One year ago, blockchain was just a blip on the industry’s radar. Today, conversations around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse seem to be cornerstones of professional conferences and innovation meetings. As exciting as these ideas are, however, many forget to address how marketing processes might evolve as a result.
Innovation often requires new ways of thinking and leveraging blockchain in health marketing means changing how we think about targeting audiences as well. For example, NFTs and smart contracts might allow the supply chain to become an active component of the healthcare journey and broader data ecosystem. Without analyzing too deeply what exactly might change, it’s important to highlight the shift in what data marketers may have access to, and where that data is coming from, especially in a decentralized environment.
Adjusting to Blinded Targeting
Blockchain transactions are inherently meant to be anonymous, which means unless personal data is willingly shared, transactions are recorded corresponding to unique sequences of alphanumeric characters, such as wallet addresses. These types of anonymous identifiers mean relatively blinded targeting on blockchain-based platforms using increasingly fragmented behavioral data.
In other words, without demographic information, targeting will become more reliant on a deep understanding of individualized human decision-making. Audience profiles will become more nuanced, and marketers will need to be able to create audience “segments” outside of traditional methods while more sophisticated targeting capabilities are developed.
Sounds familiar. Trends are already aligned with this shift and are prepping stakeholders, whether they realize it or not. Health marketing agencies are quickly adding full “engagement” teams to their rosters in response to the growing interest in omnichannel, and more marketers are emphasizing reaching both professionals and consumers as “people first” instead of as parts of larger blanket stereotypes. In theory, this is a positive movement and might make for better marketing anyway.
Expected Benefits and Flaws
Targeting on-chain removes the tendency to create audiences like “women age 18-35 in Kansas interested in tennis shoes,” which assumes all “women” who meet those qualifiers behave alike and ignores the dynamic factors that go into human decision-making. Analyzing complex combinations of concurrent behaviors such as “individuals who are interested in tennis shoes, luxury brands, and supporting professional tennis players,” builds detail upon simple profiles of linear behavioral journeys that might in turn make targeting more effective.
In any case, it must be acknowledged that this new way of targeting is not without flaws: the reconciliation between established centralized targeting methods and new decentralized methods is yet to be seen. More importantly, questions arise around differentiating between adults and minors and protecting audiences from otherwise unwanted or harmful messaging. With this in mind, and regardless of whether pharma commits to blockchain-based solutions anytime soon, it is imperative that marketers start to consider the changes to strategic thinking that will be required in response.
