www.sdchamber.org

Membership Update

By Doug Holman, Vice President of Membership

As we find ourselves a quarter of the way through the year and rolling ever so close to the summer doldrums, we are reminded that while San Diego is one of the best places in the world to live, come summertime it can be extremely difficult to maintain any momentum. There are simply too many options to draw from our attention.

Chamber events, committees and Business Alliance Groups are designed to promote consistent monthly interaction between our members.  It is a fact that in the vast majority of buying and selling scenarios, people buy people first.  Products and service offerings only become a factor once the human element is a fit.  I personally have followed an employee to another company so I could continue to receive their service. Many law firms have started because clients followed their attorney when they opened a new firm. And, others have closed their doors as customers made it clear that the brand on the business card was nothing when compared to the individual’s name. 

Brand recognition has meaning and some consumers are amazingly loyal to certain brands. But businesses must be realistic about brand recognition because it requires a considerable amount of time and money and a certain amount of luck to be the class of your field. Coke, Xerox, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Jack in the Box all spend millions of dollars advertising their brand. The typical business in San Diego has less than 20 employees and revenues well under one million dollars. If you fit into this category, and you probably do, a big time branding campaign is not in your immediate future. Your greatest commodity is the people that represent your company. Your Chamber membership affords numerous monthly venues for placing your people and message in front of potential clients. In essence, Chamber events are an inexpensive way to market your company to a targeted audience—businesses within San Diego County.

Planning for success is important.  Make sure that your key representatives have a plan so that time spent at events is as beneficial as possible. And remember that marketing a business is a long-term goal. Therefore, event attendance is a monthly commitment, every month.

As always, we encourage you to reach out to Chamber staff for assistance.  Customer Service Representative Marta Lomeli would love to hear from you and is tremendously gifted at walking members through how to best utilize membership. She can be reached on her direct line at (619) 544-1356 or mlomeli@sdchamber.org.

Please take a moment to look over the Chamber Datebook (via e-mail) each Tuesday at 10:00am and place meaningful venues on your calendar.