River Valley Chamber of Commerse


 Is it Advertising or is it Marketing?

What role does a Chamber of Commerce perform for its members, what is its shared accountability?

There’s a famous saying that illustrates the above differences.

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign that says,‘Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday,’ that’s advertising.
If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him into town, that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flowerbed, that’s publicity.


If you can get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

And if you planned the elephant’s walk, that’s marketing.”

So in a sense, the Chamber is available to assist in helping businesses with their ‘walk’. But they’re not alone, there are many support services and organizations available for businesses to not have to walk alone.

The past week (Oct. 16 - 22) marked Small Business Week® in Canada, some may have heard of it and many likely participated in any one of many events that marked the annual affair.

Small Business Week® is a registered trademark of BDC - Business Development Bank of Canada - that originated in 1979 when BDC business centres in British Columbia’s Lower Fraser Valley pooled their resources to organize a week of activities for entrepreneurs. In 1981, Small Business Week® was officially launched nationwide by BDC. In 2010, 325 activities across Canada attracted more than 10,000 business people to Small Business Week®.

Small businesses are often touted as the backbone of Canada’s economy, but how much do they actually contribute to the country’s gross domestic product? By definition of a small business in Canada, they employ between 5 to 100 employees. In 2009, 28% of the country’s total GDP came from businesses with fewer than 50 employees*.

The total number of registered employer businesses in Canada (businesses with at least one employee on payroll) as of December 2010, the most recent figure available is 1,138,761*. 1,116,423 of those were small businesses, comprising 98% of all employer businesses in Canada*. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) Business Barometre Index fell to 61.7 in August 2011, its lowest reading since July 2009 - a score of 50 or higher means more businesses owners expect a stronger performance in the next year than those who expect a weaker performance.

Celebrating business success is key and in Grand Bay-Westfield there is more talent to draw on in a small area than there might be in some other communities - success in business starts with a solid, organized and disciplined foundation.

As a community-at-large, we help celebrate the local businesses with our support and on a much larger scale, assist to augment Canada’s GDP and success of its return. Associations like the River Valley Chamber of Commerce help to market a business’s voice and visibility and are dedicated to connecting businesses with other support organizations to help plan that elephant’s walk.

For businesses considering joining the Chamber, we will help you find the answers to your questions and to the existing business members, we applaud your efforts, trials and tribulations in becoming the personality behind our community.

(*Industry Canada calculations using data from Statistics Canada)

Profiles on Business is a regular feature in the River Valley News to promote local business partners with the River Valley Chamber of Commerce. If you have any questions or concerns on this article or with regards to the Chamber, please contact the Executive through 657-6369 or visit our website http://www.rvchamber.ca/ or email meowmix@nb.aibn.com and your comments will be addressed accordingly.

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