Does local marketing matter if you're location-independent?

Hello Reader,

As I've been promoting Local Lead Machine: Master Your Google Business Profile workshop, the most common question I've gotten is, "Does this matter if my business is remote?"

Unfortunately, this is one of those annoying situations where the answer is, "It depends."

I know, it's the worst!

I'll break this down using the case of my own business.

I am a remote business and I work from my home (specifically my garage—lest you think I'm in any way fancy). About 80% of my clients are outside of my region of Portland, Oregon. However, a decently-sized slice is somewhat local to me, moreso if I zoom out to the entire Pacific Northwest region.

Earlier in my business, those ratios were reversed.

I think this is an interesting bit of anecdata, as when I was newer and lesser-known, it was easier for people to buy into the idea of working with someone who was an unknown quantity if they knew at least I was a few neighborhoods away. And, at that time, I often met with people in person to build trust. (I still meet with many of those folks in person because I've come to think of them as friends.)

Another bit of anecdata that I have observed is that medium-sized organizations tend to heavily prefer working with someone local—even if they never meet face to face. Think of those good-sized non-profit organizations and higher profile local businesses like architecture firms or good-sized local law firms. Plus, local governments also hire consultants (this was one of my early clients) and they obviously should (but not always) have preferences for local folks.

Additionally, it's been a generally-held truth that proximity bias is a real phenomenon when it comes to people actually searching for help—and this magnifies when we get hyper-local. For remote businesses, that hyper-local issue is likely less because those tend to be businesses we can walk into, but nevertheless proximity bias is something baked into search engines.

So, again, if we look at a mostly-remote business like mine, local marketing—especially local search—can influence the following:

• Early-days business: It's easier to build trust with people close to you when you're newer on the scene.
• Medium-sized orgs tend to prefer locals: I honestly can't quite put my finger on why, but I'm guessing it's partly due to networks but also that the "big guys" are often priced out of the services of national and international service providers.
• Proximity is a ranking factor: It's just reality that the closer we are to people searching, the more likely we are to be shown to those searchers.

Then, if we look at businesses that offer services that feel personal, think career coaching, therapy (regulated by jurisdiction even when delivered remotely), health and wellness services, that kind of thing, we'll also see an interesting phenomenon: people, again, (this is based on information shared by my clients in these fields) feel more comfortable knowing that person is nearby, even if they never meet in person.

You can see there are a lot of factors that go into if proximity bias impacts your business.

But which businesses aren't subject to the nuances of local marketing?

In general, if your business is only, for example, selling products (physical or digital), courses, or group programs, then local search is likely irrelevant to you. Furthermore, you're likely ineligible for a Google Business Profile listing if you never meet with people locally.

I also would argue that if you have some kind of celebrity status, not only is local marketing not all that relevant (people know you already), it can also be dangerous as it can open up your location to people you don't want to know where you're at. Basically, if you're famous—in your field or mainstream-famous, your marketing picture looks different.

Finally, if where you're located and your clients' locations are radically different, local marketing may not make sense either. For example, if you're living in a country that doesn't share your language fluency, it may not be worth the effort until you've acquired fluency and are comfortable with local cultural norms. Likewise, if the economics don't make sense—if your ideal clients pay higher rates than can be reasonably handled by people in your community—it may not be wise to spend time on local marketing or perhaps just do the bare minimum, such as setting up a Google Business Profile.

To recap, here's who likely doesn't need to spend time on local marketing:

• Online-only businesses or programs
• Celebrities and folks concerned about revealing their general location, such as their city
• Economic mismatch with your local community

As I said, whether or not local marketing or, more specifically, Google Business Profiles, make sense for your business depends. I generally recommend making some modicum of effort if you're NOT in one of the groups I just mentioned—it's just good business sense.

If you’ve realized from this breakdown that you do fall into the category of businesses that can benefit from local visibility, your Google Business Profile is a great place to start. This is often the low-hanging fruit of local visibility—it doesn't take much to stand out, but you have to do it right. In my Local Lead Machine workshop, we’ll dive into exactly how you do it.

I’d love to help you claim your corner of the map (even if that map starts at your garage door).

See you there,

Sarah

P.S. Since it's that time of year again, people have started to ask about Summer of SEO 2026. After a lot of contemplation, I will be running it again this summer. This will likely be the last time it's offered in this format, so join the waitlist if you're interested in this fabulous program.​