According to an article on SmallBizTrends.com this week, “Small business owners’ expectations for better business conditions over the next six months fell by seven points to a net negative 61%. So far expectations for better conditions have worsened every month this year.” That’s not great news. With rising costs, many businesses are struggling. 
 
When it comes to dealing with these pressures, you have two options to improve revenue: new growth or new marketing efforts. New growth means pursuing new avenues or audiences and expanding. This can be unnerving. New marketing efforts means simply being more deliberate in who you’re trying to reach and how you’ll get there.
 
Whether you choose expansion of audience or marketing, you need reviews and you need them everywhere. Here are a few ways you can motivate your audience to help.
 

 
Get More Business Reviews with These Ideas

1. Put a link on your website and ask for the review.
2. Use a QR code in your physical business that leads straight to a review site. You can change the sites out periodically so that you get reviews on Facebook, Google, Yelp, etc.
3. Send a thank you email or postcard to people after they buy and add a request for a review.
4. When someone pays you a compliment, thank them, and ask them if they could write a review. If they decline, ask if they would mind if you used their words in a testimonial.
5. Search on social media. People may be talking about you without you realizing. For instance, there may be a local Facebook group where your business is mentioned often. Finding out what these groups are and then listening to what others are saying can give you a lot of great quotes. But don’t grab them and stick them on your site. Reach out to the writer and ask if you can use them or if they’d be willing to copy and paste what they said on a specific review site.
6. Add a star rating to your website that allows visitors to give you a quick rating.
7. Post reviews openly on your site with a link for people to add their own. Show extreme appreciation for your reviews. If they’re visible and openly appreciated, it may influence visitors to leave their own.
8. Thank people for reviewing you, if possible. Let them know you saw it and you appreciate them.
9. Reach out to those who left you negative reviews to see what you can do to turn it around. They cared enough to mention the dissatisfaction so see what can be done to turn their negative into a positive.
10. Provide a discount coupon (or special bonus) to anyone who leaves a review. Don’t tell them ahead of time. Make it a nice surprise. This one won’t necessarily lead to more reviews but will likely increase sales.

 
Finally, when you get these wonderful reviews, don’t forget to use parts of them on your site as testimonials or make quotes out of them and use them in your marketing collateral and ads.

On Tuesday, May 3, the Clayton Chamber of Commerce hosted a graduation event to celebrate the completion of its inaugural LaunchJoCo program. This program offers Johnston County entrepreneurs the opportunity to receive training in business concepts such as small business financing and cash flow, basic bookkeeping, labor laws and tax essentials, building a credit score, social media and marketing, etc. 
 
Participants of LaunchJoCo were paired with leaders from the Johnston County business community to help guide them along their business journeys. The LaunchJoCo participants were also given a 6-month membership to CCOC, courtesy of an anonymous benefactor. 
 
Dana Wooten, CCOC President CEO, said, “I am proud of the opportunity, tools, and resources that Launch JoCo has given this 2022 class of entrepreneurs and small business owners, and I am excited to see them take their businesses to a new level. The collaborative spirit of this program was undoubtedly evident Tuesday night, and the students’ testimonials moved many people during the receipt of their certificates. It was also very gratifying to see business leaders willing to give their time, expertise, and resources to this group as mentors. LaunchJoCo is a program that changes lives, and I’d like to thank everyone who made this graduation possible.“
 
Melissa Overton, owner of Medical Training.me and LaunchJoCo had this to say about graduation, “Tonight was a huge success, as it demonstrated diversity and collaboration at its best. The future is bright for the graduates and the LaunchJoCo program that will continue to bless and inspire people for years to come. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.”
 
Applications will be accepted beginning in August of 2022 for the LaunchJoCo class of 2023. 

2018 was a monumental year for the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. CCOC’s mission driven words—advocate, collaborate, and innovate—were at the forefront of all our 2018 accomplishments. We are so proud to publish our first annual report. If you want to see what our mission (to champion business, economic development, and education in Clayton, NC) looks like in action, view the report  (click the button) below.
Note: If you are viewing from your phone, turn it to horizontal view and view inside your browser.

 
We continued to make great strides in areas of economic development, legislative and governmental affairs, and education. And we launched a workforce development committee with fresh goals and ideas. Through our impact committees, CCOC has collaborated with the Town of Clayton in order to reach important economic development goals such as the development of Clayton Districts and a demographic brochure.

We are on the steering committee, along with the other JOCO chambers of commerce, Johnston County Economic Development, Johnston County Public Schools, and Johnston Community College, that is launching an exciting workforce program like none you have ever seen called JOCO Works. The hands-on expo will target all 8th grade students in our county and will be held November 14-15, 2019.

CCOC has also expanded our political forum offerings in order to keep Clayton voters informed. We are in the process of launching a re-vamped mentoring program called INSPIRE with Clayton Middle School.

We received a grant to help us expand our award-winning The Clayton Connection app by providing a Clayton tour for our new and current residents in 2019. Something you will hear more about soon.

And we are working on our first annual report to present to all our investors and the public. I could go on…[But quite frankly, I’m exhausted!]
 
And I didn’t even mention our successful Clayton Harvest Festival with our first-ever Military Crossroads despite a hurricane…thanks to the flexibility of our staff [especially Maria Bunn], Dave Brown with The Shindig, Clayton Mid-Day Rotary, and last, but not least, the Town of Clayton. And if you didn’t see the flyover, it was something amazing.
 
The 2018 CCOC board of directors, staff, and members of our impact committees, were all laser-focused on our mission of business advocacy, economic development, and education in Clayton. We reached nearly all our strategic plan milestones for 2018…and then some. And thanks to the generosity of all our investors, this organization had a BIG and POSITIVE impact on this wonderful community. We are so proud of this organization’s work in 2018.
 
You will hear more about CCOC’s impact throughout the night. It is shown in the businesses we cheer. It is shown in the awards we present. It is shown in our collaboration with you all…Clayton Rotary, Clayton Downtown Development Association, and Clayton WIN. It is shown in this crowd. CCOC is heading into 2019 with great momentum and plans…more advocacy, more collaboration, and more innovation. And that only means even more great things are in Clayton’s future.
 
The 2019 Board of Directors and staff of the Clayton Chamber of Commerce thank you all for investing in Clayton by investing in the Clayton Chamber of Commerce.
 
Now. Let’s get the party started." ~Dana Wooten, CCOC President/CEO

2018 Award Recipients:

• Business of the Year
  Align Family Chiropractic
• Citizen of the Year
  Larry Bailey
• Innovator of the Year
  Dave DeYoung
• Volunteer of the Year
  Sara Perricone
• Super Star Teacher of the Year
  Kimberly Ellison of Powhatan Elementary
• Leaving a Legacy Award
  Dyrke Maricle
• Ambassador of the Year
  Erin Davis-Belcher
• Clayton Harvest Festival Hero Awards
  Jim Lee (Military Crossroads), Ariel Ramirez (Latin American Festival), Eric Rabuse (Manager of Beautification), Pasquale Goicoechea (Manager of ROTC Volunteers), and Simon Garen (Volunteer)
• Gratitude Awards
  Clayton Police Department
  Clayton Fire Department
• Committee of the Year
  CCOC Economic Development Committee (Ruth Anderson, Edwin Jackson, Kyle McDermott, Dave DeYoung, Kaitlin Crocker, Jim Perricone, Bobby Bunn, Greg Kennedy, Charlie Bell, Beth Watson, Tara Abernathy, and Stacy Beard)
• Key Contributor of the Year
  Boone Williams
• 2018 CCOC Building Clayton’s Future campaign investors were  recognized for their contributions to the Clayton community in 2018: Grifols, Johnston Health, KS Bank, Novo Nordisk, and OPW Global (Connector Investors); Caterpillar, Compare Foods, Clayton Glass & Mirror, Duke Energy, HomeTowne Realty, Johnston County Visitors Bureau, Managed Print Solutions, United Community Bank, and Woody’s Computing Services (Supporter Investors); and BB&T, Carolina Comfort Air, Chick-fil-A of Garner, First Citizens Bank, Huebner Family McDonald's, Johnston Now, Strategic Systems, and Studio TK (Foundation Investors).
• CDDA Award Recipients:
  • 2018 CDDA Appreciation Award
    James Lipscomb
  • 2018 CDDA Outstanding Downtown Business
    Deep River Brewing
  • 2018 CDDA Outstanding New Downtown Business
    Boulevard West
  • 2018 CDDA Volunteer of the Year
    Clayton High School ROTC
  • 2018 CDDA Best Façade Improvement Under $10,000
    Rejoyce! Gifts
  • 2018 CDDA Best Façade Improvement Over $10,000 
    Vinson's Pub + Eatery
• Clayton Rotary Club Award Recipient:
  • 2018 Clayton Rotary Club Community Service Award
    Dean Penny
• Clayton WIN Award Recipient:
  • 2018 Clayton WIN Business Woman of the Year 
    Melanie Marlow

Video

After attending ESGR’s Operation Boss Lift earlier this year (see post below), CCOC President/CEO Dana Bales Wooten had the pleasure of attending the ceremony at the State Capitol on December 5, 2018 to witness Governor Cooper signing a “Statement of Support for National Guard and Reserve Employees.”

Read more about the ceremony here >

Original Post Date: 08/23/2018
CCOC President/CEO Dana Wooten was privileged to be selected for a program facilitated by the North Carolina Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). This program, a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience traveling via an Air Force C-17 Globemaster, provides employers and chambers with the opportunity to observe the extraordinary responsibility, skills, and professionalism of today’s citizen-warriors serving the in the nation’s Guard and Reserve and as current or potential employees.

“This trip has really opened my eyes to an existing qualified employable workforce that needs to be courted.” ~Dana Wooten, CCOC President/CEO

View the news story here >

The Clayton Chamber of Commerce champions business, economic development, and education in Clayton, NC. We accomplish this mission by COLLABORATING with various organizations through forums, task forces, committees, and even one-on-one conversations; ADVOCATING within the community, various organizations, and governments; and providing INNOVATIVE solutions, community pride, business marketing opportunities, networking, and professional development training through various signature events and other initiatives.

Join us at one of our Chamber U: Orientation seminars to learn more about our valuable work in the community.

You can invest in the NEW Clayton Chamber of Commerce at www.claytonchamber.com (click on Invest/Apply).