Blockchain
6 ways this technology will impact the Marketing world
By John Feng

区块链
此技术将影响营销世界的6种方式


现在请允许我向您展示这项技术如何影响全球营销环境的六种方式。


数据
现在一切都与数据有关...... 现在几乎不可能（没有特定的软件）上网而不留下痕迹。


展示广告
现在，品牌可以通过社交媒体广告瞄准消费者，这比20年前的电视广告要好得多，但这对每个人来说真的是一种改善吗？ 品牌是否有权浪费客户时间，很多公司正在使用区块链来允许其浏览器的用户获得奖励来观看广告，并允许广告商向真正有兴趣观看该内容的人提供他们的广告。

By now I am sure you have heard about Blockchain, or at least Bitcoin (even if they are different technologies). For readers who are not too comfortable with the subject, I would suggest you search now for the basic concepts of these two innovations, so the following article will make more sense.
 

Fundamentally, blockchain allows information to be held on an online public ledger without “anyone” owning it, and if, for you, a life without middlemen sounds like a dream, it might be closer to happening than we think.

 

Even though the majority of people are still trying to understand what this is, many developers and big companies are already taking big steps towards real-life applications that will improve consumer’s and marketer’s lives.
 

Allow me now to show you six ways how this technology can impact the marketing environment all around the world.

Data

Everything is about data nowadays… The most damaged parties on this matter are the ones that should be rewarded for it – users/consumers/customers. It’s almost impossible (without specific software) to surf the web nowadays and not leave a track. Everything you do is being tracked, and even if companies do not really link the information to your individuality (most of the time), they are using it to form big groups of personas. The blockchain (through companies like Blockstack and Skycoin) can allow you to decide what information you share and when you share it. Let’s say it is like using a USB stick with your info to access websites and applications, but after you “unplug” it, it will vanish from any servers and will remain with you.

Loyalty programs

The blockchain is all about giving more power to the final user. When any brand will recognize that it has more to win than to lose by allowing customers to use their loyalty points in services or products outside that specific brand, we have reached a very advanced state of the marketing evolutionary path. The blockchain can allow consumers, every time they make a purchase, to receive a specific token, that can be used in any other store or brand, and not limiting them to that company’s group. Besides this, it will allow consumers to have more freedom if they want to start shopping somewhere else due to cases of corruption or animal abuse, for example.

Display Ads

Brands can now target consumers with social media ads much better than what they did 20 years ago with a TV ad, but is this really an improvement for everyone? Did any brand ask the targeted “consumers” if they want to watch the ad? And if they don’t want, do brands have the right to waste their time, internet usage and patience making them close banners, skip YouTube ads, and so on? Companies, like BAT, are using the blockchain to allow users of their browser to be rewarded for watching ads and allow advertisers to make their ads available to people that are really interested in watching that content.

Digital Assets

One of the biggest struggles of artists nowadays is to market their content, and be able to earn the rightful amount of money they deserve. Even if we set aside the illegal appropriations of their content (downloads), let’s imagine how much an artist has to give up to the big sharks like Kugou Music, QQ Music, Spotify or Apple Music to have their songs being streamed by millions of people every day. There are companies, like Tao and Steem, trying to solve this and give more power to artists through the blockchain. Artists can then market themselves to their fans through their own token and give special benefits to the owners of those tokens, for example.

Wrapping Up

Whether you are a fan of the technology or not, you cannot deny the amazing use cases that might be available to the regular consumer in a near future. The blockchain is here to last, and even if the primary focus is being a financial one, you can be sure that its roots will spread to all the other industries!