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
Let’s start with what is pretty much a given. People are talking about your brand online whether you are listening or not. Consumers are sharing positive experiences and opinions on social media. They are sharing negative experiences and complaints. They may tag your brand to direct a comment. They may not bother. Few businesses can … 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
Guest author Ashley Hastings discusses different types of marketing communications and how to write them.
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
This is a question that can freeze search teams and copywriters in the SEO headlights. In truth, the answer is there are no hard and fast rules about content length. There is common ground when it comes to opinion and experience. The consensus is that longer content works the hardest in helping businesses rank higher … Read More
Are you thinking about throwing in the Twitter towel? Changing algorithms, fake news, rogue bots, trolls and reports of users closing accounts means there’s a perception the platform is losing its relevance and shine. Dig a little deeper though and user statistics show that there are still 326 million people using the network each month. … Read More
It’s not news that earned media outflanks paid media as an effective marketing tactic. It’s what 81% of marketers think too. While CMOs still rate owned media as a priority investment, brands are also quickly figuring out how earned media fits into their integrated marketing strategy. Businesses know how to run marketing campaigns on the … Read More
As an ecommerce business, how do you vie with Amazon, the world’s most valuable brand? Before we get onto this, let’s take a quick at how Amazon got to put its flag at the top of the summit. It wasn’t because of its products or its technology even. It got there, and is staying there, … 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
Creating the right content for the right people at the right time is the holy grail of content marketing. Understanding this bit is easy. But, when it comes to social media, how well do you understand what your target audience wants, so the content you produce earns its keep? How do you cut through the … Read More
There is a lot of talk out there about how writing more blog posts will get you to the blogging promise land where your blog generates a ton of new visitors and leads every week. You’ve seen the data — you know that if you publish more, you’ll start to see more and more results. … Read More
Creating content for your blog is one of the core elements of any good digital marketing strategy. Blogs play a role in several different digital marketing channels, from search engine optimisation, email and newsletters, social media and even word-of-mouth. But how do you leverage the content that sits on your blog to drive more conversions? … Read More
Just because insurance is essential, it doesn’t mean that anyone wants to spend more time thinking about it than they absolutely have to. And although ignorance can be bliss, this isn’t the case with insurance. How can insurance companies use content marketing to engage with policyholders and prospective customers? Well, if truth be told it … Read More
Across the globe, more than 3 billion people are using social networks. No business can afford to miss out on that scale of opportunity. But how do you get people to engage with your business on social media? There are lots of tips out there to help your business grow a social media following. To … Read More
Around the globe, 3 billion people use social media. A whopping 17% of the world’s population log onto Facebook every day. For businesses large and small, it’s a relatively cheap and quick way to develop your brand with existing customers and reach out to new ones. If you’re not using social media, your business is … Read More
In the world of the printed word, copyright is well established and quite clearly defined – copyright is automatically assigned to the creator of a piece of work, unless they have signed that copyright over to another party. Any unlicensed and unauthorised use of that work is considered an infringement of copyright and the original … Read More
In the spirit of effective content curation, we’ve trawled the net to bring you our list of the best resources out there to help you curate content more effectively. What is content curation? First, do you understand the differences between content creation and curation? If not, here’s a great intro from Hootsuite. Pulling together content … Read More
If your content marketing strategy isn’t going exactly to plan, you may be looking at ways to improve your content’s performance. Here, we take a look at what steps you can take to ensure that your strategy has the desired impact. Make sure you’re measuring the right things An effective content marketing strategy will make … Read More
Content marketing analytics are absolutely key to establishing the financial value of your content and whether it’s doing the job you intended. By looking at the data generated by your website, you can tell a great deal about the way in which users are interacting with your content. However, you need to know what to … Read More
When content marketing is done well, it can have wondrous effects on both your sales figures and brand reach. However, it’s not the easiest of marketing techniques to get right. If you’re struggling to improve your content marketing results, here are our top 9 tips to help you do so. Ensure it is goal orientated … Read More
Business to business (B2B) content marketing typically requires a different approach from business to customer (B2C) content marketing. However, you don’t need to change everything about the way you create, publish, distribute, and share your content to appeal to business clients. Here, we take a look at a few of the ways you can make … Read More
Everyone knows that backlinks are the key to better ranking. (You didn’t know that? Read our article on domain authority and backlink building). And because everyone knows their value, quality backlinks (the only ones that matter) are also damnably hard to achieve. Internal linking, on the other hand, is easy to implement, completely flexible and … Read More
When considering what makes a quality domain, search engines takes multiple ‘trust indicators’ into account. The result is a ‘TrustRank’ score which helps Google et al decide, amongst other factors, how to rank your site. If you’ve received one of Big Star’s free content marketing audits, you’ll have received a score based on the ‘MozTrust’ … Read More
Read all the guides about on-page SEO but not seen any changes? Invested time and money in web content that no-one’s reading? Still being beaten in search results by your competitors? Here’s newsflash no.1 about modern SEO: it’s hard. And no.2? Gone are the days when a well-researched, correctly placed keyword could give you the edge … Read More
Before we get to the content marketing fails, let’s look at the big picture. Typically, inbound marketing costs around 61% less per acquisition than traditional outbound marketing and advertising methods such as cold calling and direct mail advertising. That’s a big difference. Weirdly, although content marketing can work out cheaper than more traditional methods only around 9% of … Read More
