Our Chamber is dedicated to supporting local retailers, restaurants and community banks by promoting the benefits of shopping, dining and banking locally. Teaming up with nationally recognized programs like American Express’s Small Business Saturday and the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Week, is one way our Chamber drives traffic to local and small businesses. Studies by the National Federal of Independent Businesses discovered that US consumers who were aware of these type programs spent more locally and overall shop local programs and were more effective when communities band together.
Leveraging local connections such as our local Mainstreet Programs pool together resources to form a more unified front. We are fortunate to have three active Mainstreet programs in our county; something not found elsewhere in our state. Mainstreet programs can be found in Bowdon, Carrollton and Villa Rica. Offering up testimonials and profiles of local businesses provide the emotional connection and sense of community that fosters loyalty to local businesses and keeps customers coming back for more.
The Carroll Chamber partners with American Express each year and participates in the Small Business Saturday campaign, which is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving The day was created to celebrate and support the local economy by driving customers to the doors of small businesses. We invite our local businesses to join our #ThinkCarrollFirst campaign and join in promoting #shopsmall efforts across the nation. The campaign includes advertising through various local and social media, and “Shop Small” promotional items from American Express.
National Small Business Week kicks off a huge variety of events across the nation and online celebrating small businesses. This year marked the 56th year for the event. While the US Small Business Administration hosted free webinars all week, locally we boosted profiles on local small business owners on our social media pages.
#ThinkCarrollFirst is a year-round campaign that educates the general public on why it’s important to choose local and influence them to do so. A campaign that works with our elected officials, decision-makers, and opinion leaders to foster a better environment for creating and sustaining local businesses.
We know our local businesses are the cornerstone of our culture, economy, and character. We strive to deliver more resources, programming, networking, and more to local businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Throughout the year we will run various campaigns on social media such as our holiday “Bring the Cheer Here” and our February “Loving Local.”
Follow us on Facebook to keep up with our current campaigns.
As a member, you become part of an organization with a strong credible voice that speaks out on behalf of business and industry. A Chamber membership can boost your community image and increase your sales. Through your membership, you can take advantage of our events, networking, marketing, and various seminars and workshops, all of which can help your business grow and prosper.
