Dear

Thank you for reading the MainStreet Journal. Help us with our National Membership Drive by forwarding this newsletter to your contacts of under served businesses that need to grow and prosper. Tell them to click HERE and Join the Fastest Growing Chamber in the U.S.

MSC Leadership Team

MainStreetChamber Announces

Ron DeRosa as President

MainStreetChamber announces the promotion to President, Mr. Ron DeRosa. “Ron DeRosa brings a unique combination of business acumen, strategic planning, and community relations, as well as a keen understanding about MainStreetChamber," said John Bellave, current Chairman of the Board and CEO, in a recent statement. "Ron skillfully launched & led MainStreetChamber – Florida as a Chapter President and State Director during the past year, and gained tremendous insight regarding the needs of our membership and the important role the chamber continues to play in moving our economy forward. Ron is a thoughtful advocate for the business community and will bring energy, innovation & passion to MainStreetChamber.”

DeRosa will begin working immediately on the enhanced VIP Program, the Chamber Benefits program rollout, and implement other programs that will directly benefit MainStreetChamber members.

DeRosa has worked closely with numerous MainStreetChamber Chapter Presidents & State Directors and has an extraordinary appreciation for their dedication and talents. “These leaders have great passion and vision, and they are making a difference in their respective communities.” he said. DeRosa plans to work closely with the leadership around the country to explore ways to best utilize their talents so the chamber can better support our members.

"One of our roles is to create opportunities for companies to expand, hire employees, and get our economy back on track" DeRosa said. "We will continue to help create a better environment for businesses to do just that.” Our chamber membership program, enhanced VIP Program and Chamber Benefits are major steps in the right direction"

"I want to emphasize the importance of combining high touch with high tech. We will use technology to a greater extent to connect with our membership and help members do business with members," he said. "Being in business and being active in my community have given me a sense of business evolution, from the years during which we were such an economically successful business community to the years during which we've seen some of the worst conditions that businesses in our community are likely to experience," he said.

"MainStreetChamber will remain vigilant as a chamber and remain relevant to our members, and continue to find new ways to provide value-added services and opportunities in this economic climate."

Heartfelt congratulations Ron DeRosa and best wishes for your continued success.

Five Reasons Why Websites Still Matter

You know you must leverage Facebook, Twitter and word-of-mouth marketing to increase awareness of your brand. But the fact is, websites remain infinitely more popular with consumers than all of the business pages on social media sites combined.

Only 22 percent of those of us online in the U.S. visit a branded social networking page such as those found on Facebook, while 62 percent of us regularly visit branded websites, according to the latest Global Web Index report. If you were starting to let your site become outdated or haggard, consider a refresh. After all, as these figures note, websites still matter.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't ignore yours:

Click HERE for entire article

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The New, New Rules of

Business Marketing

When David Meerman Scott first published The New Rules of Marketing & PR (Wiley) in 2007, Facebook was still mostly for college students. The book helped Scott, then 46 years old, make a name for himself as a marketing strategist. Even so, he had to add new chapters and rewrite a considerable portion of the book for its recently-released third edition.

So what are the new, new rules now?

Reaching people online is no longer a nice-to-have -- it's a must-have, Scott says. When people search for products or services to buy, they use the big search engines like Google and Bing, as well email and other social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to ask their friends and family for advice on purchases. "It's essential for entrepreneurs do a great job at marketing their business using the tools of the web," he says.

But many small businesses are being left behind. Nearly half of small-business owners surveyed recently say don't use social media at all for marketing or any other business purpose, according to Hiscox, a business insurance company. What's more, only 15 percent of small-business owners consider mobile marketing "very valuable" to their operation, another recent report shows.

Here, Scott offers his top three tips for navigating the new world of business marketing.

Click HERE for entire article

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Five Steps to Create a Marketing Plan

How business owners can put together a detailed marketing guide for business growth.

While your business plan generally outlines your entire business, a standalone marketing plan focuses specifically, and in more detail, on just that one function. When business owners want to dive deeper into their marketing strategy they will likely put together a detailed plan that outlines their marketing goals -- as well as the steps needed to accomplish them.

The standard components of an effective marketing plan can vary depending on who you ask. Here is my recommended five-step process for developing a marketing plan that will help you achieve your goals for business growth.

Step One: Look inward.

Think of your company as if it were a person with its own unique personality and identity. With that in mind, create separate lists that identify your business's strengths, weaknesses and goals. Put everything down and create big lists. Don't edit or reject anything.

Then, find priorities among the bullet points. If you've done this right, you'll have more than you can use, and some more important than others. Kick some of the less important bullets off the list and move the ones that are important to the top.

This sometimes requires input from your managers as well. For example, your management team thinks being conservative on spending is a weakness but you don't. That might be something to drop off the list.

Step Two: Look outward.

The next list you'll need to make outlines your business's opportunities and threats. Think of both as external to your business -- factors that you can't control but can try to predict. Opportunities can include new markets, new products and trends that favor your business. Threats include competition and advances in technology that put you at a disadvantage.

Also make a list of invented people or organizations who serve as ideal buyers or your ideal target market. You can consider each one a persona, such as a grandmother discovering email or a college student getting his or her first credit card. These people are iconic and ideal, and stand for the best possible buyer.

Put yourself in the place of each of these ideal buyers and then think about what media he or she uses and what message would communicate your offering most effectively. Keep your identity in the back of your mind as you flesh out your target markets.

Click HERE for entire article

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