This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.
A member directory, business directory map, or "explore our downtown" map is the workhorse asset for a chamber or main street: every member on one branded, searchable map embedded on your website — and a renewal-time answer to "what does my membership get me?"
1. The Roster Becomes Listings
Export your member roster to CSV and bring it in via Listings → Import CSV. Run Get data to fill hours, photos, and websites.
Add private labels for what your team needs — "Member 2026," "Renewal pending," "Board member." Visitors never see labels; your team filters by them daily. (See Setting Up Categories, Fields, and Labels.)
Build the collection: New Collection → From my listings.
2. The Public Map
Category = business type: "Restaurants & Cafes, Retail, Services, Health & Wellness, Arts & Entertainment" — each with its own marker.
Add a multi-select "Amenities" or "Offerings" field for the filters people actually use, keep search on, and brand it with your organization's colors and logo. A clean style (Minimal, Standard) keeps 200 member pins readable.
Embed it on your website's "Explore" or "Member Directory" page, turn on List Publicly, and consider a custom domain so it lives at map.yourchamber.org.
3. Members Maintain Themselves — the Retention Hook
This is the feature that changes the game for a two-person chamber staff. For each member:
Open their listing and add the owner or manager as a contact — name and email, with the Manager role so they can edit.
Click the invite button by their name, confirm the "Invite to portal?" dialog, and Send invite. They receive a branded email with a Manage your listing button.
They sign in with their email and a 6-digit code. In their portal they can edit their name, photos, and every listing property under Details — description, hours, website, and any custom fields you've added. Changes apply immediately. The address stays admin-only.
If their listing appears in event collections (the holiday guide, restaurant week), each shows an Edit button in their portal too — those edits can go through your review if the collection form requires it.
Three staff tips: the listing profile's View as link shows you exactly what a member sees (invaluable on support calls); the contact row shows "Invited" and "Last signed in" dates so you know who to nudge; and the Listings page's Portal link button copies the general sign-in link for your member newsletter. "You control your own listing" is both a membership benefit and the end of the annual update-chasing email chain.
3½. Add Search — the Directory's Front Door
In the map editor under Filters → Search bar, switch on Show search bar and set the placeholder ("Search our members…"). The Search this map suggestion mode matches by any field — name, description, address, even your custom fields — so "plumber," "gluten free," or a business name all just work. Leave "places from the wider web" unchecked; a member directory should only ever suggest members.
4. Monetize the Placement
Featured pins — a premium-member perk: flip on Featured on this map and they draw on top and sort first.
Sponsorship programs — under Revenue → Sponsorships (set up payments first under Settings → Payments), create a program with tiers ("Gold Member Placement — $500/yr: featured pin + logo display"). Then enroll from the member's own listing: their profile has a sponsorships section where you pick the tier and either copy the checkout link, email it to their contact directly, or record a manual sponsorship if they paid by check. Paid sponsors get an automatic label on their listing, and the All sponsors tab tracks who's active and which benefits you've delivered — remember to actually flip on their featured pin once they pay.
Seasonal upsells — featured placement in the holiday shopping guide or event maps built from the same listings.
5. Keep It Living
New member joins? Create the listing, add it to the collection — on the map same day, a genuinely good onboarding moment. Members lapse? Filter by your renewal label and flip Active on this map off rather than deleting. Twice a year, run Bulk Edit to sweep for gaps, and pull Analytics for the board: directory views, top-viewed members, directions taps — the numbers that justify the program.
Worth a read on the Proxi blog: how to build a business directory map, simplifying member directories, why chambers use Proxi, building a digital main street, and charging businesses for ongoing placement.