for further information, contact Juli Schatz at Village Profile®,
800-600-0134, ext. 219 or julis@villageprofilemail.com

Village Profile® Gives Chambers of Commerce an Online Engine for Accelerated Member-to-Member Business Development

(Elgin, IL / July 15, 2008) -- After months of extensive research and development, Village Profile® goes “3D” with its Convergence Publishing Program® -- adding a new dimension to business communications technology with the debut of the Convergence Business Network® online Business Development Center available exclusively to Chambers of Commerce and their members.

This all-encompassing, indispensable business tool is like having a personal “Help Desk” in the office; it opens new channels of information while providing marketers highly targeted, multi-platform digital communication technologies with which to promote their products and services worldwide. The Convergence Business Network® puts a world of business development resources literally at Chamber members’ fingertips. What’s more, the Convergence Business Network® gives Chambers new revenue streams from royalties on every transaction conducted between its members.

How it Works 
Chamber-member businesses are provided login access to the business development center landing page, which enables Chamber members to opt in and manage their enhanced information window. They can then create and target their promotional messages to business groups within a Chamber membership with text, audio, and even video.

The Convergence Business Network® also lets users geotarget their messages to businesses in other states and communities throughout the U.S.

As every savvy marketer knows, target marketing is the most critical component in success-ful promotional campaigns. In today’s marketplace, targeted online marketing can reach thousands, even tens of thousands, of customers and return hundreds of qualified leads.

Another feature of the Convergence Business Network® Business Development Center® is BusinessServicesSearch® which lists business-to-business services from reputable com-panies via the Internet. So, whatever a businessperson might need to support operations -- including online meeting services, attorneys, accountants, banking, capital resources, etc. -- users will find them all in BusinessServicesSearch®.

Village Profile® introduced the first dimension of cutting-edge digital communication technology to the Chamber industry. In 2002, its revolutionary Convergence Publishing Program® began delivering publication websites, downloadable eBooks, and wireless mobile access to online publications, in addition to traditional print publications. In 2003, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce was the first Chamber in the nation to benefit from mobile membership access.

The results of a study just released by New York-based Scarborough Research reveals that digital-savvy people are “heavy online spenders and are at the cutting edge of eCommerce” and “strongly acclimated to the Internet for goods and services.”

They are more involved in corporate purchasing decisions than the general population. They are “heavy online spenders” and nearly one in five spends more than $2,500 per year buying books, clothing, office supplies, wine, music and more online. 

They rely on their mobile devices and web-enabled cellphones for communication and information. Their median income is 55 percent greater, they live in households with income of $75,000 or more, are more educated, more entrepreneurial, and frequent purchasers of luxury goods and services.

“The Chicagoland Chamber has long recognized that using the most up-to-date technology available is the best way to communicate not only with our Members, but also with the business community at large,” said Joseph Balasa, COO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. “Village Profile's convergence program lets us take that communication to a new level. . . . Its wireless technologies via smart phones and cell phones, puts our members' business and contact information literally into their hands 24/7."

In 2003, Village Profile® added mobile access to Chambers' membership directories and online business locator maps to the Convergence Publishing Program® to give Chambers of Commerce and their members with more enhanced, more user-friendly networking communication technology.

“We are always looking for ways to provide more benefits to our members and this online directory is certainly one of them,” said RuthAnn Manley, director – communications at the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.  “The Village Profile® Network’s Web site receives MILLIONS OF hits per YEAR. Those visitors now have direct access to the members of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.”

Village Profile®, which observes its 20th anniversary in 2008, was the first Chamber publisher to replicate its community profiles, membership directories and maps online, in 1995 when the Internet was still a relatively new and untested advertising medium, and its vast marketing potential as yet unrealized. Village Profile® introduced multi-platform convergence publishing to the Chamber industry in 2002, with traditional print augmented by publication websites, free downloadable New View™ eBooks, CDs, and mobile business directories accessible via wireless handhelds.

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce is the first Chamber in the nation to go green with their membership directory featured at www.villageprofile.com/nebraska/omaha/directory/

For further information, contact Joe Nugara, Sr. at 800-600-0134, ext. 220 or email jcn@villageprofilemail.com