releases still relevant in a digital world? As a PR pro, you’ll have seen lots of stories about how press releases are going the way of the dinosaurs. It’s been a big talking point in a digital world where algorithms have become the editors curating the content we all read online. But, take … Read More
There are many types of marketing communication. Each one is an opportunity to engage your target audience with laser-guided precision. But how does a copywriter tailor their content to make the most of each format and connect with the right people at the right time? Here is a beginner’s field guide to different types of … Read More
In a recent post we discussed three ways that content can help an ecommerce business compete with Amazon. We talked about how unique, valuable content can help you standout by offering customers a differentiated experience. We thought it would be helpful to explore this further and take a look at the types of content that … Read More
