If you haven’t heard already, there is a new technology taking the world by storm. That technology is blockchain.
What is Blockchain?
At its highest level, the blockchain is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network.
This is the technology underlying Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. It also has the potential to disrupt a wide range of business processes — including marketing.
Blockchain technology will radically change how you pay for everyday items, privacy, and data, as well as how we verify who owns what and who has the right to buy and sell it.
Blockchain Affects Marketing
Most common marketing channels affected by blockchain:
- Email marketing
- SEO
- Content marketing
- PPC
What do all of these have channels have in common? Data.
Take paid traffic, for example. The amount of data you can compile from your leads is mind boggling, then add that to pixel marketing and stalking the data—you’d become a Jedi in finding and attracting leads.
This is all possible, because the platform you use owns your data — Facebook owns your behavioural data, Google owns your search history.
Specifically for photos and video uploaded to the site, Facebook has a license to use your content in any way it sees fit, with a license that goes beyond merely covering the operation of the service in its current form. Facebook can transfer or sub-license its rights over a user’s content to another company or organization if needed. Facebook’s license does not end upon the deactivation or deletion of a user’s account, content is only released from this license once all other users that have interacted with the content have also broken their ties with it (for example, a photo or video shared or tagged with a group of friend.
This is what the blockchain promises — all leads will be anonymous, secure, and encrypted.
Now imagine trying to do PPC without data and targeting. It would be almost impossible to yield a respectable ROI.
How then are you supposed to collect target customer data?
The answer is you can’t. That’s the point of the blockchain: to provide anonymity.
Data privacy is going to quickly turn into a top priority for online businesses around the globe according to EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and blockchain is one of the means that provide added security for all online transaction.
Blockchain Identity Overview
Users have one blockchain identity and register just like you would a domain name or social media account.
The main difference between a blockchain identity and an account on another service is that a blockchain-based system has strong ownership. Blockchain identities can’t be confiscated or sold by anyone because the system determines ownership solely based on a secret private key.
The distributed, decentralized nature of a blockchain database means it’s harder for hackers, the platform, or anyone to use your data. Essentially they would have to gain access to every copy of the database simultaneously to be successful.
Pay Attention
Focus on these three key areas so you can stay ahead of the curve:
#1: BUILDING A STRONGER BRAND
Due to this anonymonity online, branding will become more important than ever.
People are more likely to buy if you create an amazing experience and tell a good story. Emotional reactions are hardwired into your brain and those reactions are extremely influential.
“People buy with their hearts, not their heads, and the way to every consumer’s heart is through a good story.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
Americans say they tell an average of 16 people about a poor experience with a company. Also, we already know that people are more likely to share a bad experience than a good one.
Your company’s goal will be to answer this one question:
“How can I get my customer to talk about my business in a positive light with their friends?”
Look at Uber. What they have done in the last five years has been nothing short of astonishing. The quality of service, the pricing, and their rating system, have all contributed to making Uber the hottest startup in Sillicon Valley.
When you have no branding, you have no differentiation. No differentiation equals no long-term profitability. People don’t have relationships with products — they are loyal to brands.
You need a cultural movement strategy to grow your brand. Emotions over technology is what I say.
#2: PERMISSION-BASED EMAIL MARKETING
Blockchain is completely going to change data availability. So, you will see instead of emails people will have Blockchain ID. but this doesn’t mean email is dead. In fact, it means email will be more important than ever.
That’s because when someone uses a blockchain ID, you can’t retarget them through pixel. This means when someone gives you their email address willingly, it will carry more weight and signify a deeper relationship than it does now.
The days of targeting whoever you want and scraping who ever you like are soon coming to a close.
Bottom line: The value of an email (and an email list) will go up.
#3: Content marketing
You’ve heard it before, but now, more than ever content needs to be a pillar of your marketing effort.
Take a look at these stats:
60% of B2B marketers report that their top challenge in 2016 will be producing engaging content. 57% say measuring content effectiveness will be their greatest challenge, and 57% say producing content consistently will be their biggest struggle. (source)
This is your opportunity to stand out. As blockchain technology brings about more privacy and security, you will need to rely on creating a DEEP emotional connection with your audience.
Examples:
- Create content guides
- Video marketing
- Email newsletter
- Podcasting
“Smart content marketing enables so many more sales opportunities. That means companies can be more discriminating about who they do business with and at the same time hold tight on pricing. Since the majority of would-be customers are long-time readers, they already understand the value you bring to the table. They don’t come for the cheapest service… They come to get the best. In this way, pricing rarely becomes an obstacle. When you increase your pricing, customers usually don’t have an issue with it.” – Joe Pulizzi, founder,Content Marketing Institute
These are just a few suggestions. The point is you want to create content that is above and beyond your competition so you stand out from the crowd.
CONCLUSION:
Like any new technology there are growing pains. Regardless of the benefits and what blockchain can do, there are some red flags:
- The technology is in its infancy
- Blockchain has shown poor performance at scale
- There’s a lack of established standards
While not every marketer needs to focus on cutting edge technologies, which are appealing to early adopters and the privacy-concernced, you should still keep up to date with blockchain’s development so you’re prepared for anything.
If you want to take your lead generation to the next level, then Maropost for Marketing and Maropost for Commerce are the tools you need to increase sales, open rate, and ROI.
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