Your Business Quick Tip Newsletter
Vol 21 No #207 – 26th January 2022
Contents
- Welcome to 2022
- Secret Diamond of Google – My Maps
- An Association for Everything!
Welcome to 2022
Of course conferences or training isn’t the first thing on any businesses mind at the moment. Just a quick hands up that I would be delighted to hear from you if you’re interested in a conference presentation or personal or small group productivity training session. For example, MS Office or Google software skills, database marketing, presentation skills. Please email me with your request at debbie@debbiespeaks.com
Secret Diamond of Google – My Maps
You can do more with Google Maps than asking how to get from A to B.
You can add layers (great for engineers, construction, farmers). You can add your business. However we are not talking about those two features. At least not now. Today, I’d like to highlight a different way you can use Google Maps with My Maps.
My Maps example below
This image above is a portion of my Quick Tip Newsletter database. Each Pin represents a subscriber, and contains unique information.
My Maps are private (or public) maps you’ve created by uploading spreadsheet data. It’s Free. It’s Easy. Freasy
Like A Visual Database
Each row of data creates a pin. When you click the pin, if shows the uploaded information. If you have six columns like mine – you’ll have six pieces of information about that pin. If your spreadsheet has 15 columns, you’ll have 15 pieces of information for each pin. Of course, the only given criteria is one column must be a location. It can be exact (number and street) through to just the city. Having the country will avoid mistakes between similarly named locations.
When created, your map has a unique URL (web address). This can remain private to you; or you can share it with others or even embed it on a company website.
Before we go further, are you thinking how can I use this for business? Personally?
Your imagination is the limit
You’ve heard a picture is worth a thousand words. An image highlighting what you’re talking about can make you more persuasive.
For example, how much better is it:
- To show school fundraising sponsors a map of their peers already sponsoring
- In a meeting about church membership showing the actual map of members
- Dare I say it – mapping who has Covid
Even more ideas:
Business
- Locations of offices or staff. The Retirement Villages Association has a map on their website showing member villages. They use different coloured pins to represent different organisations. When you click on a single pin – it will detail all the information about the one village – phone, address, email, number of units and so on
- Mail drop advertising success with new business picked up
- Location of clients, members, students, employees, volunteers.
- Different colour pins to differentiate different clients
- Location of prospects
- Planned appointments for sales teams
- Conference attendees, attendees of exhibitions
Personally
- School, sport or church fundraising, membership
- Places you’ve travelled or are going to in the future. Several years ago when touring the UK, we not only pinned the historic homes and castles we wanted to visit, we uploaded scanned images of their descriptions
- Places you visited in your lifetime.
Making It Interesting and Unique
You can colour pins of different layers to distinguish, categorise. You can upload images to a pin. You even have a significant number of icons to choose from.
As you see in the two images below, The first shows the formatting options for your pins. The second image are the colour and icon options. Clicking More icons opens screens of them.
Convinced it might be useful to you? Or at least a clever bit of dinner table conversation?
How to access My Maps. Two ways. You must have a Google Account.
- Open Google Maps. Click the top left corner menu button. Next Select your Places> Maps > Create Map.
- Second, and easiest is if you have a Google Drive Account, Click New> More > My Maps. See image below.
Once you have My Maps open and selected New Map,
- An Untitled Map will open. Give it a name to help differentiate in the future
- Select Import under Untitled Layer. You can import an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.
- Once Your layer is uploaded, you can change icons, colours. Add images.
- A map can have up to 10,000 lines, shapes, or places.
- Each layer you upload can have 2,000 lines, shapes, or places.
An Association For Everything!
Here’s something to make you smile. There is an association for Everything!!!! Who would think there’s one for pet obesity?
