The 120-day launch countdown

Before you start: set day zero and three rules

Choose a realistic opening date and write it down, even if it's only a best guess. Then adopt three rules for the whole countdown:

1. One name, everywhere. The business name on the sign is the name on the profile, the site, the invoices and the directories. Decide it once.
2. One phone number, for good. Pick the number you'll keep for years. Changing it after listings exist is a slow, error-prone job.
3. No public date until it's firm. Say "opening this spring" until the fit-out and inspections are truly finished.

These three decisions remove most of the rework we see in launches.

Phase 1: day −120 to −90, decisions

This phase produces decisions, not marketing. Rushing it causes problems that last for years.

• Confirm the name. Check that no nearby business uses something confusingly similar, and that a matching domain is available.
• Decide what type of business you are online. A storefront that customers visit, a service-area business that visits customers, or both. This decides how your Google profile is built.
• Register the domain in your own name, not a designer's or a friend's.
• Set up the phone line you'll keep.
• Check which city you're in. On the boundary, a unit can be on either side of North Road. Coquitlam's licensing page says every business operating there needs a valid Coquitlam business licence, and Burnaby's page says the same for Burnaby businesses. Both cities point owners to zoning first. We don't advise on licensing, but your marketing timeline depends on it, so put it on the sheet.
• List your launch dependencies: sign installation, interior finish, inspections, hiring. Note who controls each one.

By day −90 you should have a name, a domain, a phone number and a list of dates that you don't control.

Phase 2: day −90 to −60, foundations

Now the building starts.

• Write the website. Four to seven pages: home, what you offer, location or service area, about, a short FAQ and contact. Write about real things: your products, your services, how to find you.
• Draft the Google Business Profile. Prepare the name, primary category, a short description, the address with the unit on the second line as Google's guidelines describe, and planned hours.
• Plan photos. Make a shot list for exterior, entrance, interior, team and work. Some will have to wait for the finished space.
• Sign proof check. When the sign maker sends a proof, check that the name on it matches the name you've chosen exactly, including "&" versus "and".
• Write the opening announcement now, while you have time. Leave the date blank.

Most delays in this phase come from the website. Allow three to five weeks for it.

Phase 3: day −60 to −30, go-live

The goal of this phase is that search engines and maps know you exist before customers start looking.

• Publish the site with "opening soon" wording and a season or month rather than a firm date.
• Submit it to Google Search Console with a sitemap, so indexing starts.
• Create the Google Business Profile and begin verification. Expect that Google may ask for evidence of the location, such as signage or the interior. If the sign isn't up, plan to verify once it is.
• Create a handful of key directory listings with the identical name, address and phone. Quality matters more than quantity.
• Set up call and text handling. Decide who answers during opening hours and what happens when nobody can.

If verification stalls, don't create a second profile. Duplicates almost always make the problem worse.

Phase 4: day −30 to 0, warm-up

Now you prepare for the first customers.

• Confirm the date once inspections and fit-out are complete, and update the site and profile with it.
• Set opening-week hours, including any soft-opening days.
• Take finished-space photos and replace any construction-stage images.
• Rehearse the review request with staff: when to ask, how to ask, and how to send the link. Ask every satisfied early customer.
• Consider a small ad test, but only if the profile and site are live and tracking works. Work out the most you can pay per enquiry first; our budget guide shows how.
• Tell the people who already know you: suppliers, past customers from a previous location and neighbours in the building.

Phase 5: day 0 to +90, first season

The countdown doesn't end when the doors open. The first 90 days decide how quickly the business finds its level.

• Week 1: check every listing shows the right hours and phone. Answer every call and text.
• Weeks 2 to 4: request reviews daily. Reply to each review, good or bad, briefly and politely.
• Weeks 4 to 8: look at which searches show your profile and site. Write one or two new pages answering the questions customers actually ask.
• Weeks 8 to 12: review any ads against your cost-per-enquiry ceiling and trim or stop them. Update photos with real customers' work, with permission.

Track four numbers weekly from day zero: calls, texts and emails by source; profile views and direction requests; reviews received; and ad cost per enquiry. Compare each week with the one before rather than with industry averages.

The five most common countdown mistakes

1. Starting the website at day −14. It won't be indexed in time and will be rushed.
2. Changing the name after the sign is ordered. Everything downstream has to be redone.
3. Announcing a date before inspections pass. Every change after that erodes trust.
4. Waiting for "enough customers" to ask for reviews. The first ones are the easiest to get.
5. Running ads to a page that doesn't exist yet. You pay for visitors who can't act.

Where we fit

If you want the countdown done with you rather than by you, our pre-opening launch plan turns this guide into a dated sheet for your business and runs it week by week. The profile step, which trips up most new units near the stations, is covered in detail in our guide to new-building addresses. For prices, see the pricing page, and to start, contact us by call, text or email.

We are a marketing service, not a contractor. The countdown covers marketing tasks only; the fit-out, signs and inspections belong to your trades and the city.