BOARD OF DIRECTORS MESSAGE: How does a business increase its brand awareness and how does chamber membership assist in that?

A business promotes itself with Mobile! And thanks to Bob Hutchins, MaineMade Photo and a chamber board director, the chamber can offer each member listing on MyChamberAPP. Here’s some interesting information about mobile phones that Bob provided in a seminar this year:

• Mobile web adoption is growing 8 times faster than web adoption did in the 1990s and early 2000s.

• There are more than 1.2 billion people accessing the web from their mobile devices.

• We’re addicted to checking our phones; 58 percent of smartphone users don’t go 1 hour without checking their phones.

• 88 percent of people agree that having a mobile device with real-time information makes them more spontaneous with shopping.

• MyChamberAPP can reach 7,000 plus people in the local communities.

The listings include company name, category of business, address, directions, click to call on phone number, cell and website. And what’s the practical usage? Let Liz Wyman of The Bank of Maine in Bath and an SMMC board director tell you.

“I use MyChamberAPP in several ways on a daily basis. For business purposes I show people the listing which leads them to The Bank of Maine website and then the ability to find their closest branch. Personally I use the MyChamberApp when I’m out and about and searching for a place to shop or dine. It’s easy to tap on the restaurant category and find a lot of options. Not only that, but the APP gives me the location so I can easily find that new spot for dinner. And lastly MyChamberAPP gives me a way to promote a major benefit of membership in the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber.”

UPCOMING EVENTS: Know Your Most Profitable Who’s WHO … an interactive workshop for identifying and creating your ideal customer avatar. Join presenter and SMMC board director Angela Chute, Authentic Compass, on Aug. 20, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Topsham Public Library, 25 Foreside Road. She will lead you to identify: Who needs exactly what you are offering, who is looking for you, right now, who is willing to pay you to help solve their biggest challenges, who is ready to self-select your business and hire you and who is ready to self-select your product and buy from you. Come prepared with a firm understanding of who you are and what you offer, this is an interactive workshop with results you’ll take away with you.

August’s Chamber After Hours is Wednesday, Aug. 27, and hosted by Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick. The event is open house style from 5-7 p.m. and free.

Watch our scrolling calendar at www.midcoastmaine.com for more information and to register for all events. For some, the seating is limited. Don’t miss out.

THANK YOU TO OUR ANNUAL SPONSORS: Mid Coast Health Services, Mechanics Savings Bank, Bar Harbor Bank and Trust, Burgess Computer, RE/MAX Riverside, The Brunswick Hotel & Tavern, Electricity Maine, Coastal Ortho Performance Training Center, FairPoint Communications, Southern New Hampshire University, Parkview Adventist Medical Center, Atlantic Regional FCU, TownSquare Media, The Cryer, WCME Radio 9 and The Times Record.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: For more information on how your business can become a member of SMMC and take advantage of chamber benefits as well as Member to Member Benefits, go to www.midcoastmaine.com/chamberinfo/ membership-application.

THE CHAMBER proudly serves 760 businesses and organizations in the following communities: Arrowsic, Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Dresden, Edgecomb, Georgetown, Harpswell, Phippsburg, Richmond, Topsham, West Bath, Westport Island, Wiscasset and Woolwich.