Steve Feeney

Founder & Director, Essential Marketer and Essential Systems at Essential Systems Ltd

20+ years experience West Midlands Technology, Information and Internet Team of 11-50

Systems analyst turned agency founder, building AI-assisted, client-owned business operating systems that help small firms market better and run smarter

Business Innovator of the Year Award

About Steve

I started my career as a systems analyst at Shell UK Exploration and Production, learning how to map the way a business really works and design systems around it. I then built a finance brokerage from scratch to around 70 staff and £36 million in annual turnover, which taught me how to scale a sales team and a business. For nearly two decades I have run Essential Marketer, helping UK businesses get found online through SEO, Google Ads, Google Maps, AI search and websites. Through our sister company, Essential Systems, I now design and build bespoke Business Operations Systems that connect marketing, sales, operations, finance and reporting in one platform that the client owns. I am also co-founder and Marketing & Systems Director at Unified Energy Group, and I chair a Sunrise Networks business group in Birmingham.

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Proudest achievements

Starting my career as a systems analyst at Shell UK Exploration and Production
Building a finance brokerage from scratch to around 70 staff and £36 million annual turnover
Leading Essential Marketer for nearly two decades, serving more than 1,300 clients
Leading the agency whose purpose-built migration tool helped move Worcester Bosch's website, more than 250,000 elements, to a new platform on time and on budget
Turning Essential Marketer into an AI-first agency with its own marketing tools
Launching Essential Systems' bespoke, client-owned Business Operations Systems, now live in real businesses
Building a team of 15 in Bromsgrove

People's Choice

20 days left to vote

Business Innovator of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

Find Steve online

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Why your vote matters

Please vote for me because I am helping West Midlands businesses get the kind of joined-up systems that used to be available only to big companies. Too many good small firms are held back by spreadsheets, inboxes and software that does not fit how they work. I combine a systems analyst's training, experience of building a 70-person business and nearly two decades in digital marketing to fix that, building bespoke systems that our clients own, with no per-user fees. These systems are already running in real businesses, and my team of 15 is putting the same ideas to work every day. A vote for me is a vote for practical innovation that helps local businesses grow. Thank you.

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People's Choice

20 days left to vote

Business Innovator of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

People's Choice

20 days left to vote

Business Innovator of the Year Award

It takes a few seconds and counts straight away.

Steve's road to the ceremony

Nominated
Nominated on 3 November 2026
People's Choice voteYou are here
20 days left to vote
Shortlist announced
The judges choose the finalists
The awards ceremony
Thursday, 14 January 2027 at TBC, Birmingham

Every vote now carries Steve one step closer to that stage.

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