June 25, 2007

Create Member Value With Your Website

By Pam Sefrino, Director, Sales and Marketing, Northeast Region, WebLink International

In today’s fast-paced, technology driven business community, it’s critical that chambers of commerce demonstrate value to their members through technology. Event networking, though critical for business success, has fallen by the wayside for many busy executives and professionals, as they try to manage their time and maximize their resources.

Given this shift in the industry, it’s now more important than ever for chambers of commerce to consider new ways of demonstrating value, even for those members who rarely attend a Chamber event. Through a web site that is dynamic, easy to navigate and strategically designed to generate business for members, chambers can clearly show members how their organization is working for them even outside of events and public affairs initiatives.

Who is Visiting Your Site? It’s Not Who You Think!
Though most chambers would like to think that the majority of their web site visits come from those in the business community, in many cases, the opposite is true. Visitors turn to chambers of commerce as a source of information, whether it is for restaurants, hotels or services that they may want to take advantage of while they are visiting, even if a chamber is not considered a “tourism” chamber. Therefore, chambers need to design their websites with that information in mind.  Chambers should strategically lead their visitors to the information they are looking for while providing valuable referrals for their business members – referrals that can be reported back to the member at any time to demonstrate real value.

Are You Offering Ease and Convenience?
Today’s business professionals want information and they want it fast. They also want to multi-task and have the ability to get administrative tasks, such as paying bills, done quickly and efficiently.  Jupiter Research projects the number of U.S. households banking online to jump from 29.6 million in 2003 to 56 million by 2008, and the percentage of those paying bills online to increase from 50% in 2003 to 85% in 2008.*

Those projections alone should cause chambers to take pause and consider whether their members can pay all invoices, including dues, sponsorships and event registrations, securely on the chamber’s website and whether the chamber itself can capture and store that information automatically in its membership management system. In addition, enabling members to change contact or company information automatically online and indicate personal communications preferences goes a long way in personalizing each member’s individual member experience.

Are You Providing Member Enhancements?
Business owners want opportunities. Opportunities to connect, opportunities to sell, opportunities to market their business. Consider whether you are creating these opportunities for your members through your website, and whether you may be missing an opportunity yourself, to not only add value, but to generate non-dues revenue for your organization at the same time.

Enhanced business category listings with maps, logos and business descriptions, home page, secondary and category page sponsorships and free coupon marketing are all enhancements that you can easily make available to your members to help them gain more exposure and more business.

Chambers must become technology-focused as the way people do business today is continually evolving at breakneck speed. Chambers who keep the pace will benefit!

*Source: www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness