Benco Services | How Can Blockchain Be Used in Marketing? A Complete Guide 2023

As we dip our toes deeper into the digital age, new technologies and processes continue to pop up. And one of the more recent forms of disruptive technologies is blockchain. Blockchain technology has proven to be incredibly valuable to a wide range of industries beyond the cryptocurrency market.

While most of its services are still in their infancy, blockchain technology can be implemented into business marketing strategies to revolutionize the traditional dynamics of digital marketing. Unfortunately, even with the popularity of crypto-related buzzwords, not everyone is aware of the shift blockchain technology brings to consumers, brands and digital marketers.

Therefore, this article will be a comprehensive guide on what blockchain is and how blockchain can be used in marketing.

What is Blockchain Marketing?

In essence, blockchain marketing is the integration of blockchain into the digital marketing landscape. Blockchain is dependable and trustworthy for a wide range of applications due to its transparency, immutability, and security. Its transmission model lowers transaction costs, permits efficient ownership exchange and verification, and makes real-time micropayments possible.

Inevitably, blockchain technology significantly changes how people and businesses utilize the internet. Through its decentralized ledger technology, blockchain is helping marketing teams to manage their data better, gain deeper insights into their audience, and cultivate meaningful customer relationships.

When used in the digital marketing and advertising arena, blockchain can resolve some of the pressing issues affecting the industry. That's because it can enable consumers to own and control their personal information, reduce payment friction, and eliminate intermediaries. With that said, let's now explore the disruptive potential of blockchain technology on marketing.

The Effects of Blockchain on Marketing

Undoubtedly, blockchain is disruptive since it alters the current marketing industry. This new tech has recently introduced a massive wave of changes that are set to bring value, such as asset management and tracking.

More importantly, blockchain has offered a new perspective on productivity, especially in the initial stages of different sectors. But we still have questions in the marketing industry and how it will eventually change this sector. As such, here are some notable differences that blockchain will make in the marketing industry:

1. Blockchain Creates Emphasis on Decentralization

The core of blockchain technology is decentralization, reducing the influence of central organizations. And that offers a drastic change in the marketing world, especially regarding the distribution of products and services. On top of that, new digital intermediaries will replace traditional intermediaries and offer a broader range of solutions and services for modern commerce.

Examples of services in the new eCommerce intermediary include communication, online search capabilities, trust provision, advertising, and information brokering. Additionally, social media platforms in corporations with blockchain will offer brands a new way to reach their customers. Social media platforms such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram ecosystem), Twitter, TikTok and others will be at the edge of innovation, especially in the future blockchain incorporation.

Currently, the existing intermediaries seem to be doing an excellent job regarding marketing. However, these centralised entities have locked your data into their control. That increases the need for an online business to depend on them for marketing. More importantly, managing your

communication with customers in these channels and growing doubts about monetizing customer data creates quite a challenge.

Blockchain will offer the ideal solution for these concerns. This tech comes with an effective tool and system that supports businesses and customers while moving around the intermediary need in our current network. Therefore, the question, ‘how can we use blockchain in marketing’ reflects directly on the capabilities of the blockchain network.

2. Blockchain Eliminates Click Fraud in Digital Marketing

Communication is critical when informing your customers about the latest products, services and updates. Unfortunately, today, the importance of online businesses has come under question because of multiple fraud campaigns and scandals.

Click fraud has become quite popular with the growing need for online sponsored searches in various businesses. It’s the intentional act of attempting to influence the ad budget of your competitors. Click fraud can hurt your competitor's marketing to the point that it could run their business to the ground.

As such, the need for blockchain in the marketing sector to compact click fraud is necessary. Blockchain-geared marketing will encourage marketers to work in an open and shared environment, with each business serving its role diligently and with integrity.

The joint operations and space will help improve innovative ideas for marketers for a better and healthier space. Innovations like real-time lead tracking and campaign audits will significantly change how we view marketing. Ultimately, this could lead to the complete elimination of click fraud, giving every business an equal chance to grow in the online world.

Blockchain technology is not limited to ensuring transparency, trust and security in marketing. Privacy is a growing concern that affects individual decisions and one that blockchain can help deal with.

The increased risks of user manipulation by divulging their Private Identifiable Information (PII) has been a growing concern. Thankfully, blockchain can help resolve some of the ever-increasing digital privacy concerns.

Even though transactions are verified in the blockchain network, no one knows the details of the parties involved. Transaction history is protected by a robust system, enhancing the user’s privacy. Through blockchain, users have more control of their digital footprint. Moreover, consumers of a specific brand can also explore the opportunity of securely selling their PII for incentives or services.

The anonymity factor with blockchain technology can easily ensure that all parties involved in the network remain anonymous. Some critics argue that anonymity could negatively influence marketing, but that's not likely. Blockchain allows users to share their details with brands they choose to be loyal to.

And therefore, the process, even though anonymous, ensures users have control of their digital footprint, which is not the case in the current network. That will revolutionize digital marketing and positively impact our interactions with brands and other companies.

3. Blockchain Improves Privacy Concerns in Marketing

4. Blockchain Improves Transparency and Trust in the Marketing Landscape

Over the last couple of years, consumer confidence in brands has dwindled. They have expressed doubts when it comes to marketing campaigns, as digital marketing monopolies have highly dominated the marketing process and business decisions. So, while brands might be selling 100% authentic products, they have no way to prove it.

Luckily, with the decentralized nature of blockchain technology, you can fuel trust and transparency in the online marketing domain. That's because both consumers and brands will co-exist in a secure and transparent ecosystem, making it easy for consumers to gain trust in brands again.

The trust protocol of blockchain technology provides assurance of the honesty and integrity of the brand's and marketing professionals behaviour.

Blockchain marketing enables marketing agencies to create a consumer-centric level of transparency, especially when consumers are required to share personal information.

What's more, blockchain can improve trust and transparency in the marketing landscape by fighting against the marketing of malicious counterfeit products and services. Additionally, end-to-end product traceability, improved visibility, and the ability to verify compliance obligations may help to increase business operations transparency.

5. Blockchain Provides Better Security in the Digital Marketing Arena

Data security is a top concern for those who buy and sell things online. Although the eCommerce sector extensively uses digital marketing, security breaches are still a significant concern. Both buyers and sellers are concerned about the security of their personal and financial data.

Since blockchain is developed on cryptographic mechanisms, it provides better security protocols in the digital marketing arena. Blockchain marketing strategies solve security threats that pose formidable risks to marketing campaigns.

Additionally, brands can benefit from the features offered by various security measures like access control, asymmetric encryption, and digital signatures. These security measures can aid in protecting the procedures involved in transferring, storing, and retrieving enormous amounts of customer data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is blockchain technology used in marketing?

A: Blockchain technology is employed on ad networks to cut out intermediaries. Also, it tracks who interacts with your ads in real time in order to combat fraud. The blockchain's open ledger makes it easy to identify the source of wasteful clicks and blacklist bots and fraudsters.

Q: How can blockchain technology improve marketing?

A: Blockchain technology can help consumers take control of their data while also facilitating the security of digital marketing initiatives. With the use of blockchain technology in marketing, brands could also feasibly enhance their capacity to combat frauds like click fraud.

Q: Can blockchain technology be used to influence consumer behaviour?

A: Blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally alter consumer relationships from a consumer-centric standpoint by increasing data and information transparency and enhancing privacy and security. Additionally, it enables the creation of novel customer loyalty programs that could add value.

‍