Chamber of Commerce discusses local business promotions

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore & Wheatland County Chamber of Commerce presented before the Wheatland County Public Presentation Committee, during the Aug. 20 meeting, discussing avenues to promote local businesses.

“We are looking for ways to promote these local businesses through a variety of different events we host throughout the year, and through our social media engagement,” said Michelle Bissett, chair of the Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce. “The funds we receive from Wheatland County goes towards helping to pay funds for any costs associated with the events, and to pay for our subscription costs for our social media.”

Bissett explained the chamber is host to a variety of public events throughout a given year, now most recently having been the Strathmore Parade, which saw its largest ever vendor turnout. 

The next upcoming event through the Chamber of Commerce is the trade show, scheduled to take place Sept. 14.

“Historically, we have had representation from Wheatland County businesses at this event, and we are expecting many to register again this year,” said Bissett. “The business excellence awards will be taking place on Oct. 25. This event had previously been held in January over the previous years; however, we moved the date of the event this last year to better align with Small Business Week.”

Bissett explained the chamber feels strongly that it is the opportune time to host the event in October, factoring in weather conditions, and to gain the support of the preestablished Small Business Week occasion. 

Additionally detailed in Bissett’s presentation to the committee, she described the Chamber of Commerce to release a monthly newsletter, distributed amongst chamber member businesses. 

“This newsletter gives highlights of upcoming chamber-sponsored events, monthly marketing tips, member spotlights, and it links specifically to Wheatland County for updates including a business directory, the business and community profile link, and the Invest in Wheatland website link,” said Bissett.

“Another event that we host is our monthly coffee connections. These are hosted at different businesses on the third Wednesday of every month. This event has been ongoing for the last year, and while each one over the last year has been a business in Strathmore, we do have one upcoming that will be a Wheatland County business.”

These coffee connection events are open to any business which desires to host, and any member of the public is also welcome to attend.

More information regarding Bissett’s report to the Public Presentation Committee is available via the Wheatland County meeting minutes posted to their YouTube channel.