Built From the Ground Up. Built for You.
Streetwise Marketing isn't a brand we invented — it's a philosophy we've lived. Thirty-plus years of building businesses, telling stories, and figuring out how to compete without a big-agency budget. Now we're putting all of it to work for you.
We're Small Business Owners Helping Small Business Owners.
We didn't build Streetwise for Fortune 500 companies. We built it for the barbershop owner, the food truck operator, the boutique, the nonprofit, the startup running on a shoestring and a dream.
We know how to stretch a dollar because we have to stretch ours. Our approach is built on creativity first — finding the low-cost and no-cost moves that most businesses overlook — and layering in paid strategy only when it makes sense for your budget.
A division of TechMobility Productions Inc., Streetwise Marketing brings decades of media, journalism, and business experience to every client relationship. We're not consultants who've read about small business. We are one.
"Some of the best marketing moves cost nothing. The problem is most businesses never find them."
— Kenneth J. Chester Jr., Founder
Meet Kenneth J. Chester Jr.
Kenneth J. Chester Jr.
Founder & President/CEO
Ken Chester has been building businesses from scratch since 1989 — and he's never stopped. He started his career helping people navigate the vehicle buying process, then turned that hustle into a nationally syndicated automotive journalism career, reaching over 150 daily newspapers across the United States at his peak.
When the 2008 recession forced a reset, Ken didn't quit — he diversified, rebuilt, and eventually launched into radio and podcasting with TechMobility Productions Inc., a minority-owned multimedia company based in Altoona, Iowa. His shows and podcasts now reach audiences across the United States and beyond.
Ken is also a founding member of the Black Automotive Media Group (BAMG), a collective representing over 150 years of automotive journalistic experience, working to increase Black representation in automotive media, press events, and corporate advertising.
Through every chapter — journalism, radio, podcasting, business consulting — the thread has been the same: help people tell their story, reach their audience, and compete on a level playing field. Streetwise Marketing is the natural next step in that mission.
Ken brings to every client relationship the same thing he's always brought to his own businesses: creativity, candor, and an absolute refusal to accept that small means powerless.
TechMobility Productions Inc.
Streetwise Marketing Agency is a division of TechMobility Productions Inc. — a minority-owned multimedia production company based in Altoona, Iowa, producing radio programs, podcasts, and digital content for audiences nationwide.
Thirty-Plus Years in the Making.
The Hustle Begins
Ken Chester starts his career helping people navigate the vehicle buying process — learning early that trust, transparency, and straight talk are the only real competitive advantages.
Nationally Syndicated Journalist
Ken builds an automotive journalism career that reaches over 150 daily newspapers across the United States at its peak. He learns to communicate complex ideas to everyday audiences — a skill that shapes everything Streetwise does today.
The Reset
The recession forces a hard pivot. Rather than fold, Ken diversifies — rebuilding from scratch and discovering that the most resilient businesses are the ones built on relationships, not just revenue.
Radio, Podcasting & TechMobility
Ken launches TechMobility Productions Inc., a minority-owned multimedia company based in Altoona, Iowa. His shows and podcasts reach audiences across the United States and beyond — proving that independent media can compete with the big players.
BAMG & Community Investment
Ken becomes a founding member of the Black Automotive Media Group (BAMG), a collective representing over 150 years of automotive journalistic experience, working to increase Black representation in automotive media, press events, and corporate advertising.
Streetwise Marketing
Everything Ken has learned — about hustle, media, community, and resilience — gets channeled into Streetwise Marketing Agency: a firm built specifically to give small and minority-owned businesses access to the kind of strategic thinking that used to cost a fortune.
Our Values Aren't a Slide Deck. They're How We Work.
Community First
We're not a downtown agency looking in from the outside. We're in the same neighborhoods, shopping at the same stores, and rooting for the same businesses. This isn't charity work — it's community investment.
Straight Talk
No buzzwords. No vanity metrics. No overselling. We tell you what we honestly think will work for your business — and what won't — before you spend a single dollar.
Creativity Before Cash
We always look for what you can do for free or cheap before we talk about spending money. There's a lot of runway before you need to open your wallet, and we help you find every inch of it.
We're In It With You
We don't hand you a document and disappear. We walk with you through implementation — adjusting the plan as things develop, answering questions, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks.
We're Not Trying to Be Everything to Everyone.
We're focused on one thing: helping small and minority-owned businesses market smarter with what they've got. That means we say no to clients we can't genuinely help, and yes to the ones where we know we can make a real difference.
- No long-term contracts required to get started
- Free 1-hour consultation — no pitch, just conversation
- Strategy built around your actual budget
- Media buying experience most small agencies don't have
- Rooted in the communities we serve
- Straight answers, even when they're not what you want to hear
Ready to Get Started?