I keep hearing that when individuals search for businesses within a community, the first place they go is to the chamber of commerce website. But what if that individual doesn’t know what a chamber of commerce is?  While this may seem absurd to some, I’ll admit my ignorance – before working for WebLink, I did not know much about chambers of commerce, let alone that chambers are a trusted business search engine. And the sad reality is that most of my generation is missing out on the valuable resources of chambers simply because we don’t know about them.

A perfect example. I recently moved to Indianapolis from Dayton, Ohio. After settling in my new apartment, I decided I seriously needed a hair cut before starting my new job. So I turned to the internet. My search (hair salons near 46268) had over 300,000 results, all of which were individual websites requiring me to sift through more results than I cared to. Had I known that chambers of commerce are the ‘Google of their community’, I would have saved a lot of wasted time going through various websites – some that did not even relate to my search.

Chambers are not only valuable to their members, but also to people like me who just want to easily find relevant information on the internet in ONE PLACE. Membership directories are like a one-stop shop for people looking for local businesses. Chambers of commerce easily connect searchers with their member businesses – saving the searcher time, and giving the business a potential new customer.

How is your chamber making sure you reach consumers who might not know what a chamber is? There are probably residents in your community who don’t realize the tremendous resources and services your chamber of commerce offers.   Sure, you might say that “residents aren’t our target for membership.”  But, consider that all those residents have to work somewhere, right?  Are their businesses members of your chamber?  And, what happens when all the young professionals start their own businesses or move up the corporate ladder.  It would be beneficial to your organization if they already knew what the chamber was.  It would be even better if they already had a relationship with your organization.

How are you getting the attention of young professionals in your community?  I know many chambers of commerce have started separate young professionals groups.  How is that working? Are they eventually transitioning over to your chamber or are they losing interest?