Is Blockchain About to Disrupt the Marketing Landscape? 4 Ways to Take Your Existing Strategies to the Next Level – FangWallet

2024 is shaping up to be a landmark year for the marketing landscape with the acceleration of generative AI tools, big data, and augmented reality uniting to create a disruptive force throughout the industry. However, one technology that could drive the biggest change is blockchain. 

The utility of blockchain in the world of marketing stems from its permanence, which can help to enhance global marketing strategies. 

With potential benefits stemming from enhanced security, transparency, and trust, blockchain can help to equip brands with access to next-generation marketing insights and efficiency. 

But how can the disruptive emergence of blockchain aid global marketing strategies? Let’s take a deeper look at one of the most impactful tools to enter the industry: 

Understanding Blockchain

So, what is a blockchain? Commonly associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain forms the technical framework in which crypto operates. But its use cases stem far beyond the confines of digital finance. 

Blockchains are distributed digital ledgers that store and transfer data in a decentralized and secure manner. Utilizing cryptography and consensus mechanisms that feature different nodes placed throughout the world, blockchain has the ability to store various forms of data like transactions, contracts, assets, and even identities securely. 

Because any changes to chains require a consensus across distributed nodes to be approved, blockchains are immutable and virtually immune to hackers. 

When data is added to the blockchain, it takes the form of a new block and is linked to the previous block of information, forming a chain. 

This system of securely and transparently storing data makes blockchain a valuable tool for the marketing industry and offers plenty of benefits for brands and marketers alike. 

Unlocking the Benefits of Blockchain

How can the qualities of blockchain transfer into the marketing industry? There are plenty of applications that can help improve brand strategies: 

• Leveraging transparency: Blockchain’s immutable record of transactions and its ability to record new information on accessible chains can help to boost trust among marketers and brands alike in the eyes of consumers. 
• Improved accuracy: Because of the enhanced security offered by blockchain, the technology offers far greater data accuracy free of human error or security vulnerabilities. 
• Removal of middlemen: The added security of blockchain has given rise to peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. This means that brands can create more bespoke campaigns for customers without the need for middlemen or third parties. 
• Driving engagement: Finally, blockchain has the ability to drive deeper customer engagement and generate greater retention and loyalty through the delivery of campaigns that appeal on a more personal level. 

With use cases surrounding blockchain marketing approaches already emerging, 2024 is set to be a breakout year for the technology and can help brands optimize their marketing efforts for a more global audience. With this in mind, let’s take a look at four ways blockchain will disrupt the marketing landscape: 

Building Efficient Influencer Campaigns

Influencer marketing has grown to become an essential tool in any marketing strategy. So much so that its market size has more than doubled since 2019 and was estimated to be worth $21.1 billion in 2023. 

While influencer campaigns can reach audience segments in an impactful way, the industry is also riddled with inefficiencies stemming from a lack of transparency. 

This can make tracking ROI more difficult, and the ability to farm engagement and buy followers among influencers can generate false performance metrics surrounding campaigns. 

Blockchain can help to address this problem through the implementation of smart contracts that can automatically leverage payouts based on the completion of pre-determined actions or achieve certain performance metrics. 

Working alongside integrated AP automation tools that can actively quantify influencer performance and leverage payments based on the flow of data across various campaigns, blockchain can automatically verify the legitimacy of each influencer campaign and its lead generation qualities in a more transparent manner. 

Sustainability Through Digital Product Passports

Digital product passports are set to become a transformative innovation leveraged by blockchain in the world of marketing. 

By generating a digital record of a product’s journey throughout the supply chain, including data on the energy used, emissions produced, and the wastage created along the way, brands can build their marketing campaigns with a focus on the value chain of products from manufacture to disposal. 

This provides a far more holistic overview of the environmental and social impacts of products, helping to build more value among consumers who could shape their purchasing decisions based on the ESG commitments of the business. 

Combatting Ad Fraud

The cost of digital advertising fraud is estimated to be $120 billion annually, according to the Association of National Advertisers. This refers to the practice of influencers and third parties artificially inflating their impressions, clicks, or conversion data for greater financial gains at the cost of marketers. 

However, there’s a growing range of blockchain tools that are focused on analyzing first and third-party data to assess the validity of ads and the true value of viewer traffic among influencers. 

One example of this is Verasity’s VeraViews tool among other powerful blockchain-based platforms that helps to combat ad fraud at scale. 

It’s through the implementation of blockchain, and the transparency of on-chain data, that advertisers can securely pay for only valid views. Blockchain can also form a closer bond between brands and trusted third parties because the faster verification of ad performance can pave the way for a faster and more efficient payment structure. 

Next-Generation Customer Loyalty

Blockchain has the potential to drive digital transformation in the world of customer loyalty schemes for brands online and can pave the way for innovations as to how programs are created, tracked, and communicated to consumers. 

Through tokenization leveraged by blockchain frameworks, brands can create a fully incentivized loyalty program that rewards redeemable loyalty points in the form of digital assets and even NFTs that could take the form of limited edition brand-centric art, tickets to exclusive events like CEO meet and greets, or vouchers for products. 

Crucially, blockchain can also offer a more secure and interoperable environment for consumers that provides greater safety for personal data than more centralized loyalty databases. 

It’s this approach that can help brands revitalize their loyalty schemes at a lower cost and with fewer resources that can drive customer retention and maintain a high level of engagement long into the future. 

The First Steps to an Integrated Future

While the marketing landscape has become fixated on the vast potential of generative AI, it’s important to avoid becoming distracted by the artificial intelligence boom when blockchain technology is already making its presence felt throughout the industry. 

The potential to leverage a more secure and transparent environment for brands, consumers, influencers, and third parties alike means that more trust can be leveraged in a way that drives far higher and more sustainable audience engagement. 

The future of marketing will be driven by many emerging technologies, but the impact of blockchain may drive more value than any other.