PS Financials, part of the IRIS Software Group
PS Financials wanted to create awareness and generate leads from Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) for its financial management solution.
“The campaign delivered exactly what we wanted. A strong thought-leadership piece with plenty of depth from across the industry, resulting in the best prospect list we have had for a long while.”Adam Smith
Due to the academies programme, schools are having to professionalise quickly. Heads must become experts in finance and HR, as well as education, and the CEO of a multi academy trust now has similar responsibilities to those of a CEO in a large business.
As a result, there is a thirst for knowledge to help manage the change. We felt this provided PS Financials with a golden opportunity. Already seen as thought leaders in accountancy, we believed a detailed report which aligned them with the professional management of trusts would position them effectively as advisors to the CEOs and CFOs they were targeting.
By researching the subject, we discovered that many academy trusts were battling with the debate around whether or not to centralise their back-office services or allow their schools more autonomy so they can make their own decisions about what is best for their pupils.
So, we created a report entitled ‘Checks & Balance: Is there an ideal blend of centralisation and autonomy in operating a MAT?’ to examine the issue. It included insight from academy trusts at different stages of the process and other experts in the sector, such as Leora Cruddas, the CEO of the MATs association, The Confederation of School Trusts.
The report provided excellent content for articles we secured in the target media, and quotes from the featured interviewees created engaging social media posts. By placing the report behind a designated sign-up page and promoting it through advertising on social channels, we also enabled PS Financials to generate direct leads from the campaign.
including in the Institute of School Business Leadership’s (ISBL) The Voice, The Confederation of School Trust’s blog and five other targeted outlets
many with links to the report
such as @vicgoddard (23K followers), @UKEdChat (72K followers), @LeoraCruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts and @MidlandsSBM, Chair of ISBL
to PS Financials site
of the report from CFOs in MATs and academy trusts (50% of people who visited the site downloaded the report)
including CFOs and CEOs of trusts
