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This week our guest is Michelle Bundren, President and CEO of the Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce and recipient of the 2019 ACCE Chamber of the Year award.
The Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce represents about 600 members and roughly 10,000 employees in the far west corner of Kentucky.
Over the past 5 years the Murray-Calloway County Chamber has worked to rebrand the Chamber in an effort to identify themselves as leaders, set high expectations for their events and to provide quality representation for their sponsors. To accomplish this, the Chamber partnered with a local graphic designer and utilized Canva, an affordable tool for small chambers, to provide a very professional brand to be seen throughout the community and on social media.
The Murray-Calloway County Chamber has seen success in utilizing the Go Local campaign to highlight the small businesses that make up roughly 65% of their membership.
The Chamber has established themselves as problem solvers for local businesses as they continually work with the city of Murray to provide education and tools to those wanting to set up new businesses in the city. Through their efforts they’ve been able to identify and overcome pain points seen when starting a business, thus reducing the time and simplifying the effort of getting started. Building a relationship of trust with their local government has allowed for some really awesome growth in the community.
The Murray-Calloway County Chamber has seen a benefit to diversifying their Board to provide representation to a broad section of business owners and across all segments of business. Michelle would suggest listening to the data you have, be engaged with your members, and be willing to make changes. By focusing on the needs of the community Chamber’s can bring people together to do great things.
Michelle and the Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce are active on all social media platforms, via email, or phone to discuss any of the topics discussed in this episode.
(270) 753-5171
Learn more at mymurray.com.
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