The essential characteristic of Marketing is that it keeps on changing. The change was steady from the last few decades, but the scenario is changing rapidly with the advent of new technologies. So, the changes that took decades in the past are happening over a couple of years with the fastly evolving technology.
Now, it’s time to witness another revolution in Digital Marketing, all thanks to Blockchain technology.
I know most of you would be wondering how?
Because we have only heard about blockchain technology when talking about Bitcoin or finance sectors. But its usability is beyond that.
At its core, it will authorize the transitions between two parties without the involvement of third-party verification.
The introduction of Blockchain in digital marketing will enable Transparency, security, and accessibility of data flow. Moreover, it gives power back to the consumers by giving them ownership of their data.
Though the introduction of AI and Analytics in Digital marketing brought many changes Blockchain will be the most revolutionary technology yet to hit the industry. While AI and Analytics are is more inclined on the business side, the Blockchain is more focused on giving the power back in the hands of consumers.
Let’s deep dive to understand how blockchain technology will disrupt the Digital Marketing industry –
1. Improving the Digital Marketing Campaigns
With the advent of Blockchain, marketers and, merchants can directly connect without the involvement of the middlemen. The data involved in the ad campaigns, like clicks, CTR, Cost per leads, budget, etc., can be safe from the middlemen’s hands.
One can monitor the marketing campaign in real-time to obtain a more accurate set of data. Brands like Uniliver are already working on blockchain technology integrations to their digital marketing campaigns and have shown a positive outcome.
Blockchain will eliminate the ad networks. For example, as of now, you need a third party like Google to place your product’s ad on a website having your target audience, but with Blockchain, both parties can operate directly without the involvement of Google.
2. Transparency and Authenticity
The primary concern while buying any product from a digital platform is authenticity. For example, let’s say a social media ad is selling an organic product but is there a way to find whether the product is organic?
No, there isn’t any. There is no possibility to know the process, the soil used, and fertilizers used to grow the product.
Thanks to Blockchain, consumers can now know the answers to the above questions. In addition, with the help of blockchain technology, consumers can verify the integrity and authenticity of the product.
With Blockchain technology, customers would be able to authenticate the actual product and store. Thus, it will add a layer of Transparency to the online shopping experience. In addition, it will empower customers to know the whole supply chain involved in the process.
3. Elimination of Fraud
Every transaction is recorded in a decentralized manner. Since the transactions are recorded and verified, it can minimize the cases of fraud.
The third-party involvement is usually responsible for the data breaches and cases of cybersecurity; by eliminating them, online frauds can be reduced.
Brands like Toyota are using Blockchain in digital marketing to reduce fraud cases in their digital campaigns. A 21% improvement in the quality of their website visitors.
4. Data Security
A data breach is the biggest concern in digital transactions. Organizations like Google and Facebook are accused every other day of misusing data.
Blockchain will verify each transition, thus eliminating the frauds and forgery. Along with it, the data of each transaction would be publicly available on the decentralized servers while keeping the identity of the individual involved anonymous.
Blockstack is a new technology created using Blockchain to protect the digital rights of users. Earlier, the users provide data to certain apps, and it remains within the app’s server, having no control over it by the user. Using the Blockstack, you can protect your data. It enables users to pull back the information or data once they are done using the app. Using it, users can protect their data from the apps.
5. Prevention from Fake insights and users
Verifying the authenticity of the insight reports of an ad campaign is almost impossible. The fake followers and bots are used on platforms like Instagram to gain traction. Research shows that counterfeit users or bots have caused a loss of $7 billion to companies in 2016.
Blockchain technology will ensure that your hard-earned money will target your authentic target audience instead of fake bots and users to generate maximum ROI.
6. Another Payment Method
Blockchain allows you to accept payments in another currency. It can be Bitcoin, Etherium, and many more. Though many organizations are against it today, others have started to accept it as a payment method. So over time, we may see more organizations accepting Cryptocurrency as a legit payment method.
7. Power to people
The most fantastic thing about Blockchain technology is that it brings the power back to the user’s hands by giving them all the rights to protect and share their data with the brands they want. Until now, companies were able to pull out your data and use it as per their terms, and sometimes they sell it too.
It’s an unethical way of using consumer data, but it is a sad reality today. As they say, data privacy has become a myth today. But blockchain technology can change the scenario. It will remove the ability of these companies to pull your data even with offering value for it.
The Brave Browser is revolutionizing the way users interact with online ads. It provides a separate ad viewing mode instead of just bombarding ads while you are surfing. In addition, users will receive BATS (Basic Attention Tokens) for interacting with these ads. It’s a fantastic way of monetizing the attention instead of trading out a space for advertisements.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is relatively new today. But visionaries have already started adopting it. This new-age technology looks very promising and already disrupting the finance industry. It would be interesting to see how it will be accepted and adopted by the Marketing industry.