It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year—Or Is It?

Presented by the Illinois Small Business Development Center at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

For consumer-facing businesses and brands, the holidays can play an outsized role in driving awareness and generating revenue. Yet, the competition for customer attention is fierce and many businesses and brands find themselves struggling for share of mind and—more importantly—share of wallet.

How do you break through the clutter? How do you compete? Should you even try?

During this session we’ll answer the following questions:

What is the real marketing opportunity during the holiday season?
What marketing strategies can small businesses use to stand out?
Which key marketing tactics can reach the right customers, right now?

Key takeaways will include:

The real role of holiday moments in driving results
The steps you should prioritize to prepare, right now
The common holiday marketing pitfalls to avoid

Featured Speaker

Jennifer Polk

Chief Marketing and Digital Experience Officer, Feeding America

Jennifer Polk is a passionate and transformative marketing executive who embraces and encourages a growth mindset. Driven by results, she possesses an innate ability to quickly understand and adapt to business drivers across sectors and industries, building marketing strategies that deliver powerful and profitable results based on those drivers. As the Chief Marketing and Digital Experience Officer of Feeding America, Jennifer is a visionary leader who establishes and communicates purpose and strategic direction for the Feeding America brand. She delivers brand and performance marketing that increases awareness of the issue of hunger, ignites passion to end hunger and motivates action through fundraising, advocacy, and public engagement. Throughout a career that spans over two decades, Jennifer has thrived in intellectually stimulating environments, where she collaborates and builds coalitions to achieve enterprise-level objectives. During a decade at Gartner, Jennifer’s ability to lead with insight, solicit input from key stakeholders, and synthesize ideas enabled her to lead across multiple practices, delivering client value and business growth.