W. van Tuinen | Digital Marketing Consultancy

Engagement: 90-day digital marketing roadmap
Client Type: Founder-led startup
Stage: Launch phase
Market: Ireland
Objective: Translate a trust-led marketing strategy into an executable, sustainable launch plan

Why a 90-Day Plan Was Critical

For beginning companies, marketing failure doesn’t usually come from bad ideas—it comes from burnout, inconsistency, and misaligned expectations.

The client did not need:

  • more channels
  • aggressive launch tactics
  • or short-term traffic spikes

They needed a plan that:

  • matched operational reality
  • respected long decision cycles
  • and built trust before asking for commitment

The 90-day roadmap was designed to do exactly that.

Ground-Laying Before “Marketing” Began

Before any content was published, the first phase focused on preventing wasted effort later.

This included:

  • Clear internal alignment on:
    • primary audience
    • core promise
    • explicit non-goals (e.g. not competing with large competitors)
  • Defining a sustainable weekly cadence, not an aspirational one
  • Reducing friction by standardising:
    • filming format
    • location
    • editing style

At the same time, the necessary trust infrastructure was put in place:

  • A minimum-viable website focused on clarity and transparency
  • Basic analytics and event tracking
  • GDPR-compliant consent
  • An email system set up but intentionally kept dormant

Rule: No consistent publishing until this foundation was complete.

Phase 1 (Weeks 1–4): Awareness & Category Creation

Goal: Help people recognise the problem before offering a solution.

At launch, the audience was not actively searching for this service.
The first priority was making uncertainty feel normal and showing that independent help exists.

Execution focused on:

  • Short-form educational video content
  • Real-world examples and insight
  • Zero hard selling

Content addressed:

  • common buying mistakes
  • misunderstood signals
  • early trust framing

This phase was framed explicitly as brand building, not lead generation.

Phase 2 (Weeks 5–8): Trust, Process & Credibility

Goal: Make the service feel real, selective, and competent.

Once familiarity existed, the focus shifted to process transparency.

Content and site updates demonstrated:

  • how inspections actually work
  • what gets rejected (and why)
  • realistic timelines and expectations
  • clear boundaries around who the service is (and is not) for

This phase reinforced a key positioning point:

Trust is built through clarity and selectiveness, not persuasion.

Email was activated during this phase to support longer consideration cycles with educational content rather than offers.

Phase 3 (Weeks 9–12): Conversion Readiness (Without Pressure)

Goal: Reduce hesitation, not push urgency.

By this point, trust had been established.
The role of marketing shifted to helping people decide confidently.

Focus areas included:

  • when the service is and is not worth it
  • honest discussion of pricing and value
  • explaining warranties, limitations, and follow-on support
  • addressing common buyer regrets before they happen

Website updates clarified:

  • pricing logic
  • suitability criteria
  • expectations post-purchase

The result was a system designed to attract better-fit enquiries, not more enquiries.

Phase 4: System Hardening & Paid Readiness

Goal: Stabilise before scaling.

Rather than adding more output, this phase focused on:

  • identifying the highest-performing content
  • analysing real questions and objections
  • defining what a “qualified enquiry” actually looks like
  • preparing PPC keywords, ads, and landing pages—without spending yet

This ensured that any future paid activity would be grounded in real-world signal, not assumptions.

Beyond the First 90 Days: Focus, Efficiency, and Leverage

After launch, the roadmap shifted from expansion to depth.

Planned next steps included:

  • doubling down on the top-performing 20% of content
  • refining website language using real enquiries
  • building a structured email education sequence
  • selectively activating paid search for problem-aware intent

Longer term, the plan aligned marketing with lifetime value expansion, introducing:

  • maintenance-related follow-ups
  • yearly appointments
  • ongoing advisory framing

The goal was not more traffic—but more value per customer.

Outcome

The 90-day roadmap gave the client:

  • A realistic launch plan that matched capacity
  • A clear sequencing of awareness → trust → conversion
  • Marketing systems designed to compound, not spike
  • A foundation for sustainable acquisition and repeat value

Rather than treating marketing as a campaign, it was positioned as an operational system.

What This Demonstrates About My Work

This roadmap reflects how I approach execution:

  • Strategy translated into concrete weekly action
  • Trust built intentionally over time
  • No channel added without a clear role
  • Marketing designed to support the business model—not fight it

This is the level of planning I bring to every engagement.