The applications of blockchain in digital marketing explained in this article are a few possible ways to revamp the online space. The leaps and bounds that blockchain has made so far are laying the foundation for a transparent and consumer-centric digital marketing space.
The digital marketing space has changed radically in the past decade. Now, it is about to experience another revolution because of blockchain technology. While there are hue and cry over things like AI and analytics, the biggest disruption is about to happen with blockchain. So, let understand how blockchain will impact the digital marketing space in a more comprehensive manner.
Essentially, blockchain stores data in an immutable way while keeping it shared across network participants. It facilitates peer-to-peer transactions without requiring intermediary verification.
Mainly, blockchain’s use cases are found in the financial services industries, like cryptocurrency-based financial solutions. However, using it as the underlying technology for digital marketing processes can prove quite beneficial.
While AI and analytics benefit mostly businesses than consumers, blockchain provides solutions to level the playing field for everyone. It gives the power to control and access data back to consumers.
Let’s take a look at how blockchain and blockchain app development services are changing the digital marketing space.
The most notable thing about blockchain is that it brings consumers in the power of their data. Up until now, numerous companies have gained benefits from using consumer data without their consent. For instance, they ask for our phone number, email address, residential address, and more to even make a simple in-store or online purchase. It does help consumers in some ways, as it enables companies to personalize their marketing efforts. However, in other ways, it is invasive, and companies often misuse personal information.
Blockchain changes this practice by restricting companies to use customer data without either their consent or reimbursing them with the equivalent value. For instance, the Brave browser is such an online advertising platform that is changing the way consumers interact with ads. Instead of bombarding with ads, Brave’s users opt-into viewing ads. It, in return, incentives them with Basic Attention Tokens (BATs) for the ads they interact with. Another new platform is Blockstack that uses blockchain to protect users’ digital rights, by forming a network of decentralized apps. Traditionally, users provide their data to use certain applications, and data reside on the application’s server.
With Blockstack, users remain in control of their data. Blockstack acts like a key to unlock other apps and returns to the users as soon as they complete using those apps.
The idea seems simple but is revolutionary in terms of digital marketing. It prevents free-for-all data-grab that digital marketing and other online services to do for personalized marketing. It might not be good news for digital marketing. But, towards consumers’ data and privacy protection, it is a necessary step.
Blockchain enables marketers to work collaboratively on a writing project with the provision to see who made it, when, where, and why. For instance, Wikipedia, the open-source online encyclopedia is the fifth-most visited website in the world. It is entirely managed with user-edits and donations per year. With blockchain, editing will be decentralized, meaning that no single users will have the ownership of a particular project.
Google docs and other cloud-based platforms now follow the same method, but they lack traceability. Applications like Cryptpad also have begun experimenting with blockchain technology in writing and editing programs, to pick up from where others left off.
The interesting thing about the CryptPad project is its process of collecting information. It does not seek users’ personal information. Instead, it asks how people use CryptPad, why they use it, and how CryptPad can enhance users’ experience. The anonymity, encryption, and transparency powered by blockchain can change the way we collaborate for digital marketing related writing projects.
In the digital marketing space, marketers can gain significant benefits from blockchain smart contracts solutions in many ways. For instance, in ad enforcement, marketers can use smart contracts to automate agreements between your company and a publisher. Then, once the number of ad impressions has been achieved, the smart contract will automatically pay the fees.
Smart contracts can also facilitate purchasing and licensing rights from content creators. For instance, if you use a song, photograph, or a piece of article for marketing purposes, it can land you in trouble with copyright and licensing. To address such an issue, Kodak has announced that they are piloting a blockchain-based service that incentivizes photographers whenever someone uses their image. It ensures that content creators get their due, while a marketing department doesn’t need to worry about
The paradigm of digital marketing is changing rapidly with technological innovations. But, it seems that blockchain can change it more radically, perhaps in irreversible ways. Blockchain for digital marketing can revolutionize the way we deploy, consume, and understand digital marketing campaigns.
If you are looking to explore blockchain's potential in the digital marketing space, consult with our tech. experts directly. Oodles is one of the early adopters of blockchain with experience in building solutions for different industries with blockchain.