- Toshendra Kumar Sharma
- July 02, 2019
Introduction
In today’s diverse society, digital marketing is a significant part of any business, as it is important to make a brand visible. Digital marketing is one platform which is advancing at a rapid pace. Another technology which follows suit is the blockchain technology as it is all set to transform the world of digital marketing for the better.
As we know, blockchain is a digital, decentralized ledger which stores a record of transactions on peer-to-peer networks. The digital marketing and advertising industry is no exception to the disruptive influence of digital ledgers. The market for distributed ledger technologies is expected to grow to a $176 billion industry by 2025. Blockchain technology is fast penetrating the mass consumer market.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing deals with marketing products and services using digital technologies such as mobile phones, search engines, emails, social media websites, and mobile applications. Some of the digital marketing methods are search engine marketing, search engine optimization, content automation, campaign marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, etc.
In this article, we will understand the top five blockchain platforms which would suit digital marketing.
1. Hyperledger
This is an open-source collaborative project which has been created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It is a global collaboration which is hosted by the Linux Foundation. Hyperledger will be highly useful in digital marketing as it helps build a new generation of transactional applications which helps establish trust, transparency, and accountability for digital marketers and helps them streamline business processes and legal constraints.
Its peer-to-peer distributed ledger technology uses a system of smart contracts and other assistive technologies to help digital marketers secure the data related to their company, customers, and business processes. It reduces the cost and complexity of reaching out to customers as it stores information over a shared network which can be viewed by any marketer and customer who has access to the blockchain network. It acts as a decentralized digital operating system for marketplaces and data-sharing networks.
2. Recordskeeper
Recordskeeper is an Open Public Mineable Blockchain which is used for record-keeping and data security. It comprises of a full suite of structured and easily accessible record keeping for both individuals and organizations alike. RecordsKeeper capitalizes over the advantages of the blockchain network such as secure transfer, authorization, integrity, and authenticity of data.
The servers used in centralized systems are prone to tampering, whereas RecordsKeeper is designed in such a manner that the data used for digital marketing is stored and protected over a secure network. RecordsKeeper cuts down costs for saving data as it stores a hash of data which acts as the digital fingerprint.
3. Ethereum
Ethereum is the world’s leading programmable blockchain. Ethereum is a distributed public blockchain network. Ethereum’s primary focus is on running the programming code of any decentralized application. The Ether cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain fuels the network and it is used by application developers to pay for services and transactions on the Ethereum network.
In digital marketing, hyperledger can be used as the internet to build in money and payments. It assures the security and transparency of data in digital marketing. The tokenization feature of the Ethereum blockchain helps protect credit card numbers and bank account numbers in a secure, virtual vault which can be transmitted across wireless networks. Ethereum will help set up a payment gateway which is needed for tokenization to work in order to store sensitive data which will allow the generation of the random token. The ERC-20 token can also be used for digital marketing transactions as it allows for uniform and fast transactions and confirms the transactions in an efficient manner.
4. Quorum
Quorum is a version of the public Ethereum blockchain which has been developed by JP Morgan Chase. Quorum equips the Ethereum blockchain with a top layer and this enables it to perform private transactions and use different consensus algorithms which make it more robust. Quorum is an open source blockchain platform which is designed to support enterprise needs. It is specifically designed to ensure the privacy of private transactions between nodes. The quorum network does not charge for transactions. Security is the cornerstone to any business and digital marketing is no exception. As digital marketing reaches a wide audience, sharing a link to a website that hosts malware and running outdated versions of plugins, themes, and core components makes a network more prone to hacks and security breaches.
The quorum blockchain is ideal for digital marketing as it meets the organizational requirements of high speed and high throughput of private transactions. Quorum protects information greatly as information which is agreed to be private is never broadcast across the network. Privacy is of utmost importance in a quorum blockchain. Transactions are usually verified through the consensus algorithms. The constellation-transaction manager component of Quorum is responsible for the privacy of transactions. Though the transaction manager stores and allows access to encrypted transaction data and exchanges encrypted payloads, it does not hold access to sensitive private keys. Constellation enclave is another component which leverages cryptographic techniques for historical data preservation, transaction authenticity, and participant authentication. The enclave and transaction manager components of the quorum blockchain work hand in hand to secure and strengthen transaction privacy.
5. Corda
Corda is a flexible and agile open source blockchain platform which can scale to meet the needs of any business. A robust community of developers support corda by working on enhancements, functionalities, and added features. Corda provides privacy to businesses by enabling them to transact directly in a secure manner using smart contracts. Corda helps streamline business operations and reduces transaction and record-keeping costs.
Apart from Quorum, digital marketers can also think of leveraging the capabilities of the Quorum blockchain for ensuring transaction privacy and securing business information. Transaction history and transaction data on the corda ledger are encrypted and are shared only with necessary parties. Its interoperable nature allows businesses to transact with each other on the corda network in a free and commercial manner. Digital marketers can use corda as the foundation to help solve the real-world problems of the digital marketing industry and build robust solutions.
Conclusion
Blockchain holds great promises for every marketer. Blockchain technology offers great opportunities for marketers to get ahead of the competition. Blockchain is a disruptive technology which is revolutionizing various industries and creating a tremendous positive impact in the digital marketing sphere.