You’ve posted your event to social media. You’ve added it to the newsletter. And yet… crickets. Days later, when you post event pics, people tell you they didn’t know about it and said they would’ve gone had they know.
After all your hard work, it’s one of the most frustrating things a member can say.
If you feel like you’re speaking into the void, you’re not alone. Chambers everywhere are competing with overflowing inboxes, noisy feeds, and short attention spans.
The solution? Multiple, strategic touch points. Marketing isn’t about one magic post. It’s about reaching your audience in different places, in different ways, and at the right time. The good news: this doesn’t mean more work. It means smarter, more efficient work.
First: The Problem
Why aren’t people seeing your messages? There are several reasons:
Social Media Is a Noisy, Crowded Place
Check your reach numbers and you may be unpleasantly surprised. Only a fraction of your followers are seeing your posts. You may also notice that your views are mainly non-followers. That’s fine if they’re in your town, not so great if they’re based in India. The more engagement you get on your posts, the more people will see them. But that’s a long game. If your current reach isn’t great, you’ll need multiple avenues or channels to get your message out there.
People Ignore Emails
We’re not even talking about people who dislike going to events. Even people with the best intentions ignore emails or set them aside for later because they don’t require attention right now. If you send out a weekly email about events, you could be facing this difficulty. The member receives it in the middle of their work day and puts it to the side. It gets buried in a busy inbox. They don’t think about it again.
You need to create a subject line so compelling that they feel the need to open it right then and there–in the middle of the work day. Or you can experiment with sending it at a time when things are less busy like Sunday night or early in the morning.
They Aren’t Who You Think They Are
When a member signs up with the chamber, they may give a generic email like info@their business or contact@theirbusiness. This is not the most direct way to reach someone. Encourage members to sign up with their best email. That might even be a personal email (just make sure you get a good business email as well).
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an email hater. Email is efficient and trackable. But it’s also a good way to get lost and languish in a sea of unopened correspondence. That’s why to successfully reach current and future members you need to use multiple channels.
You Aren’t Telling Them Often Enough
I know. If you’ve ever had a complaint from someone that you send out too many reminders, you may decide you should dial back your communication. But how many people complain? One? Maybe two? Those people are likely at zero email inbox and saw everything you sent. Most of your email list doesn’t fit into that category.
Have you ever signed up for a webinar and you’ve received 3000+ emails, texts, and messages about it including a countdown and bonus info? They’re not doing it to be annoying. They do it because it works. Plain and simple.
If you’re worried you’re reaching out too often with reminders, figure out a way to make your reminders valuable. (More about that below.)
You can get more people at your events and responding to your messaging if you follow this easy framework:
Step 1: Create a Simple Marketing Plan
Before you draft that flyer and hit the send button, map your communications:
- Core Message – What do people need to know (event date, value to them, why it matters)?
- Main Channels – Email, social media, website, flyers, personal outreach. Success is in the mixture. Sugar alone doesn’t make a cake. You need all the ingredients.
- Timeline – Announce → remind → last call.
- Assets – A single set of graphics, a short blurb, and a longer description. Reuse these everywhere.
Think of this as a plug-and-play toolkit. Once built, your team isn’t rewriting content every time they’re reaching out.
Step 2: Use Multiple Avenues of Communication
Your newsletter and Facebook page are great, but not enough. Here are a few other avenues to incorporate into your communications/marketing strategy:
- Website: Always post events here. It’s your home base and where people search first.
- Social Media: Post multiple times, not once. Use different angles (speaker spotlight, countdown, testimonial).
- Chamber Text Alerts: A short reminder the day before (or day of if you’re allowing walk-ins) an event can double attendance.
- Printed Materials: Flyers in member businesses, at ribbon cuttings, or at mixers.
- Personal Outreach: Board members or ambassadors personally inviting contacts. This works wonders.
- Event Platforms: Post to Eventbrite, Meetup, or even LinkedIn Events to widen reach. Keep your ideal audience in mind when selecting these other event platforms. If it’s a YP event, for example, there may be additional places to advertise and post.
- Cross-Promotion: Ask speakers, sponsors, and partners to share the event to their networks.
Step 3: Repurpose, Don’t Reinvent
Efficiency is everything for a chamber team. One piece of content should work everywhere but not as a direct copy and paste. Different channels appeal to different parts of your audience. Create once and customize for each (or have AI do it for you):
- Write one event description, then trim it for emails, turn it into bullet points for social media, and make a script for a board member to record a 30-second video invite.
- Design one graphic template and update it with event-specific details—saves time and keeps branding consistent.
- Use snippets from your newsletter as posts on LinkedIn or Instagram.
Think “copy-paste and tweak,” not “start from scratch” each time.
Step 4: Timing Is Everything
People don’t act on the first touch. They barely notice the first touch. Many marketers believe it takes as many as seven touches. At a minimum, plan for three waves of outreach:
- Save the Date (3–4 weeks out) – Light awareness.
- Details + Why It Matters (2 weeks out) – Push the value.
- Last Call (2–3 days out) – Urgency and FOMO.
Pro tip: Change up the visuals or lead line each time so it doesn’t feel repetitive. People tend to ignore repetition because they get used to your messaging. Think about traffic noise in a city. Residents barely notice it, but to people from the country, it can seem deafening. If your members think they’re getting the same messaging over and over, they’ll tune you out.
Step 5: Streamline with Systems
To keep your sanity, use tools that make this easier:
- Canva – Design templates once, reuse forever. Use their organizational features for easier access.
- Email automation – Schedule reminders in advance. Many chamber CRMs have this built in. If not, you can use easy-to-understand platforms like MailChimp or Constant Contact.
- Content calendar – See all posts at a glance and avoid scrambling.
- Team help – Delegate outreach (board, ambassadors, committees).
Bonus Tip
I don’t care how great your message is, people are easily distracted. You need multiple reminders to break through the noise and become top-of-mind. Yet what I hear from chambers all the time is that they don’t want to “bug” their members. If you’re sensitive to that and you feel like your members don’t like extra emails, figure out a way to make your reminder emails valuable for your recipients. For instance, attach an email message from the event speaker giving a nugget of info that is valuable as a standalone but acts as a teaser to what the attendee will learn at the event. The message shouldn’t be salesy. It should be informative (or even entertaining). When you hide your reminder emails behind valuable content, recipients won’t complain about getting them. They’ll look forward to them and to your event.
Remember, your members are busy. One newsletter mention isn’t enough. But by layering multiple, coordinated touch points, you make it almost impossible for them to miss what you’re offering. And by repurposing content smartly, you won’t burn out your staff in the process.
Stellar chamber marketing is about showing up consistently, in the right places, with the right message.
