1. What’s the quick origin story of your brand, and what makes your product or positioning genuinely different from other options in your niche?

Mark Friend : I co-founded Classroom365 in 2021 after nearly 30 years in tech, watching UK schools get oversold complex IT they couldn’t understand. We built something straightforward, relationship-first IT support, spoken in plain English, not tech-babble. We’re also one of only 50 approved suppliers on the Crown Commercial Service TePAS 2 framework, so schools can procure through us without the usual red tape. That combination of human service and government-backed credibility is what sets us apart.

2. Since launch, what have been the 1-2 real turning points for your brand-specific decisions, pivots, or experiments that noticeably changed your growth or profitability-and what did you learn from them?

Mark Friend : The first real turning point was getting onto the Crown Commercial Service TePAS 2 framework, which meant schools could procure from us without jumping through hoops and opened doors we couldn’t knock on before. The second was a deliberate decision to stop chasing every type of client and go all-in on education only, saying no to some easy revenue early on. That focus paid off though, because schools talk to each other and word-of-mouth became our biggest growth driver almost overnight. What I learned is that niching down feels scary at first, but it’s actually what builds real trust and a reputation that sticks.

3. Which 2-3 channels drive most of your revenue right now (for example SEO, paid social, email, marketplaces, influencers), and what have you learned about making those channels work in your category?

Mark Friend : Honestly, word-of-mouth has been our number one channel since day one. Schools are tight-knit communities. When a headteacher sees their neighbour school’s IT running smoothly, they ask who’s behind it. That referral loop is something no paid ad can replicate.

The second channel is our presence on government procurement frameworks, specifically the Crown Commercial Service TePAS 2. It’s not a “channel” in the traditional marketing sense, but it puts us in front of budget holders who are already looking to spend. So the sales conversation starts from a much warmer place.

SEO and content have become our third real driver. I write practical, plain-English guides for school business managers and headteachers, stuff like what to look for in a school laptop, or how to read a cyber security audit. Those articles bring in people who are already trying to solve a problem, which means they’re halfway convinced before they even pick up the phone.

What I’ve learned across all three is this. In education, trust is the product. You can’t rush it with a flashy campaign or a discount code. You earn it by showing up consistently, speaking plainly, and actually delivering what you promised.

4. How are you thinking about search in 2026 – Google, AI assistants like ChatGPT, and other discovery platforms? What, if anything, have you changed in your content or site to stay visible as AI search grows?

Mark Friend : Search in 2026 looks nothing like it did even two years ago. When a school business manager types a question into Google now, half the time they get an AI-generated answer at the top before they ever see a single website. That’s a big shift, and ignoring it would be a mistake.

What we’ve changed is how we write. Plain-English, question-and-answer style content works better now than it ever did. Not because we’re gaming an algorithm, but because that’s exactly how AI assistants pull and surface information. If your content answers a real question clearly, you’ve got a shot at being the source it references.

We’ve also stopped obsessing over keyword density and started thinking about authority. I mean, who is actually trusted to answer this question? That’s what AI search is trying to figure out. So we focus on demonstrating genuine expertise through specific, experience-backed content rather than generic “top tips” fluff.

The honest truth is that AI discovery platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are sending us traffic we didn’t have before. School staff are asking these tools things like “who provides IT support for primary schools in the UK” and our name is coming up. That tells me the content strategy is working. The lesson is simple. Write for humans first, be specific, and the algorithms follow.

5. What do you do to turn first‑time buyers into repeat customers and advocates? Are there specific experiences, content, or community touches that work especially well for you?

Mark Friend : Although we’re a services business rather than a product one, the retention principle is identical. The moment a school signs with us, we make sure the first 90 days feel noticeably different from every IT supplier they’ve dealt with before, plain communication, fast response, and no jargon. That early experience is what turns a client into an advocate, because when a headteacher mentions us in a staff meeting or at a local authority networking event, that’s worth more than any follow-up email sequence. We don’t have a formal community programme, but we’ve found that simply being the company that always picks up the phone is the most powerful retention tool we’ve got.

6. If you had to write a short playbook for an ecommerce founder one stage behind you, what would you double down on over the next 12 months – and what would you stop doing entirely?

Mark Friend : Although we’re a B2B services company rather than a traditional ecommerce operation, the fundamentals aren’t that far apart. Stop trying to be everywhere at once and pick the one channel where your best customers already trust what they find. Double down on content that answers the exact question your buyer is googling at 9pm when nobody’s watching. And stop spending on ads before word-of-mouth is working, because in any niche market, reputation always outspends budget.