How marketing agencies build a monthly local market report for each client

An agency builds a monthly local market report by fixing, for each client, the area that matters and the rivals in it, then refreshing the same handful of figures every month: who opened nearby, who closed, how the client's rating compares with the competition, and which rivals moved up or down. Written up as two pages with a map and three recommendations, it shows the client the agency is watching their market, not just their ad account, and it gives every monthly call a starting point.

This is for local marketing, SEO and social agencies serving clinics, restaurants, gyms, salons, estate agents and other businesses that compete street by street. It covers what clients want from such a report, how to work one through for a made-up dental client, and an AI employee that writes and sends one per client with the agency's logo.

What a client actually reads

Owners of local businesses skim reports full of impressions and click-through rates. What they read is anything about their competitors. A new clinic opening two streets away, a rival whose rating fell, the fact that they now sit fourth of twelve in their area rather than seventh: those are the lines that get forwarded to a business partner. A market section at the top of the monthly report earns the attention the campaign figures below it need.

Five sections that make a useful report

1. The market in one line. How many businesses of the client's kind sit in their area, and how many of those belong to chains.
2. What changed this month. Openings and closures within the area, and rivals whose rating moved noticeably.
3. Where the client stands. Their rating and number of reviews against the area's average, and their rank among the nearest rivals.
4. Who lives nearby. Residents and age groups around the client's premises, where the country has figures, for targeting.
5. Three things to do. Plain recommendations tied to the figures above, such as a campaign aimed at a rival's weak neighbourhood or a review push.

Working it through for a dental clinic in London

Start with the market. xMap's places database lists 638 dentists within 10 km of the centre of London (November 2026). Of the 462 nearest the centre, 33 belong to a chain and 429 are independent; 329 of those have a rating, 4.5 out of 5 on average, and 261 are rated 4.5 or more. In other words, high ratings are normal there, and a practice rated 4.3 is below the pack even though 4.3 sounds good.

Now a made-up client, an independent practice in north London. Its area is a 1 km circle around the surgery. In October the report finds 14 dental practices in that circle, one of them opened in the past few months by a chain. Two independents moved: one from 4.8 to 4.5, one from 4.1 to 4.4. The client is rated 4.6 on far more reviews than most neighbours, which puts it third of 14. These figures are invented for the example. Population figures are not available for the United Kingdom, so the residents section is left out for this client, and the report says so rather than leaving a blank.

The recommendations follow from the page: answer the chain's opening with a new-patient offer in the streets nearest it; ask satisfied patients for reviews to stay ahead as the area's average climbs; and keep an eye on the practice whose rating fell, since its patients may be looking.

One AI employee per client, built once

1. Schedule: the first working day of each month, in the client's time zone.
2. Area of interest: the client's area, as a point with a radius or a shape drawn on the map.
3. Nearby places: the client's category inside the area, with rating, reviews, chain and opening date.
4. What changed: closed, and ratings that moved by 0.2 or more, with new places passed on.
5. Demographics: residents around the client, where available.
6. xMap LLM, on the whole list: write the five sections, with the client named in your instructions, using only the figures found.
7. Make a report: a PDF with your agency's logo and colour, the summary, the figures and a map, emailed to the account manager or saved to a folder in Google Drive.

Duplicate the flow for the next client and change only the area, the category and the instructions. What lands in the account manager's inbox on the first of the month is a finished PDF to review and forward, and a client view can give each client a read-only page of their results and map that stays current between reports.

Mistakes that make clients stop reading

• An area that is too big. A client competes with the places their customers would choose instead, usually within a short drive or walk. City-wide counts belong in one line, not the whole report.
• Figures without a source or a month. Say where each number comes from and when, so the client can trust next month's comparison.
• Recommendations that ignore the page. Every suggestion should point at a line above it.
• The same report every month. If nothing changed, say so in one sentence and move on to the campaign.
• Inventing local statistics. Quote only what the data shows, and label examples as examples.

Templates to start from: rating watch for my clients, reputation programme for my clients, my brand against two rivals, city by city and best neighbourhoods to target ads around a store. More for agencies on the marketing and agencies page.