The Laurel Highlands Chamber of Commerce has done what any agency would do in order to broaden its appeal and maximize its resources, and that is to take a regional approach to promoting members businesses and agencies in its service area.
The chamber has its roots in Mount Pleasant, switched course four years ago when it began serving additional communities outside Mount Pleasant, such as Scottdale, New Stanton and mountain communities to the east, like Donegal, which support a growing number of businesses.
The move away from parochialism, where a single community is represented and chambers from neighboring communities are pitted against one another, was a smart one. Chamber officials recognized that each member is served by a collective promotion of all members located in the same region.
The logic follows that which is used to promote tourism in the region. Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau has long handled tourism promotion for three regional counties: Fayette, Westmoreland and Somerset.
The thinking is that tourists don't choose a destination based on what county a particular attraction is located in. Rather, they choose to visit an area, or region, based on the collective appeal of all the attractions it has to offer. Visitors may choose to stay overnight in one county, but visit attractions and patronize shops and businesses in all three.
In the end, each county benefits from the regional approach to tourism promotion. Each community in the Laurel Highlands Chamber of Commerce can benefit from that same type of regional promotion. By marketing the wide variety of businesses, service agencies and civic organizations in the region, the chamber is broadening the appeal of the area and making it more attractive to visitors and residents alike.
According to Ron Aldom, chamber director, his agency wants to help promote area businesses, long a primary objective of any chamber of commerce, but also seeks to act as a resource center to its membership.
Aldom hopes the chamber will be the place members turn to for direction when they need assistance. "All knowledge is not in this office, but the key is knowing how to point someone in the direction of those specialists who know the answer," Aldom explained.
"We can do so much for our members because we're the resource that ties ourselves in with all the other resources. There's little we can't do for a business, whether directly or indirectly."
By acting as a clearinghouse for outside resources, the Laurel Highlands Chamber of Commerce is better serving its membership. Taken with its efforts to promote its membership regionally, the chamber will continue to help Mount Pleasant and surrounding communities thrive.
