How Blockchain Could Change Digital Marketing Forever

In today’s world of cut throat competition, digital marketing is regarded as the spinal column of any industry or business. In order to make their presence felt and to reach out to the mass, business organizations need to use all the different types of online professional and social platforms. With every passing day, the concept of digital marketing is growing at a rapid speed and gradually, it would replace the conventional form of marketing; both print and electronic. This is what the experts have forecasted.

There is another technology, which is expanding at a fairly rapid pace, it is “Blockchain”. It is believed that this particular technology is going to bring about a drastic change in the domain of business operations. Blockchain is a mechanism that can be implemented in order to elevate the platform of Digital Marketing.

How Digital Marketing can get influenced by Blockchain?

Blockchain can affect many facets of communication and business. However, when it comes to its impact on financial transactions and banking sector there has been some discussion and confusion. These two areas are quite significant; however, the impact of Blockchain can go beyond finance and currency to affect marketers of all kinds of services and products.

• Altering Data Collection: These days, the internet is accessible to anyone. However, there are different gatekeepers they need to go through, in the form of web browsers and ISPs. Almost all our online activities can be learnt by these companies, from the articles we read, things we buy and even people we are communicating with.

This is where Blockchain comes into the picture. As far as data privacy is concerned, Blockchain can prove to be very effective indeed. The network of Blockchain is devised on “Blockchain-verified signature”, this would ensure that all of your personal data remains safely with you instead of the servers.  It is like inserting a key to a lock when you use a particular app or visit a website. A personal copy is kept with you all the time and when the key is placed in the lock, you take the data once you are done. There is no log maintained which would keep a track of who used the lock.

• Display Advertising: As far as online display ads are concerned, though the marketers are getting good results, yet there are a couple of serious flaws in them. From the advertiser’s point of view, they can be quite complicated and difficult to manage. At the same time they can be quite expensive too. Besides, 2 for profit companies; Google and Facebook control the inventory.

The issues pertaining to digital advertising from the perspective of the user are well documented. The display ads are annoying, intrusive and can drain the battery of the mobile device and at the same time waste a lot of bandwidth.

The Brave Blockchain browser has BAT, which is Basic Attention Token, which attempts to fix all these types of issues by altering the ways ads are being interacted by the users.

• BAT is used for Buying Advertisement: Usually, these are private tabs located in Brave browser. However, they are capable of pushing landing pages and notifications.
• BAT Compensates Users: The users get to decide what kind of ads they wish to see. It not only provides more accurate consumer details to the advertisers, but at the same time, it helps the users to learn more about the brands and the products which they are looking for.

Advertisers and Publishers Compensates Advertisers: Under the revenue sharing program of BAT, the publishers can receive a huge portion of advertisement spend than the consumers. BAT can also be charged by them for accessing subscriptions and premium content. It’s a win-win situation for both the parties. Marketers get better targeting and ad performance data. On the other hand, the publishers get enhanced ad controls over the displayed ads and revenue. The users on the other hand get fewer and better quality advertisements which are related to their interests. The users do not need to compromise on their personal data. This is possible due to the encryption feature of Blockchain. What is most important is the fact that the owner is given back the value of their attention.

• Security of Digital Assets and Ownership: Blockchain has proven to be a revolution in the domain of digital economy. Different projects like Steem, Poet, Tao and others were designed to achieve this. This would help filmmakers, artists, photographers and others to present their work in front of a huge audience and they don’t even have to pay any intermediary like Bandcamp, You Tube and others for security and exposures.

The entertainment economy which is based on Blockchain also allows the artists to present themselves directly in the market in front of their audience without sharing their revenue with different platforms like SoundCloud or Facebook. This would allow the artists to be recognized based on their work and effort and not only just because they have paid extra money for listing their songs right at the top of the music platform.

Reality vs. Possibility

It needs to be remembered that the mentioned scenarios are the ideal cases which are based on projects and technology which are under development phase. It is not yet sure whether the vision which has been set by Blockchain will at all becomes a reality, particularly when cryptocurrency is at its infancy.

However, even if a couple of commercial uses of Blockchain become reality, then it can dramatically change the way in which marketers seek buyer’s attention. The fact that it is being seriously looked into and some of the brightest minds are working on it, the possibility of it turning into a reality is quite high. If it turns into a reality, then it would be a revolutionary change in the domain of digital marketing. Already it’s been used in trial basis and the results have been quite encouraging. The fact that it would have an impact on Digital Marketing, it has already created a buzz in the market.

What are its benefits?

Here are some of the major benefits that can be associated with this technology

• Transparency: One of the primary benefits of Blockchain is the fact that it is based on open source technology. This means that other developers and users have the chance to update and modify it as per their requirement. What is most crucial about it being open source is the fact that it makes alteration of logged data inside a Blockchain very difficult. When there are countless eyes keeping a close eye on the network, in that case someone might see the alteration of the logged data. This is what makes Blockchain a very secure and advanced technology
• Transaction Cost Reduced: With the help of Blockchain, business to business and peer to peer transactions can be completed without intervention of a third party. The fact that there is no involvement of a middleman, it means the cost automatically gets reduced
• Faster Transaction: As far as banks are concerned, it takes days for transactions to settle completely. This happens because of the protocol used by transferring software used by the banks. Besides, the fact that banks are only open during the normal working days, which is 5 days a week, leads to such a delay. There are banks located in different time zones which can also delay the time of processing. When it comes to Blockchain, it works 24/7, seven days a week and hence the transaction is being processed in a quicker time.

• Decentralization: Another important fact that makes Blockchain so poplar is that it has no central hub for data. The fact that it is decentralized, makes it more flexible and at the same time reliable. This feature also makes it secure and it ensures that if any information is being accessed by unauthorized hands, then only a minor portion of data is compromised and not the entire network.
• Networks Controlled by Users: The controlling feature of Blockchain is what encourages the cryptocurrency investors. The developers and users can get to call the shots rather than third a third party.

Conclusion

Despite of these advantages the success of Blockchain is not full proof. However, the fact that it has been tested and is still being with encouraging outputs, goes a long way to show that it can certainly prove to be highly effective as far as facilitating digital marketing is concerned.

As per the experts, if Blockchain can be implemented and it delivers what it is supposed to, then there would be a radical change in the domain of digital marketing. With ease of advertising, the process of transaction would also become much easier. It would allow the banks, investors a global reach to carry out their transactions without any third party intervention. This is perhaps the most appealing feature of Blockchain. It is expected to bring about a drastic change in the domain of digital marketing and would enhance the entire process in terms of quality and speed.

Author: SEO Services Consultants