• Create mailing...

• Use a Twitter client - This is a piece of software that you download and install on your computer.  When you set it up with your Twitter account, it will connect to Twitter's API, instead of you needing to go to Twitter's website to see/post tweets.  Some popular apps are Tweetdeck (allows you to...

See part one of this post here.

Why would you pay another company for email services? 

One of the biggest reasons I already mentioned above – relationships with the ISPs.   It would be very difficult for most chambers to dedicate a staff person to constantly monitor their outgoing email to see if it looks like spam and build relationships with the various ISPs to make sure their email is getting delivered.  In fact, many of the ISPs don’t have the staff to work with every small and mid-sized...

Note: this is part one of a two- part post.

Why track email?  You’ve already got enough to do running your chamber.  Why would you want to spend additional time and resources worrying about who’s reading your email? 

Let’s first consider some other methods of one-way communication.  When using direct mail, print advertising, television or radio to promote your programs and events, you have no real way of knowing how many of your target audience actually received the message.  You may get a...

A few days ago, I posted about sending your members out-of-the-blue communications.

Today, Chris Brogan posted “Why Jason Falls Rules” about something that happened after he mentioned to another friend that he hadn’t heard from his friend Jason Falls in a while.  (If you haven’t heard of these two and you are at all interested in social media, follow them on Twitter and read their blogs!)

Turns out that word got back to Jason and within two hours, flowers showed up at Chris’ office -...

You’ve probably heard the term “permission marketing” at your organization, but may not be sure what it is.  In this post, Seth Godin redefines and clarifies permission marketing, a term he coined nearly a decade ago.

Chambers of commerce and membership organizations must embrace this philosophy.  The days of the "blast" email and fax to all members are over.  Other sites are using permission marketing to communication with you members and build relationships.   Yes, your members have paid you...

How often do you send a specific one-to-one communication to your members?  Maybe a "welcome" letter when they join and then an invoice when they need to renew...right?   Most other communications are newsletters, "mass" emails (even if customized) or other generic method. 

Surprise them.  Send them a valentine.  Wish them a happy St. Patrick's Day.   Call them just to say "hi" and see how they are doing.  Try something unexpected to show them that you're glad they're a member.  Send them a $5...

Recently, I placed an order on Sierra Trading Post's website.  I've ordered from them several times over the past few years, but I noticed something for the first time today.  When I got my order confirmation email, there were these two lines just after the total of my order:

You have saved $35.05 over regular retail prices on this order. 
You have saved $459.76 over regular retail prices on all prior purchases. 

WOW!  I had no idea I had "saved" so much money over the years.  I guess I...

As we’ve mentioned before, many chambers of commerce and business associations are jumping into blogging as a way to reach out to their audience and engage them with social media.   However, many organizations have just one person blogging due to time constraints or familiarity with social media.

Today, Seth Godin posted about the death of the personal blog.   (Don’t worry – there’s still room for your own blog about your personal interests.) However, his point is that the top 10 blogs are all...

By Pam Sefrino, WebLink Director of Sales, Northeast Region (formerly with Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce)

In this tough economic climate, member retention rates are falling and even long-time chamber members are scrutinizing every dollar they spend and looking at the return on their annual membership investment. What are you doing to ensure that renewing membership in your chamber is an easy decision, even when belts are being tightened?

No longer are chamber professionals able to get...

The other day, Beth Bridges from the Clovis (CA) Chamber of Commerce had a nice post about an unexpected benefit of social networking:  increasing links to your site (and maybe site traffic).

From Beth’s post, regarding a social networking event she recently attended:

“This valuable lesson was worth every minute I spent:  Get on Social Networking sites and link them to your blog or website to increase ranking, relevancy, and traffic.”

I discussed the same thing during a recent presentation to the...

I recently got my new ATM card in the mail from my bank (Citibank) because the old one will be expiring soon.  No big deal...this happens all the time, right?

The card was attached to the letter/insert as normal. But the insert said "WELCOME" in huge letters, as if I were new to Citibank and this was my first card ever.  But, they KNOW that I've had this account for more than 10 years and they KNOW this was just a renewal card.  So, why did they treat me as though I were new?   Is it that hard...