Finnemore Consulting Ltd

01/11/2026

A successful marketing strategy doesn't have to be complicated, but it does need more than a collection of campaigns and social media posts.

It's easy to get caught up in the activity of marketing without thinking enough about what you're trying to achieve, who you're trying to reach and how you'll know whether it's working.

In our blog, we break down the three essential stages of a marketing strategy and how they fit together to help businesses make better decisions, focus their efforts and get more from their marketing.

Worth a read if you're planning your next campaign or reviewing your approach for the year ahead.

https://finnemoreconsulting.com/the-three-essential-stages-of-a-successful-marketing-strategy-a-simple-guide/

20/10/2026

As a sales professional, you may think that if you have a great product, it will sell itself. However, when it comes to selling to schools, this is simply not the case. While having a high-quality product is important, there are other factors that play a crucial role in successfully selling to schools.


Firstly, it’s important to understand that schools have a unique buying process. Unlike other businesses, schools often have to follow strict purchasing procedures that involve multiple stakeholders. This means that even if a teacher, leader or member of the business team is interested in your product, they may not be able to make a decision on their own. In some cases, they may need to get approval from their head/principal, trust or governors.


Secondly, schools have limited budgets. With so many demands on their resources, schools need to prioritize where they allocate their funds. This means that even if your product is valuable and has the potential to improve student outcomes, schools may not have the budget to invest in it. This is where it becomes crucial to demonstrate the ROI of your product, and how it can help schools achieve their goals.

Thirdly, selling to schools requires building relationships. Schools are often hesitant to work with suppliers that they don’t know or trust. This means that building relationships with key decision-makers is essential to successfully sell to schools. This involves more than just attending conferences and networking events, you need to provide valuable content and resources, build community, and stay in touch with potential customers over time.

Finally, it’s important to understand the needs of schools and tailor your messaging accordingly. For example, schools are often looking for solutions that can help them meet their unique challenges, such as improving student engagement or reducing teacher workload. By understanding these needs, you can tailor your messaging and demonstrate how your product can help schools achieve their goals.

So, while having a great product is important, it’s not enough when selling to schools. To be successful, you need to understand the unique buying process, demonstrate the ROI of your product, build relationships, and tailor your messaging to the needs of schools. Do this well to increase your chances of success.

11/10/2026

Schools don't buy features. They buy solutions to problems.

Yet so much edtech marketing is still packed with technical jargon, product features and complicated explanations of what software can do.

The problem is schools don't always understand why they should care.

They want to know how your product will save time, reduce workload, improve outcomes or make their working day easier.

That's where good messaging makes all the difference.

Our blog explores why edtech businesses fall into the trap of speaking 'solutionese' and how to communicate the value of your products in a way that actually connects with schools.

If you're involved in edtech sales, marketing or product development, it's worth a read.

https://finnemoreconsulting.com/stop-speaking-solutionese-why-edtech-messaging-fails-and-how-to-fix-it/

Most edtech companies don't have a product problem — they have a language problem. Discover how to fix your edtech messaging strategy and speak the language schools actually use.

13/09/2026

If you're struggling to sell to schools, your product might not be the problem.

Sometimes it's the way you're selling it.

Schools aren't typical B2B customers. Their priorities, pressures, buying processes and expectations are different, and sales approaches that work elsewhere can quickly create barriers.

In this blog, we look at 10 things that can damage your chances of winning school business, from focusing on features rather than outcomes to failing to understand how schools actually make decisions.

If you sell edtech to schools, it's worth checking how many of these might be creeping into your approach.

https://finnemoreconsulting.com/the-real-reason-youre-losing-sales-10-things-not-to-do-when-selling-to-schools/

If you're losing sales then it's usually down to these very basic reasons (despite what sales gurus might tell you!):1. You're missing the mark on value.If what you're offering doesn't solve a problem or make life easier for your customers, they're not going to buy. It's as simple as that.

10/09/2026

A good product strategy shouldn't slow you down.

It should help you move faster.

Without a clear strategy, product teams can spend huge amounts of time debating priorities, reacting to individual requests and trying to decide what to build next.

Strategy should make those decisions easier.

It gives you a framework for deciding what matters, what doesn't, and where your time and resources will have the most impact.

Our latest blog looks at the relationship between strategy and action, and why clarity can help edtech businesses make better product decisions and move with more confidence.

https://finnemoreconsulting.com/strategy-vs-action-why-good-product-strategy-should-help-you-move-faster/

Discover why good product strategy should enable faster action, better decisions and clearer priorities, rather than becoming a barrier to progress.

06/09/2026

The next big battle in the school MIS market might not be winning customers.

It might be keeping them.

The latest MIS figures make fascinating reading.

Arbor now has more than half of English schools.

Bromcom continues to grow.

SIMS has fallen from more than 85% of the market a decade ago to around 26% today.

But I think there's a much bigger question hiding behind those numbers:

**Where does the next wave of switching come from?**

For years, there was a large pool of SIMS schools willing to reconsider their MIS.

More than 4,000 schools switched MIS during 2025 alone.

But that pool is getting smaller.

And if more of the market is now sitting with suppliers experiencing much lower churn, the dynamics start to change.

Suddenly, retention matters even more.

So does product development.

Service.

Customer experience.

And finding ways to deliver more value to the schools you already have.

But that's only part of what's changing.

AI could completely change how schools interact with their data.

MIS providers are expanding beyond the traditional boundaries of MIS.

The DfE is becoming much more influential in how academy trusts procure these systems.

And smaller challengers still need to work out how they carve out space in an increasingly consolidated market.

Nick has taken a deep dive into the latest figures and what they could mean for the next phase of the UK school MIS market.

It's well worth a read if you work in MIS, edtech, a MAT – or you're simply interested in where school technology is heading.

**What do you think will define the next five years of the MIS market?**

Switching? Retention? AI? Procurement? Or something else entirely?

https://finnemoreconsulting.com/uk-school-mis-market-2026/

The UK school MIS market is changing fast. We look at Arbor, Bromcom, SIMS, emerging challengers, AI, DfE procurement and what comes next.

31/08/2026

When it comes to edtech, more features don't always mean a better product.

Schools need technology that makes their working day easier, not software that adds more clicks, menus and complexity.

Good user-focused design starts with understanding how people actually work, then removing the friction that gets in their way.

Our latest blog looks at why simplicity matters so much in edtech, and why creating something simple to use can be one of the hardest things to get right.

Read it here:
https://finnemoreconsulting.com/user-focused-design-why-simplicity-is-key-to-success-in-edtech/

Learn why simplicity is key to edtech success. Discover how user-friendly design, streamlined interfaces, and effective onboarding can drive adoption, improve outcomes, and create impactful solutions for schools and local authorities.

19/08/2026

We were privileged to speak with even more edtech and industry thought leaders last term, and the insight they provide us and our community is invaluable.

So thank you Stephen Bilboe, CEO at esenda, for chatting to us about the changing nature of fee collection, the need for modern infrastructure, and what smarter payments could look like in future.

Thanks to Utropolis founder Douglas Hanley for discussing with us the safeguarding challenges that persist in schools, and why many current filtering tools just aren’t up to the job.

It’s great to speak with experts from across the edtech industry so thank you Jodie Lopez (aka The Edtech Ninja) for your wisdom on building trust through honest communication and making sure the tools we create truly support the people who use them.

Thank you to Edtech entrepreneur and headhunter Jim Nicholls ⚡️ for your insight into investor expectations, founder pressures, and the challenge of building sustainable business models in a sector that doesn’t always scale neatly.

Our chat with marketing and strategy guru Chris Bradford, Strategy Director at Bee Digital Ltd, looks at why working in education feels different to other sectors, why purpose can both help and hinder commercial success, and takes a closer look at why many edtech products struggle to land, even when the features look strong on paper.

And finally, we were delighted to welcome teacher and founder of chalkd.ai, Tom Raithby and find out from him what it was really like building a platform without a background in software development, the lessons learned along the way, and the role emerging AI tools played in turning a concept that once felt impossible into a working product.

One of the best parts of producing the series is that every conversation leaves us with a new perspective. We hope you've enjoyed watching them as much as we've enjoyed recording them (you can watch them on our blog, link in the comments).

Thank you for following along, and we'll be back in the new term with more conversations from across the world of edtech.

Hope you're having a great summer 🌞

07/07/2026

Perfection can be one of the biggest barriers to innovation.

In edtech, it's tempting to keep refining a product before releasing it. Another feature. Another round of testing. Another delay.

But while you're waiting for perfection, schools' needs continue to evolve.

This article explores why successful edtech businesses focus on delivering value early, learning from real users, and improving continuously rather than chasing the "perfect" product.

Read more: https://finnemoreconsulting.com/the-pitfalls-of-perfectionism-in-edtech-how-to-avoid-procrastination-and-release-successful-software-products/

The pursuit of perfection can often be a double-edged sword. Perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise - and procrastination will kill a product release stone dead.You see this happen all the time in software, and unfortunately, Edtech is no exception. Companies aim to only release a 100% pe...

23/06/2026

What advice would you give someone launching an edtech business today?

It's a question Nick puts to Tom Raithby from chalkd.ai in our latest chat.

In this clip, his answer covers everything from understanding the problem you're solving, to talking to schools early, to how AI and "vibe coding" are changing what's possible for founders with a good idea.

Something that stood out: it's never been easier to build something . . . but building something schools genuinely need is still the hard part.

The full Q&A episode is available on our blog, link in the comments.