When you hear of blockchain, do you automatically think of Bitcoin? For a long time, when people thought of the internet, they mostly associated it with email. The internet supplied the technology to deliver email applications. In a similar way, blockchain provides distributed technology for storing and processing data.
Modern marketing relies heavily on data. It is only natural that marketers have explored the potential benefits of blockchain for marketing, particularly in areas such as transparency, digital advertising, attribution, and privacy.
Here are three ways blockchain technology can potentially benefit digital marketing.
1. Greater Transparency in Data-Driven Advertising
One of the biggest challenges in digital advertising is understanding exactly where advertising budgets are being spent and whether impressions and clicks come from genuine users.
The Harvard Business Review has highlighted transparency and accountability as significant issues for advertisers trying to determine how their digital advertising dollars are spent.
Blockchain technology has been explored as one potential way to improve this transparency.
Because blockchain records can be shared across participating parties and are designed to preserve a verifiable record of transactions, advertising platforms could potentially use the technology to provide greater visibility into:
- Where ads were displayed
- Which parties were involved in delivering the ad
- Whether an impression was verified
- How advertising budgets moved through the supply chain
- Whether activity came from legitimate users or automated systems
By validating and analyzing the customer journey through verified ad delivery, marketers could gain greater control over how their advertising assets are distributed and potentially reduce exposure to ad fraud.
Greater transparency can also make it easier for advertisers, publishers, and technology providers to reconcile campaign data instead of relying entirely on separate reporting systems.
2. More Direct Relationships Between Brands and Consumers
Blockchain can also create opportunities for marketers to reduce their dependence on intermediaries.
As Harvard Business Review has discussed, blockchain technology could allow businesses and consumers to exchange information or value more directly rather than relying entirely on third-party platforms.
This concept has also been applied to digital content.
Musicians, authors, video producers, and other creators traditionally rely on platforms to distribute and monetize their work. Blockchain-based platforms have experimented with alternative models that reward creators and users directly.
For example, the Steem blockchain was developed around a social media model in which users can receive cryptocurrency rewards for creating and curating content.
The underlying idea is that blockchain technology can create a more direct relationship between the creator, platform, advertiser, and audience.
For marketers, similar systems could potentially improve digital attribution by making it easier to verify interactions and determine whether genuine users engaged with campaigns.
3. Improved Privacy Protection
Internet users have become increasingly concerned about how companies track browsing activity, collect personal information, and use that data for advertising.
Blockchain and related decentralized technologies have created new approaches to digital advertising that place more control in the hands of users.
One prominent example is Brave, a privacy-focused browser developed by Brendan Eich, co-founder of Mozilla and creator of JavaScript.
Brave blocks many third-party ads and trackers by default and uses a different approach to advertising.
According to Brave's current privacy policy, its advertising system matches relevant ads on the user's device rather than sending browsing history to advertisers.
Users who choose to participate in Brave Rewards can also earn Basic Attention Token, or BAT, for viewing certain Brave Ads. BAT can then be used in different ways, including supporting participating content creators.
Brave's model demonstrates how digital advertising can operate with less dependence on detailed individual tracking.
For marketers, privacy-focused advertising models may become increasingly important as consumers, browsers, and regulators place greater emphasis on how personal data is collected and used.
How Can Blockchain Benefit Your Marketing?
Blockchain technology is much broader than cryptocurrency.
For digital marketers, some of its most interesting potential applications involve:
- Increasing transparency in advertising
- Improving attribution
- Reducing opportunities for ad fraud
- Creating more direct relationships with consumers
- Giving users greater control over their data
- Supporting alternative content monetization models
Blockchain marketing could also help build trust by reducing intrusive tracking and giving users more control over how their information is used.
The technology has not replaced traditional digital advertising infrastructure, but it continues to demonstrate alternative ways brands, publishers, creators, and customers can exchange information and value.
As digital marketing becomes increasingly dependent on data, privacy, and trustworthy attribution, blockchain-based technologies may continue to influence how marketers approach these challenges.
