Thinking of hiring someone to boost your visibility on Google Maps for your Bangkok business? Stop. Before you sign any contract, ask yourself this: are you paying for vague promises and jargon, or for actual customer growth? Many established clinics, hotels, and spas waste precious funds on ‘experts’ who deliver reports, not results. In this guide, we’ll reveal the critical questions to ask to ensure your investment drives real foot traffic and paying customers.
Focus on Business Results, Not SEO Jargon
As a business owner in Bangkok, you don’t care about ‘search impressions’ or ‘click-through rates.’ You care about the ringing phone, the full appointment book, and the line of customers waiting for a table. When you hire someone to improve your visibility on Google Maps, this is the only conversation that matters. Forget the confusing charts and technical reports; your first and only question should be: “How will this work translate into more paying customers?”
Define success in your own terms before you sign any contract. For a dental clinic in Asoke, success might be measured by the number of new patient booking calls from your Google listing. For a boutique hotel near the Chao Phraya River, it could be the increase in ‘Get Directions’ clicks from tourists. Insist that your monthly reports focus on these real-world business goals. If a consultant can’t connect their work directly to your bottom line, they are not the right partner for you.
Why Good Local Marketing Isn’t Cheap
Many owners I meet are surprised by the cost of proper local marketing, and I understand why. The truth is, effective work on your Google presence isn’t a one-time trick; it’s an ongoing commitment. To do it right requires consistent effort, often between 5 and 10 hours every single week. This includes tasks like uploading fresh photos, publishing new offers and updates to your profile, personally responding to every new review, and ensuring your business details are perfectly consistent across the web.
This time commitment is why you should be cautious of very low monthly fees. If an agency charges a price that only covers one or two hours of work a month, they simply cannot perform the necessary tasks to move the needle. You’re likely paying for a report and little else. Good marketing is an investment in skilled, consistent labor that drives real-world results, not a cheap subscription service.
The Red Flag: Beware of ‘Guaranteed #1 Rankings’
If a marketing agency ever promises you a “guaranteed number one ranking” on Google, you should walk away. This is the single biggest red flag in our industry. Nobody can guarantee a specific ranking because Google’s algorithm is a complex, constantly changing system that no single person controls. Promising a top spot is dishonest and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how search engines work.
A reputable consultant or agency will guarantee their work, not a specific outcome. For example, they can promise to publish four new posts to your Google Business Profile each month or to ensure all new customer reviews receive a reply within 24 hours. They are guaranteeing the service they will perform according to Google’s official guidelines. This is the mark of a professional who focuses on building a strong, long-term foundation for your business, not one selling an impossible dream.
From Frustration to Foot Traffic: A Smarter Way to Manage
I remember a client who runs a highly-respected spa in Sukhumvit; she was incredibly frustrated after paying a cheap agency for months. Despite getting reports full of confusing data, her phone wasn’t ringing any more than before and her appointment book saw no increase in new clients.
Her problem was that the agency wasn’t handling the foundational, repetitive work that local marketing requires, like updating her spa’s hours and services across dozens of online directories. This is where a tool like OnEveryMap becomes a lifesaver. It automates the tedious task of keeping your name, address, phone number, and business hours consistent everywhere online. This ensures Google sees you as a legitimate, active business and frees up your time, or your marketing partner’s time, to focus on what truly attracts customers: taking beautiful photos of your spa and writing thoughtful responses to your customer reviews.
