“Rose and Joe are very easy to work with. They’re extremely professional and extremely knowledgeable.”

– Nancy Judge, President and CEO of Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce

The Customer:

A Colorado Chamber of Commerce Focused on Building the Local Economy

Evergreen, Colorado, is an idyllic mountain community, located just west of Denver, at an elevation of 7,200 feet. Tourists are drawn to the area’s parks, art galleries, restaurants, entertainment, and outdoor activities all year long.

The Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce has worked for 50 years to provide local business recommendations and community information. Chamber members are driven by a mission to grow the local economy by building business and relationships, promoting the community, and representing local concerns with county government.

The Challenge:

A Lack of Funding Meant the Chamber Was Often Closed During Tourist Seasons

Evergreen is an unincorporated area and, as such, the community’s chamber of commerce doesn’t receive any county funding. Despite working with limited resources, the chamber boasts an impressive list of accomplishments, including hosting numerous popular annual events that help local businesses to thrive. The chamber’s physical office features printed guides promoting local merchants and tour operators; however, this office operates with short daytime hours and is closed on weekends, limiting its ability to interact with visitors during peak travel periods.

In 2022, Nancy Judge, president and CEO of Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce, attended a conference where she met a representative from App My Community, and she immediately saw the opportunities the app could provide. As she said, it “spurred the idea that this would be a great way to help our visitors who come into the community when we, the chamber, aren’t in the office. We saw App My Community as a great way to meet a need that we had, and I also saw the value in it for just our community as a whole.”

The Solution:

An Easy-to-Access App That Provides Community Information 24/7

Nancy worked with App My Community to build an app for Evergreen that would allow visitors to easily access information about local businesses. However, she quickly realized that the app could serve additional purposes.

“What spoke to me initially was the ability to address the needs of tourists, but it also served the needs of the people who live in our community,” she said. “Not every business is tourist oriented, and not everyone who uses [the app] is a tourist. But we could meet both ends of the spectrum through this one tool.”

The app now includes everything from voting for local business awards and community-centric scavenger hunts to relaying important information to visitors coming to the area for special events.

“We’ve expanded, and we’ve run some events through [the app],” Nancy said. “We run voting for our annual Taste of Evergreen event, and we’ve also expanded to all sorts of community events.” One example is the town’s Father’s Day weekend rodeo, where parking can be a challenge. “There are a lot of people who come up for the rodeo that don’t live in our community,” said Nancy, “so they text everyone who purchased tickets to let them know that parking information is available on the app.”

The Results:

A Steady Uptick in Usage of the App Makes it a Cost-Effective Marketing Tool

Having an easy way to effectively communicate with locals as well as those less familiar with the area has made Evergreen’s app a hit with this small community. The app currently has 4,000 users and the chamber continues to see a steady increase in app downloads.

“When we have an event, we definitely see a bump in the downloads,” said Nancy. “But we also have a pretty consistent bump almost every day. I know that comes from people coming into the community and wanting to learn more.”

With a growing group of active, engaged users on the app, community businesses have been inspired to work with Evergreen’s Chamber of Commerce to promote the app and expand its offerings.

“The [businesses] that are using [the app] have said that they love it,” said Nancy. “They promote it in their business. One of the businesses downtown has a really big window cling that’s going up before summer tourism hits. They’re all onboard and they’re willing to help me grow it even more.”

The Future:

A Continued Revenue Source That Doesn’t Rely on Member Dues

The app has already begun to provide the Evergreen Area Chamber of Commerce with a new source of income that isn’t reliant on membership dues. Moving forward, Nancy sees a lot of opportunities to further increase the revenue coming from the app.

“We’re not yet to the point where we’re making money on it, but I do believe there’s that possibility,” she said. “We’ve got splash screens that [local businesses] can purchase for a month at a time, banner ads, and upgraded listings where businesses can add pictures, a video, or other buttons.”

Nancy said she’s in the process of hiring another staff member to help work with local businesses to showcase all of the features that the Evergreen app can offer and how an upgraded listing can help increase traffic. She hopes this will make the app an even better resource while also bringing in additional revenue.

“The businesses that have been using [the app] as a marketing tool have been very happy with it and have an upgraded listing as a result,” Nancy said. “And we’re starting to do some additional tourism marketing, so we’re going to use the app as the tool that people can download for information.”

Nancy said she also attends quarterly calls hosted by App My Community about best practices from the other communities it supports. She sees a lot of growth potential in Evergreen’s future. She knows that no matter what features she hopes to add to the app in the years ahead, the App My Community team will be there to help her achieve her goals. “I think the customer service is top notch,” she said. “I appreciate all that they offer and the support that they give.”