Businesses used to get by with more fixed and predictable storefronts, even on digital channels. Advances in personalization can revitalize a standard homepage or digital ad campaign. But a homepage, even a personalized one, isn’t enough. Many customers also expect to talk or message with somebody on the other end.

These customer expectations are dynamic, so it’s useful to see how marketers are responding. How marketers respond, in turn, creates new customer expectations. The process is a give-and-take. It’s like a conversation.

More customers are using messaging channels to engage with brands and make purchases. This is evident in how many first-time users adopted a messaging channel in the past year.

For instance, CRM software producer Zendesk recently studied the wide-ranging adoption of messaging and found that in 2020 almost 40 percent of Millennials and Gen Xers used messaging (on social, in text or embedded in an owned channel) for the very first time to connect with a brand. Twenty percent of Baby Boomers and older were also getting on the bandwagon with messaging as first-time users. Marketers should consider this activity when putting together longer-term orchestration and decisioning strategies.

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Email remains one of the most important and effective marketing channels. Yet, a recent study suggests email marketers are running the risk of negatively impacting their email program by not following best practices. Join our experts from Validity for this webinar where they will walk you through five best practices of top-performing email marketers and explain why these strategies are necessary for your email program.

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ICYMI: Facebook unfriended Australia this week after the government there proposed a legal code that would allow Australian news publishers to charge tech companies to use their content in search results and news feeds. Facebook responded by blocking users there from viewing or sharing news content on its platform. 

The faceoff may have turned a corner, as Josh Frydenberg of Australia’s Treasury department said he spoke with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday about continuing the conversation over the weekend. As of this writing, the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code has not been passed pending further negotiations between the Australian government, tech companies, and media outlets, the most notable of which is Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. 

Why We Care: What does it mean for marketers that live downstream from news sites? And if Facebook can thumbs-down an entire continent’s move to support parity between tech giants and news publishers, what’s to stop them from blocking similar efforts in other sectors or countries? Marketers may benefit from developing solutions that offer a detox from dependence on tech monoliths and walled gardens. 

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Join the Search Engine Land experts TOMORROW at SMX Report to embark on an expertly-programmed journey through essential analytics and reporting issues. By the end of the day, you’ll be ready to improve search results, execute competitive intelligence reports, and efficiently demonstrate KPIs.

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Last week Maryland passed a bill enacting a tax on digital advertising services. Operating on a sliding scale, the law requires companies that make money off the sale of digital ads to pay a percentage to the state. “Digital-advertising services, as defined in the bill, include ‘advertisements in the form of banner advertising, search advertising, interstitial advertising, and other comparable advertising services,’” said Kate Cox with Ars Technica.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Between $100 million and $1 billion in global revenue = Pay 2.5%
• > $1 billion in revenue = Pay 5%
• > $5 billion in revenue = Pay 7.5%
• > $15 billion in revenue = Pay 10%

Why we care. So I’m sure you can guess where Google and Facebook fall… (Hint: They generate more than $15 billion per quarter according to AdExchanger.) Tech companies are, of course, suing to block the law from taking effect saying it violates the Internet Tax Freedom Act. If it does manage to go into effect unscathed, it could start a surge of similar legislation across the country. Some detractors believe this law will hit businesses the hardest during an already hard time because tech platforms will find ways to pass the added cost on to advertisers.

“I’d be fine if we retired the idea of ‘digital marketing’ and accepted it purely as marketing. Not sure there is much of anything that is NOT digital anymore.” Michael Roberts, Head of Marketing Automation, CloudApp