By VICKI BROWN
Mark Wysong is the new director for the Chamber of Commerce. Since his induction into the position, over 30 businesses have joined the Chamber in the last 30 days, and more are ready to join. He has plans to double that number by mid-summer.
He knew he had a short window of time to make the Chamber impactful. He first wanted members to know why the Chamber was so important, how it could help them, and exactly where their money was being spent once they joined.
“Working for the Chamber is a payroll free endeavor; we don’t want salaries because we are ambassadors, and giving our time is an investment in the community. “The Chamber is my investment. I want to lead by example, so we all are investors,” said Wysong. “Everything we do here has been donated and is designed to be a resource for businesses and the business community,” said Wysong. “Everyone is coming together because they see the greater good in what we are doing. The Chamber is not just an investment in money, it is an investment in time, too.”
According to Wysong, the Chamber not only has board members, but it also has ambassadors. “Our ambassadors are process owners who specialize in different areas of business for the chamber. We have legal, business, membership, public affairs, government liaison, and outreach ambassadors. We have 16 ambassadors who come in and help the chamber as volunteers who are also investors. A potential Chamber member will come in and have everything explained to them by an ambassador who invests his or her time. They do this because the Chamber is an investment, so they invest their time for the greater good of the community.”
Wysong says he is thankful for people like Stewart McAdoo of EIS who donated the computers for a We Work Center. McAdoo believes in investing in the Chamber, and he isn’t the only one.
Hundreds of hours were spent refurbing and renovating the building, including installing the production rooms and soundproof rooms by volunteers and ambassadors. According to Wysong, it would have cost over $30,000 to renovate the building, but ambassadors invested their time to do the work.
He is especially proud of the Chamber’s ‘We-Work Center’. “The We-Work Center is designed for small business owners who don’t have office space, meeting rooms, or conference rooms. Some larger businesses don’t have conference room space either. So we have space here they can borrow on a first come first serve basis if they are Chamber members,” Wysong said. “Business owners can make use of state-of-the-art meeting rooms, copier, computer and printer. They can come in and do work here and use the private meeting room for training and zoom meetings.”
When a business partner signs up for the Chamber, 100 percent is coming back and being used to improve the business and the surrounding community.
It is especially important to new business owners or those interested in starting a business.
“A lady came in saying she wanted to start a company but didn’t know how. Our ambassadors walked her through the entire process and helped her get ready to start her business. This is the heart and soul of what we do here at the Chamber,” said Wysong, explaining the different tiers of Chamber membership. “It used to be that if you wanted to use the Chamber facilities, you had to rent them. But now, those facilities are free with your membership.”
The Chamber offers membership tiers that provide whatever a business needs. The very generous upper tiers help sponsor lower tiers which are made up of new businesses that are just starting out and need a helping hand. These larger businesses are the benefactors for the smaller businesses. They are reinvesting in Colleton County and the business community. This is an investment in the economy and the county, which benefits everyone.
The Bronze tier, which is the basic, starts at $350. It offers the following:
-Access to "We-Work" space based on availability.
-One featurette article in the Colletonian Business Journal, 1/8 page upon joining.
-Media production to produce commercials and TV segments to air on PRTC's channel and other select networks and channels (Roku/Hulu/Bounce).
-Legal services available - basic legal consulting and questions *additional fees may apply.
-Grand opening/ribbon cutting.
-Social media articles and blasts to promote your business as events occur.
-Facebook live promotional event at your business.
-Information in business directory included.
-Integrated website into the Chamber website - also includes web content development and updates (website creation may have additional fees, $125 which is half of typical cost).
-Business referrals via phone, media, email, and in person
-Ability to add events to calendar.
As more money is invested and different tiers are purchased, more advertising time is added. The tiers begin with the Bronze ($350); Silver ($750); Gold ($1,500); Platinum ($3000,); and Diamond ($5000). The higher the tier, the more money is invested back into the business community.
The top members of the Chamber are Margie Bright Matthews; Colleton County Museum & Farmers Market; PRTC; Make Walterboro Better, LLC; Bee City; Colleton County School District; Colleton County Medical Center; EIS Consulting Group; Essenza; and the Geodigital Broadcasting Network.
“We can provide marketing and advertising for businesses at a fraction of what it would normally cost,” said Wysong.
The Chamber advertises from Georgetown to Hilton head and streams through various media and social media outlets inside and outside the county. With Chamber membership, space is purchased to advertise. The back production space in the building allows the Chamber to create commercials, talk shows, or informational videos. “We want to produce the Business Journal for TV, as well as in the newspaper, and create our own commercials that air on five different platforms in different counties the first week of every month. In the business journal, there are no ads, just a focus on creating on positive business articles or stories about people behind the business,” Wysong added.
The video production aspects of the Chamber is led by Russ Rutan, a veteran videographer. A portion of the room where he works is painted green, while another is painted blue. “We use Chromakey. Blue and green work well with editing and producing videos and different backgrounds can be added. I can put you anywhere in the world with these green and blue walls,” said Rutan. “I can use the camera and put everything on TV. We can produce video and use our soundproof room.” For new businesses who want to advertise, or events coming to the county, this room will prove invaluable as a tool to get information out to the public.
What is fascinating is that Wysong and his ambassadors have done all of this in 90 days. He said, “This is prosperity for everyone, and the Chamber has to be thriving to impact the county and Lowcountry. So many businesses are eager to get involved, but we still have more to do.”
Future plans include having coffee at the chamber on Fridays so members can sit down and talk. There are also plans in the works for a business calendar that will incorporate all information about businesses and events sponsored by the Chamber. The events planned will impact existing businesses and bring in new ones that will focus on improvements to the city and county.
Wysong is happy with the progress so far, but knows the Chamber needs more investors. “The Chamber is designed to be the ultimate business resource center for businesses in the county, and we welcome all who want to join as investors of Walterboro-Colleton’s progressive Chamber of Commerce.”
The Chamber is located at 209 East Washington Street in downtown Walterboro. For more information, call 843-549-9595, connect on Facebook, www.walterboro.org or chamberadmin@lowcountry.com.
