6 Ideas to Provide More Value to Your Chamber of Commerce Members

Chambers of Commerce add so much value to their communities. From being a trusted resource to helping boost the visibility and credibility of local businesses, chambers want to see their members succeed. 

Attracting new members is always something to celebrate, but retaining those memberships year-over-year is crucial. If your Chamber of Commerce is looking for more ways to provide value to your members, you have come to the right place. Here are 6 new ideas your staff can give a try.

Table of Contents

• Match-making members
• Networking
• Educational opportunities 
• Job boards
• Driving growth to your area
• Grouping like-minded business leaders

Match-making members

You and your staff know your members and their needs better than anyone. One way to add serious value to your members is by providing warm introductions if a member has shared their need for a service, product, or opportunity. Your chamber staff is a trusted source to the community so match-making members to benefit both parties is a great way to add value and build trust.

Networking

Networking events are the bread and butter for a lot of chambers. But are you offering a variety of events that fits the needs of your different tiered members? Also, are you offering both in-person and virtual networking events as we continue to navigate business during a pandemic? You can survey your members to see what they’re most interested in and make your networking events meaningful and highly attended, by tailoring events to their needs.

Educational opportunities

Offering in-person or virtual learning opportunities for your chamber members is another way to add value to your membership. Where do you get your speakers from? Your members! Your chamber staff can put together weekly or monthly educational opportunities tailored to business growth, economic growth, or navigating business challenges during the pandemic. Another great way to find out topics most important and interesting to your members is to poll them.

Job boards

Businesses are struggling more than ever now to attract and retain talent. Adding a job board to your chamber website can help your members showcase employment opportunities for their business. 

Driving growth to your area

More and more chambers and economic development organizations are partnering up and joining forces to grow their region. Collaborating with your area’s economic development organization can help show the prosperity and growth of the region by showing that two organizations have a unified voice and mission.

Grouping like-minded business leaders

One way to get like-minded people together from your chamber membership is to host roundtable discussions or fireside chats. This approach is a mix of networking and educational opportunities but it can be an invitation-specific type of event that allows a meeting of the minds to discuss topics relevant to an industry, region, or new innovation. 

The biggest way to show your current and future constituents that your chamber is a resource to the community is to be one. We hope these 6 ideas engage your members and help your staff continue to provide great service to your community. If you have any questions about implementing these new strategies, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We look forward to connecting with you.

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