By Holly Reisem Hanna
Are you looking for new ways to market your business? Are you a mompreneur seeking out more local or industry-based connections? Your greatest resource might be right in your own backyard.
Your local Chamber of Commerce offers tons of opportunities to connect with local business owners, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in your community. Local Chambers help enhance economic prosperity throughout your community by significantly boosting the reputation and image of members' businesses.
If you’re not sure if joining your local Chamber is a wise investment, here are six reasons to join your local Chamber of Commerce.
1. Gain Credibility Within Your Community
Joining your local Chamber can be a huge credibility booster. In fact, Chamber membership can boost your business’ reputation by 57%.
Consumers often use their Chamber as a resource when seeking out local goods and services. As more and more community members and consumers perceive your business as reliable, you’ll increase your potential for more referrals and new business deals.
Your Chamber of Commerce supports you as you experience this growing positive perception of your business. Many local Chambers offer badges to add to your website to assure visitors you’re part of a great network. You may even have the opportunity to serve as a featured author on a Chamber blog post or be interviewed for a feature in an email, podcast, or article, further expanding your credibility.
2. Enjoy Endless Networking Opportunities
Membership to your local Chamber includes entrance to ongoing networking events. Attend community meetings, receive newsletters, and gain access to community and leadership development events. Building community connections is a great addition to your marketing strategy that will help you grow your business.
3. Benefit From Member-Exclusive Discounts
Many Chambers offer membership discounts for products and services provided by other members. These services are broad and often are targeted toward the needs of the small business owner.
If you need marketing help, financial advice, tech support, help finding a new location, or any number of other services, you’re likely to find a fellow business member within your Chamber who can offer those services at a discounted rate. Similarly, if your business offers discounted services to other Chamber members, all profit from that sale is yours.
Many Chambers also offer great discounted rates on copying, office supplies, business services, and small business resources. The resources offered can even include expert advice on business law, training, hiring, and growth development. You will also receive information on local labor laws, OSHA, and changes in business regulations that you might otherwise miss.
4. Extend Your Voice to Local and State Government
Politics can be messy—and small businesses are usually the ones more affected by new and changing regulations, taxes, fees, or other mandates passed by local and state governments. Chamber members and Chamber committee members have a strong voice in the dealings of these negotiations.
Local Chambers are committed to protecting the community of small businesses and are a powerful force in opposing or fighting for regulations that could harm or impact the small business community. When a group of businesses comes together to make a stand on an issue (like zoning, new business regulations, or fees) their voices are more impactful and more likely to be heard.
5. Experience a Flexible Range of Support and Events
You may be thinking that your business is too small or your schedule is too busy to get involved in and attend Chamber meetings or events. But Chambers understand that and support all members of the community with a wide range of events — from networking opportunities to business growth and development seminars, to community-wide social events. If you can’t spare any time at the moment, you can still benefit from their members-only resources, membership listings, free advertising, and business referrals and discounts.
6. Explore Continuous Education and Training Opportunities
As a mompreneur, you need to be learning new things, but training and education opportunities like conventions and conferences can be expensive, especially when they are not located in your city or state. Being a member of your local Chamber helps to bridge this gap. Most chambers provide access to events for business training and development, as well as newsletters with helpful articles, business advice, and tips that keep your business a step ahead of the game.
If you’re looking to join your local Chamber of Commerce, you can search for your local Chamber here or check out the National U.S. Chamber of Commerce for additional information and resources.
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Do you belong to your local Chamber? What were your reasons to join your local Chamber of Commerce? I invite you to share what groups and organizations you belong to in the comment section below.
Originally published September 29, 2009. Content updated May 18, 2017.
For those of you just starting a business, or even seasoned vets, there is no faster way to build your circle of business influence then to attend your local Chamber of Commerce Networking/Get Acquainted events. Obviously, the Chamber holds these events as a way to recruit new members, but they are open to all comers, there are “no high pressure” sales techniques to join; with 60-90 minutes you can literally get your business card into the hands of 20-30 other business owners. Also, don’t just limit yourself to the Chamber in your town, what about the cities within an hour drive of you, they all have their own Chambers, and they too, have Open House Networking events. Looking for work at home, and want to take advantage of the fact that entire country is in debt. you can make a fortune with other peoples debt…
Last year I joined one of the local Chambers in the area and have gotten a lot of business and exposure because of that. They have an affordable Home Based Business membership which is about half of the normal rate. (Check to see if yours does, too.) I get to give my 30 second introduction often, it gets me out of the house at least once a month, and the people I meet at all the events are good contacts for me. This year I volunteered to be a member on one of their committees, and I show up at almost anything the Chamber sponsors. It’s the cheapest and best way to get known locally.
I recently joined a second Chamber and am starting to connect through their networks, too. Don’t hesitate – just do it! You will be listed in both their online and hard copy directories and have many opportunities to promote yourself. That’s what they are all about.
I also joined my local chamber last year and it has also opened up some tremendous opportunities to meet other business people and to get my name out in the community. I’m not the most outgoing person and it took a lot to get me to join and going to the first networking meeting was a painful experience but the more that I went to the easier it became. Now I’m on a couple of committees and was just elected to the board of directors increasing my visibility even more. Just this week a presented a seminar to about 20 eager members who wanted to learn about social media. I’m sure your local chamber would love to have you share your expertise whatever it may be.
I agree it is a great way to network and gain valuable exposure for the exchange of a little bit of time. So I would encourage everyone who is thinking about joining to take the plunge and jump in with both feet!
Hi Holly,
I’d see that credibility builder to be a huge factor. Really neat insights and definitely gives me a kick in the pantaloons to join a local COC. When I eventually stop my digital nomad way of living ;)
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Glad you enjoyed the post, Ryan! Enjoy your travels =)
This is great advice! At this time, I am not currently a member of my local Chamber of Commerce, but this article and the comments have convinced me to further look into joining. It will definitely give me a larger outlet to network and more exposure. I also like the idea of joining more than one chamber. Definitely something to think about. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the article, Charlie. If you join — keep us posted.
This is a great post. We found our local chamber to be a bit pricey. As an online company we felt we had flexibility with where we joined. We spread our search a little broader and found several chambers at a fraction of the cost.
While we lost a bit in networking, as you mention above, we gained a stronger online presence. Just food for thought. Thanks for the post :)
Hi Andrew, Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you join Chambers that were still in your county, or did you extend your reach even further than that?