Getting started with building an online presence can seem intimidating and overwhelming to many businesses, so the Santa Maria Valley (CA) Chamber offers a “Get Your Business Online” program offering individualized support in various areas of improving a business’s online presence.
The program includes an intake assessment of their current online presence and then a walkthrough of small, manageable steps that work best to help a business grow their online presence.
You can view the chamber’s full library of resources and see the online intake assessment form at http://santamaria.com/get-your-business-online. Interested businesses can start the process online or schedule to do their intake form and assessment with a dedicated staff member.
Hawaii Chamber Launches Booster Campaign
The local business community in Hawaii continues to play a critical role in combating the pandemic. As such the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii has launched the Boost4Business initiative to raise awareness about the COVID vaccine booster to help keep individuals, colleagues, and the community from serious illness and keep local businesses afloat and people employed.
The chamber hopes to convene businesses to rally around the common goal of helping as many businesses, employees and industries as possible endure the financial hardships caused by the pandemic and continue to operate in a safe manner. The initiative includes sharing information on vaccination and testing sites, working with partners to get information out to the community, and providing briefings as part of their Chamber Week activities held in mid-January.
Find out more at https://www.cochawaii.org/.
Eugene Chamber Offers Support Local Hub
The Eugene Area (OR) Chamber encourages their community to “Leave the Big Jobs to a Local Business” when it comes to breaking ground on a new project as a part of their Support Local Hub. With the belief that supporting local is more than shopping local, the chamber developed a hub on their website with pages on nine sectors, including construction & manufacturing, business & professional services, and retail & gifts.
Each page features a local business at the top and then lists other local businesses in the same sector. At the bottom of each hub page is the opportunity to connect with business leaders in the area and a giveaway sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. Participants fill out a form located at the bottom of any category page and are then connected with the featured local business. When they upload their virtual business card or LinkedIn link, they are automatically entered to win a pair of airline vouchers!
The Support Local Hub was created in lieu of the chamber’s annual in-person business expo.
To view the hub and get more details visit https://www.eugenechamber.com/support-local.html.
Chamber Rolls Out South Coast Data Dashboard
The Santa Barbara South Coast (CA) Chamber launched their Roadmap to Recovery last year in two phases. Both of the business- and community-focused plans emphasized the use of critical data and metrics to make policy decisions and to help set guidelines for recovery. While their local county public health department has done a great job presenting health-related data throughout the pandemic, the chamber saw a need for that data to be compared to the equally important data about loss of jobs, mental health, effects on homelessness and deterioration of communities.
In December the chamber launched their first South Coast Data Dashboard to highlight a variety of data points in tandem with important health metrics. The dashboard will continue to be updated monthly and they will engage with experts and community leaders to provide insight into what types of changes they are seeing in the data and what it means to their local business community.
To view the December Dashboard, visit https://sbscchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Data-Dashboard-Dec-2021-2.pdf.
Are We on Your Mailing List?
Information featured each month in Around the West is taken from websites and chamber newsletters that W.A.C.E. receives from its members. We try to share best practices, innovative ideas and programs from chambers working hard to be Catalysts, Conveners and Champions and make a difference in their community.
Make sure to subscribe W.A.C.E. to your mailing list, if you haven’t done so already, and you may be featured in a future Insider!
Send e-newsletters to: jennifer.johnson@calchamber.com.
Send mailings to: W.A.C.E., P.O. Box 1736, Sacramento, CA 95812-1736.