By B2B companies, B2B Marketing, Blockchain, Blockchain Technologies
In a recent PwC study entitled "Blockchain is here. What's your next move?", 600 large enterprises across developed countries clearly outlined the need to follow the emerging blockchain technology trend. But as in a beautiful story, they do not know how. Furthermore, regulatory uncertainty and the lack of user trust make it a pretty complex scenario. With the massive potential of Blockchain to solve significant global economic challenges like establishing robust and watertight data traceability for goods, governments are open to promoting Blockchain investment and development, with some countries leading the forefront of adoption.
Although blockchain technology is predominantly used in the fintech world, it is undoubtedly creating rippling effects on the whole business ecosystem. Even if you are a Blockchain skeptic, take a good look around you, and you will notice that you are already contributing to a blockchain-enabled technology, service, or solution. I was also surprised to find out how many I am seamlessly adding to my day-to-day life or being a part of, some of those being even in my top 10 favorite technologies. If you are curious, check out Patreon, and you will be addicted to the value-based influencer system Japan's leading blockchain company was able to develop. How about the very technical ones? I am sure you heard of Buddy or Goldilock.
As Sweden decided to renounce physical currency, as economies become more decentralized, this real push from the public and the businesses blockchain emerges as a logical answer to the enablement challenge of a transparent value-based ecosystem. Nevertheless, I am still a cryptocurrency skeptic. Blockchain is a technology and is as good as technology gets. However, it has been cracked before. In the financial and securities world, where warranties are paramount, we still have a long way to go before ensuring safe transactions, although every error and fix brings us one step closer to what it should be.
In Marketing for Blockchain Technologies, Safety Should Be First
This brings up one of the critical areas to focus on in marketing for Blockchain technologies: showing people how secure this technology is, how this space is evolving, what the options are if the technology fails, and the net safety. I have seen many marketing campaigns focused on explaining what it is. I think people get what Blockchain is, as they got what Paypal was in its time, and early adopters will always embrace new technologies. However, most of your audience is wondering how you will ensure the system is flawless or close to it.
Educate, Educate, Re-educate!
Although you believe they understand what it's all about, educational videos, webinars, articles, viral series, buzz, and anything else you can think of should be focused on training people to understand what it is and what it is suitable for.
What is it used for, and why is Blockchain vs. the traditional way of doing business? What benefits should someone get if they use blockchain technology? Most companies would cover only the first step of the education process, missing out on all the rest. Make a Youtube search for Blockchain, and you will get many videos. Search for the benefits of the Blockchain; an astonishing number of 2-3 videos are on this topic, and the other one, you guessed it, is still on what it is. There's quite a significant discrepancy that is eloquent of the market maturity.
In B2B, It's All About Vetted Relationships, and so is Blockchain
The most performant B2B marketing and sales processes are based on relationships and responsibility, and so is Blockchain. However, Blockchain is all about validated peer-to-peer relationships, so I think we are in the early stages of new emerging models where Blockchain will be used to validate the business value in B2B; very hard to establish these days, other than through one's relationship and credibility.
Branding is vital and will unlock the market potential
I recently tried installing a bitcoin wallet, and most options are quasi-unknown. It is like having to choose to deposit your money with 10 unknown banks; these are all available options. The risk factor is over the roof when a new market presents you with many unknown factors.
A strong blockchain player focused on branding, creating a safe and mature image, investing in the market education cycle, and talking less about the novelty and more about the benefits and applications will swap the market at any point and will leave all the current ones struggling into the "what is" small market playground.
Is There Room for the Traditional B2B Marketing Methods?
Most blockchain marketing is centered on videos, whitepapers and ebooks, and some emerging webinars or training series. However, as B2B marketing is focused on person-to-person marketing, blockchain marketing should initially mimic traditional B2B marketing methods and evolve into creative customer or prospect-accepted marketing techniques like the BAT compensated opt-in ad subscriptions.
Emerging B2B marketing models
Blockchain will change digital marketing in the future. I am more optimistic about using technology in marketing than in fintech because it's a lower risk and a higher return win-win business model. Maybe marketers will figure out that decentralization is not a genuine concern but a natural way of self-organizing business ecosystems. Moreover, blockchain technology providers will make the adoption seamless and not complicate the "natural" way customers buy based on the relationships. This will translate into listening more to the customer narrative and enabling honest 2-way communication of the marketing message.
As with Blockchain, I hope this article provides more value to you than structure. Drop us a line if you found this helpful or have further suggestions for the thoughts presented in this article.
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