I joined my local chamber of commerce here in Westlake Village, CA with great fanfare. It has been over a year now, and I am yet to reap any true benefits from them. I am pondering if I should renew or not. Its $310.00 a year which is whole heap of dough for me.

Yes I get to network with other businesses. I attended several mixers, met so many business owners from other professions. However, our business relies on word of mouth from past clients and Internet searches. I am trying to find a reason how networking with other businesses will get me bookings (for next year)

If you are a current member of your local chamber of commerce, please enlighten us how it has benefited your business.

If you were a FORMER chamber member, may I ask why you left? Perhaps I may have already answered my own question, but I thought I hear your thoughts on this as well.

I really do appreciate it.


Thanks in advance.

Joel

We are members of our local chamber. It is a very active group. Adam has done quite a bit to volunteer for them, which has helped our business. If they need photos of events, new board members or just stuff around town, he has taken them as a volunteer. In exchange he has sometimes received an ad in their publication or similar type of thing. It has also gotten our name out there. Often the members of the chamber are other successful small business owners. They think of us when they need a photographer. We have gotten referrals for weddings, a father daughter event that we have done for 3 years, family portraits, senior portraits and other stuff. I think it has definitely been well worth it to be involved. You really do get what you put into it, though. Recently Adam has not been as involved and we haven't gotten much from it for a while.

Hi Lynn. Thank you for your input. I will seriously think about this. Even though it has only been one year for me, and I am still relatively new to the biz. Probably in the long run, I can start to see the benefits, if I do get involve.

Joel

Joel,
I am in the same place as you. I've been a chamber member for a year now and am considering if I want to renew. I think the networking route takes time and effort to build. My experience in the year hasn't been bad SO I may give it another year.

In terms of business I have gotten one portrait session from my membership.... I think if I was more pushy I may have gotten more. But I have also connected with some other wedding professionals. There are a few wedding venues that are also members and I've run into the event coordinators at chamber socials and even though they haven't equated into business yet I think there is potential if I keep the connection alive. I was able to quickly schedule a photo session at the University's football stadium because I became friends with someone that works there through the chamber. The bride was totally in awe that I got her on the field and sky boxes and we got some fun photos (the couple met at a football game there).

I get hits to my website from the link on the chamber website. I enjoy the business seminars the chamber hosts. The socials are fun and catered by the local brew pub (the free beer may be worth the membership .

Look at the member list of your chamber and identify stratigic partners you'd ike to meet, ask the chamber staff for introductions or just contact them and say hey, we're both chamber members, follow up, be patient, be prepared for rejection, but be ready for the positive reactions also. Some chambers are better than others. I don't know your local situation but is there another chamber that may be a little further but maybe has more wedding professionals that are members?

Sorry for the babbling. Writing this helped me see some value in my own membership. Let us know what you decide to do.
Jennifer

It doesn't help at all... if you get someone that actually called from the chamber they are usually just price checking. they haven't seen your site yet...

I would spend your dollars on online advertising. Most people go to the web now.

Joel,
Here's my input, I have a feeling this could be long because I'm pretty pationate about networking with other businesses and potential clients, though I'm not real good at networking with other photographers. To an extent Matt is right it doesn't work. If you're waiting for the calls from the people that call the chamber looking for a photog, it's going to be a long wait. To me, that shouldn't be your target. Your target audience should be the business owners. Most chambers of commerce employees don't know the first thing about true business networking. The best way to learn about great networking techniques is to join a very active BNI (Business etwork International) group. Ivan osner is a mastermind when it comes to networking and how you can network for others. I wish I could get a group of phjotographjers together and just teach what I've learned. So seek out a BNI in your community.

When you go to chamber mixers set a goal to make contact with 5 new potential clients each time you go.... but you have to go. Joining then sitting back and waiting gets you NOTHING. Donate your work and follow through and make sure your work gets in front of everyones eyes with your logo on it. When you meet with your 5 goal contacts, find out how many kids they have, are they of marriage age? Are they aware of anyone that's engaged? When's the last time they had a family portrait shot? Do they have a senior in HS?

I'm using parts of my business as an example because I don't just shoot weddings. If you want more input I'm totally willing to dole it out. True networking is a real art. One last note is.... you know when you buy a new car, you see that car everywhere. It's product awareness that you didn't have before. If you apply that to networking it can open doors, here's how. You need your conntacts to be aware of HS seniors if you shoot them. You need to talk to them about how you shoot them, put examples in your hand so they don't forget, so next time they are talking to a friend and they bring up their senior kid whose doing great in school, they'll automatically think of you and say "Hey, has so and so had their portraits done? Oh man they need to use my friend Joel."

I could go on forever....... sorry.

Joel,
I'm also in the same position as you. I joined my Chamber early this year. It's very active and I go to about 3 events a month. I'm trying to give it a real chance at being worth it before I swear it off. I have gotten one head shoot gig from all my time networking with the chamber.

I have recently been approached by 2 different BNI groups. I went to a meeting and they are much more focused on referals. If it weren't do darm expensive, I'd join BNI tomarrow. I doubt I will stay with the chamber for another year.

Good Luck,
Jenn

BNI is only as good as 1) the group you're a part of and 2) what you put into it. I was part of a group for a while but found it was not worth my time. I think it works quite well for some industries, but not as much for photography. At least, this was my experience.

Looks like the coversation has turned to leads groups so I'll throw in my 2 cents. I avoided leads groups mainly for the cost (one was $300 to join plus $15 per month and then $40 per meeting - that adds up) and I just didn't feel good about referring someone just because they are in my leads group But after being invited to so many I decided to join a women's group this summer. It's an independent group so the cost is super low but the most important thing to consider is the members. Are they good people that you'd like to spend 2 hours with every week (it is time consuming) and would you refer them. Also considered the other businesses that are members and if there are 2 or 3 power partners then it may be a good group to join. My group has 2 others in the wedding industry and we pass leads to each other. So networking is time consuming and slow but I think it pays off in the long run.

Great thread on marketing! I sure can use the help too.