MarketingBeginnerPreview
Local Marketing
Learn how to dominate local search, build a five-star reputation, and run geo-targeted campaigns that turn nearby searchers into paying customers. This course covers the complete local marketing stack from Google Business Profile optimization to hyperlocal paid ads.
Small business owners, marketing coordinators, and franchise operators who serve customers in a specific city or region and want to generate consistent local leads.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the Local Marketing course into hands-on action. Work through each section as you complete the corresponding module — the exercises are designed to be done on your own business, not hypothetically. By the time you finish, you will have an optimized Google Business Profile, a clean citation footprint, a review generation system in place, and at least one live geo-targeted campaign.
Google Business Profile — Your Local Storefront
Audit and fully optimize your GBP listing, then set up a monthly tracking routine to catch ranking drops before they cost you customers.
Exercise: GBP Completeness Audit
Open your Google Business Profile dashboard (business.google.com) and work through each field below. For each item, note its current status and what action you need to take.
- List all fields that are currently empty or incomplete in your GBP. Prioritize them by estimated ranking impact (primary category, business description, services, photos).
- What is your current primary category? Research three competitors in your Local Pack using the GMB Everywhere Chrome extension. Are they using a more specific category than you? What would you change?
- Write your 750-character business description here. Include your top two service keywords naturally in the first two sentences. Avoid the word I — write in third person.
- How many photos do you currently have on your profile? List at least five photo types you are missing and describe what you will shoot for each.
Worksheet: Monthly GBP Performance Tracker
On the first of each month, fill in this worksheet from your GBP Performance data. After three months you will have a trend line to act on.
- Month
- Total Search Impressions
- Discovery Impressions
- Direct Impressions
- Website Clicks
- Direction Requests
- Phone Calls
- Photo Views
- Top Query #1 (+ impressions)
- Top Query #2 (+ impressions)
- Top Query #3 (+ impressions)
- Any metric that dropped 15%+ vs. prior month
- Action taken to address drop
Checklist: GBP Optimization Launch Checklist
- Profile claimed and verified (postcard, phone, or video verification complete)
- Primary category set to the most specific available option
- At least 3 secondary categories added
- Business description written (750 characters, 2 keywords, no promotional language)
- All hours set including holiday hours
- Website URL added — links to a locally-optimized page, not a generic homepage
- Services section complete with descriptions and prices for top 5 services
- At least 20 photos uploaded (exterior, interior, team, product/service, process)
- First Google Post published with a CTA button and UTM-tagged URL
- GBP review short link generated and saved to master NAP document
Local SEO — Ranking Above National Competitors
Build your local keyword map, audit your citation footprint, and draft the page structure for your highest-priority location or service pages.
Exercise: Local Keyword Map
Build your local keyword map using Google Keyword Planner and autocomplete. You will use this map to assign keywords to pages and to guide your content calendar.
- List your 5–8 core services without any location modifiers. These are your seed keywords.
- For your top three seed keywords, run Google Keyword Planner with your city selected as the location. List all variations with monthly volume above 10. Note: explicit geo (plumber Vancouver), implicit local (plumber near me), and navigational variants separately.
- Which three keywords have the highest combination of search volume and commercial intent (searcher is likely ready to buy)? These are your top-priority pages.
- Map each keyword cluster to a URL. Use the format: /[service-slug]-[city-slug] for service pages and /[service-slug]-[secondary-city-slug] for location pages. List your top 8 target URLs here.
Worksheet: Citation Audit and Build Tracker
Use Moz Local free scan (moz.com/local) to find your existing citations. Log every listing, its accuracy status, and the action needed.
- Directory Name
- Listing URL (if exists)
- Business Name (as listed)
- Address (as listed)
- Phone (as listed)
- Status (Correct / Needs Update / Missing)
- Action (Update / Create / No action)
- Date Completed
Checklist: On-Page Local SEO Checklist (per page)
- Title tag follows format: [Primary Keyword] in [City] | [Brand] — under 60 characters
- Meta description under 155 characters — includes keyword, local qualifier, USP, and CTA
- H1 matches or closely mirrors title tag keyword
- First paragraph mentions service, city, and a credibility signal within 100 words
- Page body contains 300+ words of unique content (not copied from other location pages)
- LocalBusiness JSON-LD schema added with all required fields
- Google Map iframe embedded pointing to GBP location
- At least one locally-relevant mention (neighbourhood, landmark, or local event)
- Page speed passes Core Web Vitals (test at pagespeed.web.dev)
- Internal link from homepage to this page with keyword-rich anchor text
Review Management — Building a Five-Star Reputation
Design your review generation system, write your response templates, and set up your weekly review monitoring routine.
Exercise: Review Generation System Design
Map out your four-touchpoint review request sequence for your specific business type. The system must be compliant with Google policy (no gating, no incentives) and realistic for your staff to execute.
- Write the exact script your staff will use for the in-person review request. Include what to say, when to say it, and what physical material to hand the customer (QR code card, receipt, etc.).
- Write your SMS review request message. It must be under 160 characters, include your business name, a direct review link placeholder, and an opt-out instruction. Do not offer any incentive.
- Write your plain-text email follow-up for customers who did not click the SMS. Two paragraphs maximum. Subject line included.
- Which existing customer touchpoints (receipts, invoices, confirmation emails, packaging) can you add the review link to with minimal effort? List them and describe the specific change needed for each.
Worksheet: Weekly Review Log
Every Monday, log new reviews received in the prior week. Track the source of each review to learn which touchpoint works best.
- Date of Review
- Platform (Google / Yelp / Facebook / Other)
- Star Rating
- Review Snippet (first 20 words)
- Did It Mention a Specific Service? (Yes/No — which service)
- Response Written? (Yes/No)
- Response Date
- Estimated Source (in-person ask / SMS / Email / Unknown)
Checklist: Review Response Quality Checklist
- Positive response: addressed reviewer by first name
- Positive response: referenced the specific service or product they mentioned
- Positive response: naturally echoed at least one keyword from their review
- Positive response: included a light forward CTA (return visit or referral)
- Positive response: signed with a real person's name
- Negative response: published within 24 hours of the review appearing
- Negative response: acknowledged the experience without admitting specific liability
- Negative response: offered to resolve offline with a real phone number or email
- Negative response: tone is professional and empathetic — no argument or defensiveness
- Fake or violating review: flagged for removal in GBP dashboard and logged in tracking sheet
Geo-Targeted Paid Campaigns — Converting Local Intent
Set up your first local paid campaign, configure tracking, and build a monthly reporting routine that connects ad spend to real revenue.
Exercise: Campaign Brief
Before launching any paid campaign, write a one-page campaign brief. This keeps you honest about your objectives and gives you a baseline to measure against.
- What is the single goal of your first paid campaign — calls, form fills, direction requests, or in-store visits? What does one conversion need to cost to be profitable given your average transaction value and margin?
- Which channel will you launch first: Google LSA, Google Search, or Meta radius? Justify your choice based on your business category and customer intent stage.
- Describe your target audience in one paragraph: geography (radius or postal codes), demographics if relevant, and what they are searching for or thinking about when they see your ad.
- Write two ad headlines and one description for a Google Search ad, or write the primary text and headline for a Meta ad. Include your main keyword, a local qualifier, and a clear CTA.
Worksheet: Monthly Local Campaign Performance Report
Fill in this worksheet at the end of each month to track campaign performance and calculate ROAS. Leave the calculated fields blank — fill them in yourself.
- Month
- Campaign Name / Channel
- Total Ad Spend ($)
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Click-Through Rate (%) — calculate: Clicks / Impressions
- Conversions (calls + form fills + direction requests)
- Cost Per Conversion ($) — calculate: Spend / Conversions
- Conversion Rate (%) — calculate: Conversions / Clicks
- Attributed Revenue ($) — from call tracking and CRM
- ROAS — calculate: Revenue / Spend
- Best Performing Ad or Keyword
- Worst Performing Ad or Keyword
- Change to make next month
Checklist: Campaign Launch Checklist
- Campaign objective matches business goal (Leads or Traffic — not Reach)
- Geo-targeting set to exact service radius or postal codes — not entire province or country
- Advanced location setting set to People in your target area (not people searching about it)
- Call extension added with local phone number and call reporting enabled
- Location extension linked to GBP account
- UTM parameters added to all destination URLs for GA4 attribution
- Conversion tracking verified in Google Ads or Meta Events Manager before going live
- Daily budget set and confirmed — not monthly budget (prevents overspend spikes)
- Negative keywords or negative locations added to filter irrelevant traffic
- First performance review scheduled for 14 days after launch
Your Action Plan
- Day 1: Claim or verify your Google Business Profile and complete the 20-point checklist — primary category, all hours, business description, and a minimum of 20 photos.
- Day 2: Generate your GBP review short link. Design a review request card (Canva free tier) with a QR code. Brief your staff on the in-person ask script.
- Day 3: Run a free Moz Local citation scan. Create a master NAP document with your exact business name, address, phone, and website URL. Begin correcting all citation mismatches.
- Day 5: Build your local keyword map using Google Keyword Planner and autocomplete. Identify your top 3 priority pages (homepage plus 2 service or location pages). Write or update those pages with proper title tags, H1s, meta descriptions, and LocalBusiness schema.
- Day 7: Publish your first Google Post. Set a weekly recurring calendar reminder to publish a new post every Monday.
- Day 10: Launch your SMS and email review request sequence for all new customers going forward. Add the review link to receipts, invoices, and email signatures.
- Day 14: Set up your monthly GBP Performance tracking spreadsheet. Log your baseline metrics this month so you have a comparison point next month.
- Day 21: Determine your first paid channel (LSA, Google Search, or Meta). Write your campaign brief. Set up conversion tracking before spending a dollar.
- Day 28: Launch your first geo-targeted campaign with a 14-day test budget. Set a calendar reminder to review performance on day 14.
- Ongoing monthly: First of every month — export GBP Performance data, log review count and average rating, review ad campaign ROAS, and identify one optimization to make in the coming month.
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