Your Business Quick Tip Newsletter
Vol 18 No #175 – 28th November 2019

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Secret Diamonds of Google

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 introduce you to 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:

1. To show school fundraising sponsors a map of their peers already sponsoring?
2. In a meeting about church membership showing the actual map of members?
3. Highlighting the upcoming season away games to a sports team.

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 diverse management 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.
• Our daughter Elizabeth works at Wine Friends (an online wine subscription service). Liz uploaded their clients with different coloured pins coding subscription choice.
• 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. When touring the UK last year, we not only pinned the historic homes and castle we wanted to visit, we uploaded scanned images of their descriptions
• All your accommodation for a long trip
• 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?

Here’s the How-to

How to access My Maps. Two ways. You must have a Google Account.

1. Open Google Maps. Click the top left corner menu button. Next Select Your Places > Maps > Create Map.
2. 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,

1. An Untitled Map will open. Give it a name to help differentiate in the future
2. Select Import under Untitled Layer. You can import an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.
3. Once Your layer is uploaded, you can change icons, colours. Add images.
   1. A map can have up to 10,000 lines, shapes, or places.
   2. Each layer you upload can have 2,000 lines, shapes, or places.

Why Write About This Now?

You would have found me last weekend in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea; presenting to 1700+ accountants and business leaders. My goal was to highlight how they can in a free and easy (freasy) manner grow business success and productivity. The response was so favourable that I thought to stray from our normal 3-5 quick tips and focus on one fantastic tip that is wonderfully useful for every single person that reads this newsletter.

 

Please help me and share this newsletter with your sphere of influence. Suggest they join the 19557 business people already subscribing and enjoying it. Here’s the link for subscribing.