Blockchain technology has undoubtedly changed the financial sector with the launch of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and it is not going to stop there. People have only talked about blockchain with the trading of cryptocurrencies, but it has a vast potential. It has yet to explore a vast number of avenues, including the marketing and advertising sector.
If you are in the marketing sector, you must explore how this technology will work well for your industry.
There is an illusion that blockchain technology and marketing is totally detached. Still, some startup businesses are managing to leverage a few advantages blockchain has to offer to solve marketing issues.
Hence, as a marketer, if you aren’t interested in knowing the cryptocurrencies and payment methods yet, you must still understand what blockchain is. It’s going to alter the digital marketing industry.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain technology can be compared to a multiple ledger or an open record network.
These records are used to keep track of various transactions. There are many uses for the records on the folder.
No doubt, when you read this, or hear the name blockchain, cryptocurrency comes to mind first. Blockchain technology can help keep track of information such as voting records, medical information, and home records.
Every transaction is divided by block. These blocks get confirmed by other people within the same network. Blocks cannot be altered once they are confirmed. The confirmed blocks become a part of a chain of other blocks that have already got verified.
Blockchain in eCommerce:
Currently, people are continually purchasing and selling products on the website. You also. Now, let’s take a look at one of such eCommerce websites like eBay.
Such marketplaces earn profits by charging the buyer and seller a fee to use their services. If you purchase something on eBay, the site will use your bank and seller’s bank to confirm the transaction. They will also verify that the purchaser and the product genuinely exist.
Blockchain’s role here is to eliminate these middlemen, thus process the transactions without needing the third-party. No banks or fees will get charged using this technology. It is a quick and safer means to make a transaction.
Blockchain in Marketing Industry:
As we saw earlier, the block requires validation from all the users in the same network, thus eliminating the chain’s deceitful information. It also safeguards from external interferences. Even if 90% of devices break down, the data will remain in its original form for the rest of 10%.
Another advantage of this technology is the elimination of intermediaries in the marketing sector. As per research, most of the advertising earning remains with monopolists like Google & Facebook. Undoubtedly these companies operated with genuineness without cheating the users, and very few sites do that. Regardless, working with them is very expensive for the advertisers and marketers.
This is where blockchain comes into the picture. Due to the technology’s clarity, the user is always confident that their money will not get used on robots, that marketing will get delivered on the previously accepted resource, and the service will get rendered entirely.
Simultaneously, the customer does not spend their funds on intermediaries because the blockchain facilitates direct communication between the client and the contractor. Thus, the implementation of work to payment remain entirely open and managed.
Moreover, blockchain enables you to spend your budget on genuine people and prospective clients. Every participant in the system has their digital signature, which proves they are not robots, but an actual person. The system gets designed meticulously to avoid machine interference in the blockchain technology.
Regarding discounts and loyalty programs, blockchain can also address this. For example, GATCOIN is planning to integrate blockchain and mobile targeting to enable merchants to attract and retain new customers. An omnichannel platform allows brands to issue “merchant tokens” to a massive audience in various ways, from pre-paid cash tokens to discounts, gifts, and travel tokens.
The next advantage of utilizing blockchain in marketing activities is its capability to work with smart contracts. Ethereu’s ERC-20 protocol offers the ability to use a totally new sort of agreement in transactions: smart contracts. During the making of the deal, it will stipulate the needs and conditions of the work executed. Also, the tool simply supervises the fulfillment of the terms and, upon accomplishment, ensues a reward. This type of contract is entirely secure, considering it safeguards both the customer and the contractor from any scams. This is what the advertising sector has been missing for a while now.
What is Stopping Blockchain Integration in Marketing?
We have seen various advantages the technology can render to the users. However, there must be a few reasons why the blockchain integration in marketing has not yet taken place.
First of all, blockchain is not a common innovation. Most marketers don’t even understand what the blockchain is, which is the foundation of any cryptocurrency; another severe defect is the reasonably small audience size. Also, the number of clientele of any blockchain startup seems inadequate for a full-scale marketing campaign.
Another drawback is the capacity of the technology. Most assignments or contracts cannot enable more than 20 transactions per second. For marketers of organizations, such a stipulation may be inadequate, mostly when compared with circumstantial marketing of high-frequency inquiries on Google or banner marketing with the sale of the latest iPhone on the day of offers.
Future of Blockchain in the Marketing Sector and Businesses.
As mentioned above, there are a few hurdles that can impede the marketers from using the blockchain technology to their benefit, and thus giving the client a delightful experience.
The fact that this technology is not known to many and is a bit complex to understand initially can avert anyone from using the platform. Maybe because of the imperfection and a few flaws that it owns, many marketers still use the conventional instruments.
But with the rising trends and knowledge of users in technology, it is only a matter of a few years when every business, including the marketing sector, will use the blockchain technology. They will value this innovation’s potential and focus on it as a feasible, secure, and cheap way to solve issues.
