Shenango Chamber Launches Recruitment, Retention Initiative

SHARON, Pa. — The Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce has launched a comprehensive member recruitment and retention initiative.

The “Reenergize, Reengage and Recruit” campaign is part of a new vision and direction set by the chamber’s leadership and board to enhance member engagement, the chamber announced in a news release. Chamber leaders and the board have collaborated over the past several months to create a new strategic vision for the Chamber to better support and advance the needs of the members.  

The efforts follow a survey that was sent to all chamber members in December.  

“We have felt firsthand that since 2019, businesses have not remained ‘business as usual,’” said Libbi Brown, chamber president. “We knew we needed to enter into 2022 with a better understanding of the current needs of our membership and conducted a ‘pulse survey’ to solicit direct input.”

The survey found that members’ greatest need was to better leverage the benefits of their chamber membership to augment their own marketing and customer acquisition efforts.

“As community leaders, it is our responsibility to have our finger on the pulse of the business needs, David Grande, chamber board chairman, said. “Chamber leadership set out to gather input from members to identify challenges and opportunities to enhance the overall value of membership and we are gratified to be able to refocus our efforts to ensure the value we offer exceeds our members’ expectations.”

Several new initiatives have been developed as part of the new strategic direction, including the launch of the “Reenergize, Reengage and Recruit” campaign. The campaign features a member ambassador program that pairs chamber board members with chamber members to enhance communication and interaction with members. The initiative will also be dedicated to identifying and recruiting new members. 

In addition, the Chamber will implement a new member tier structure to provide members the ability to customize their memberships based on their business needs. The new tier structure will offer additional options as well as provide new offerings for members to better leverage their membership value. 

Other new initiatives include the launch of a new website which will include a new community job board, community events calendar, and a member portal. The member portal will include a downloadable copy of the directory, member-to-member discounts, member tool kit, affinity program discounts and more.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.