For nearly a year, marketers have operated in a pandemic world where digital channels are all they’ve got. But saying you’re going to tap new channels and then actually delivering results there depends on just how strong your content game is. But just how quickly must you get strong?

TechStyle Fashion Group, which manages fashion brands like JustFab, FabKids and Savage X Fenty, the inclusive lingerie line designed by music icon Rihanna, had already invested in five in-house production studios. Each was staffed by professional photographers and creatives that drove out content across more than 20 channels and networks, developed TV and social media campaigns and supported their flagship web destinations. But now the company found itself sending production equipment to influencers and brand ambassadors so they could build their own “mini-studios” at home.

“Our brands began leaning into our vast libraries of influencer-generated content, and ensuring that our influencers had the equipment needed to develop their own content,” said Aubrie Richey, TechStyle’s Aubrie Richey, VP of customer acquisition and media. For example,the FabKids content team began recruiting parents to shoot the content of their children in home environments, reflecting the changes to everyday life that families were experiencing. As a direct result of these new strategies, TechStyle launched 25% more ads in 2020 than the preceding year. And not only were there more ads, but they resonated with consumers’ lives, Richey said.

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In a new survey, “The Revenue Marketing Report: 2021,” the revenue marketing automation platform Outfunnel casts doubt on whether sales and marketing teams have been forced into greater alignment by the challenges of the current economy. Senior Forrester analyst Craig Rosenberg told us last year: “Alignment. We’ve all been talking about it for a long-time, but now you have to do it. Everyone had to put down their swords, get in a room and figure it out together.”

According to the report, though, 43% of respondents thought goals were poorly aligned; 43% thought the teams collaborated poorly; and 46% of marketers felt that sales doesn’t understand what’s important. Sales people were more likely than marketers to think the teams work together well. Concerns were also expressed about the utility of sales and martech tools, and especially about the difficulty of integrating them.

Why we care. At the top level, we hear that sales/marketing alignment is more necessary than ever, and that it’s happening -— especially as sales relies increasingly on the digital channels where marketing is at home. Maybe things look different from the trenches.

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In the past 12 months, Google search interest for ’Black-owned businesses’ has skyrocketed 600%, based on Google Trends data comparing January-December 2019 to January-December 2020. To make it easier for searchers to support these businesses, Google has expanded the Black-owned business indicator to product and shopping results within Google search. 

The Black-owned business indicator was originally introduced last July and only available within local search results. It’ll become visible to shoppers and available to all U.S. Google Merchants in the coming months.

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