Learn About Online Marketing!

The Chamber, in partnership with South Sound Washington Business Center, SBA, Tacoma SCORE, Signs By Tomorrow and KeyBank presents next Tuesday, June 21, “Entrepreneur Corner,” a free quarterly small business workshop. This quarter the discussion will be “Online Marketing”:

▪ Learn how to maximize your website and infrastructure requirements from experts in their fields.
▪ Find out how and why to register your business to obtain government contracts.

Presentations by: SiteCrafting, mynetworkcompany.com and the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC).

Entrepreneur Corner
Tuesday, June 21
11 am – 1:30 pm
Chamber Office: Simpson Community Room
950 Pacific Avenue, Suite 300
Tacoma, 98402

The workshop is complimentary and open to Chamber members and the public. Registration is required due to limited seating. To RSVP click here.

The free quarterly “Entrepreneur Corner” small business workshops are part of Operation Business Bootstrap. Anyone interested in learning how to expand and stay profitable in their business should check out the "Entrepreneur Corner"sessions.

Operation Business Bootstrap is a series of small business workshops; SBA Loan Briefings, Entrepreneur Corners, and Small Business Start-Up 101. This collaborative joint venture is presented by partners offering small business resources in our area. Partners include the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, SBDC, SouthSound Washington Business Center, PTAC, William Factory Incubator, City of Tacoma, Pierce County Economic Development, U.S. SBA and KeyBank. This series is for existing businesses who are seeking information and/or resources.

Businesses Get Chambers Edge

The Chamber has added another opportunity to promote your business through the new smart phone application, ChambersEdge.

Your membership now provides a listing in the Chamber’s printed directory, website directory and the mobile application.

Added Benefits to “going mobile:”

• GPS feature on the app (Map button) allows someone looking for your business to locate you on their phone with either driving or walking directions

• Immediate access to your webpage (if applicable) to find out more about your business
• Call feature (Call button) allows instantaneous access to your business—by automatically dialing your contact number
• Search button (magnifying glass) lets users search for member businesses by company name
• Smart phone users are able to access the Chamber’s mobile membership directory by scanning the QR code as inserted here, to be added to the Chamber's website
• Soon  the new membership plaque decal (see left) and our publications will carry the QR code

More value-enhanced features will be added to ChambersEdge in the near future. Those without smart phones can also load the app (if they have web browser capabilities—remember data rates apply) by going to the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber’s ChambersEdge web address: http://tacoma.chambersedge.com/

Note: IPhones, Droids, Windows phones need to download a free QR screening app first to “scan” the code on the left.  Blackberry phone users need to input http://tacoma.chambersedge.com/

Grading Small Business Success

How well are small businesses performing? We know that small business owners face challenges to create and operate their businesses successfully. Big companies have numbers of employees to manage the functions that the small business owner does alone or with a very few others.

So what are the biggest challenges to small business owners, and how do small businesses across America stack up? The Small Business Success Index (SCSI) has been created to measure performance on six dimensions found most challenging to small businesses and is intended to track small business performance over time.

The 28 question national survey is conducted twice a year and provides individual scores for six dimensions, as well as an overall performance score. The most recent overall score is 75% -- a “C” grade. Although small businesses got better individual grades for workforce (78), customer service, (91) and compliance (law, city and county regulation) (89), they do less well in marketing and innovation (70), capital access (69), and computer technology (75).

Not surprisingly in the digital age, the importance of technology emerges as the primary difference between small businesses struggling or failing and those that are succeeding, as well as capital access, marketing and innovation, workforce, customer service and compliance. Small businesses using more technology tools get higher scores than those who use less – among them online marketing (goods and services offered, ability to order), email capability (and quick response to queries), use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

The Chamber of Commerce is in preliminary discussions about surveying small businesses within Pierce County – to enable us to identify where small business owners “here” need to focus to become more successful, and to engage in programs to help in the process. Stay tuned.

Guest Blogger: Merl Simpson
Associate Professor, School of Business
Pacific Lutheran University

Small Businesses on the Web - Or Should Be?

Small businesses can thank Tacoman Scott Loughran for a better understanding of small businesses and their use of the web for marketing.

Loughran is in the Masters in Communications and Digital Media program at the University of Washington. His project, only available for a few days, is open to you.

Loughran is studying digital media and communications. You can learn more about the program here. The Flip the Media blog (work of the faculty and students here) is also a great resource for the Chamber and those businesses we serve.

Loughran's research is specifically investigating if micro (0-4 employees) & small businesses (5-25 employees) have websites, and if so, how they are using them to communicate and market their goods and services. His theory is that these businesses strongly rely on hiring out the construction of websites, and may not understand how popular tools like social media, blogging and pod casting could help customer retention and word-of-mouth advertising (the two most trustworthy forms of business growth to this sector.)

He hopes his research will accomplish two things:

First, consumers who want to shop local, some reports say 90% of them have started by searching for local businesses online. Other reports are saying that as little as 44% of micro/small businesses even have a website. With the health of our local economy largely being supported by the success of local business, we need to find a way to close this statistical gap.

Second, there are people in the community wanting to help local businesses. If we find there is enough of a need in the community, we can educate local businesses how this technology is beneficial to business. This could be through the Chamber for example, as a workshop, in service or part of a regular meeting.