Software dev marketing · MDC® System

The Software Development Marketing Agency for Studios That Want Funded Briefs

“How much for an app?” isn’t a pipeline. We put your studio in front of the founders, product leaders and operations heads who have budget, a real problem and a reason to build now.

✓3rd party data on product & tech leaders
✓A paid discovery offer, not a free quote
✓4K case study video with your clients
✓Email & SMS follow-up on every proposal
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Who’s enquiring

Three briefs land in your inbox. They need three different answers.

Software development marketing that treats every enquiry the same ends up with a sales team scoping ideas that were never going to be funded.

Early stage

The founder with an idea

Often non-technical, comparing you with freelancers and offshore teams, budget unclear. Some become great long-term clients. Most need a smaller first step before they need a build team.

Capacity

The scale-up with a roadmap

A product or engineering lead with more roadmap than people. They want a team that slots into their process, ships on time and doesn’t need hand-holding.

Internal systems

The business outgrowing spreadsheets

An operations head or GM whose processes run on spreadsheets and a legacy system. They buy fewer errors and hours back, and they rarely search for “software developer”.

How most studios sell

A portfolio and a contact form

✕A tech-stack list that means nothing to the person with the budget
✕“Get a free quote” on an unscoped idea
✕Marketplace and directory leads priced against overseas hourly rates
✕Growth that depends on the founders’ network
What we’d build instead

A sales system for custom work

✓3rd party B2B data on product, engineering and operations leaders
✓Ads built around the business problem, not the framework
✓A clear, paid first step that filters out tyre-kickers
✓Your clients on camera explaining what changed
Who commissions a build

The roles behind a custom software budget

We target each role by job title and industry with 3rd party B2B data, and give each one a landing page that speaks to their version of the problem.

Your development studio
Hired after a scoping conversation, kept if the first release lands
Owns delivery

CTOs & heads of engineering

Want extra senior capacity, code they won’t have to rewrite and a team that works inside their standards.

Owns the roadmap

Product managers & owners

Care about shipping the next release and keeping stakeholders happy. They judge you on communication as much as code.

Owns the process

Operations managers & GMs

Have a process that breaks every month. They need someone to translate it into a system, in plain English.

Owns the idea

Founders & venture leads

Funded startups and corporate innovation teams who need an MVP built properly, with a path to an in-house team later.

Transferable example · BrightPath AI Solutions

What we built for a technical consultancy, and how it maps to a dev studio

We haven’t published a software development case study. BrightPath AI Solutions is the closest: it wanted to position itself as the go-to AI consulting partner for mid-market firms. Like a dev studio, it sells technical expertise to business leaders. No figures are published for this project, so here’s the work, not numbers.

The offer

BrightPath: we built their offer

For a dev studio, that means turning “we build software” into something a buyer can say yes to: a fixed-scope discovery sprint, an MVP package or a legacy-system rebuild with a defined first stage.

The media

BrightPath: 4K sales and case study media

For a dev studio, that’s your clients explaining the problem you solved, and your developers showing how they work. Far more convincing than another screenshot gallery.

The follow-up

BrightPath: SMS and email nurture on every enquiry

For a dev studio, the same follow-up runs after scoping calls and proposals, where custom work often stalls while the client “checks with the board”.

Read the BrightPath AI Solutions case study →

Creative

Ads that sell the outcome of the build

Angles we’d test, not past campaigns. Each is aimed at one role and one problem. Which ones run depends on what we hear from your team and the clients you’d most like more of.

Your Dev Studio
Sponsored

Your quoting process runs on four spreadsheets and one person’s memory. That’s a system waiting to be built.

Client ops manager on camera, before and after · 4K · 9:16
Audience: operations managers & GMs (3rd party data)
Angle: name the process that keeps breaking
Your Dev Studio
Sponsored

Roadmap slipping? Senior developers who join your sprint on Monday.

Team stand-up, filmed in your office · 1:1 feed
Audience: CTOs & heads of engineering
Angle: capacity without a hiring round
Your Dev Studio
Sponsored

Before you build the whole thing: a two-week discovery sprint with a fixed price.

Workshop footage and the deliverables pack · short video
Audience: founders & innovation leads
Angle: a safe first step
Brief to build

How an enquiry turns into a signed statement of work

Custom software is a high-trust, high-value sale. The process below protects your senior people’s time and moves serious buyers forward.

Step 1

A brief with context

The form asks what they’re building, the budget band, the timeline and who signs off, so you know which conversations need a principal.

Step 2

Scoping call booked

Qualified briefs book straight into a calendar. The enquiry goes to whoever scopes by SMS and into the CRM.

Step 3

Paid discovery

A defined first engagement that produces a plan, an estimate and a working relationship before anyone commits to the full build.

Step 4

Proposal nurture

Email and SMS after the proposal: a relevant case study, answers on IP and handover, and a nudge when the decision date passes.

Sent elsewhere, politely:Ideas with no budget yet“Clone this app” requestsStudents after work experienceAgencies wanting white-label rates
FAQ

Software development marketing questions

What does a software development marketing agency do?

It brings your studio briefs from businesses with a real problem and the budget to solve it. For us that means researching what your best clients were struggling with before they hired you, targeting product, engineering and operations leaders with 3rd party B2B data, producing client and team video, building a landing page for each type of engagement, and following up every scoping call and proposal.

How do we stop getting “how much for an app?” enquiries?

Change who sees the ad and what it offers. Ads aimed at operations and product leaders by role bring in different people from ads shown to anyone interested in apps. Then replace “free quote” with a defined first step and ask budget and timeline questions on the form. Some early-stage founders will still come through, and a clear discovery offer gives them a sensible place to start.

Should a dev studio charge for discovery?

Many do, and it often improves lead quality. A paid, fixed-scope discovery phase filters out people who aren’t ready, gives the client something useful even if they don’t proceed, and lets both sides test the relationship before a large build. It’s also a much easier thing to advertise than an open-ended project.

How can we compete with offshore developers on price?

Mostly by not competing on hourly rate. Target buyers who have been burnt by miscommunication or rewrites, and show what they get from you: overlap with their working day, senior people in the room, clear ownership of code and IP. Your clients saying it on camera is more convincing than you saying it.

Is this the same as marketing a SaaS product?

No. A SaaS company sells one product to many customers; a studio sells custom work, one engagement at a time. See our SaaS marketing page for subscription software, and MSP marketing if you also run managed IT. For high-trust technical services in general, see professional services.

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