Tinley downtown to get marketing boost

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Tinley Park’s annual Caribbean Beach Block Party is one of the special events to build on in the village’s potential new marketing plan, according to Cathy Maloney, managing partner of Findzall Community Marketing. | File photo

Updated: February 25, 2012 8:02AM

Tinley Park trustees may vote next month on hiring a firm to generate a web-based marketing plan for the village’s business district.

Members of the village’s Main Street Commission are recommending hiring Elmhurst-based Findzall Community Marketing, and trustees are expected to take up the matter at their Feb. 7 meeting.

The $50,000 campaign would include an official website, Facebook page, Twitter account and other online pushes to market the two-mile commercial district along Oak Park Avenue. The campaign will also include an effort to rebrand Oak Park Avenue as “Downtown Tinley Park.”

Cathy Maloney, Findzall managing partner, said the project will build on the village’s many special events — such as Benches on the Avenue, and the annual Caribbean Beach Block Party.

A seminar to teach local business owners about how to market themselves online is being planned for March. And a consumer-focused website — www.downtowntinleypark.com — aimed at promoting events and businesses on Oak Park Avenue is scheduled to be complete by late spring, Maloney said.

“What we want to do now is really focus on educating the merchants in the community on how to get found on the Internet,” she said. “Make sure they have a Google Place page, make sure they’re on Yelp. Really make sure that we have all of this foundation in place so that people can find the downtown and find the events.”

Findzall came on board to begin its marketing strategy in mid-2011. Since then, the firm has worked with the Main Street Commission, a panel of small-business owners with shops in the village’s downtown. The cost to fund the effort will be roughly $52,000 in the 2013 fiscal year, which begins April 1.