Blockchain and Digital Marketing – between Opportunities and Promises

After the economic crisis of 2008, experts in the digital marketing world set to work on the development of new security systems in order to give a new image to financial institutions as well as to the marketing and online transactions sector. This led to the birth of blockchain technology. Today, more than ever, the digital marketing industry is plagued by problems with authentication, false influencers, false images, fraud, etc. How can blockchain be an effective solution?

Whoever invented it, blockchain technology seems to establish itself as a new standard for managing exchanges on the web. Originally used in Bitcoin transactions, the technology is now being leveraged by most digital marketing agencies. Let’s see how marketing and advertising could benefit.

What is blockchain?

It is a distributed database, without centralization, which securely records transactions between users. Originally, these were Bitcoin transactions (digital gold) but any type of exchange can be stored through this. It’s not about storing files, it’s about transactions.

Each recorded transaction relates to a programmable currency, representing the unit of exchange. Bitcoin is the best-known application, but any quantifiable exchange can be managed by a blockchain.

How does it work?

There is no centralization of security by a third party. Any computer can be part of a blockchain, without its failure jeopardizing the data. Each constituent of this network is conventionally called a node and contains a blockchain client.

• When actor A initiates a transaction for the benefit of actor B, the transaction is added to a block

• Each block is validated cryptographically by the nodes of the networks

• The block is added to the chain of valid and visible transactions (blockchain)

• And B then receives the transaction.

Benefits of blockchain in digital marketing

Tokenized marketing to attract more prospects

A large number of mobile users use games on their phones. Marketers have taken inspiration from this trend to find new customers. From there was born tokenized marketing. Its principle is based on the collection of personal data in exchange for cryptocurrencies.

For its part, the advertiser optimizes the qualification of its target. He actually has more certainty that the person who watches his advertisement is really interested in his products or services.

The individual can also receive Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) when viewing the advertisements. However, you have to choose the virtual currency that best matches your prospects.

Secure Internet Advertising

For a brand, it is not always easy to know whether a click on its advertising was generated by a user or a robot. To remedy this, the Blockchain presents itself as an excellent alternative. The detailed history of all actions on the network makes it possible to identify the people who viewed the advertisements. The company can then immediately know if the click on its advertisement was made by a robot. This is to avoid wasting time and money.

Access to real data, without intermediaries, is, therefore, easier thanks to the traceability and transparency of the whole process. The advertiser can check the display of banners as well as the costs per click (CPC) at any time. It is, therefore, certain that its expenses are used in full for the dissemination of advertisements.

The advertiser can also know at any time the impact of advertisements on its target audience. Copyrights and intellectual rights are also easier to control.

Facilitate the monitoring of the production chain

In mass distribution, the Blockchain ensures product traceability. Indeed, it can intervene in all stages of the production chain, from the origin of the product to its shelving. Via the QR code on the packaging, the Internet user can verify several pieces of information about the procurement of products. This guarantees the quality of the products and contributes to strengthening the image of the brand, thus making the task of digital marketing companies easy.

Optimizing data management on search engines

Two open-source blockchain-based search engines were created in 2018: BitClave and Presearch. Thanks to these independent systems, Internet users can manage their personal data themselves.

They can then secure them on the Blockchain or resell them to advertisers. Thus, compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation is no longer a concern for brands. This helps boost the efforts for one of the most important digital marketing features – SEO.

Checking the display of banners

Juniper Research estimates that $19 billion, or 9% of global advertising spend, is wasted annually on fraudulent activity such as ad-clicking on advertisements. This problem has always been difficult to identify and to monitor.

In a classic third-party inventory purchase scheme, the advertiser uses a platform to pay for the site that distributes it, in particular by pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-mile (PPM). But it is legitimate to make sure that the clicks or the displays are real.

Today, digital marketing agencies have to rely on the platform’s data. If each display or click was recorded in a specific blockchain, the reliability of this data would then be guaranteed, and the advertiser assured of paying for effective campaigns.

Using blockchain technology, advertisers and their media partners will be able to transparently assess and manage how their advertising data is manipulated, invested, and accounted for while optimizing the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Follow-up of pseudonymized digital paths

Managing the privacy of our navigation data is a sensitive point. Brands are increasingly looking to record their customers’ digital journey data live.

Blockchain allows you to pseudonymize (the user is identified by a pseudonym that he chooses) the transactions. We could, therefore, consider that the route data be recorded in a blockchain, in order to provide massive, secure and almost anonymous access for analysis.

Blockchain for an environment of trust in the field of marketing

The credo of blockchain technology since the advent of bitcoin in 2008 is to allow transparent management of information. This is due to a registration list which has a high level of protection against any attempt at falsification, thanks to the possibility of detecting any false data entered from the history. This feature interests the digital marketing company and online sales in more than one way. Ecommerce, digital transactions need a transparent environment to establish a climate of trust between the different actors, an essential factor for their development.

Currently, some large brands such as Microsoft, Accenture, and even HSBC have used blockchain for traceability and authentication purposes. Carrefour also uses blockchain technology to ensure its customers better traceability of the products sold. Thanks to a QR code affixed to the products which provide information on the origin of the product, place of origin, label, etc, customers are able to trust the quality of products.

Conclusion

A blockchain is an essential tool for digital marketing agencies. Ideally, every company should reinvent its digital strategy by adopting this solution. Thanks to it, you save precious time and you do not unnecessarily invest in your advertisements. In addition, all information is perfectly secure. Despite the high cost of integration, blockchain solutions are an effective alternative to deal with the many concerns of transparency, counterfeiting, and data security in the digital marketing world.