Chamber 101

So, let’s talk about what you have planned for your marketing in 2022, and how your chamber of commerce membership fits in.

Whether you’re a for-profit company looking for new business, a not-for-profit trying to position yourself in a community, or an entrepreneur navigating the start-up journey – It starts with you, and your own growth plans.

As you look to 2022 in hopes of strengthening the return-on-investment you get from your chamber of commerce membership, we recommend that you focus on three things:

• What Are Your Goals?
• Where Will You Spend Your Money?
• Who’s Responsible for Finding ROI?

For you to have a stronger 2022 with your chamber of commerce, the first thing you must do is answer these questions. Don’t just answer them in your head – put your answers on paper or on your tablet.

Second thing you must do is communicate your goals with your chamber of commerce.

What Are Your Goals?

Think of these not necessarily as goals for your chamber of commerce membership, but your general growth goals. Your goals can be supported by your participation and involvement with your chamber to gain new business, introductions, exposure/being seen as supporting, altruism/supporting the organization, tickets to attend events, speaking roles, or influence over organization activities.

Bring your business goals to the chamber and let us help you find solutions among our wide array of services and network. If we don’t have the solution, chances are we know someone who does.

Where Will You Spend Your Money?

Which chambers of commerce in your community, or in your target markets, fill your growth needs? Not all chambers of commerce are built the same, and all have different strengths and priorities.  You’ll want to look at the make-up of their membership – does it align with your prospect list – and whether this supports the visibility you want your organization to have within the community. 

We are believers in belonging to multiple organizations, and working to build strong relationships with each – nothing wrong with having a bunch of people out there looking out for your interests. And we strongly encourage you to bring your goals forward to each of those organizations as well.

Who’s Responsible for Finding ROI?

This often gets overlooked in most marketing plans but it is essential that someone is able to monitor throughout the year that value is not only being provided, but also sought after by your company. Instead of looking at the cost of your chamber membership, let’s look at the opportunity for value. Your chamber of commerce membership is an investment that you have 365 days to get a return on. How many clients will you need to get during those 365 days in order to make your money back or even 5x or 10x your investment? For some companies, one new client is enough to cover the cost of the membership. Even at the higher levels, securing the clients necessary to match the expenditure is not the lift it’s often made out to be. 

Communication and sharing your goals with your chamber so we can help you is so important.

Too many chamber of commerce memberships are purchased and ignored. Some companies often say “I joined XX chamber and didn’t get any value out of it, so I dropped after one year.” The insinuation is that the chamber didn’t provide enough value – But the reality is, most of these companies didn’t answer the questions above to put themselves in a position to succeed.

We’d be happy to connect with you for a 15-minute Zoom call, hear what you’re looking to accomplish in 2022, and walk you through how your chamber membership can be part of those goals. Book a call with us today.

Take advantage of the opportunities ahead for a great 2022. Use your chamber of commerce to help get it done.

We’re here to help if you need us.