“The [App My Community team] has a lot of clarity and creativity. They speak very clearly and they’re able to communicate how the app really works best for people. They really understand their customer.”

– Tammy Bell, vice president, Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce

The Customer: 

A Thriving, Dynamic Business Association in Sun-Soaked Arizona

Visitors are drawn to Fountain Hills, an Arizona town located northeast of Phoenix, to enjoy the region’s sunny climate, premiere hiking and biking trails, and impressive fountain, which was once the tallest in the world. The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce serves as the voice of community businesses, working to maintain and improve the town’s economic environment.

From launching compelling marketing campaigns to playing host to popular annual festivals, chamber members are always looking for innovative ways to support the success of town merchants.

The Challenge: 

A Years-Long Search for a Digital Tool that Was Easy to Maintain

The Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce prides itself on the breadth of community activities available to residents and visitors. Managing this ever-growing list of events in the area was a never-ending task, and chamber members used an association management software called Chambermaster to stay organized.

But, while Chambermaster helped with many aspects of event planning, chamber members yearned for an app that would allow them to better promote these activities to those in the region. This presented a problem: Building a new app would mean they’d need to manually copy the event information in Chambermaster over, creating a time-consuming and frustrating duplication of work.

For years, the chamber searched for a more seamless option, before finally discovering App My Community in early 2023.

“Our CEO had been looking for an app for about five years, but we were never satisfied with what we saw,” said Tammy Bell, vice president of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. “Then, one of us happened upon somebody using App My Community and we were impressed. So, we just started looking into it and as soon as we met [the App My Community team], we were hooked. This is what we’ve been looking for.” 

The Solution: 

An App that Seamlessly Integrated with Existing Systems

Fountain Hills worked with App My Community to build an app for the town that effortlessly synced with the event information they stored in Chambermaster, saving the chamber countless hours of extra work. Throughout the development process, Tammy said that working with Rose and Joe Duemig, owners of App My Community, was a breeze.

“Rose and Joe are super easy to work with,” said Tammy. “You know they’re going to be there and help you through it and manage it. They explained everything so well. They’re responsive, and the financial commitment was reasonable for us.”

To launch the app, the chamber sponsored a public art feature in Fountain Park, where they placed a QR code that directed people to the app. Meanwhile, local restaurants promoted it by placing QR codes on their tables. As Tammy said, “Everyone’s pretty proud of it.”

Today, the app is used for everything from voting for winners of local awards to providing parents with up-to-date public-school calendars.

“It’s been so, so helpful for a lot of people,” said Tammy. “Just having that convenience for people, and the accuracy of it, to be able to find just what they’re looking for. We try to incorporate everything that’s going on in the community, and people get really excited because the information is right at their fingertips.”

The Results: 

Widespread Exposure Has Put Fountain Hills Businesses on the Map

Beyond offering strong community engagement, the Fountain Hills Chamber considers the app to be an essential marketing tool for tourism. Downloads of the app soar during the town’s twice-annual art festival, where a digital guide has replaced a cumbersome and costly system of printed binders the chamber used previously. The town’s visitor center also encourages travelers to use the app for wayfinding.

“The best part is when we’re engaging with people,” Tammy said. “People come in for trail maps and we direct them to the app. It’s great to see how excited people get. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, that is so convenient. I want that.’”

Importantly, the success of the app has helped generate interest in local businesses, which are now easier than ever to locate, with some establishments gaining even more app exposure via banner ads and splash pages.

“Our members benefit,” Tammy said. “It’s the first community app that we’ve had in Fountain Hills, and we utilize it to put us on the map. We have thousands of people who come to our festivals from out of state, and so it gets our businesses’ names out there and recognized by a lot of people. We’re happy with that.”

The Future: 

A Creative Mindset that Breeds an Endless Array of Possibilities

When it comes to the future, Tammy said the Fountain Hills Chamber is always working with Rose and Joe at App My Community to find even more ways to utilize the app for the betterment of the community.

“We’ve been using [the app] for a year or so, but we’re still adding different things,” she said. “We had our gala a couple of weeks ago. I called Joe and he showed me how to do an online seating chart, and it was a huge success. Typically, we have five staff members at check-in for the gala, but the app saved us so much time that we were able to enjoy just greeting people instead of frantically trying to help them find their tables.”

She added, “It seems like every time we have another event, we’re calling Joe to see how we can use the app for it. And he comes up with the next best thing. It’s great.”

Next, the chamber is looking into ways to use the app for donations and additional engagement activities, like scavenger hunts. Tammy also attends regular training sessions hosted by the App My Community team, where she continues to get new ideas for how best to utilize their digital tools.

“They’re so creative,” she said. “They come up with all these ideas on how to use the app, and I’m sure they’ll continue to think of all different ways to use it in the future. They’re just so fantastic. So responsive. So kind. So easy to work with and helpful.”