Chamber Updates Stephens County Commission

Marketing and membership are the two main goals right now of the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce.

That’s according to Chamber President Julie Paysen, who presented a report on Chamber activities Tuesday to the Stephens County Commission.

Paysen said that after taking over last year as Chamber President and talking to people in the community, she feels the Chamber has two main goals from a marketing perspective.

“Let’s come together as a business community and learn from each other and network and promote right here, but how do we tell the rest of the world about Stephens County,” said Paysen.

One way they have done that is through a new website.

Paysen said the new site has been up and running for a few months now.

“We have a new website that launched in June,” said Paysen of visittoccoa.com. “It is easy to follow.”

Meanwhile, Paysen said another way they have done is by getting Toccoa-Stephens County into publications, such as one called Southern Distinction magazine.

“That is a publication that goes every other month,” said Paysen. “It is circulated in Atlanta, Greenville, and a lot of big city doctor’s offices.”

Toccoa had a feature story in there recently and Paysen said she writes a column every other month.

Paysen said that the Chamber has also worked with neighboring counties to promote the entire Lake Hartwell region, as well as getting involved with regional tourism mobile apps and promoting the community through the camps and Georgia Baptist Conference Center when people visit for other reasons.

She said the overall goal is to increase the number of visitors to the county and then increase the number of nights they stay in Toccoa.

Elsewhere, Paysen said the Chamber has also worked on streamlining its membership since she took over as Chamber President.

“When I arrived, our membership was about 460, but it was full of fluff,” said Paysen. “We needed a clear vision of who to pursue.”

As a result, Paysen said they cleaned up the membership rolls to provide that.

Paysen thanked her board, the membership, and the county commission, for all of the support they provide to the Chamber.