You no doubt have heard the saying, “If you’ve seen one chamber, you’ve seen one chamber.” Chambers offer a host of similar benefits but there are some that offer things outside of the usual benefits to business. These very cool benefits of chamber membership were a topic of conversation recently on the Chamber of Commerce Professionals page on Facebook. Here’s some of what was shared:
Cool Benefits of Chamber Membership
Child Care for After-work Events
This benefit takes some behind-the-scenes work rounding up volunteers and any appropriate waivers, background checks, and insurance needed but often the thing that holds parents with young children back from attending events is their familial responsibilities. The Somerset Wisconsin ChamberKidz program allows parents to drop off the kids at a prearranged spot (a free partnership with the local school for the use of non-classroom facilities) so the kids can enjoy a snack and activities while mom and/or dad is enjoying the networking. They offer this for every event lasting over two hours.
Free Professional Development
Running a business is a lot of work. Finding the time for professional development is even harder. You have to scout out opportunities and weigh the ROI on the program. But what if there was a trustworthy source of free professional development seminars at the local chamber? Some chambers are offering these for members.
You can also record them and place them in a resource library so that people who don’t have time to participate when the seminar is live can access them on their schedule.
Social Media Support
Chambers are doing this in a number of ways. The Monona Eastside Business Alliance pastes a “New Member” sticker on their page and follows each new member and interacts with their content as often as possible. This helps the member business extend their reach and get seen by more people.
What special benefit is your chamber offering? Join the conversation here.
Wondering how to promote the benefits of new chamber membership? Here’s an article with great ideas for marketing.
