Kalispell Chamber Partners with Google to Bring Digital Marketing Opportunities to the Flathead

The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Google this spring to bring two new programs to the Flathead Valley. The first, titled Let’s Put Kalispell on the Map, is an initiative aimed at getting every Flathead Valley business online. The program walks local businesses through the process of beginning, updating or completing their business listing on Google. Currently there are approximately 63% of businesses that have yet to claim their business listing on Google, and with 93% of consumers looking online now for goods and services, the chamber wants to insure no local business is missing out on an opportunity to grow and thrive.

Let’s Put Kalispell on the Map also includes a series of short workshops on Friday, May 20 that are aimed at giving business owners and managers the tools they need to start growing online. Taking place in the BSS135 computer lab at FVCC, businesses can choose one of three sections that best fit their busy schedules and walk away having made hands-on progress. Available times are 8-10:00am with a light breakfast starting at 7:30, 11-1:30pm with a light lunch to follow, or 2-4:30 with afternoon snacks and refreshments to follow.

For each of the three May 20th sessions, the Chamber is partnering with Flathead Beacon Productions, Hagadone Digital, Big Sky Public Relations and the Daily Inter Lake to feature workshop on subjects like: search engine optimization; building effective, responsive websites; social media marketing; building a cohesive brand image and more. Workshop participants will also be able to access their Google Business account to start, update or complete their listings with hands-on guidance.

Accompanying the Let’s Put Kalispell on the Map initiative is the opportunity for local businesses to take advantage of an exclusive Chamber offer to bring the new Google Street View Indoors technology inside their business. Participants will have a Google-certified photographer visit their business and take a series of 360-degree photographs that will allow potential customers the ability to see inside the business in an interactive format online.

Through the chamber only, business owners can receive two 360-degree photographs, inclusive of all editing, published to their Google listing. Additionally, the interactive photos will be featured on the homepage of the Chamber’s website in a new Virtual Area Guide feature. Participants will also receive the coding to use the interactive photographs on their own websites. This package is just $199 and is substantially less than half of what someone could expect to pay otherwise! The option to add additional photographs is also available to build a more extensive look inside any business for just $60 each.

All parties interested in more information for either the Let’s Put Kalispell on the Map initiative or the Street View Indoors opportunity should contact Kate Lufkin, Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Kalispell Chamber at (406)758-2801 or [email protected].

About the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau

Since 1904, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau has been a leading voice in strengthening our community and the business climate, with the goal of making Kalispell and the Flathead Valley an ideal location to live and work. The Chamber consists of 700 businesses and organizations, which employ over half of the workforce in Flathead County, Montana.