Counties of Membership: Blount, Cocke,
Green, Jefferson, Monroe, Polk, Sevier, Washington, TN & Ashe, Avery,
Buncombe, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson,
Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey,
NC.
LLC
"One Chamber, Representing The Entire
Smoky Mountains Area"
Membership Information:
| Whether your business is in Pigeon Forge, 50 feet outside Sevierville, or just on the other side of the mountain from Gatlinburg...YOU ARE WELCOME HERE! | |||||||||||||||||
| The
Smoky Mountains and surrounding National Forest areas have just
about everything you might need. Our goal is to provide every
member visibility to the vast number of vacationers wanting
information from, and planning a vacation in our area. This
geographic area, that 10 million plus vacationers visit every year, does
not end at any city's limits. Regular membership is limited to
businesses with physical locations in the following counties:
Blount, Cocke, Green, Jefferson, Monroe, Polk, Sevier, Washington,
TN & Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham,
Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Swain,
Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey, NC.
Any membership outside these counties must be an
"affiliate" membership (see below for restrictions for
"affiliate" memberships.) Privately owned
Smoky Mountain promotional travel related websites and guides
charge up near $100 per MONTH to try and promote area businesses,
and do not have anywhere near the volume of traffic (unique
sessions) that either smokymountainschamberofcommerce.com
(type in smcoc.com for the same website-shorter spelling) and/or
TourTheSmokies.com realize every day. Can you afford to even
wait one more day to have your business exposed to thousands of
tourists planning their vacation itineraries each and every day? |
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| We will be purchasing most if not all of our supplies and services from member merchants in and near the Smokies, and keeping as much as possible of our tax base in the Smokies! WE NEED YOUR BUSINESS, and we, as a Chamber, will be focusing on promoting member's businesses and networking within members, in and near the Smokies. | |||||||||||||||||
Membership Benefits |
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| Chamber
members will realize an immediate exposure to approximately 2,000 to
4,000 DAILY UNIQUE SESSIONS of visitors, many of which are planning
their itineraries for their visit to the Smoky Mountains Area!
(Session statistics based through July 23, 2000) Note: these figures
do NOT include current pending advertisements in leading travel
guides recently submitted, nor do they include our soon to be
released 100+ Smoky Mountain topic specific websites. Chamber members receive a basic listing, (1 Page website – up to 100K in size, hosted at no additional charge on one or our servers) which will always appear BEFORE any non-members basic listings. (Note: Non-member listings do NOT include phone numbers.) Your member listing will be searchable (under your main category) on the MEMBERS ONLY SEARCHABLE DATABASE area on our Smokies premier website TourTheSmokies.com. (Hosting more information specific to the Smokies than anywhere, worldwide. Our website currently boasts over 3,400 html pages along with 4,200+ photos, and continues to grow almost DAILY!)
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| Your basic listing (or other optional listing packages) will be sent out on every one of the Smokies "first ever" Electronic Vacation Guide: TOUR THE SMOKIES, which has the capacity to let you offer PAGES instead on 1/6 of a page add to every inquirer...(How much would PAGES cost you when 1/6 of a page can cost upwards of $2,500 in traditional area Chamber/Department of Tourism advertising???!!!!) | |||||||||||||||||
| Every member will be provided a certificate to prominently display to your customers showing your commitment to investing in the Smokies future economy. | |||||||||||||||||
| TourTheSmokies.com is a separate website, for tourists to click to, that will not have Chamber events for members, membership programs, etc. cluttering up their options. Quotes from local area web design shops estimate to cost to reproduce TourTheSmokies.com (back in March) to be in excess of one quarter million dollars! | |||||||||||||||||
| Every member is also eligible to enroll in our brochure mail out program, along with our soon to be announced "AUTOMATED CARE-FREE EMAIL PROGRAM", promoting your business, with YOUR personalized E-Mail response, tailored just to YOUR business! These optional programs allow you to do what you do best, manage YOUR business, and leave the burden of mail outs and emailing to US! | |||||||||||||||||
| We have contracted with Aardvark Internet Marketing, LLC as our Marketing Team. Aardvark Internet Marketing and their personnel have one of the most astounding reputations anywhere for "stretching the technological window," and are certified in Web Positioning, along with having an unprecedented background of online marketing, clear back to one if not the very first on-line shopping networks ever created. We recently asked Aardvark Internet Marketing to estimated future traffic, and all we could get out of them was "ba-ba-ba-baby you just ain't seen na-na-nothin' yet! Without tipping their hand, they have indeed put together an unprecedented website marketing plan involving 100+ completely separate websites, along with other soon to be released EXCITING never before heard of techniques! | |||||||||||||||||
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Basic Membership Recap: |
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Requirements:
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Chamber
Philosophy We will exploit today’s technology and apply these results into doing business in today’s marketplace. We have a tremendous amount of powerful means available to us, yet we are only scratching the surface. We began our focus in the accommodations end on the Internet, and with a little ingenuity and persistence, applied available resources into solving Guests anxieties about their lodging choices. It began with the Guests number one question: “Is this accommodation you are describing really nice?”…..”Does it have a nice view?”….”How big is the living area?” The main problem we experienced was in communicating these honest answers, because what I think has a “good view” or what I though was “nice” doesn’t necessarily translate into what the Guest perceived as a good view or nice. Everyone has his or her own expectations and what I think is a “nice view” may be considered a “terrible view” to someone who lives up in the Rocky Mountains and can see three states from their rear deck. The answer was always there, it was just not apparent. The SOLUTION was to take 75 to 150 pictures from every accommodation, by clicking a mouse on a window; the Guest could literally look out every window, and DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES just how “nice” the view was! You say, how does this apply to a non-lodging business? Well it’s just an example of what can be done using existing technology to solve a major issue….after all…who would buy a house without looking through it first? We plan on exploiting EVERY technological avenue to make your business run smoother, make your operating costs lower (look at your membership fee as an investment as an opportunity to offload some of your everyday tasks, and also benefit from the absolute necessity of having an “internet based” marketing plan tenaciously being pursued on YOUR behalf!) For years we have focused on sending a 4 panel brochure which costs us 10 cents a piece, then place a 33 cent stamp on it, and wait 2-3 days for the Guest to receive it, when for FREE you can E-Mail a Guest, and all they have to do is click on a hyperlink, and be able to tour through your entire business, just seconds after they receive that E-Mail?
Friends, we are on
the right track, and intend to take this Chamber to an unprecedented
level…..Confident? Yes we are, not due to the fact that we’re
better than anyone else, but let me assure you, it’d be hard to
find more drive, persistence or desire! We're not "knocking" existing Chambers, DOT's etc.,
it's just that we are to stubborn to ever give up <smile> EX: At
current growth, we will pass the leading Chamber’s website daily
sessions soon. How can
this be, that this new Chamber is pulling this off?…Let me assure
you, it's not because we have a multi-million dollar budget to throw
at it! (HA) Sit back and
enjoy the show…the best is YET TO COME! |
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TourTheSmokies.com |
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| TourTheSmokies.com
is the Smokies most thorough source of information specific to the
Great Smoky Mountains found anywhere in the world. As of the
moment there are over 3,400 separate pages, and over 4,200 photos;
and more data is being added almost DAILY. We are in the
process of adding a tremendous additional amount of information
including every point of interest in the National Park, along with
tours of EVERY hiking trail, motor trail, and MORE!
The Website Features Include:
* Features Being Implemented Currently |
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Full Membership Breakdowns |
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Category 1: Overnight Rentals: Cabins, Chalets, Condos, Cottages, B&B, Inns, Etc. |
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Category 2: Overnight Rentals: Motels or Hotels |
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Category 3: Attractions, Shows, Theatres, Outdoor Adventures -- $350 |
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Category 4: Wedding Chapels/Facilities -- $250 |
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Category 5: Restaurants - Dine In - Carry Out |
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Category 6: Businesses, Professional; Shops |
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Allied Memberships |
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Available to any business located outside the above listed counties, in categories not excluded below. Note: Allied members are not eligible for any add-on or opt-in packages such as Care-Free E-Mail, Co-op advertising, or other programs used for marketing of inquiries. Your listing will appear in the Allied Members listing on SmokeyMountainsChamberOfCommerce.com. Note: Chamber Members will always be promoted between Chamber members first, then after, Allied members. COST = $100 per Year |
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*Churches get FREE MEMBERSHIP |
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Ineligible Categories |
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| * Free Church Membership Includes Free One Page Website (Not eligible for opt in pkgs) |
Copyright © 2000 Smoky Mountains Chamber Of Commerce
All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Any reproduction or other use of these contents without the expressed written consent of the Smoky Mountains Chamber of Commerce, LLC. is strictly prohibited. Restriction of Liability: Smoky Mountains Chamber of Commerce, LLC. makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this website and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this website. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its hyperlinks to other Internet resources, advertisers & members further indemnify the Smoky Mountains Chamber of Commerce, LLC & Aardvark Internet Marketing, LLC. from any supplied copyrighted and or trademarked material, and assume all costs and or related legal fees to the above mentioned.