Marketing Strategy for Chicago Businesses

Chicago is one of the US’s main metropolitan areas, and its size and culture present many opportunities for businesses. As business owners worldwide know, the past eighteen months have had challenges most of us have never faced. And it’s not over, as the upcoming years face uncertainty, as well. However, it’s a challenge creative marketing can mitigate.  

When Moriarty’s Gem Art had to close for a city-mandated quarantine in March of 2020, they had to pivot and find new ways to bring in sales quickly. They began live-streaming gem shows to an audience of over 1,000 on its website, through email, and via social media, a live take on their formerly pre-recorded marketing ads. The first show featuring how they cut, polished, and customized exotic stones resulted in $12,000 revenue. Another saw the sale of a $20,000 tanzanite stone to an international customer. They achieved unprecedented engagement from customers worldwide. Moriarty’s is a prime example of how businesses everywhere can achieve success even during uncertain times by using one or more creative marketing strategies.  

Create a Radio Campaign  

Radio is one of the most effective advertising methods out there. In Chicago, radio reaches 92% of people in the city. Our huge variety of stations allow businesses to target based on the listening preferences of each group by matching to the station’s listener demographics. Radio has been shown to significantly increase ad awareness, brand consideration, and return on investment.  

You can add a significant boost to your results by partnering with a local Chicago radio influencer to spread your message. They have created a strong connection with their loyal following by building trust and credibility. Leveraging your local radio influencer provides access to that following. Their reach and engagement on the radio, at live community events, on their social media, and through the station’s website allow you to spread your message even further. 

Tap Into Seasonal Events  

Seasonal events bring to mind the high traffic shopping times like Black Friday sales, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, back to school, and end-of-season clearance events. However, there are many other opportunities that you can leverage with creative marketing, such as sports or even food, to take advantage of the seasonal demand. Chicago hosts many conferences and events in main areas, like the Navy Pier. Those in the flourishing food scene can set up stands to introduce more people to your food or advertise catering services to event planners for the Big Game, sports finals, and more.   

Lean Into Chicago’s Social Responsibility  

Chicago is a progressive city. That means that you can promote goodwill and further your brand’s message when you align your messages with social issues that resonate with its residents. Cause marketing has a purpose beyond simply promoting the brand. While it does raise awareness about the business, it does so by promoting what they can do to serve their communities better.  

Cause marketing helps businesses connect with an audience that is active in their community and concerned about local and global causes. They purposely seek to make purchases from those companies that observe corporate social responsibility. Advocating for a cause and encouraging your customers to become advocates will make customers feel better about buying from you. 

Engage Your Online Chicago Community 

We live in an increasingly digital world. Having a thriving online network gives you access to engaged customers through various channels, such as social media, message boards, customer reviews, email, and websites. Leveraging digital marketing strategies depends on identifying where your target customers spend their time. One is to identify the channels your competitors use. That gives you a proven starting point to engage with your target audience. 

Once you’ve chosen your target customer’s preferred channel, it is time to determine the best method to engage with them. If you’ve done the work to create your buyer persona, you’ve likely mapped out not only their preferred channel but the types of content that resonate with them the most.  Whether it is blogs, web pages, video ads, how-to articles, or live Q&A, it is essential to talk to, not at, your audience. Today’s consumers don’t respond positively to inauthentic or overly sales-driven language.  

Get Creative When Marketing Your Chicago Business  

Challenging times call for innovative measures. That has never been truer than in the last couple of years when businesses have had to come up to speed quickly on digital marketing techniques and how to use them creatively to reach customers when they couldn’t interact with them in person. However, because we are a digital society, it provides unprecedented direct access to reach our customers. Having an online community provides new and convenient ways to interact with your existing and targeted prospective customers where they spend their time and in ways that have the greatest impact.  

Each business knows its market and the unique customer group they want to reach. Each of those has its preferred channels. Whether it is the accessibility of radio and its engaging radio influencers, their vast social following, or your business’s website, blog posts, and social media accounts, you need to find the channels that work best for you and your customers. By identifying where your target customers spend their time and crafting compelling, engaging, informative, and relevant content, you can create a loyal customer following to achieve new success even in the most challenging times.