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School of Marketing

Local Marketing Leader: strategy and teams

Step 7 of 7 in Marketing Studio

Next in your path: 3.5.4 Lifecycle Marketing Lead: full customer lifecycle programmes

What you'll be able to do
  • Set up safe roles and access for a group of Business Profiles, and run a clear leadership rhythm.
  • Build a local strategy for many locations using Google's own ranking factors and your own numbers.
  • Write franchise-style rules: who owns each profile, what is fixed by the brand and what is local.
  • Choose, brief and check agencies and partners against Google's third-party policy.
  • Produce a group report that leaders can act on, without hiding weak locations.
  • Lead review, suspension and security risks across the group.
  • Teach a short session or have your work reviewed, to prove mastery.

This course is education only. It does not give legal advice and it does not promise sales, rankings or income. Google features and policies change; confirm important points on the current Google help page or with a licensed professional.

Words in this course 53
AgreementArticleChange controlContractData analyticsDefinition of doneDemerit pointsDesign briefDiscountElectric currentEndorsementsEngagement rateEval (evaluation)FeedbackFillFranchiseGapGoogle Business ProfileGoogle FormHTMLHTTPSInterestInvoiceKPI (key performance indicator)Large language model (LLM)LetLicenceLiftMaterial connectionMicrosoft TeamsPeer reviewPhishingPhishing (cybersecurity)Plain formPortfolioPrimary sourceProjectProject (Claude)Ready positionRegister
Open the Vocabulary Hall
01

What a local marketing leader owns

In simple words

A school has many classrooms. Each teacher runs a class, but the head teacher makes sure every class has the right keys, the same rules and a plan. A local marketing leader is the head teacher for many shops.

Before this course: Multi-Location Marketing (course 3.7.3), which builds on Local Customer Growth (course 3.7.2) and Google Business Profile & Local Marketing (course 3.7). You can already run business groups, bulk sheets, location pages, review systems and a multi-location playbook. Here you lead the whole programme: people, rules, partners, reports and risk.

Key facts
  • What a leader owns (our teaching model):
AreaThe leader decides
AccessWho is owner or manager of each profile, and when access ends
StrategyWhich locations get attention first, and why
StandardsWhat is the same in every location, and what is local
PartnersWhich agencies help, with what access and what rules
ReportingWhat leaders see each month, and how it is labelled
RiskReviews, suspensions and account security
  • Business Profile roles (Google). A profile can have many owners but only one primary owner. Owners have full control, including adding or removing users and deleting the profile. Managers have nearly the same access, except they cannot add or remove users or remove the profile. (Managers were once called "site managers".)
  • Only owners can remove other owners and managers, or change their roles. Removed users keep their past review replies and posts on the profile.
  • The 7-day rule. For 7 days after someone becomes an owner or manager, they cannot delete or undelete the profile, remove other owners or managers, or transfer primary ownership. A profile needs at least one other owner or manager before primary ownership can be transferred.
  • Each person needs their own Google Account. Google Groups cannot be added as owners or managers. Never share one login.
  • Google's protection tips: claim every location, give access only to people who need it, add owners with extra care, remove former staff, keep owner-level access yourself if a third party manages the profile, and turn on 2-Step Verification. Google says it will never ask for a one-time password (OTP) or PIN, and does not charge to keep, verify or reinstate a profile.
  • Leadership rhythm (our teaching model): weekly 15-minute check of alerts and reviews; monthly group report; quarterly access audit and strategy review.
Step by step
  1. List every profile in the group with its primary owner, other owners and managers.
  2. Mark any profile where the primary owner is a former employee or an outside agency.
  3. Plan the fix: the business keeps primary ownership; at least two trusted people are owners; staff and partners are managers.
  4. Remember the 7-day rule: add the new owner first, wait, then transfer or remove.
  5. Remove people who left, and ask every owner to turn on 2-Step Verification.
  6. Write your weekly, monthly and quarterly checks on one page.
  7. Check: every profile has a business-controlled primary owner, a back-up owner, and no unknown users.
Watch on YouTube
Understand profile owner and manager rolesGoogle Business Profile · YouTube · youtube.com
Add and remove managers for your businessGoogle Business Profile · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01What a local marketing leader owns
LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00
Read the video script
[Host] "A head teacher makes sure every classroom has the right keys. That is your first job."
[Screen: list of profiles with owners and managers] "List who owns and who manages every profile."
[Text on screen: One primary owner. Owners add people. Managers run the profile.] "The business keeps ownership. Staff and partners are managers."
[Host] "Remove people who leave, and never share a login. Google will never ask for your one-time code."
Try it now

Build the access table for your group (or a practice group of five locations) and write the three fixes you would make first.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Local Marketing Leader: strategy and teams" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "What a local marketing leader owns".

What the lesson teaches:
- What a leader owns (our teaching model):
- Area - The leader decides
- Access - Who is owner or manager of each profile, and when access ends
- Strategy - Which locations get attention first, and why
- Standards - What is the same in every location, and what is local
- Partners - Which agencies help, with what access and what rules
- Reporting - What leaders see each month, and how it is labelled

The exercise I'm working on:
Build the access table for your group (or a practice group of five locations) and write the three fixes you would make first.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "What a local marketing leader owns" from the course "Local Marketing Leader: strategy and teams".

Here's what the lesson says:
A school has many classrooms. Each teacher runs a class, but the head teacher makes sure every class has the right keys, the same rules and a plan. A local marketing leader is the head teacher for many shops.

The activity:
Build the access table for your group (or a practice group of five locations) and write the three fixes you would make first.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Open Claude
Sources
My notes
02

A local strategy for many locations

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

03

Franchise-style rules: who owns what

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

04

Agencies and partners: Google's third-party rules

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

05

Group reporting leaders can act on

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

06

Leading reputation and risk across the group

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

07

Quarterly review, teach it, prove it

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

++

Final project

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

??

Quiz

  1. Which course comes before this one?

  2. How many primary owners can a Business Profile have?

  3. What can an owner do that a manager cannot?

  4. What does the 7-day rule stop a new owner or manager from doing?

  5. What are Google's main local ranking factors?

  6. Can a business pay Google for a better local ranking?

  7. Why compare locations with actions per 1,000 views instead of totals?

  8. How long do you have to accept or reject a suggested edit that needs review?

  9. Under Google's third-party policy, who should be owner and who manager?

  10. What should you say to an agency that guarantees top placement on Google?

  11. Why should staff never get review quotas?

  12. How many times can you submit an appeal for a suspended profile?

EX

Final exam

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

CE

Certificate

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.