Through months of turmoil, CMOs have proven surprisingly resilient and frequently savvy, using a period of deep uncertainty to realign their brands around purpose, provide essential goods and services or simply act as a voice of reason at a time when disinformation is high. Still, as things start to reopen, brands are returning to a world where almost all facets of business have been fundamentally reset, including how they engage consumers.

New features and updates are aimed at local businesses and services in the "reopening phase." Google announced several features and updates Wednesday aimed at helping small and brick-and-mortar businesses re-emerge as local economies begin reopening.

Gone are the days when stuffing your articles with keywords had any positive impact on your page ranking. Fast forward to today and search engines are smarter than ever. In fact, it’s almost no longer possible to rank websites that aren’t highly relevant or offer exactly what the user is looking for.

When the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in shelter-in-place rules, some businesses closed, while others went to strictly digital or hybrid online/curbside pickup ordering. It also fundamentally changed the customer journey.

As many states are beginning to ease their COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, local businesses that rely on in-person or consumer touchpoints are investing in strategies to enable consumers to pick up goods curbside. While big-box retailers and grocery chains have had much success with the buy online, pick-up in store (and now curbside) model, many SMBs and franchises are just now attempting to make a go of it.

Marketing operations teams that are most successful adopting an agile approach are the ones whose systems remain stable even as the work that flows through them radically changes, according to founder of AgileSherpas and agile coach Andrea Fryrear.