In the age of Yelp! and other popular online social networking sites, providing member value is a 24/7 job. In this American Chamber of Commerce Executives Annual Conference session attendees learned how new digital tools and online strategies help chambers offer new member services, improve retention, grow online revenue and stimulate regional economic development. Topics include: - Disintermediation - The new value of chambers of commerce - Reducing transactional friction - Tech companies disrupting chambers - Five things chambers can do to win online - The challenge of face-to-face networking - Big businesses are a big problem for small businesses - Online member services - Online business assistance - Market research - Business intelligence and market research - Search engine optimization - Get your business online - Chamber directories - Online learning vs. training for online success - Site selection and business attraction - Economic development - Online GIS - Marketing effectiveness - Membership drives - Internet ambassadors - Social media challenges - Weaknesses of mobile apps - Online advertising - Freemium as a business model for chambers of commerce

1. Chambers of Commerce and the
Never Ending Tech Revolution
Anatalio Ubalde, CEO
ACCE Annual Conference
Mark Hayes, Nat’l Sales Exec.

2. Do you get value for what you pay
these people? Are they worth it? (page 74)
• Car salesmen
• Insurance brokers
• Head hunters
• Advertising agencies
• Travel agents
• Real estate agents

3. According to Jeff Jarvis:
• Real estate agents are more distrusted than
tabloid writers
• “Eliminate advertising. Or at least fire your ad
agency.”
• “…travel agents (oh, sorry, they’re already
nearly extinct.”

4. The Chamber of Commerce:
People
are asking:

5. All industries are getting disrupted by the Internet

6. What happened?
• Disruptive tech changes how
info is accessed
• Change to all industries
• Business-as-usual = ruin
• Adopt tech early = advantage
• Orgs/Chambers/EDOs that
don’t provide info gets
bypassed

7. Disintermediation
• Old = information middleman
• Present = disintermediation + transparency
• New = add value + prosper

8. Choices
1. Stay the course
to irrelevance
2. Disrupt or be
Disrupted

9. The new model for Chambers:
Role Old New
Information Gatekeeper Distributor
Relationship Broker Connector
Marketing Say it Be it
Chamber Staff Middleman Leader

10. Where Chambers are and are not
being disrupted

11. Not Disrupted
Chamber Activity Partners, Competitors,
or Potential Disrupters
Lobbying & Public Policy
Online petitions, but not
disrupted yet.
Building good communities
residents/investors/visitors are
attracted to Governments, EDCs, CVBs
Promoting the community Governments, EDCs
Building a good business
environment Governments, EDCs, etc.

12. Of course this isn’t actually a quote from Einstein, it a
made up meme from the Internet
Source: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=83238
“The trouble with quotes on the Internet is you never know if they are real” – Abraham Lincoln

14. Technology is
killing your
chamber of
commerce…

15. Mission of Chambers #5:
Reduce Transactional Friction
- ACCE
This is where the biggest disruptions
are taking place
Source: http://www.acce.org/whatisachamber/

16. Meet Business People You Can Buy
From and Sell To
Traditional:
Chamber Networking
Tech Disruption:

17. Meet Business People You Can Buy
From and Sell To Face-to-Face
Traditional:
Chamber Networking
Tech Disruption:

18. Validate That You Are a Reputable
Business
Traditional:
Better Business Bureau
Chamber Plaque/Sticker
Chamber Referral
Tech Disruption:

19. Customer Lead Generation
Traditional:
Chamber networking
Chamber referrals
Tech Disruption:

20. Connect businesses for financing
Traditional:
Chamber referrals to
banks or investors
Tech Disruption:

21. Learn How to Be a More Successful
Business
Traditional:
Chamber events
(Tech) Disruption:

23. You can wait until it’s too late to
reinvent your online strategy

24. 5 Things Your
Chamber Can Do
to Be Online
Winners

25. Challenge: Members Don’t Come
to Our Live Events so They Don’t
See the Value of A Chamber
Membership

26. Gone are the days where a new business to
town joins a chamber just because they need to
make connections. Many members are so busy
they don’t have time to even attend events.

27. Many members
are so busy they
don’t have time
to even attend
events.

28. What have chambers traditionally
done and how do they
communicate?

31. Solution: Create Online Value
Members Can Access On-
Demand

32. Big Businesses are a Big Problem for
Small Businesses

33. Businesses Have a Lack of Perspective
(but wish they did)
Challenge Result
Locally focused they miss broader
trends
Inwardly focused they aren’t paying
attention to
competitors
Lack benchmarks and
metrics
they don’t know how
they are doing
Source: CEB Research

34. $250,000,000 / year
Small&MediumSizeBusinessBigBiz
99.99%
0.01%

35. Big Biz
Information & Biz Intelligence
Small & Medium Sized Biz

67. Demographic Reports are
available for a place, around an
address, or for a custom
boundary

69. Visualize any variable on
the map by clicking on it

70. Run a report for a custom region

71. Consumer Expenditures
report for a custom boundary

72. Switch to
chart view

74. Labor force report by drivetime
around an address

75. Map distribution
of sales
professionals

76. Challenge: Our Clients Want
More Visibility and Promotion

77. • asdf
Your brand
isn’t what you
say it is. It’s
what Google
says it is.

78. Solution:
1. SEO
2. Get Your Members Online

80. Top 5 Search Engines April 2014
Search Engine Market Share
Google 67.6%
Microsoft 18.7%
Yahoo! 10.0%
Ask 2.4%
AOL 1.3%
Source: comScore.com April 2013

82. SEO the Google Way
• Content is Key
– Be engaging
– Use important keywords
– Keep up-to-date
• Use Webmaster Tools
(www.google.com/webmasters)
– Find out how Google sees your site
– Sign up for alerts
– Tell Google about your site
• SEO is incremental – it takes time
• SEO is important but design for humans
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013

83. 5 things to do to improve your SEO
according to
#1 - Add a blog - Creating compelling and useful
content can help your website more than any other
factor.
Write easy-to-read text
• Spelling and grammer errors looks unprofesional.
• Format text in paragraphs with heading and subheadings.
Create content primarily for humans, not search engines
• Avoid inserting unnecessary keywords.
• Don’t hide text from humans but display it to search engines
Keyword research
• What words and phrases do people search for? Be sure to
include them when writing website copy. Use Google Trends,
AdWords, and Analytics to find keywords.
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013
That’s a joke
obsessive
people

84. 5 things to do to improve your SEO
according to
#2 – Write Unique Title Pages
Describes page to humans and search engines.
In search results title usually displays in the first line.
Words in title are automatically bolded if in search query.
Avoid lengthy titles – 70 character max
Don’t keyword stuff
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013
Bad

85. 5 things to do to improve your SEO
according to
#3 – Write Unique Page Descriptions
• The description meta tag is a web page summary.
• Search engines may use it as a "snippet” displayed beneath the
page title on a search results page.
• Words in snippet are bolded if they appear in the search query
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013

86. 5 things to do to improve your SEO
according to
#4 – Write Meaningful Anchor Text
• Anchor text is the clickable text that humans see in a link.
• Make it easy to navigate and understand pages.
• Avoid writing generic anchor text like "article” or "click here.”
• Avoid using off-topic anchor text.
• Use words or phrases, not sentences or paragraphs.
• Don’t stuff extra keywords into anchor text.
• Make it easy to distinguish links from regular text. Use the
underline.
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013

87. 5 things to do to improve your SEO
according to
#5 – Optimize Images
• Use the "alt" attribute.
• This shows descriptive text if image cannot be displayed.
• Avoid writing excessively long alt text.
• Avoid generic filenames like "image1.jpg.”
• Avoid extremely lengthy filenames.
• Don’t stuff keywords or sentences into alt text.
• Don’t use only image links for your site’s navigation.
• Consolidate images into a single website directory.
Source: Google GYBO Training 9/2013

89. Get your member businesses online

90. Online Businesses = Exporters &
Primary Jobs for Your Community
• The website represents the opportunity to reach global markets if it
provides the right value to customers and a way for the local company to
serve global markets. This includes the combination of product,
commerce, delivery, and customer care.
• Businesses have traditionally started off with a local audience of
customers. Perhaps they are serving the customers of their neighborhood
or city. Or if they are a B2B business maybe they are selling to companies
in their region or state.
• If the company is going to have a big economic impact on your community
they have to sell outside of its borders. In economic terms, this is the
difference that makes the company one that creates primary jobs and
brings money into the community instead of recycling it within the
community or exporting money out of the community.
• These companies that export goods or services outside of your community
are the ones that create the greatest economic impact and which will
define your economic development future.
• How are you helping your local businesses go global?

91. How to enable it…
1. Provide business services and services to help them
grow. (Like Mark talked about).
2. Online name, presence, and marketing: Today’s global
business must have a web presence. And they increase
their reach by having a broad Internet discovery
marketing strategy through social media, etc. Yet the
majority of business don’t have a website at all. So one
of the important things you can do to help your
businesses start the process for global sales by
educating and facilitating a way to get them online with
their own domain, website, and marketing strategy.
3. Online infrastructure: They also need to have a way to
get their services to their customers outside of your
community. Online this means they need eCommerce
tools that accept payment in different currencies,
software to track these online purchases, and a logistics
method to deliver the products.

92. Going global is easier
than ever
• Even 10 years ago many of the requirements to have an business
that used the Internet to grow globally would have been
exceedingly challenging for many businesses. Today there are
multiple online payment platforms, some of which are so simple to
complete a transaction they can be completed on a smart phone.
And today global logistics can be as simple as dropping off your
product in a package to DHL, FedEx, UPS, or the US post office.
• In the past getting your product or service into a foreign market
required significant assistance from US Export Assistance Centers or
Offices of International Trade. Today all you may need is an eBay or
etsy account.
• Of course in some ways I’m oversimplifying global expansion, but in
other ways I’m not the one oversimplifying it – it’s the Internet
platforms that have simplified it so that your local businesses can
compete and win in a global economy.

93. Learning Online vs.
Learning How to Succeed Online
Chambers can teach
how to succeed online

94. Constant Education
• How to use Linkedin to get
more business.
• YouTube videos for the
business.
• How to create a website
(affiliate opportunity)
• How to advertise online
• How to accept online
payments (affiliate
opportunity)

95. Challenge: New Businesses
Aren’t Expanding Locations into
Our Community

96. “In the 1980s the barrier to
economic development was access
to capital. Today, it’s access to
information.”
Denise Fairchild
President/CEO
Community Development Technologies Center
& Special Advisor for South LA Investments to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Office

97. The way of the dinosaur
• “I don’t publicly give out
information about my
community because
businesses need to call me
so I can explain it to them.”

99. Reality
Because they don’t
give the
information out,
they aren’t going to
get called at all.

100. “Your community may be the best solution for a
business, but if your online presence can’t
prove it, you might as well be invisible.”
- Anatalio Ubalde

102. National Survey of Economic Dev. Marketing Effectiveness
Marketing Strategy Rating Effective
Website 82%
Out-of-Town Meetings with Businesses 74%
Site Selection Consultants and Familiarization Tours 68%
Public Relations 65%
Special Events 60%
E-Mail 50%
Social Media 47%
Targeted Lead Development Databases 42%
Trade Shows and Conferences 42%
Slogans, Logo and Graphic Identity 41%
Online Videos (YouTube, etc.) 32%
Online Advertising 31%
Company Blog 21%
Brochures 21%
Direct Mail 19%
Print Advertising 17%
TV/Radio Advertising 11%
Videos (VHS, DVD, etc) 10%
Telemarketing 5%
Source: Economic Development Marketing. 2013. Ubalde & Simundza.

103. Most Valuable Website Features
Website Features
ED Rank
Important
Land/sites and buildings inventory 91%
Labor force (availability and wages) 91%
Demographic reports 90%
Infrastructure (utilities and transportation) 86%
Maps 85%
Major industries or business/industry clusters 83%
Staff directory and contact information 83%
Incentives 81%
Major employers 80%
GIS mapping tools for site selection analysis assistance 77%
Business assistance services/how to start a business 74%
Quality of life 73%
Employment training programs 70%
Testimonials and success stories 67%
Hyperlinks to other organizations 67%
News about community (past or present) 60%
Social media integration 60%
Comparisons to other areas 55%
Business list 53%
Formatting option for mobile devices/mobile apps 51%
Transactions 48%
Videos 33%
User-generated content 24%
Source: Economic
Development
Marketing. 2013.
Ubalde & Simundza.

104. 23%
37%
56%
74%
89%
91%
97%
32%
49%
66%
83%
90%
92%
97%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Initial site selection
search
Developing a long-list Evaluation/analysis of
a long-list
Narrowing options to
a short-list
Analysis of short-list Confirm information
gathered
Client requires EDO
contact
Contact an EDO Visit EDO website
Contact Made by Site Selectors by Stage
133% advantage for
EDO with required
website content
Source: National Survey of Corporate Real Estate Pros and Site Selection Consultants by GIS Planning . © 2012
Contact an EDO staff person
Use an EDO website

105. Solution: Empower Businesses to
Discover & Convince Themselves
that Your Community is a Great
Location to Invest – Based on
hard data

106. Old-style EDO Modern EDO
Community A Community B

120. Legend
Drive Times

121. Show Railroads

122. Interactive maps allow
users to select
information that
matters most to them

123. Challenge: Membership Drives
are One-hit Wonders

124. Solution: Turn business
influencers of membership drives
into Internet Ambassadors (on
your web properties)

125. Challenge: Our Social Media isn’t
Taking Off

126. Solution: Put the Social in Social
Media

134. Cincinnati COC YouTube channel
videos

135. Two more Internet conundrums

136. To app or not to app?

137. Your Chamber In Your Pocket

138. Reach 5,000+ mobile local consumers in YOUR neighborhood!
www.mychamberapp.com
Connecting with mobile local consumers

139. 120,000

141. What would an internet entrepreneur
do to reinvent and revitalize your
Chamber of Commerce?
• asdf

142. Chambers and the Never
Ending Tech Revolution
Anatalio Ubalde, CEO
GISplanning.com LBI.SizeUp.com
Mark Hayes, Nat’l Sales Exec.