The UK government wants Britain at the centre of the AI revolution, with procurement that backs British business. For Microsoft Partners, winning that work will depend on proving what you can do with AI. Bright Star has spent seven years inside the Microsoft channel, and we’re already up to speed on where it’s heading.
At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool yesterday, in his keynote speech, the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out a clear commitment to “putting AI centre stage” and at the heart of the UK economy. Comparing our country’s leading role in the world’s first Industrial Revolution more than two centuries ago, he plans for Britain to be a central player in the current AI revolution, capturing its benefits and being clear eyed about its risks.
He laid out his vision of supporting brilliant businesses to achieve growth. Part of which, is changing government procurement so it backs British industry and enables smaller players like Bright Star and Microsoft Partners we work with to become part of that conversation.
What the UK Prime Minister’s AI pledge means for Microsoft Partners’ content
For Microsoft Partners, the speech confirms that AI has moved from boardroom pilot to national policy. If public sector buying opens up to British business, the Partners who can show real AI results will be first in the queue. Showing those results is a content job. Case studies, service pages and expert articles are how a buyer, or the AI agent researching on their behalf, decides who to trust.
Seven years inside the Microsoft channel
Bright Star has worked with Microsoft Partners for over seven years. We watched Covid push businesses into digital tools almost overnight, and saw technologies that had struggled suddenly find their audience.
AI is the next shift, and we’re living it alongside you. We write about it for clients, and we use it in our own ways of working. We wouldn’t call ourselves what Microsoft describes as a “frontier firm”. But, we’re savvy, though, and we’ve kept pace with where the industry is going.
You won’t need to get us up to speed on AI
We’ve been to the conferences, watched the demos and written about the features, functionality and models. Our clients are at the leading edge of AI adoption, and we’re working next to them as it happens.
So when you bring us in, there’s no induction period. We’ve heard Microsoft’s messaging first-hand. We’ve also heard what your customers say once the demo is over: what it will cost, whether their people will use it, and what happens to their data.
That puts us in an unusual position. We understand both the pitch and the reality, and we know how to translate one into the other.
“How often did we sit down for an interview and you were able to decipher my technical terms into value and a story? Thanks Juliet for being a great listener and producing valuable content for our audience.”
Jarbas Horst, Microsoft MVP, Fresh Intranet
What Microsoft asked UK Partners to do about AI
We were in the room at a recent IAMCP event when Microsoft set out what it wants from UK Partners. The message was simple. Pick one customer challenge, solve it and turn the solution into a service. It’s something expert Leahanne Hobson also advised in our recent Original Thinkers interview.
If you don’t have a client project to point to yet, Microsoft says become “customer zero“. Solve the problem inside your own business first, measure what changed, then turn it into a case study you can evidence.
Most AI projects stall on one of four stumbling blocks: cost, skills, pricing or risk. Your content should meet buyers at whichever one is holding them back. We’ve written more about each in a recent blog: If you’re selling Copilot, your content should tackle these four challenges.
Strategy first, always, then the writing
We’re content creators, but the strategy comes first. We’ll help you work out where the market is heading, which problem you’re best placed to own and who needs to hear about it.
Then we write. Original, expert content in your tone of voice, built around the challenges only you and your customers know about. Each piece is focused on one audience and one problem, which is why it lands.
If you need a marketing automation sequence built, we’re the wrong agency. If you need the content to fill it, we’d be glad to help.
Original content in a sea of AI slop
AI has made it easy to “write”. It has also made much of what gets published sound the same. Add the campaign-in-a-box material every Partner can download from the Partner Marketing Center, and buyers are wading through near-identical content. Boring.
Bright Star’s founder, Juliet Stott, trained at the Guardian, and leads a team who learned their trade in national newsrooms including the BBC and ITVX. We interview your consultants, delivery leads and customers, and find the detail nobody has thought to put in the marketing yet. That’s the part AI can’t do for you, and it’s what makes a buyer stop scrolling.
“One of Juliet’s superpowers is getting past the technical details and uncovering the real story. I’ve seen her take complex topics and turn them into something authentic, engaging, and still true to the person’s voice. That’s not easy to do!”
Pat McGown, CEO, Cloudwell, and Microsoft MVP
What Partners tell us after working with us
Clients tell us their sales cycles shorten and prospects convert faster within months of working with us. Most of that work sits under NDA, so we can’t publish the details. But we’re happy to put you in touch with the clients themselves for a reference.
The interviews pay off in another way too. Only a fraction of what your experts and customers tell us makes the final article. The rest is a record of how your customers see your service, in their own words, and it feeds the next campaign, the next service page and your sales conversations.
“My experience is that your well-executed customer interviews also create value beyond the final published article. Not everything discussed in the interviews makes its way into the finished piece, but it still provides a valuable knowledge base and idea repository, offering insights into how users perceive your service or product.”
Jarmo Kuusinen, Advania Finland
Why we choose to stay small
We’re a small agency by design. It keeps us agile, and it means we only take on a handful of clients at a time so we can do the work to the standard we’re proud of.
If you’re serious about adopting and selling AI and are ready to shape your business strategy around it, let’s talk. It starts with a conversation (we’re not into pitch decks).
FAQS
Can we pay for Bright Star’s work with Microsoft Co-op funding?
Yes. Our content packages are Co-op claimable, so for many Partners the work can be funded from marketing development funds you’ve already earned.
How much of our team’s time will this take?
Less than most Partners expect. We usually need up to an hour with each expert per month, whether that’s a consultant, a delivery lead or a customer. A case study with a service page alongside it typically takes up two weeks, depending on how quickly we can get in front of the right people and sign off.
We already use Copilot to write content. Why would we need an agency?
Copilot can draft from what’s already written down. It can’t sit with your delivery lead and ask which assumption turned out to be wrong, or get your customer to tell you what changed after go-live. Those conversations are where the original story comes from.
Do you work with Partners outside the UK?
Yes. We work with MSPs and ISVs across the UK, Europe and North America.
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