Decentralized Marketing: The Next Frontier

A potent advertising blueprint typically incorporates elements like attribution, personalization, content platforms, and loyalty schemes, among others. Yet, prevailing models remain predominantly centralized, raising user privacy concerns. Decentralized marketing, on the other hand, boasts a myriad of benefits.

Attribution in marketing refers to the practice of tracking a user's path to a promoted product. Its purpose is to understand the reasons behind a potential client's actions and to fine-tune workflow processes. While this often relies on data from active applications, the current model's efficacy is waning due to increased access restrictions by major companies. On the other hand, decentralized initiatives, like Safary and Spindl, operate exclusively with publicly accessible blockchain data, suggesting they could be superior alternatives.

After attribution, the focus shifts to tailoring the user experience and predicting their future actions, which can tread on privacy concerns. Here, decentralized platforms shine by giving users more authority over their own data. For example, entities like Snickerdoodle Labs, Jomo, and Oamo allow users to engage directly with advertisers, sharing feedback in return for substantial discounts, individualized deals, or even cryptocurrency.

To motivate people to disclose personal interests, answer targeted questions, or agree to social scrutiny, it's essential to capture their attention and establish a lasting bond. Decentralized apps dedicated to quests are adept at this. They analyze an individual's actions, preferences, and financial capacity through public, game-related, and blockchain-based interactive exchanges. Presently, only 18 such initiatives exist, such as Layer3 and Zealy, with twelve securing around $100 million in funding.

Loyalty initiatives in marketing aim to attract and keep customers by offering perks such as rewards, discounts, and unique deals. Unlike conventional programs that focus on individual consumers, Web3 loyalty programs target specific communities. Initially, major brands issued basic collectible NFTs. However, recognizing the power of decentralized communities, they've pivoted to granting distinct advantages to NFT holders. Projects focused on these new-age loyalty schemes have attracted over $115 million in investments, with TOKI, Hang, and Unblocked emerging as leaders.

With the growing popularity of decentralized social platforms and private messengers like Mastodon, Telegram, and Discord, the potential for data analytics is narrowing. Advertisers often neglect to harness insights, even from accessible blockchains. This is primarily tied to a shortage of funds, the technical skills gap within teams, and other miscellaneous challenges. This gap in the market has spurred the creation of decentralized apps such as Helika, Bello, and Footprint, which offer streamlined solutions.

Decentralized marketing is on the rise and shows promise in addressing the limitations encountered with conventional tools. The surge in Web3 users and associated apps is drawing interest from global brands. Yet, for this segment to develop into a comprehensive industry, it will demand time, specialized talent, and substantial investment.