BOARD OF DIRECTORS MESSAGE: An advantage of belonging to a membership organization is group buying power. If your business is a member of the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber (SMMC), you can save money by participating in a variety of programs.

One very popular program is the SMMC cooperative advertising opportunity. SMMC buys pages in a publication at a great discount, which is then passed along to SMMC members. The chamber is currently preparing to create a co-op ad for Maine Invites You.

Maine Invites You has been the official travel guide to the state of Maine since 1933. It is the most comprehensive, used and valuable tourism marketing tool for the state of Maine. The guide has a circulation of 300,000 copies. It is available for electronic download from both the Maine Office of Tourism website (visitmaine.com) and the Maine Tourism Association website (mainetourism.com).

Distribution includes more than 600 locations throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states and all of the Maine Office of Tourism national and international consumer travel shows. This summer, the Maine Office of Tourism ordered an additional 20,000 copies because of increased demand by travelers.

Since tourism is one of the state’s biggest economic drivers, it is important that the businesses in the southern Midcoast Maine region have a presence in the guide. When visitors are making decisions on where they will stay, eat and play, our region needs to have a strong representation as a destination that can provide these needs.

If your business wants to take advantage of the group buying power and attract travelers to the region, contact the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber to learn more.

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, of Authentic Compass, on Aug. 20, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Topsham Public Library, 25 Foreside Road. 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 selfselect your product and buy from you. Come prepared with a firm understanding of who you are and what your 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 to 7 p.m. at their outside patio. Refreshments, door prizes and tours of their cottages and apartments will take place. Always free for members and their employees.

— The chamber’s small group networking program, 12 @ 12, resumes on Sept. 2. Sponsored by Wild Oats Bakery & Café, with additional support from Electricity Maine and hosted by James Nylund, financial adviser with Wells Fargo Advisors. For an invitation, contact Nylund at 776-6245.

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: The chamber welcomes J & MC Contractors Inc. to its membership.

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.