The majority of articles that offer suggestions for obtaining a local ranking in your area are completely ineffective.

Many of these lists are filled with generic recommendations, vague pricing structures and a lack of evidence to support them. For those of you running a small business, you don’t need another generic checklist, but rather numbers.

Knowing precisely who can place your brand into the Google Map Pack and bring in phone calls is essential to your business's success. Although traffic is important, foot traffic provides cash flow.

With 76% of local search queries resulting in a phone call, and the number of searches with “near me” being an explosive increase of 900%, the majority of business owners have paid the price for lacking an ROI (return on investment) by using companies that don't provide real returns on their investment.

This guide will give you the information you need to cut through the clutter and determine which of the following local marketing agencies have the best pricing and documented results to dominate your service area.

The Local Search Facts (TL;DR)

Realistically, Google Business Profiles (GBPs) are no longer an option for businesses. GBP optimization is 32% of your ranking weight, therefore your GBP is likely more important than your website, especially as it relates to local SEO.

In order to gain a steady stream of 93% of customers that read reviews at least once, you will need a repeatable, consistent way to ask customers for reviews.

Never hire any company that does not display their pricing publicly or provide you with documented case studies that are easily understood in terms of results.

If you run a multi-location brand, you must centralize all your local listings and review management. Managing directories by hand for 50 locations will quickly drain your revenue, and be a headache in finding and correcting misfiled information.

How to Pick Local Marketing Agencies Using Facts

Many directories rank businesses not by the quality of services they provide but simply by the amount of money they pay them to be listed at the top.

So before selecting a local marketing agency, you should require a significant amount of evidence before making a decision. You should stop asking local marketing agencies about their overall experience and instead request hard evidence through metrics such as:

• map pack movement data

• cost per qualified lead

• average review speed (response time)

These three metrics will impact your cash flow significantly.

When selecting a good partner, the agency should not only say they build local links but must provide you with specific numbers of local links that they acquire quarterly.

The agency should also provide you with specific service level agreements (SLAs) for correcting incorrect data in local directories and responding to customer reviews.

If the local marketing agency cannot provide this type of information regarding their daily operations, you should keep searching until you find another agency that meets this requirement.

Top Local Marketing Agencies for Growth

1. WebFX

WebFX provides search optimization, paid ads and web design as a complete marketing service offering to businesses who prefer to have a single team manage everything.

Pricing: WebFX campaigns start at $600 per month.

Proof of Performance: The WebFX website states they helped a client achieve a 45% increase in web traffic from local search engines over the course of 12 months by working with the client.

2. BrightLocal

BrightLocal combines advanced directory software with an equally strong emphasis on traditional services to provide businesses with deep directory audits to ensure proper ranking, monitoring local rank tracking and reputation tools.

Pricing: BrightLocal Software starts at $39 per month. Custom pricing is available for additional services.

Proof of Performance: BrightLocal provided a dental practice with entry into the top three spots for the competitive keyword search "dentist near me."

3. Avalaunch Media

This agency emphasizes the integration of local events with traditional means of advertising such as digital media.

Their team works with local businesses to create digital and offline campaigns that maximise promotions within local communities. They are known for getting clients noticed quickly in smaller markets.

Cost: Starting at $1,000 per month.

Success: They helped increase positive mentions online by 120% for a regional restaurant chain.

4. Semrush

Semrush is better known as an agency-level, global data tool. However, they do have a local toolkit available; it is a good choice for agencies or businesses that want to take control of their local data.

Cost: Starting at $129.95 per month.

Success: A local boutique retail company used this tool to outrank all their nearby competition in under 6 months.

5. Straight North

Straight North builds local authority for brands through search, digital advertising and content production.

They help service providers become well-known by developing strategies to generate phone calls to their business locations.

Cost: Starting at $1,000 per month.

Success: For a multi-location service brand, they helped to generate 35% more qualified leads.

6. Moz Local

Moz Local automates the process of managing your business listings across the web and ensures that your name, address and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all locations.

Cost: Starting at $14 per month per location.

Success: After assisting one of their clients in cleaning up their incorrect directory listings, they helped that client to achieve a 22% increase in impressions on the map packs.

7. Lyfe Marketing

If most of your local customers are on social media daily, then Lyfe Marketing is a company you should consider contacting.

They use a blend of both organic and paid social media, video, and email marketing methods to create a local audience for their clients.

8. Adapts Media (India)

Multi-channel advertising campaigns primarily serving the retail industry. The company has the capability and resources to support large scale advertising objectives for companies in this sector.

• Pricing: Local packages starting at €1,000.

• Proof: Adapts Media has a dedicated team of 51-200 members focused on supporting client growth throughout the region.

9. Skepper Creative Agency

A full service agency blending search strategy, graphic design and motion graphics. An ideal partner to local pharmaceutical brands or other industries that require high quality visuals to build trust with customers.

• Pricing: Engagements starting at €1,000.

• Proof: Skepper Creative Agency is known for developing high-quality visual branding that enhances local conversions.

10. Stealth Technocrats

A company that connects web and app development to search engine optimization. Heavily focused on serving the healthcare, financial technology, education and local tourism industries.

• Pricing: Starting from €3,000.

• Proof: Stealth has created locally focused technical solutions that integrate fast-loading websites with prominent Google map listings.

11. TechX Solutions

A provider of comprehensive digital and technology solutions across an extensive number of sectors. The primary focus of TechX Solutions is providing clients with digital transformation and technology services.

• Pricing: Starting at €1,000.

• Proof: TechX Solutions is a nimble organization with a team of 11-50 and has been instrumental in driving local digital transformations for businesses.

Running Your Local Plan

Many businesses create their Google Business Profile and do little else after initial creation.

You should constantly create new content for your listing every week, begin a Q&A session on your listing, and periodically upload new pictures to keep your page fresh.

Google views businesses that are actively producing content as being more active overall.

Create a Content Hub for Your Local Site

Instead of just adding city/town names to your website headers in order to gain traffic, you should create separate service area landing pages that link to one primary service area landing page for your business.

Use natural written language to reflect how customers in that area communicate. This structure clearly defines where your business is physically located and what services your business provides.

Challenges for Brands with Multiple Locations

When you have fifty locations, you cannot manually manage the listings for them all.

Using a central point of control to be able to correct listing errors and monitor reviews automatically will allow you to avoid having one error oversee your entire map ranking in your city due to errors in the search engine.

Pricing and Costs for Local Marketing Agencies

Many website companies will not discuss price with their users, so let’s break it down with the actual numbers.

Single location businesses typically invest anywhere from $500-$1,500 per month for basic local search support. This includes the basic collection of all listings, the publishing of multiple posts, and daily monitoring of customer reviews.

If you are quoted a monthly price of $99 for this service by a company, it’s likely that they will be using an automated service and have not performed any manual work.

Once a business has more than one location, the complexity starts to mount.

You can expect to pay both an initial fee and an additional per-location fee for a company that has 10 locations, typically between $2,000 and $4,000 per month.

A company's costs will be determined primarily by the amount of custom content it creates, the amount of manual cleanup of citations, and the amount of active local link building it performs.

Always ask prospective partners how many local links they will create each quarter to support their fees.

What Really Matters

The number of visitors or traffic is not an accurate representation of how successful your business will be. Revenue or profit is.

You should stop focusing on the number of visits your website receives and focus instead on defining the number of impressions made in the map pack by your local marketing agency, the velocity of your reviews, and the number of qualified phone calls received.

Searching “near me” increased by 900% but will not benefit your bottom line if these individuals do not click on your phone number.

Set a Target for Your Review Speed

You must have a consistent flow of new monthly reviews, as a sudden increase in the number of reviews received is viewed as both untrustworthy and suspect by both Google's algorithm and by customers.

A steady flow of genuine feedback from local guides builds trust in your business, making it difficult for competitors to break down that wall.

Final Word on Local Partnerships

When looking for a vendor do not look for a vendor; look for a partner that treats your business as if it were their own.

The best growth partners don’t use general industry labels and are not confusing. They provide you with empirical data. They provide you with targets for local links, review speed, and directories that will be cleaned up.

If they can't provide you with facts and a credible case study, then you should look for other local marketing agencies because your local visibility is key to success for your business.

Therefore, you should treat the selection process with complete honesty.