What is blockchain marketing?

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year’s resolution was learning about the blockchain and cryptocurrencies — if even he thinks its worth his time, then the rest of us should maybe also follow suit. Fenwick & West, the firm that incorporated Apple and Facebook and that represents Uber and Airbnb said recently that in one decade, blockchain companies will be bigger than Apple, Facebook, and Google. If Fenwick & West are right about tech companies — and they have been so far — then they are probably onto something here as well. Can marketers profit from this technology? If so, where should they start?

Yes, but seriously- what is blockchain marketing?

One, the biggest aspect of blockchain technology is that

a., it allows for decentralized communication between different parties, and

b., everything is documented and verified.

Keep these two points in mind throughout this piece. (Also, you may find this Blockchain Marketing glossary helpful.) Digital marketing in its current form utilizes “middlemen” that control the territory between advertisers and users. One of the reasons a website might go with displaying Google banner advertisements on their site — as opposed to organically finding advertisers — is because Google is a source that people can trus. In this case, Google is basically the middleman between the advertiser and the website owner — but for this satus, they take a cut of the profits.

Now imagine SEM through the blockchain.

Website owners wouldn’t have to go through the Google Display Network to find advertisers because each “user” would have already been validated and verified. The advertiser would know that they’re paying for genuine, true user clicks, and the site owner can trust that the amount they’re being paid is fair. There wouldn’t be any need for Google (or Facebook, or any other intermediary, for that matter).

Another value of blockchain is the level to which everything is documented and verified. For example, a customer, if they wanted to, could get a “behind-the-scenes” look of a retailer’s supply chain — and find out exactly how the product was made. The transparency allows the consumer to discover whether a company is trustworthy about their claims or not. The transparency and documentation of blockchain can be used to create digitized contracts that the public can view, and to hold companies accountable. Marketers would have to earn the customer’s permission in a way that’s completely different than before, since blockchain allows consumers to charge for their contact information and attention. On the one hand, the consumer would have power over their own contact information and attention, and, on the other hand, marketers will be consistently challenged to prove the value of their interactions and content.

By the way: here are some case studies about companies that do blockchain marketing well.

Okay, but who is using blockchain and cryptocurrency other than these firms?

Perhaps not surprisingly, younger generations are the first to adapt to cryptocurrency. According to a Fortune survey, 58% of Bitcoin investors are between 18 and 34.

Also, this surveys show that millennials:

• are 10 times as likely as those ages 65+ to “strongly agree” that Bitcoin is a positive innovation in financial technology (20% vs. 2%).
• believe in Bitcoin adoption: 42% of millennials believe it’s likely most people will use Bitcoin in the next 10 years, compared to 14% of those ages 65+.
• prefer to own Bitcoin over traditional financial assets like stocks (27%), government bonds (30%), real estate (22%), and gold (19%).

And, let’s not forget about the inevitable evolution of payment acceptance

When there’s any kind of shift in technology, it always demands a response from businesses. This is especially true when it comes to the evolution of payment acceptance. And it’s been seen time and time again: when credit cards became the norm over paper money, when e-checks became favored over paper, and most recently when digital payment apps like PayPal and Google Wallet became popular.

How to? The 5 steps toward blockchain marketing

1. Start early When considering this new potential, think of the blockchain as a new tool which can solve immediate problems. First, consider developing blockchain-based apps. Look at options being developed for businesses. IBM offers its Blockchain Platform to businesses via the IBM Cloud. Microsoft provides Ethereum blockchain capabilities to clients on its Azure Cloud. There are, of course, many more, but these are the main participants.

2. Build trust and use influencers Your blockchain apps can bring together communities around an influencer, who promotes your brand on social media. A blockchain allows you to market to your customers, track what you need to, while respecting their personal data. This increases their trust in your brand. One example here is UBEX , which is promising to launch a decentralized advertising platform and exchange in 2019. UBEX applies TensorFlow AI to target customers with relevant ads and reduces commissions by removing middlemen. This creates a pay-per-result ad model. UBEX also stores advertisers’ and publishers’ reputations on the blockchain to prevent fraud.

3. Tokenize and save on big advertisement spending Don’t take time away from creating and distributing a content in decentralized systems. Vuulr is like a blockchain version of Netflix. It lets you distribute film and TV content, with rights cleared in minutes. Rights are converted into assets, which are stored as tokens on blockchains.

4. Create a blockchain audit trail and thereby reduce your advertisement fees, taxes, and costs. This lets you see exactly where your ad money goes between you, your ad publisher, and your customer. The Wall Street Journal reports that AB InBev, AT&T, Kellogg, Bayer, and Nestlé are some of the companies using blockchains to determine if their ads are seen by real people or bots.

5. Bypass AdBlock and similar ad-blockers to create content on decentralized social networks By analyzing your interaction with previous customers, you can find and support them as content providers in your brand’s community. Steemit is one model in this case. As a blockchain version of Facebook, its most popular posts get rewarded with tokens.

If you need further reads on how to create a successful blockchain-related service, here are some suggestions:

How to set up your business for cryptocurrency

Position your company for the blockchain adoption wave

The ultimate ICO (initial coin offering) marketing checklist

Conclusion: a different marketing perspective?

As blockchain tech spreads, people should really get ready for it to disrupt advertising and marketing paradigms. Up until now, most of the blockchain focus has been on commodity trading, logistics, and identity management. Nevertheless, the most radical potential here is a shift in marketing perspective. The blockchain reverses basic assumptions about identifying and catering to customer preference. SEM was built around the idea that Google perfected its assessment of user intention; however, the outcome of that model involved tracking and analyzing personal data. That approach ended up generating intrusive, spammy ads which alienated users. The blockchain, however, offers a different approach to digital ads and marketing. The decentralized, peer-to-peer model brings the customer into equal, dynamic dialogues with businesses — which implies that in the earned media blockchain ecosystem, we are all equal and active partners.