8 Best Ways to Create a Marketing Plan for a Web Development Company

According to Gartner’s annual CMO Spend and Strategy Survey, the average marketing spend climbed from 6.4% of company revenue in 2021 to 9.5% of the same amount in 2022 across almost all industries. Clearly, the online space is expanding, and so is the marketing required for it. A marketing plan serves as a blueprint for advertising and outreach to a specific market. It helps you to grow your reach and increase business through clear planning. Let us learn how to create an effective marketing plan for your web development company.

Right from your goal to the implementation of the devised strategy, we have got you covered. Continue reading to know the steps to get started with the marketing plan and create your online presence.

Different Phases of Your Marketing Plan

1. Pre-Launch Phase

This is the first stage where ideally, you should focus on building your brand, creating a buzz about who you are, what you do and how you can help your target audience. Here you are preheating for the entire launch phase by giving little sneak peeks and creating curiosity. Here’s what you can do during this phase: 

i) Increase brand awareness through social media marketing.

Your target audience is bound to be active on various social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Start with creating relatable content, showcasing your brand name and services. At this stage, don’t focus on conversions; simply concentrate on building an audience who can, later on, become your client.

ii) Create an appealing website.

When offering web development services, naturally, you need to have an optimised website of your own. This will serve as the biggest proof of your credibility. Portray your services and working process, and ensure you have an outstanding landing page optimised for leads and conversions.

iii) Promote the best posts to reach the target audience.

Once you have started putting out content, there will be some posts that will outperform others. Since you know it’s already working, leverage such posts to reach a wider audience through paid marketing.

iv) Introduce early bird deals and offers and other pre-launch discounts.

Nothing appeals to any customer more than attractive discounts. Further, you can also provide additional services as a bonus along with basic ones.

2. Launch Phase

In the 2nd stage, your core mission should be to put yourself in front of as many potential clients as possible by illustrating your services, how they can benefit from them, and so on. This is the most rigorous phrase, as you’ll be actively doing work like the following.

i) Curate content buckets.

This is the real work part of the marketing plan, where you define the type and amount of content you need to create and deliver. Make sure the content fits the platform in terms of format, topics, and styles. With these elements figured out, you’ll have a roadmap to best plan and execute your content and level up your marketing game. 

The key is to study the market trend and act accordingly. To give you an idea, motion content such as Instagram reels, youtube shorts, etc., are working great when it comes to capturing audience attention. In fact, according to 87% of marketers who use video, their websites are seeing more visitors. Similarly, valuable and SEO-optimised blogs help your website rank better on search engines.

As a web development company, your blog posts should revolve around how setting up online websites can help small and medium businesses to scale up, how one should get started with it, how to tackle the challenges on the way, and to get in touch with the right company to help you through this, and so on. The commercial value of a blog visit can improve by 429% with search engine optimisation, so make sure you leverage it.

You can attempt to develop and foster stronger relationships with your leads. The goal is to produce high-quality and better content that serves your audience.

ii) Create desire.

Reiterate the values and services, create desire in potential customers, and convert them into leads. Based on the AIDA model, you can grab the attention and interest in the pre-launch phase and then create a desire here, making them act. You can create a sense of urgency to make things happen efficiently and effectively. 

iii) Actively engage and interact.

Since your primary goal is to expand your audience reach and make them aware of your services, you will need to network with them. It can be done on any platform by sharing your knowledge and how you can help them with their pain points and slowly build a network. 

iv) Use paid marketing.

Even if increasing organic search volume may be the aim, SEO takes time to provide results. Using paid advertising, you may attract more of your target audience to your website, where your content marketing efforts and other digital marketing strategy components will help you convert them. This includes pay-per-click ads, pop-up ads, display ads, video ads, social media ads, retargeting, and more.

3. Post-launch Phase

After the 2 stages, you will already have the attention of your target audience. This means that now, your aim should be to serve them with insightful content, provide them with value, and consistently engage with them. Simultaneously, you will also ensure that your audience expands through previous and present content. The following can be done during this stage:

i) Use social proof and testimonials.

We always look for reviews while purchasing anything online. Don’t we? The same goes for other businesses as well. Building trust is one of the finest ways to show your credibility and gain more traffic and clients, and asking for testimonials does precisely that. In case of a website audit, you can also put before and after proofs along with the results it brought. Put them on your website and other social media platforms where your audience interacts the most to sound authentic. 

ii) Interact and take feedback.

It’s always a good idea to ask your clients what they liked the most and what they wish to be better in your services. You can do so by sending a feedback form and actively taking action on receiving constructive feedback. Feedback is crucial for you as it comes directly from the user and can help you improve your services.

iii) Track your website traffic and leads.

Keep an eye on the metrics during the pre-launch and post-launch phrases, and look at how your audience responds. Double down if it’s going according to your plan. If not, see what went wrong and make tweaks if needed.

Also read: Website Development Process: Building an Online Presence with Success

Marketing plan for a web development company

1. Define Your Target Audience:

Create a successful marketing plan for your web development company by first identifying who your target audience is. This includes determining their demographics (age, gender, income, education level), geographic location, psychographic characteristics (values, attitudes, interests), and behavioural patterns (what they search for and how they make purchasing decisions). With this knowledge in hand, you can craft targeted campaigns that speak directly to ideal customers’ needs and desires.

2. Create a Website:

As a web development company, your website is your most effective marketing tool. It should be visually appealing, user-friendly and optimized for search engines. Make sure it includes clear calls-to-action, an online portfolio showcasing previous work and testimonials from satisfied clients. Furthermore, ensure it’s optimized for mobile devices since more and more people are accessing the internet from smartphones or tablets.

3. Content Marketing:

Content marketing is an effective way to position your company as a thought leader in web development and build trust with potential customers. Create a content marketing strategy that includes blog posts, videos, infographics, social media posts and other formats that are informative, captivating and shareable. Make sure all of your material is optimized for search engines and focused on topics pertinent to your target audience.

4. Search Engine Optimisation:

SEO is the process of optimising your website and content to rank higher on SERPs (search engine results pages). This is essential since most people rely on search engines like Google to locate products and services online. To optimise your site for SEO, identify relevant keywords and phrases, incorporate them strategically into content and metadata, as well as build high-quality backlinks from trustworthy websites.

5. Social Media Marketing:

Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn offer great opportunities for connecting with potential customers, sharing your content and growing a following. Create an effective social media strategy that includes creating captivating posts, responding to comments and messages and running paid advertisements in order to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, you can use these networks to cultivate relationships with influential influencers within your industry.

6. Email Marketing:

Email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with your subscribers and keep them updated about your services. Create an email list of interested prospects, then send personalized, engaging campaigns that are pertinent and timely for the recipients. Use email marketing as a tool to nurture leads into paying customers by nurturing existing ones.

7. Networking:

Networking is an excellent way to form connections with other professionals in the web development industry and generate leads. Attend industry events, conferences, and meetups to build relationships, learn about new trends and technologies, and display your expertise. Look for chances to speak or present at these events so that you can build credibility and generate buzz about your services.

8. Referral Marketing:

Referral marketing is an effective way to generate new leads and customers through word-of-mouth advertising. Incentivise satisfied customers to refer their friends and colleagues to your company by offering incentives like discounts or free services as incentives for referrals. Ensure to follow up promptly with referred leads, providing exceptional service in order to build trust and loyalty between all parties involved.

Final words

Going digital can be daunting, but things can go smoothly if you have the right team to guide you through. Feel free to connect with EMB Global to create your digital presence and get a personalised solution for your business.

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