Take the checklist to your team.
A printable planning checklist: buyers, definitions, proof, channels, the first 90 days and the operating rhythm.
- The six steps with a tick box for each
- A 90-day calendar
- Questions to ask an agency
Why IT services needs its own plan.
Long, committee-led buying
Several people research a service over months. A plan built for one buyer and one click misses most of the people who decide.
Proof counts more than reach
A buyer checking a vendor looks for named results, platform depth and people they can talk to. Impressions do not persuade them.
Sales has to agree on quality
Marketing can raise lead volume and still hand sales leads it will not call. The plan has to fix that first.
Build the plan in this order.
Each step produces something you can write down and check with sales.
1. Name the buyers
List the roles that decide: the executive who owns the budget, the technical lead who judges the work and the buyer who runs the process. Note the problem each one searches for and where they look.
2. Agree what a good lead is
Write down, with sales, what makes a lead acceptable and who follows up within what time. This is the lead-to-SAL definition. See the lead-to-SAL guide.
3. Map the searches
List the searches buyers run by service, industry, platform and problem, and match each to a page that exists or must be written. See SEO for IT services companies.
4. Choose the channels
Use search and AI answers to be found, LinkedIn and Google ads to reach the buyers you named, and email and nurture to stay in front of them until they are ready. See LinkedIn and Google ads.
5. Nurture what arrives
Score leads, send the right follow-up for each role and hand over to sales on the agreed rule. See inbound and lead nurturing.
6. Report the one number
Report leads by source each month, with the share sales accepts, and change the plan where leads stall. See analytics and attribution.
What each channel is for.
Use this to decide where the budget goes first.
| Channel | Its job in the plan | Measure it by |
|---|---|---|
| SEO and GEO | Be the answer when buyers research, in search and in AI assistants | Rankings, organic leads, lead-to-SAL by source |
| LinkedIn and Google ads | Reach named roles and capture buyers who are searching now | Cost per lead and lead-to-SAL by campaign |
| Email and nurture | Keep buyers engaged through a long decision | Engagement, scores and handovers to sales |
| Analytics | Join the channels into one funnel report | Leads from first visit to sales-accepted |
What the order of the steps did for one IT company.
| Company | What changed | Case study |
|---|---|---|
| A top-5 Indian IT company | Lead-to-SAL ratio from 0.22% to 4.12% in 12 months. Leads from SEO were accepted at 4.37%, against 2.12% for search campaigns. | Read the case |
Who you are writing for, role by role.
| Role | What they ask | What they need to see | Best asset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive sponsor (CEO, CIO, COO) | Will this solve a business problem, and is the risk acceptable? | Outcomes, named results, references, commercial clarity | Case study, short summary page, call with a senior person |
| Technical lead (CTO, architect, head of engineering) | Can they actually do it, with our stack? | Platform depth, method, team, tools, security | Service and platform pages, technical articles |
| Buyer (procurement, programme manager) | How do we compare options and manage the engagement? | Engagement models, timelines, how work is governed | Ways-of-working page, FAQ, sample plan |
| Influencer (marketing, sales, finance) | Does it fit our priorities and budget? | Clear scope and a credible plan | Guides, checklists, webinars |
What to have ready before you spend on channels.
- Three named case studies, each with the problem, what you did and numbers.
- Service pages for each offer, written as in the SEO guide.
- Platform and industry pages where you have genuine experience.
- A short, honest "how we work" page with engagement models and what happens first.
- People and credentials, so buyers can see who they would work with.
- A fast, short enquiry form and a defined first step, such as a pipeline review.
Spending on ads before these exist sends buyers to pages that cannot convince them. Build the proof first, then buy the traffic.
A calendar you can start on Monday.
Foundation
Name the buyer roles. Agree lead and SAL definitions with sales. Set up analytics and CRM tracking so every lead carries its source. Audit the site and write the keyword map.
Launch
Fix the highest-impact pages and publish the first articles. Start LinkedIn and Google campaigns on pages that already convince. Build the first nurture track for each role.
Optimise
Review the lead-to-SAL ratio by source. Cut what is not accepted. Move effort to what is. Publish the first monthly report and agree the next quarter.
Order of spend matters more than the split.
There is no single right budget split, and anyone quoting one without knowing your market is guessing. A sequence that works is more useful.
First, measurement and handover. Without them you cannot tell good spend from bad. Second, the pages and proof that convince a buyer. Third, search and AI visibility, which compounds over time. Fourth, paid media on pages that already convert, so you buy traffic that has somewhere good to land. Fifth, nurture, which lifts the value of every lead you already pay for.
Revisit the split each quarter using cost per sales-accepted lead by channel, not cost per click.
Who looks at what, and when.
| Cadence | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Lead handover check: new leads, time to accept, any stuck leads | Marketing and sales operations |
| Monthly | One-page report: leads and SALs by source, cost per SAL, actions | Marketing head, head of sales |
| Quarterly | Review the keyword map, content plan, channel mix and definitions | CMO, sales leadership |
| Annually | Revisit buyers, positioning and proof; plan the year | Leadership team |
Eight questions a CMO should ask.
- Which number will you report? The answer should be sales-accepted leads, not impressions.
- Who will do the work, and who is senior on my account? Ask to meet them.
- Show me a result like mine. Named, with numbers and the time it took.
- How will you work with our sales team? Look for a joint definition and a monthly review.
- What do you need from us? Access, approvals and expert time should be stated up front.
- How do you handle reporting and data? You should own your accounts and data.
- What happens in the first 30 days? You want a clear first step, not a long scoping phase.
- How do you end an engagement? Notice terms and handover, in plain words.
Six ways a plan fails.
Starting with channels
Picking LinkedIn or SEO before naming buyers and defining a good lead means optimising the wrong thing.
Skipping sales
A plan marketing writes alone produces leads sales ignores.
Spending before proof
Ads that land on weak pages waste the budget.
Reporting activity
Posts, clicks and downloads feel productive and prove nothing.
Changing direction monthly
Search and nurture need quarters to show results. Judge them over a quarter.
Ignoring existing leads
Nurture is the cheapest growth available. Many leads already in your database are not ready, not dead.
Take the checklist to your team.
A printable planning checklist: buyers, definitions, proof, channels, the first 90 days and the operating rhythm.
- The six steps with a tick box for each
- A 90-day calendar
- Questions to ask an agency