Good news! We will continue with the following services for our members:

Ribbon Cuttings for Grand Opening/Remodels/Expansions/Product Launches

Job Postings on our Facebook Group "Benson Area Job Postings"

Monthly Newsletters
We will be adding Member spotlights to our monthly newsletters and sharing those stories on Facebook. We also accept submitted articles if you would like to contribute some news. We are looking to increase the dissemination of our newsletters so we will print some hard copies that will be available around town to spread the word on what the Chamber and our members are doing.  

 

We have several events we are working on for 2022:



Culpepper & Merriweather Circus - April 24
City Council Candidate Forum - late June
Legislative Luncheon - June or July
ADOT Bridge Reopening - August
Butterfield Parade - October 8
Christmas Off Main - December 3

We are working on networking and social events to round out activities, look for invites to:

• Speed Networking
• Charcuterie Challange
• Christmas Mixer

As you know, the Chamber has been working on developing a strategic plan for 2022. It took a couple of steps to get here, first, we sent a survey out to our mailing lists and asked what you want to see the chamber doing. We followed that up with an evening Workshop facilitated by Scott Koening of the Arizona Center for Rural Leadership on January 11th with our members. 

I really want to thank the members for their feedback, it highlighted that we were not doing a good enough job communicating the benefits and tools that the Chamber does have for our members. We took that feedback to heart immediately and had a Members 101 Event on February 8th to go over the capabilities of our Chamber Nation system and how members can benefit. 

Member Hours
If you missed the Member 101 session or need more one-on-one to navigate the system we have the ability for members to schedule Member Hours with Jenna to get you up to speed. She can either do the Member hours at our chamber office or come to your office if that is more convenient. Call the office at 520-265-8031  to schedule. She is booking appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 

And please continue reading the other articles in this edition as they highlight different areas of the Strategic Plan for 2022.


 

We will be starting a Marketing Series to help our members think of new approaches to market their businesses. Our first presentation will be in conjunction with the April Member meeting on April 8th. That topic will cover Increasing Average Revenue per Consumer. 

Additional Topics in the Series will be:

• Target Marketing
• SWOT Analysis
• Holiday and Seasonal Promotions

Let us know if there are additional Marketing topics that you would like covered, email Heather Floyd at heathercfloydaz@gmail.com. 
 

Our regularly scheduled Member Meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of the Month and will be hosted at the VFW 233 E 5th St in Benson. The meeting times do vary from morning meetings hosted from 7-8am and evening meetings hosted from 5:30-7pm. 

Topics that we have on tap for 2022 are:

• AZ Toursim
• Leadership
• City of Benson Update
• K-12 Education in Cochise County Update
• Arizona Corporation Commission Update
• Small Business Development Administration Highlight 

If you as a member would like to present to the membership let us know, we all benefit when we learn more about our members. If you have additional ideas for topics or speakers please email Heather Floyd at heathercfloydaz@gmail.com.

We have identified 3 projects that we would like to focus on for 2022:

1. Membership Drive -  to increase our membership and improve our member-to-member relations. 

2. Shop Local Campaign - develop a marketing campaign to increase shopping locally by highlighting the specific offerings that our community has to offer. 

3. Promote Member to Member Business Opportunities - foster a member community where members look to work with other Chamber members to fulfill mutual business needs.