How people actually choose a local business now
The modern research journey crosses search, social, reviews, and AI answers in minutes. Businesses get chosen by being coherent across all of it.
Reporting on Chicago's marketing and agency scene
Chicago Marketing News is an independent publication covering the people, agencies, and shifts shaping marketing in Chicago — with a standing beat on how AI search is rewriting the rules of visibility. Read the analysis, send a tip, or subscribe to the weekly brief.
Borrowed trust: why customer content and creators outperform polished ads
People discount what businesses say about themselves. UGC and creator content work because the messenger changes the math.
Brand voice: why sounding like yourself, everywhere, compounds
Voice isn't a logo rule or a tagline. It's the recognizability that makes every future post cheaper to win with.
Guides
How to read a marketing report: separating vanity from business metrics
Impressions make slides look good. A short hierarchy of questions tells you whether the marketing is working.
Analysis
What makes a video hold attention — the craft behind the scroll-stop
Retention isn't luck or budget. It's a set of learnable decisions about openings, pacing, and payoff.
Guides
Organic and paid social: how the two halves actually work together
One builds trust, the other buys reach. Businesses that treat them as one system get more from both budgets.
Analysis
How social media algorithms actually decide what people see
Every feed is an auction of attention. Understanding the three questions an algorithm asks explains most of what works — and most of what doesn't.
AI search
AI search is quietly rewriting the rules for Chicago businesses
When customers ask an AI assistant who to hire instead of scrolling a results page, a different set of businesses wins. Here's the mechanic — and why local companies should care now.
Analysis
What a marketing agency actually does — and when hiring one makes sense
An unromantic look at the agency model: what you're really buying, when it beats hiring in-house, and when it doesn't.
Guides
How to get your Chicago business covered by local media
Coverage compounds — in search, in AI answers, and in trust. A practical guide to earning it without a publicist.
The weekly brief
One email a week: what moved in Chicago marketing and why it matters. No filler.