Brand advertising has taken many forms in the past, with ads being disseminated via newspapers, magazines, billboards and flyers and via celebrity endorsements and television commercials. But nowadays, far more is known about the target audience for a brand or specific products, which means it’s possible to not only tailor products but also advertising to appeal to a very specific subset of the population.
But in order to make this possible, companies have to purchase large amounts of user data, which raises questions about privacy, particularly when customers are not aware of how their information is being used or sold. Using user data is not an issue so long as companies make their policies for data usage clear and readily available to people who use their sites and products. However, with this new form of advertising, customers are far more savvy about the ways they are targeted by brands and so there is a need and an opportunity to reshape the way businesses interact with their customers into a format that is more fair and effective.
Blockchain technology, while still relatively new is already affecting a range of industries, and it can help brands reach their consumers more directly and with more authenticity. An example of this is the decentralized marketplace Wibson where users can choose what personal data they sell directly to advertisers. This allows consumers to be compensated for their data and businesses can be confident they are receiving genuine information from potential customers. This is also a new standard of ethics in customer relations rather than using forms which require users to ‘opt-in’ to data collection in order to use sites, apps, and products.
Platforms like Wibson that utilize the blockchain are extremely valuable because they offer transparency in terms of a company’s intentions, verify user data and it’s also been provided freely. Businesses can buy purchase history, traffic patterns and location data, all of which the customer is aware will be used to target them for advertising and so will see marketing campaigns which are more relevant to their interests and buying habits.
In fact, blockchain and advertising are a natural fit and combined, can help inspire greater trust in brands on the part of consumers once they have assurances that their data is secure and can more easily track where and how it’s being used.
With these strengthened relationships, brands can confidently advertise to a chosen group of users and see the results of freely shared data in the form of greater engagement and higher sales and consumers can trust that a brand won’t exploit their information while contributing to an inherently secure and transparent environment that continues to evolve.
