Question How to automate Google Maps?

[PrabhakaranKaruppaih]

Hi All,
I want to list out all the business places present around me within 12 KM radial distance from my House Location (Business Places Includes: shops, Companies, Pharmacies and all other places where business is done). I want to scrape their contact details and send my Service List Brochure to them.

P.S:
I am planning to start a small IT Company catering the needs of the above said Business Places. Customized Software is what I am planning to Provide.

 

[Ralston18]

What have you tried?

What were the results?

Overall, if you want to run an IT business and run the business well then you do not need to get bogged down in the marketing aspects of it all. Getting the word out is important. However there is much more involved.

My recommendation is to find another local business that can provide some sort of contact list right from the start.

Find out what lists might be available, what information is provided, how up-to-date it is, and how much it costs you per business listing. You might get 5,000 "names" - most names probably not good candidates for IT support.

And how do you wish to contact those businesses and thus provide your Service List Brochure: mailings, emails, telephone calls, personal visits/cold calls?

Also remember that you wil need to pay to have the brochure produced.

The return (businesses that respond by contacting you) is going to be very small. And disproportionately consume lots of your time and effort.

You should also makde a careful assessment of existing or potential competitors. What do your competitors do? What are the pricing norms?

As for scraping Google maps and the web in general there are multiple links to be found about how that can be done and the options available. You may be able to purchase code to do so or have someone write the code. Or some basic code that would be customized for you.

How much are you willing to spend with respect to obtaining the list and subsequent mailings etc. to the targeted businesses? Take the viewpoint that that money will have no ROI (Return on Investment).

Basically the equivalent of a "lost bet".

= = = =

As a very practical means to do something just draft a basic brochure (neat, clean, easy to understand, pricing etc.. ) Maybe 100 copies. Just basic information about your business, you, and the services offered. Including pricing is risky - people will, rightfully so, hold you to those prices.....

Do your own walk around within the target radious. Break the circle into 4 quadrants.

Within each quadrant try to visit 25 businesses that you deem most likely to need or otherwise be receptive to your IT services. Find out who they use now, what kind of support do they need, how often is support needed?

Lots of time-consuming work but you wll learn a lot.

And not need to spend much money, if any, for that knowledge.

Getting a "list" of any sort by whatever means is just a small part of starting your business.