No, but if it wasn't for all of the aforementioned 'local' consumption early-on in a builder's business, no one in places that are remote to the local builder would even know they exist.

As already noted, this is a no-brainer. Beyond the major brands, small-volume boutique builders all start out by selling to their friends in the local bicycle community, and then friends of friends who see the bikes and want one for any one of a variety of different reasons (e.g., affordable custom, locally produced, just to be different, truly an exceptional product) and if they turn out to be really special bikes then word gets out and so it goes. So, if a builder's frames were NOT extremely popular in their local area and region, chances are they won't catch on anywhere else... UNLESS, they're not really building frames locally. There are marketing companies enabled by the internet that have succeeded by selling "the right material" based on cost to consumers who want to have "the right material" but who may or may not even appreciate the difference between a good frame and a bad frame. After all, that's not important: it's the material and if the marketing company is REALLY lucky, the name brand recognition that nets the sale.

But I digress....

Before the internet and national coverage of what were regional bike builder shows like the ones held in Seattle and Portland, that have now evolved into the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, the watershed event that turned a local builder into a 'well-known builder' was a favorable review in a well-read or respected mainstream trade or consumer magazine. Even better was having a major player in the world of professional cycling as a client.

Examples:

1. Ben Serotta: Outside of New England, who knew who Ben Serotta was until his bikes were chosen as the team bikes for the US Olympic Team or 7-Eleven?
2. Craig Calfee: You don't suppose that having Greg LeMond as a customer early-on who won the Tour de France on one of your frames helped business? And, you don't suppose that having a few loyal customers including Greg LeMond ask Craig Calfee to build them carbon tandems had anything to do with Calfee's expansion into the tandem-building business?
3. Litespeed: Litespeed was an off-shoot of a tubing and metal fabrication company Chattanooga, TN owned by the Lynskey family. The Lynskey boys like cycling and built themselves a couple of really nice titanium frames. Then they built a couple for some friends, and, well, the rest is history.
4. Dennis Bushnell tandems: Unheard of in the east coast until Tandems East became a dealer for the brand.
5. Glenn Erickson tandems: Unheard of outside Seattle and around one shop in Colorado until David Morgan of Tandem & Family Cycling did an article on Erickson's tours, which was then followed up by a review of an Erickson tandem. Speaking for my own little corner of the world, over the course of a few years from '98 - '01 seven couples switched from the Big-S to Erickson tandems, with other Ericksons being built for other buyers who read the review and had to have one of those bikes. If Glenn had been more interested in expanding his one-man, two-vendor boutique frame-building business instead of leading tours for 1/2 the year in Europe he could have easily expanded his market share.
6. Co-Motion tandems: In 1997 when I was shopping for tandems there was only one brand whose name meant anything to me; Santana. When I went to Tandem Ltd. I saw and rode a Co-Motion, but having never heard of the brand it really wasn't of any interest to me: after all, Santana was the best. They also had a Sterling (now Bilenky), Cannondale, an Ibis and a Bike Friday on hand. Now, had I been in Eugene, Oregon shopping for a tandem in 1997 I can tell you with great certainty that I would have known what a Co-motion was and would have likely bought one. Had I been shopping in southeast Pennsylvania or southern New Jersey, I would have known what a Sterling / Bilenky was. If I had been a big-time mountain bike rider I would have probably recognized the name Ibis and snapped up that frame (well, in fact I would have bought that frame anyway if it would have fit because it was just too cool and unique with its foot jam and hand-job braze-ons).

Just some food for thought.