Propane Insider
PIMS
- 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.
PIMSSocial 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 radiusPIMS: 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, GeminiPIMS: 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 automationPIMS: 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 voicePIMS: 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 managementPIMS: 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 automatedPIMS: 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 | PIMS | 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