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Marketing Brief

PreviousNext

The current marketing direction for balqalam — what we sell, what it costs, what you may and may not claim, and the deliverable queue. Supersedes older strategy pages.

This page is the starting point for marketing. It tells you what we sell, what we charge, what you are allowed to claim, and what to build first. Everything else in these docs is depth you can reach for once you've read this.

Pages written before August 2026 call the product Hogwarts, describe it as open source, and say we do not buy ads. The name is now balqalam and the direction has changed. Where this page disagrees with another page, this page wins. The older pages are still correct about how the product works — only their strategy is out of date.

The direction

Set by Abobakar, August 2026. Read this before you plan anything.

  • Cash first. Every effort and every cost must bring a new school, keep an existing one, or generate a lead. If it does none of those, stop doing it.
  • The name is balqalam (بالقلم), on balqalam.com. Not Hogwarts.
  • We are no longer positioning as open source. Do not lead with the repo, the licence, or the community.
  • Paid ads are on. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok — pages first, then paid. Older pages say we don't buy ads until 2027. That is void.
  • The goal is one irresistible offer, two pages long, built from the real fears schools have.
  • One link holding everything a school owner, a parent, or an investor needs — plus a printable version of the same thing.
  • Two videos.

What balqalam is

A school runs its whole operation on it. Admissions, students, classes, timetable, attendance, exams and report cards, fees, parents, messaging — one system, in Arabic, with every school's data separated from every other school's.

Arabic is the default language, not a translation layer added later. That matters more than it sounds: it is the reason a school in Khartoum or Riyadh can use it on day one without an English-speaking administrator.

What a school getsIn plain terms
AdmissionsParents apply on the school's own web address, and check their status later without making an account. Documents are read and sorted automatically. One click turns an accepted applicant into an enrolled student.
AttendanceRegister in seconds. Absence letters, excuses and follow-up happen on their own.
Exams & gradesSchedule exams, build papers that print properly in Arabic, mark them, and produce report cards and transcripts. Certificates carry a code anyone can verify online.
Fees & financeFee plans with instalments, invoices, receipts, refunds, discounts and scholarships — and real bookkeeping underneath.
TimetableDrag periods into place. It refuses to double-book a teacher or a room.
Parent portalA parent opens their phone and sees attendance, grades, report cards, fees and messages for each child.
MessagingAnnouncements to the whole school or one class, real-time chat, and WhatsApp delivery.
Online coursesLessons, video, progress tracking, completion certificates.
TransportRoutes and stops, with parents notified when a child boards and gets off.
LibraryCatalogue and borrowing.
SetupThe school sends the Excel list it already keeps. We do the rest — same day. Arabic column headers are fine.
Regulator reportingDaily attendance submission to Abu Dhabi's ADEK, and the 2-hour parent-contact rule handled automatically.
Staff & payroll partialStaff records, salaries, payslips and timesheets exist, but this is not our strongest area. Lead with fees, mention payroll second.

The regulator line is worth your attention. No competitor we have studied submits attendance to a regulator automatically. It is the single hardest thing for anyone to copy, and it is currently mentioned almost nowhere in our marketing.

Depth on any of these: what actually exists, feature by feature.

What it costs

PlanPriceFor
Free$0 foreverUp to 100 students and 10 teachers. Real product, not a trial.
Pro$1.50 per student / month, minimum $30/monthUnlimited students and teachers. 20% off if paid yearly.
Enterprise$1.00 per student / month1,000+ students, custom quoted.

There is also a 14-day trial of Pro with no card required.

The MENA-10 pilot is a separate thing — never mix it with the price list. Ten schools, six months completely free on the live product with full support, in exchange for weekly feedback and permission to publish their story. It converts afterwards at $1.05 per student per month. One slot is taken.

Two things to hold onto:

  • The $30/month floor is real. A 40-student school on Pro pays $30, not $60. This page is the only doc that says so — the number lives in the pricing code.
  • Self-serve online checkout is not open yet. Every ad and every post must end in book a demo, message us on WhatsApp, or apply for a pilot. Never "buy now".

Claims — read this before you write anything

Safe to cite

ClaimNumber
Features a school can use~28 capability areas, ~60 listed on the features page
Application screens356
Database tables behind it326
Arabic vs English coverage2,247 Arabic strings, 2,243 English — Arabic is the default
Codebase4,912 source files, 52 automated test suites
Schools liveOne signed pilot: King Fahad Schools, Khartoum — live in production, free for six months
Anyone can try it nowdemo.databayt.org/en/dashboard — password 1234, as admin@ / teacher@ / student@ / parent@balqalam.com

King Fahad Schools is the only school we may name publicly. Every other school in our pipeline requires written consent before its name appears anywhere. Ask before you type a school name.

Never claim

Each of these appears somewhere in our own material and is wrong, unmeasured, or not built. The right-hand column is what to write instead.

Do not saySay this instead
"80% time saved", "60% cost reduction", "25% more enrolment", "99.9% uptime"Nothing. These are placeholders nobody measured. Describe what the software does instead of what it achieves.
"Our paying customers…""Our pilot school." We have no paying customers yet.
"Saves 30 admin hours a month""The register takes seconds instead of a paper round." Describe the task, not a figure.
"12,000 students across 8 schools""One school live, nine pilot slots open."
"Hijri calendar support"Nothing — it does not exist.
"Works offline""Built for slow connections." A true offline mode is planned, not shipped.
"Download our app""Opens in any browser and installs to your phone's home screen." There is no app-store app.
"Advanced analytics""Reports on attendance, grades and fees." The analytics dashboard isn't finished.
"Six payment gateways""Records cash, bank transfer and card payments in one place. Online card payments are live through Stripe; local rails are being added."

If you want a number that isn't in the safe list, ask before you publish it. A school owner who catches one invented figure stops believing the rest.

What you have to show

AssetWhereState
~60 product screenshots, Arabic interfacehogwarts repo root — demo-dashboard-ar.png, ar-pricing.png, attendance-*.png, profile-*-ar.pngRaw, usable today
Public demo anyone can log intodemo.databayt.orgLive
A real school running on itKing Fahad SchoolsLive
Screenshot pack, cropped and branded—You need to make this
Two-minute demo video—You need to make this
Arabic and English taglines—You need to choose these — see below

Competitors

The study is already done and it is good — 356 lines, checked in August 2026, plus a full teardown of twenty competitor homepages and a bank of every question a school asks. Read it rather than starting again.

Two findings that should change how you write:

Arabic-first is real competition here, not a gap. Madrasati, Noon, Edraak and Alef all render Arabic correctly. Our Arabic advantage holds against global systems and against ported foreign software — it does not hold against Classera or Alef. In those rooms, lead with architecture and price, not with "we support Arabic."

Free national platforms set the floor. In Saudi, "Madrasati is free" is the first objection. The answer is administration — fees, payroll, transport, admissions — which national learning platforms do not do.

Competitors

Who you meet in a real deal, the battle card, and a feature-by-feature comparison.

Objections & fears

Every question a school brings to an evaluation, with the answer. Your raw material.

Competitor landing pages

Twenty competitor homepages taken apart — headlines, proof, CTAs. Copywriting reference.

The pilot offer

What a pilot school actually receives, written in plain language.

What to build, in order

Abobakar's list, sequenced so each item feeds the next. Two of them are mostly done already.

#DeliverableBuild it fromWhere it standsDo this first
1Competitor studyAlready writtenDoneRead the battle card. Don't rebuild it.
2Objection bankThe FAQ page — around 45 questions across 15 categories~80% done, in EnglishPick your top three (below), rewrite those in Arabic.
3Two-page offerObjections + pilot page + the price listNot startedPage 1: what they get. Page 2: their three biggest fears, answered.
4The one linkThe offer + the proof assetsNot startedDecide the single main button first.
5Printed versionThe same content as the linkNot startedExport the link to PDF. Don't write it twice.
6Two videosScreenshots + the demo loginNot startedVideo 1: two-minute tour. Video 2: sixty-second offer.
7Facebook / Instagram / TikTok pagesTaglines + logo + screenshotsNot startedBlocked until the taglines are chosen.
8Paid adsEverything aboveNot startedLast. Ads pointing at nothing waste money.

Your turn

Below is a first draft of the decisions, not a blank form. Disagree with it — that's faster than starting from nothing. Copy this section into your own document and change what you want.

Pick a tagline

It has to land on a school owner in three seconds. No "platform", no "solution", no "digital transformation".

ArabicEnglish
Aالمدرسة كلها في مكان واحدThe whole school, in one place
Bمن الدفتر إلى بالقلمFrom the ledger to balqalam
Cالقبول والحضور والرسوم في شاشة واحدةAdmissions, attendance, fees — one screen

My vote is A for the pages and C for ads, because C names the three things an owner is actually paying someone to do. B is the cleverest and the riskiest — it only works if people already know the name.

The three fears to build the offer around

These are the six Abobakar listed, ranked by what actually stops a sale. Change the ranking if you disagree — whatever you put in the top three becomes the second page of the offer and the first three ad sets.

RankThe fearWhat answers it
1It costs too much / free alternatives existFree forever under 100 students. $30/month for a small school. Six months free on the pilot. And: free national platforms don't do fees, payroll or admissions.
2When and how do we start? We can't handle a migration.They send the Excel file they already have. We do everything else. Running the same day. Arabic column headers are fine. This is our strongest answer — it turns their biggest fear into our biggest advantage.
3What if you disappear?Every record exports to CSV or JSON at any moment. No lock-in, no hostage data.
4Security and privacyEach school's data is separated. Worth knowing: a large US competitor leaked around 60 million student records in 2025 — schools are asking this now.
5Who supports us?Direct support during the pilot, from the people who built it.
6What about parents and students?Parents see everything on their phone. Applicants check their status without an account. This is usually excitement, not fear — use it as a closing line, not an objection.

Your first ten posts

Drafted around the top three fears. Arabic unless marked. Adjust freely.

#WhereThe fear it answersWhat to show
1FacebookStart / migrationScreenshot: a populated dashboard. "Your school, running today. You send the Excel file — we do the rest."
2InstagramCostThe price card. "Under 100 students? Free. Forever."
3TikTokStart / migration30-second screen recording: Excel file in, full school out.
4FacebookParentsThe parent phone view. "Every parent, every child, one screen."
5InstagramTrustThe King Fahad Schools story — a real school, named with permission.
6TikTokFeesInvoice and receipt generated on screen. "Fees without the notebook."
7FacebookDisappearing"Export everything, any time. Your data was always yours."
8InstagramProductArabic report card printing. "Papers and reports that print properly in Arabic."
9TikTokAttendanceRegister taken in seconds.
10Facebook + InstagramOfferThe two-page offer as a carousel, ending in a demo booking.

Five decisions only you can make

  1. How much per month on ads, and which platform first? No budget is set. The old ≤$200 cap is void.
  2. Arabic only, or Arabic and English? The product's default is Arabic. Two languages doubles the production work.
  3. Which country first — Sudan, Saudi, or UAE? This changes who you're arguing against. In Saudi it's Madrasati and Classera; in the UAE the regulator story is the lead.
  4. Who appears on camera? Both videos are blocked until this is answered.
  5. What is the single main button on the one link — book a demo, apply for a pilot, or WhatsApp us? Only one can be primary.

Which of these docs to trust

StatusPagesHow to read them
Trust as-ispilot, competitors and its two sub-pages, mvp, case-study, outreach, proposal, business-modelCurrent and useful.
Out of date on strategymarketing, gtmThe product facts are fine. Ignore the channels, the budget, the phases, and anything saying we don't buy ads.
Trust with one caveattractionIt is the approved list of numbers, but it was last checked in May 2026 and it calls King Fahad a "paying pilot". The pilot is free. Revenue is zero.

Every doc worth your time

Grouped by what you're trying to do, with lengths so you know what you're committing to. You do not need to read all of this — most of it is a reference you open once, for one answer.

If you read only three

DocLengthWhy this one
Pilot program43The clearest thing anyone here has written. This is how to explain the offer to a school owner. Steal its tone.
Objections & fears627Around 45 real questions schools ask, across 15 categories, each with an answer. Your two-page offer comes out of this.
What actually exists22714 areas of the product with honest maturity badges. Check here before you promise anything.

Ready-made copy you can use today

DocLengthWhat's in it
Admission spotlight128A finished bilingual social copy kit for the admissions module — hero posts, Arabic and English, ready to ship. Start here rather than from a blank page.
Outreach templates53119 copy-pasteable emails and DMs. Written for investors and partners, but the structure transfers to schools.
Proposals213Templates for a free pilot, a paid conversion, and a government deal.
Competitor landing pages237Twenty competitor homepages taken apart — their headlines, proof bands, CTAs, and pricing transparency. The best copywriting reference we own.

Understand the product

DocLengthOpen it when
MVP status227You need to know whether something is actually shipped.
Live demo77You want the logins to record a screen capture or show someone.
Regulator compliance109You're writing for the UAE. This is our strongest and least-used differentiator — automatic daily attendance submission to ADEK. No competitor does it.
Onboarding wizard152You're describing how a school gets set up.
Roadmap80Someone asks "will it do X soon?"

Understand the money and the market

DocLengthOpen it when
Business model151You need pricing logic, unit economics, or market size. Note the price list on this page is the current one.
Traction106You need a number. Read the caveat in the table above first.
Competitors356Before any campaign in a new country. The battle card near the end is the part to memorise.
Leads168You want to know how a lead is defined and what happens after someone fills a form.
Case studies139Before naming any school. It carries the consent rules.

Selling and pitching

DocLengthOpen it when
Sales plan167You want to see the sales checklist marketing feeds.
Pitch218You need the short version of the story, routed by who's listening.
Investor deck170Only if you're asked for investor material. Not your lane.

Read these knowing they're off-message

Still on the site, still linked, but written under the old direction. Useful for product facts, misleading on strategy.

DocWhy it's off-message
MarketingPositions us as open source. Caps the budget at $200/month. Says we don't buy ads.
Go-to-marketSays no paid acquisition until 2027 and tells you to stop if you try.
Shared economyThe contribution and community model. We are no longer leading with this.
Introduction and HogwartsBoth open with "open-source" and the old name.

If a page you need doesn't exist, or one of these turns out to be wrong, say so rather than working around it. Most of these were written for engineers or investors — you are the first person reading them to sell.

Block ReboundSales

On This Page

The directionWhat balqalam isWhat it costsClaims — read this before you write anythingSafe to citeNever claimWhat you have to showCompetitorsWhat to build, in orderYour turnPick a taglineThe three fears to build the offer aroundYour first ten postsFive decisions only you can makeWhich of these docs to trustEvery doc worth your timeIf you read only threeReady-made copy you can use todayUnderstand the productUnderstand the money and the marketSelling and pitchingRead these knowing they're off-message

Built by Databayt ·

Welcome to balqalam.

A great journey is about to begin.