Propane Insider
Marketing Department in a Box
- Get found
- Get chosen
- Get booked
- Keep them
- Get paid
One system. Five stages. Built only for propane.
Eleven jobs. One system. Nobody to hire.
- Local SEOradius keyword work + weekly rank tracking (layer 1)
- City pagesone written page per town in the delivery radius (layer 2)
- SchemaLocalBusiness + GeoCircle markup, AI-crawler access (layers 3, 12)
- Google profileweekly posts and Q&A across every office (layer 4)
- Directories52 listings kept current, NAP consistency audit (layers 5, 6)
- Reviewspost-service requests plus drafted replies (layer 7)
- Blogweekly posts written in the operator’s own voice (layer 8)
- AI visibilityAEO, the visibility score, county gap benchmarking (layers 9, 10, 11, 13)
- Lead alertsinbound leads scored, routed and alerted (layer 16)
- SMS & dripbroadcasts plus new-customer and recert sequences (layers 17, 18)
- Reportingfirst-of-month report and the rank dashboard (layers 14, 15)
Your county — not a national chain’s map.
Illustrative diagram — not a real map.
30–35 miyour towns
What each layer costs if you go buy it separately.
$ / month, open market
- AI visibility
- $1,500–$3,000
- Local SEO & listings
- $800–$1,500
- Content
- $300–$1,500
- Reporting
- $60–$250
- Lead capture
- $50–$300
Open-market rates, 2026. Sourced category bands from published US vendor pricing and named industry surveys, compiled 2026-08-19. Each segment is drawn at the low end of its band. No Propane Insider price appears on this page.
Same jobs. Four ways to get them done.
Marketing Department in a BoxSocial VA. Derived from one published line: a social-media VA handles social presence and leaves the higher-leverage channels untouched. Category profile pending.Propane agencyIn-house
City pages — Local SEO and programmatic city pages per delivery radiusMarketing Department in a Box: Yes — full, automated, end to end. Daily expand cron — one page per city inside each hub’s 30-35 mile radiusSocial VA: No — does not cover thisPropane agency: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. SEO services offered — city-page build is typically a one-time project, not automatedIn-house: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Depends on hire’s SEO skills — usually manual, slow to scale past initial set
AI visibility — AI search optimisation — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude, GeminiMarketing Department in a Box: Yes — full, automated, end to end. Weekly AI Visibility Index — structured content + schema optimized for AI engine citationSocial VA: No — does not cover thisPropane agency: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Emerging service for some agencies — rarely systematic; propane-specific AEO is uncommonIn-house: No — does not cover this. Rare — AEO is a specialized skill most in-house hires do not yet carry
Reviews — Post-service review request automationMarketing Department in a Box: Yes — full, automated, end to end. Automated SMS + email when a lead closes as won — no manual follow-up neededSocial VA: Partly — depends on the hire or the packagePropane agency: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Rarely included in standard agency retainers — offered as add-on at additional costIn-house: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Manual outreach — depends on hire’s discipline and CRM setup
Blog — Vendor-branded weekly blog in dealer voiceMarketing Department in a Box: Yes — full, automated, end to end. 1-2 posts / week auto-drafted in your voice, reviewed, published to your WordPress siteSocial VA: Partly — depends on the hire or the packagePropane agency: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Blog content offered — typically 1-4 posts / month at agency voice, not dealer voiceIn-house: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Yes if hire is a content writer — output depends on bandwidth alongside other tasks
Directories — Directory listings managementMarketing Department in a Box: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Curated submission list across 52 high-value directories, plus automated NAP consistency audit that flags mismatches — going live on each directory is a confirmed, human-verified step, not an automatic syncSocial VA: No — does not cover thisPropane agency: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Some agencies include listings management — others charge per-platform feesIn-house: No — does not cover this. Manual — time-consuming; most hires prioritize other channels over directory hygiene
Reporting — Monthly performance report, multi-recipient and automatedMarketing Department in a Box: Yes — full, automated, end to end. Auto-generated 1st of month — rankings, GBP impressions, listing health, review velocitySocial VA: Varies by package or vendorPropane agency: Yes — full, automated, end to end. Monthly report is standard in most agency retainers — format and depth varyIn-house: Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Manual — depends on hire’s reporting habits and tool access
Every week, whether you thought about it or not.
Google profileGoogle Business Profile: posts every week of the year, on every office location.
BlogBlog: a post every week, drafted in your own voice and published to your site.
ReviewsReviews: continuous, not scheduled — a request goes out when a job closes, and every review gets a drafted reply.
City pagesCity pages: continuous — a daily job expands and refreshes one page per town inside the delivery radius.
ReportReport: assembled and delivered on the first of every month.
52 weeks
See it on your own county.
The whole comparison, line by line.
| The job | Marketing Department in a Box | Social VA | Propane agency | In-house |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile management — multi-location | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Automated weekly cadence — 7 posts / location / week, propane-domain validated | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Manual post scheduling by account team — cadence depends on retainer level | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Done if hire has GBP experience — cadence depends on individual bandwidth |
| Local SEO + programmatic city pages per delivery radius | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Daily expand cron — one page per city inside each hub’s 30-35 mile radius | No — does not cover this. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. SEO services offered — city-page build is typically a one-time project, not automated | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Depends on hire’s SEO skills — usually manual, slow to scale past initial set |
| AI Search optimization (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Weekly AI Visibility Index — structured content + schema optimized for AI engine citation | No — does not cover this. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Emerging service for some agencies — rarely systematic; propane-specific AEO is uncommon | No — does not cover this. Rare — AEO is a specialized skill most in-house hires do not yet carry |
| Schema markup + LocalBusiness JSON-LD (auto-maintained) | Yes — full, automated, end to end. LocalBusiness + Service + AggregateRating schema auto-applied per location — no plugin dependency | No — does not cover this. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Usually done at site-launch — maintenance on schema updates is rarely included | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Depends on hire’s technical SEO depth — schema maintenance is often overlooked after initial setup |
| Post-service review request automation | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Automated SMS + email when a lead closes as won — no manual follow-up needed | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Rarely included in standard agency retainers — offered as add-on at additional cost | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Manual outreach — depends on hire’s discipline and CRM setup |
| Vendor-branded weekly blog in dealer voice | Yes — full, automated, end to end. 1-2 posts / week auto-drafted in your voice, reviewed, published to your WordPress site | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Blog content offered — typically 1-4 posts / month at agency voice, not dealer voice | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Yes if hire is a content writer — output depends on bandwidth alongside other tasks |
| Directory listings management | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Curated submission list across 52 high-value directories, plus automated NAP consistency audit that flags mismatches — going live on each directory is a confirmed, human-verified step, not an automatic sync | No — does not cover this. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Some agencies include listings management — others charge per-platform fees | No — does not cover this. Manual — time-consuming; most hires prioritize other channels over directory hygiene |
| Monthly performance report (multi-recipient, automated) | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Auto-generated 1st of month — rankings, GBP impressions, listing health, review velocity | Varies by package or vendor. | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Monthly report is standard in most agency retainers — format and depth vary | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Manual — depends on hire’s reporting habits and tool access |
| Propane-industry knowledge built into the platform | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Operator-built — 25+ years of propane industry experience baked into every output, hard-rule validator | Varies by package or vendor. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Propane-vertical agencies carry industry context — depth varies by firm and personnel tenure | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Hire-dependent — rare to find a marketer with existing propane domain knowledge |
| Multi-location / multi-hub support (3-50 locations) | Yes — full, automated, end to end. Built from day one for 1-50 locations — per-location GBP, radius targeting, listings, reports | Varies by package or vendor. | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. Multi-location service available — cost typically scales linearly per additional location | Partly — depends on the hire or the package. A single hire’s bandwidth limits multi-location execution — depth falls as locations grow |
Social VA column — marks only, from one published line: “A social-media VA handles social presence if that is your focus, but leaves the higher-leverage channels untouched.” Source