Tech companies, media buyers, and publishers are piggybacking on the blockchain technology, a technology that is believed to bring about the much-needed transparency in the digital advertising world by cutting off traffic from bots and saving brands from unsavory pieces of content. In fact, Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Tech lab is reportedly working silently developing a blockchain working group to understand how best advertisers can use it.
Alanna Gombert, the outgoing general manager at IAB Tech Lab, says that we have come past the year of data; currently, it is the year of the blockchain.
With so much hype around how advertisers can benefit from blockchain technology, the digital ad world revolution is imminent with the advent of this technology. In this article, we will go over how blockchain technology will impact the ad world for our own good. Before that, let’s take a look at what is blockchain.
What is Blockchain?
The blockchain is the ingenious invention that is credited to an individual or a group of people popularly known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It was originally invented for the Bitcoin, a digital currency (Buy Bitcoin). However, with time the digital world is embracing blockchain by exploring its potential in various industries. Bitcoin, also known as the ‘digital gold’ has a current valuation of $129 billion; and blockchain technology can create many such digital values. Just like it isn’t necessary to know about the internet to use it, same with blockchain technology. However, a basic knowledge of blockchain says that-
“The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.”
Don & Alex Tapscott, authors Blockchain Revolution (2016) Alex Tapscott
Blockchain can revolutionize marketing. How true is that?
It is hardly possible for marketers to avoid news related to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that enables seamless peer-to-peer transaction without a centralized bank having to intervene in-between. There is no denying that cryptocurrency has intrigued marketers across the globe alike. Hence, it makes more sense to dig in little deeper to understand the impact of Blockchain, the parent to Bitcoin, on business and marketing in the coming days.
Frankly speaking, blockchain is not just about Bitcoins. Rather, it is more like a decentralized network that transmits information without compromising on the security or sensitivity of the information. This means, no one can destroy blockchain or even alter it under any situation. And this kind of inviolability is a gem for businesses. This makes way for the single truth that will exist; the truth of products and claims that blockchain technology will verify and marketers will capitalize.
Marketers will be empowered with their ads
You thought you’d never know whether your ads were delivered or not? Unless you are living in the past, you know by now that blockchain technology can help you identify the ad deliveries by verifying the ad frequency and performance. For instance, a brand can pinpoint ad deliveries from an ad server and feed it into the mining machine for analysis and fraud detection. This will enable them to identify the ads that were delivered to non-live browsers and were marked as active. This only means that blockchain technology will bring with it a huge amount of accuracy, increasing the potential for targeted marketing. That’s a boon for marketers.
Managing customer data with blockchain
Marketers have just one thing to worry about – handling customer data properly to predict their immediate future behaviour and accordingly design their marketing ads and campaigns. How about rewarding customers to share personal interests and sensitive information (say, maybe their purchase plan)? In return, a brand can provide details on how that data will be used in creating promotions so that customers trust them. But the question of data security will always hand over like a dagger unless a brand has already turned to blockchain technology. In such situations, blockchain technology will remove the data middleman ensuring complete security of information and making way for customer trust and loyalty.
Storytelling will change with Blockchain technology
With the implementation of blockchain technology in marketing, storytelling will revolutionize. Brands will look at selling in a newer and interactive way. Consumers will have complete access to the supply chain information along with the full story of the product. The whole process will be authentic, relevant, and trigger a consumer intimacy which has never been explored by brands until now. The whole digital experience will get more personal with specifically designed one-to-one marketing tactics that consumers will enjoy. It will not be monotonous or stereotypical; rather the storytelling and marketing will be like a seamless and enjoyable experience for both the consumer and the brand.
No more forgetting promises!
Brands have made promises while developing communities, and then with time both the general public and the brands have swayed away. No one knows for real how many of them were met, how many forgotten, and how many were iterated. Well, that’s about to stop because blockchain technology will make it possible to check regarding corporate veracity and products. Even for that matter, broader issues like legal practices can be checked which will keep marketers glued to the current facts. Marketers will be able to ensure that an influencer is true and correct for the brand by checking whether it meets the brand criteria. The same technology will also make it possible to differentiate between real people and bots when skimming through the huge list of social media followers.
The applications or impact of blockchain is huge, and most of it is unexplored. Although it isn’t much widespread at this moment, marketers should start bracing up for this technology. Just like it took time for people to understand the massive potential internet had when it was introduced, blockchain technology is also in the same phase. Not many understand the huge potential of this technology, but embracing and making a headstart will put marketers one step ahead before the wave of innovation strikes the digital world.
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