Love Local

What Love Local does

Love Local is a marketing education and coaching brand for owners of small, locally-rooted businesses, operated as a DBA under the sole-member LLC Emily Ann LLC and founded by Emily Steele in Des Moines, Iowa in 2018. The company's flagship product is the 90-Day Local Launch coaching program, a high-touch subscription offering delivered under a quote-based, application-only model that bundles strategy, systems, and accountability work. It is supplemented by self-serve digital education products — the Local Business Foundations online course, the Ambassador Program course, the Launch Your List email marketing mini-course, and downloadable guides and workbooks — plus the Local to Legend podcast, branded merchandise (Love Local Collection), and an affiliate relationship with Flodesk.

The underlying technology stack is conventional and non-proprietary: a WordPress website on the Genesis framework, ClickFunnels for course delivery, MailChimp and Flodesk for email, and Apple Podcasts/Spotify/Stitcher for podcast distribution. There is no platform, mobile app, API, or disclosed AI/ML component. Love Local instead operates a community-led, content-driven GTM: free guides and a Facebook Group feed a top-of-funnel audience that is nurtured through the podcast and blog before converting into paid programs and consulting. The primary customer segments are women and early-stage SMB owners in U.S. local markets (especially the Midwest), with case studies spanning health, retail, beauty, food, and personal-services verticals.

Revenue derives from a mix of subscription coaching, course sales, one-time digital product licenses, podcast/listener monetization support, merchandise, and affiliate commissions. The company is bootstrapped and founder-controlled, with 9 employees and no disclosed outside funding, revenue, or institutional ownership; operating capacity is concentrated in founder Emily Steele, who also co-owns the adjacent Brand Launch and The Hummingbirds ventures.

Name

Love Local

Legal name

Emily Ann LLC

Website

https://love-local.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Love Local is a bootstrapped, founder-led marketing education and coaching brand that helps U.S. small and local business owners build brands and grow revenue through a 90-day coaching program, online courses, a podcast, and community-led content.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Des Moines

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. 90-Day Local Launch Program: Intensive 90-day coaching and strategy program providing business owners with undivided attention, accountability, roadmap development, and hands-on support to streamline their local business and generate consistent sales.
2. Online Courses and Mini-Courses: Digital educational programs including Local Business Foundations online course, Launch Your List (5-day email marketing mini-course), and Ambassador Program course. Some courses offered free as lead magnets.
3. Digital Products and Workbooks: Downloadable guides, worksheets, and resources such as the '10 Ways to Grow Your Local Business' guide and '7 Ways to Become the Most Loved Business in Your Community' workbook.
4. Podcast Content and Community: Local to Legend podcast creates thought leadership and community engagement. The podcast builds an audience of local business owners and supports other revenue streams through content marketing.
5. Affiliate Revenue: Referral partnerships with email marketing platforms like Flodesk, earning commissions when customers sign up through affiliate links.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Love Local is a marketing education and consulting brand for local business owners. Its core offering is the 90-Day Local Launch coaching program, a paid 90-day intensive that delivers strategy, systems, sales coaching, accountability, and a personalized roadmap to help local businesses generate consistent sales. The program is supplemented by online courses (Local Business Foundations, Ambassador Program), a free 5-day email marketing mini-course (Launch Your List), free downloadable guides, branded merchandise, and the Local to Legend podcast.

Product overview

Love Local is a marketing education and consulting platform for local business owners. The core offering is the 90-Day Local Launch coaching program, supplemented by online courses (Local Business Foundations, Ambassador Program), free educational resources (Launch Your List mini-course, downloadable guides), and the Local to Legend podcast. The company also sells branded merchandise through the Love Local Collection. All offerings are designed to help local businesses build irresistible brands, improve marketing strategies, and grow revenue through community-focused tactics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 90-Day Local Launch A 90-day coaching and consulting program for local business owners that provides strategy, systems, and sales support. Includes undivided attention, accountability, and a road map to consistently generate sales.
• Local Business Foundations An online course designed to help local business owners build an irresistible and profitable local brand using proven strategies for local businesses.
• Ambassador Program An online program that teaches local business owners how to build and launch a customer ambassador program to leverage their biggest fans for brand promotion.
• Launch Your List A free 5-day email marketing mini course for local business owners that teaches how to set up an email marketing strategy, platform, and grow an email list.
• Local to Legend Podcast A podcast for local business owners featuring interviews with successful entrepreneurs, expert advice on brand design, public speaking, mindset, and solo shows sharing what works in the field.
• Love Local Collection Graphic tees merchandise featuring messages aligned with the Love Local brand values of supporting local businesses.
• Free Guide: 10 Ways to Grow Your Local Business A complimentary downloadable guide providing actionable ideas and effective tactics for local business marketing.
• Complimentary Guide: 7 Ways to Become the Most Loved Business in Your Community A complimentary workbook and seven actionable ways to become the most loved business in your community, available as a downloadable resource.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% brand growth in two years for 360 MedSpas client
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, foundational and minor.

• Emily Ann LLCcoreOthers · 1 June 2018Love Local operates as a brand under Emily Ann LLC, the parent company founded by Emily Steele in June 2018. Emily Ann LLC encompasses all of Emily's business activities including Love Local, marketing freelancing services, and other ventures.
• FemCity Des MoinesfoundationalStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn winter 2016, Emily Steele took on the opportunity to re-brand and mobilize FemCity Des Moines, an existing community group. This partnership was foundational to developing Love Local's approach to supporting women in business and community-based brand building. The experience helped crystallize her unique gift for creating momentum around community-based brands and led directly to the creation of Love Local.
• Brand Launch (co-owned with Whitney Warne)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrand Launch is a company co-owned by Emily Steele and her best friend Whitney Warne. It focuses on two key services: online education for personal branding and hummingbird services that match local community builders and influencers with brands. This work is complementary to Love Local and continues alongside it.
• The Hummingbirds (co-owned with Whitney Warne and Matt Niblock)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Hummingbirds is a local influencer marketing company co-built by Emily Steele, Whitney Warne, and Matt Niblock. Unlike traditional influencers, Hummingbirds are community members who use their voices to engage, inform, and inspire local audiences. The company offers local influencer marketing services and has 200+ individuals in the Des Moines community committed to trying and sharing about local brands.
• Gezellig Brewing Co (Newton)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerLumpia&Co, a client/case study of Love Local, has established a regular monthly pop-up collaboration with Gezellig Brewing Co in Newton, Iowa. This exemplifies the type of local business collaboration strategies that Love Local teaches its clients.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Fizzle: Fizzle offers online courses, community, and coaching for independent business owners and entrepreneurs. Like Love Local, it sells education products and community access to small business operators, and operates with a similar founder-led, content-driven model.
• DigitalMarketer: DigitalMarketer provides marketing training, certifications, and community for marketers and business owners. It overlaps with Love Local in offering structured marketing education programs, paid courses, and community engagement, though it serves a broader (not exclusively local) audience.
• The Futur: The Futur provides online education, courses, and community focused on creative business owners and entrepreneurs. It shares Love Local's model of selling premium courses and educational content to small business owners, often in the creative/local services space.
• Score Marketing: A local marketing agency serving small businesses. Like Love Local, it targets local business owners needing marketing strategy, brand building, and digital presence support, with comparable pricing for small business budgets.
• Duct Tape Marketing: Founded by John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing is one of the most established authorities on small/local business marketing. Like Love Local, it focuses specifically on helping small business owners with marketing strategy, systems, and referral networks. Both serve the same persona of local business owner seeking structured marketing guidance.
• Lokal Media: Lokal Media focuses on local SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, and local digital marketing for small and multi-location businesses. While narrower in scope (SEO-focused) than Love Local's broader local marketing education, it serves an overlapping customer base of local business owners.

Others

• SCORE: SCORE is a nonprofit network of volunteer business mentors providing free mentoring, workshops, and resources to small business owners. It shares Love Local's target audience of local/small business owners, but is a free government-affiliated resource rather than a paid coaching program.

Broad incumbents

• MarketingProfs: MarketingProfs is an established marketing education and training company serving a broad professional audience. It overlaps with Love Local in providing marketing courses and training, though it targets marketing professionals rather than exclusively local business owners.
• HubSpot Academy: HubSpot Academy provides free and paid marketing, sales, and service education for businesses of all sizes. It overlaps with Love Local in marketing education, but operates at enterprise scale and is supported by HubSpot's broader software ecosystem.
• Social Media Examiner: Social Media Examiner is a leading publisher of social media marketing content, courses, and conferences for business owners. It shares Love Local's focus on teaching business owners practical social media and digital marketing tactics, though at much larger scale and broader audience.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/love.local
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/love-local-co

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Love Local