Mobile: What’s Your Plan?

Are you in the mobile space?

Are you thinking about the mobile space for your chamber?


Let’s start with a couple of statistics (provided by ComServe and SoMobile 2013):

  • 42% of phones in the U.S. are smartphones
  • More than 110 million smartphone users in the U.S. and Europe access social networks and blogs on their phones

Now let’s add your website to the mix.  Now it’s important to note that you can’t just put your website on a mobile device.

Many chambers are using mobile apps through third party companies or their CMS (content management system).

All the research I’ve read makes the same statement.  Your mobile application must be user friendly.  Chris Brogan recently said "if there’s more than two items on the smartphone screen it’s too many."

I’m not sure I buy into that theory, but you need to really think about what your mobile presence looks like.

One thing is for sure.  Your mobile look cannot be your website on a smaller screen.

In the old days we talked about how your website cannot be your brochure.  I remember those days.  Do you?

We’re transitioning to mobile like we transitioned to websites 10 years ago. Something to think about!

For a list of resources on the mobile web click HERE and for a list of FAQ's click HERE.

Advocate: What’s Your Chamber’s Role?

As described in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, advocate means…one that pleads the cause of another.

By definition the word advocacy means...the act or process of advocating or supporting a cause or proposal.

The Chamber should be upfront and center when it comes to advocating for its small business members.

That advocacy might be:

  • Advocating at the state legislature;
  • Advocating for a strong workforce;
  • Advocating at the local planning and zoning committee; or
  • Advocating the importance of networking.

Whatever it is you do for your members, you can put the word advocate in front of it and it should absolutely describe what you do.

If you don’t play the role of advocate for the small business community, who will?

You’ve heard the phrase before “if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu for dinner.”

Your role as a chamber leader is to make sure your members always have a seat at the table and not be eaten!