The short answer: start with what's free and closest to the sale, meaning your Google Business Profile, your reviews and a website that turns visits into enquiries. Then add social media and ads, measuring what every euro brings back.
| Step | What it costs | When to start |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Google Business Profile | Free, a little time | Right away |
| 2. Local SEO | Your time or a provider | In the first month |
| 3. A website that converts | A build budget | As soon as you can |
| 4. Measuring results | Free (Google tools) | Before any ad spend |
| 5. Customer reviews | Free | After every job |
| 6. Social media and short video | Your time or a provider | Once the basics are in place |
| 7. Google Ads | Ad spend plus management | Once the site converts |
| 8. Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram) | Ad spend plus management | To promote an offer |
| 9. Customer retention | Low | From your first customers |
Get on Google Search and Maps
1. Claim and polish your Google Business Profile
When someone searches “pizza near me” or “plumber in Montpellier”, Google often shows a map with a few businesses before any website. That block is powered by Google Business Profiles. Yours is free, and setting it up properly is often the most useful hour you can spend on local visibility.
- Your real business name, with no added keywords: Google's guidelines forbid it, and profiles can be suspended.
- The right primary category, plus a few secondary ones you genuinely offer.
- An address, or a service area if you travel to customers rather than receive them; the address is then hidden.
- Accurate opening hours, including holidays.
- Real photos, added regularly: shopfront, team, work, food.
- Posts from time to time: news, seasonal offers, finished projects.
2. Work on your local SEO
Your website should say clearly what you do and where. In practice:
- one page per key service, with your town or area in the title;
- your name, address (or area) and phone number written exactly the same way everywhere: website, Google profile, directories, social media;
- a handful of reputable directories rather than a hundred dubious ones;
- content that answers customers' questions: prices, timelines, area, guarantees. Clear, specific pages are also your best route into Google's AI-generated answers.
SEO takes time: for local, specific searches, first results often appear within 3 to 6 months. And as Google itself says, no one can guarantee a number one ranking, so walk away from anyone who promises one.
Make your website convert
3. Turn visits into enquiries
Being found isn't enough: visitors need to see within seconds that they're in the right place, and know what to do next. Sites that convert almost always share the same ingredients:
- a clear promise at the top: your trade, your area, what sets you apart;
- a call-to-action button that stays visible on mobile: call, book, request a quote;
- proof: reviews, photos of your work, years of experience, certifications;
- prices or ranges, even indicative ones;
- a short form: name, contact details, need, nothing more at first;
- fast loading, even on an average mobile connection.
For Kalao Pizza, the brief fitted in one sentence: someone looking for pizza on their phone should find the menu and call in one tap. The whole site is built around that path.
If your current site brings in no enquiries, the problem isn't necessarily budget; it's often clarity. Our guide on how to make a website for your business lists the essential pages, and our website cost guide helps you budget a redesign.
4. Measure what pays
Without measurement, you can't tell which step works. The minimum:
- Google Search Console, free: the searches you appear for and the clicks you get;
- an analytics tool (Google Analytics, Matomo…) that counts calls, forms and bookings, with a compliant cookie banner: in the EU, refusing should be as easy as accepting;
- one question for every new customer: “How did you hear about us?”
A simple monthly table is enough: enquiries received, where each one came from, customers won.
Reviews: your strongest local signal
5. Collect reviews, steadily
Before calling a tradesperson or booking a table, people read reviews. How many you have, how recent they are and how you reply matter as much as the rating.
- Ask at the right moment: just after a job well done, when the customer is happy.
- Make it easy: Google lets you create a link or QR code to ask for reviews, to send by text or display at the counter.
- Reply to every review, positive or negative, politely and quickly. Future customers read your replies too.
- Show your best reviews on your website, next to your call-to-action buttons.
Social media: fewer, better posts
6. Be consistent and use short video
You don't need every network. Pick the one where your customers are: Facebook and Instagram for most local businesses, LinkedIn if you sell to companies, TikTok if your audience is young and you enjoy video.
Then consistency beats volume. One short, real, useful video a week is better than three posts a day for a fortnight followed by silence. Formats that work well for local businesses: behind the scenes, before and after, the answer to a common question, something new, a happy customer (with their permission).
That's what we've done since April 2026 for La Maison des Travaux in Montpellier: a monthly calendar, renovation reels including 3D and AI sequences, and a private portal where the team approves the whole month at once. The result: a steady presence, without losing their evenings to it.
- Plan a month of content in one go rather than scrambling every day.
- Film vertically, with clear sound and your message in the first seconds.
- End with an action: call, book, see the project on your website.
- Check your stats once a month and repeat what works.
Paid ads: start small and measure
Ads speed things up, but they only pay off if your site converts and you track enquiries. Always separate two costs: the ad spend, paid directly to Google or Meta, and the management fee if someone runs the campaigns for you.
7. Google Ads: capture existing demand
On Google, you appear at the exact moment someone searches for your service: “emergency locksmith Montpellier”, “wedding caterer near me”. It's often the most direct paid channel for a tradesperson or local service.
- target a precise area around you;
- choose a few keywords closely tied to your offer;
- exclude useless searches such as “free”, “jobs” or “course”;
- send visitors to a page dedicated to the offer, not to your home page.
8. Meta ads: get known
On Facebook and Instagram, nobody is searching for you: you appear in their feed. That's useful to promote an offer, an opening or an event to people in your area, and to reach people who have already visited your website. Short videos filmed at your premises work well there.
What budget? For a small local business, a few hundred euros a month is a common starting point for a test, according to agency price guides published in 2026. Management is often charged at 10 to 20 percent of ad spend, or as a flat fee. Set a test period, say two months, and an acceptable cost per enquiry; stop what doesn't pay.
Keep the customers you win
9. Bring customers back
Bringing a customer back usually costs less than finding a new one, yet it's the most overlooked step.
- A contact list (email or text) built with your customers' consent: a service reminder, a seasonal offer, the new menu. In the EU, marketing messages to consumers generally need prior consent, with an exception for similar products offered to existing customers; in France, see the CNIL's rules (in French).
- A simple loyalty scheme: a stamp card, a reward on the tenth visit, a perk for regulars.
- Direct ordering or booking on your own site, rather than through a platform that takes a commission and keeps the customer relationship. That's the point of the commission-free booking engine we built for salons near Montpellier.
- Follow-up after the job: a thank-you message, a review request, a reminder at the right time.
Growing revenue isn't only about new customers: it's also selling a little more, a little more often, to the people who already know you.
Where to start: a 90-day plan
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Claim or fix your Google profile, ask your latest customers for reviews, check that your site clearly shows your offer and phone number |
| Month 1 | Set up Search Console and enquiry tracking, make your contact details consistent across directories |
| Month 2 | Start a posting rhythm you can keep, for example one short video a week |
| Month 3 | Test a Google Ads campaign in your area on a limited budget, then keep what pays |
It's the work we do every day as a digital marketing agency for businesses in Montpellier and beyond: a few channels, done well, measured honestly.