The Chamber Model
Will 2024 be an existential moment for Chambers of Commerce, membership-dependent Destination Marketing Organizations and other community development agencies that require private sector investment?
While I’m saddened when it happens, I’m not longer surprised when Chambers close up shop. Except for those agencies with a strong political advocacy and/or economic development program, so many Chambers have relied on their heritage of being what businesses just do. You go into business and join the Chamber; for decades, a knee jerk reaction for scores of local business owners. But, it's not just Chambers of Commerce (although this case study is).
Today’s new breed of business owners need a far more compelling reason to part with a few hundred (or more) dollars each year. And the comments picked up by the local media in the shadow of the shuttering of a 66-year old Chamber in Indiana last autumn are telling:
From a former Board Chair: “If I asked the question, ‘What do I get with this,’ honestly, the answer was generally a ribbon cutting. They helped put on different events, but for me personally…I don’t know of a direct benefit to me and my business.”
From a local business owner: “I’m not sure (if the dissolution of the Chamber will affect her business), I think it’s too early to tell.”
From a gift shop owner: “They never reached out to us, and I don’t know of other store owners in town that they tried reaching out to either…no one was genuinely looking for our input and ideas.”
And the former Board Chair (who was no longer a member; which speaks volumes) closed out the article by saying that he would hope the DMO would take over the handful of things in which the Chamber was finding success...just not enough to keep the doors open.
To the former Chair's hope, I certainly hope not…because (at least from what I gleaned from the story) the only thing for which the Chamber got points from members was for running events like the Chocolate Walk and parades. And that is not what today’s highly effective DMOs do, unless these are destination defining events (and those two sound far from).
So what is the answer? I recorded a fascinating conversation for the DMOU Podcast series earlier this month with Destination North Myrtle Beach CEO Cheryl Kilday in which she suggested that there are things that Chambers have traditionally done well that DMOs don't...and vice versa.
In short, her Chamber-DMO combo has seen sensational growth by using old-school Chamber Membership Drive strategies…but then actually provides meaningful member / partner benefits by utilizing the DMO’s laser beam focus on driving business to member businesses.
Not that I am advocating the merger of Chambers and DMOs…but there is something in Cheryl’s approach that suggests there are strengths in both camps that we should not be reticent to consider as we look to the future of community development and Quality of Life…which is every DMO’s north star.
That episode with Cheryl dropped last night…and, if you have yet to subscribe to DMOU through whatever platform you listen to your podcasts, do so to get notified the moment each episode become available.