The following is an excerpt from the new e-book, The CMO Primer For The Blockchain World: How This “Trust Machine” Impacts Branding, Customer Experience, Advertising and Much More by Jeremy Epstein, CEO of Never Stop Marketing.
It features forewords by the CMO of Dun & Bradstreet, Rishi Dave. The e-book explores seven different marketing functions and how blockchains might impact them as well as highlighting a few emerging vendors in the blockchain marketing tech space.
To download the FREE e-book, please click here.
Today’s guest post is by Rishi Dave, CMO of Dun & Bradstreet (@RishiPDave)
Rishi Dave is the chief marketing officer for Dun & Bradstreet. Rishi joined Dun & Bradstreet from Dell, where he was the executive director of digital marketing for B2B globally. Rishi holds degrees in chemical engineering and economics with honors from Stanford University and an MBA in marketing from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Thoughts on Marketing in a Decentralized World
1. What does marketing in a decentralized world look like?
**Brands that authentically add value to customers will win access to their personal data**
The concern about protecting personal data is at an all-time high. Individuals are distrustful of what businesses will do with their personal information and are becoming more guarded in what they will share voluntarily. People want to control their own data and feel they have lost much of that control in recent years. This is one of the reasons decentralization is gaining popularity. In a decentralized world, individuals will have more say over who has access to their personal data. No longer will monolithic websites maintain control and no longer will companies be able to simply access personal data without consent.
This will pose a huge challenge to marketing teams. How will they offer targeted and personalized campaigns without the data to fuel them? Without that data, their marketing programs will fall flat and their sales cycles will stall. In a decentralized world, it will now be imperative for marketers to deliver real, authentic value to customers so that they are willing to voluntarily part with their valuable personal data. Also, customers will have more control in demanding an understanding of how it is being used. What’s more, businesses will have to continually deliver value to the customer so that they don’t retract their consent to have their data included. In a decentralized world, customers can pull their data out at any time, forcing companies to constantly deliver something of value so that customers feel it’s worth the tradeoff of keeping their information accessible. Contrast this with today where companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have such centralized power that consumers have no choice but to share their data with them, even in ways against their wishes when these sites demand it.
2. What can companies and marketers start doing today to prepare for the future?
**Continually find ways to offer value**
The first thing businesses need to do is to find ways to deliver true, authentic value to customers through use of their data and to understand that customers want to be made aware of how their data is being used. If customers see they are no longer receiving value from making their data available, they have no reason to leave it open and accessible. This will require a shift in some business models and will also require a keen use of the data they do have. It’s much easier now, while the data is available, for marketing teams to test what works and what doesn’t to keep customers engaged. Use this time while we still have ready access to data to test at scale and plan for the time when marketers will have to fight for the data we’ve so easily taken for granted.
It will also become increasingly important for departments within a business to work together to deliver that value to the customer. This will require smart use of the data they fghprovide and really leveraging that one view of the customer to deliver a seamless customer experience. From marketing — to sales — to service — the customer wants to feel the data they’ve provided has given insights that make their experience with that company more worthwhile, and coordination will be key. If your company is not already practicing this one view approach, it’s imperative you get that foundation in place now, before decentralization becomes commonplace.