Why I think blockchain will revolutionize small business marketing

[Kevin77]

The transparency aspect is actually a very good way to start when it comes to new businesses utilizing the blockchain technology. At least for one thing, blockchain allows the secure sharing of business processes within companies and partners, which can be related to business activities, contracts, records, and so on.

All these things make sense for a business trying to bring the future quickly into the present and I believe it would go a very long way for the development and growth of such business in a short time. nevertheless, we should still not forget that all these depends on how well the team is ready to work as blockchain technology itself will not just be some magic wand to make businesses successful out of nothing.

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[CryptoBry]

The blockchain technology has been identified as a means of supporting and boosting upstarts and small businesses. The open source protocol, transparency, and peer-to-peer interactions makes it suitable. Your idea looks good on paper. Time to get to work.

I believe on the same thing. While cryptocurrency is at the turmoil right now and greatly riddled with so many scams and frauds, the technology behind this all which is the blockchain that is the one which is more important and has the potential to revolutionize many sectors including the SMEs players. Small business can be lean and can easily adopt to new technologies provided there is already an available infrastructure they can easily use...this is now the challenge of many providers to come up with the effective, robust but very much affordable platform for small business that can bolster their business and can level the field in the face of so much competition for customers' attention and purchasing power. This is the time for small business to shine...

[South Park]

A currency like bitcoin can help many businesses that have very low profit margins, and this is possible because if you were to process the very same transaction with a bank, the bank will subtract a portion of that transaction and keep that money for themselves, but when it comes to bitcoin the buyer only needs to pay the transaction fee and you keep the rest of the money for yourself.

[BitcoinCommodor]

I am working on a blockchain startup to help small businesses with marketing. I am looking for feedback about my logic and idea so please help me out!

To start, I think there are some strong commonalities between a successful business and a thriving blockchain project:

Commonality #1 — Solution Focused
Business: Any successful business needs to be solving some sort of problem for a group of people. It can be as simple as “I want a coffee shop at this corner on my way to work” or it can be “I want to get survey results faster”.
Blockchain: Time and time again it has shown how institutions have failed us. The lack of transparency and their drive for self-interests at others’ expenses left all of us feeling frustrated or even betrayed. Blockchain aims at solving that problem and eliminates the middleman.

Commonality #2 — Trust Earned
Business: No one would trust a restaurant that constantly causes people to feel ill nor will we trust brands that violate their own value. Earning trust from others is difficult but highly rewarding when obtained. Unfortunately, trust can be lost easily when things go wrong.
Blockchain: It is the first real alternative that has shown potential in solving the trust issue with centralized institutions like banks or government. Through the use of smart contract within the blockchain, users no longer have to trust another human being to handle their transactions.

Commonality #3— Network Growth
Business: Throwing money at advertisement can only go so far. It is normally the referrals and returning customers that will ultimately make or break the business. A business that has already earned customer trusts can acquire returning business much easier than from a brand new customers.
Blockchain: A highly involved network of users is key to success. There are contributors and then there are beneficiaries. Sometimes it takes just one person’s influential action to get it going. It wasn’t until someone bought 2 slices of pizza with 10,000 Bitcoins that people realized this “digital money” can actually be used and have value.

Current Non-Blockchain-Based Marketing Options
There are so many options for businesses to consider. Aside from social media, there are e-marketing, print media, radio, TV, billboards, direct mailing, and all sorts of other ways. And in each categories of marketing methods, there are countless companies trying to compete with each other. While I doubt that blockchain can truly disrupt all the ways of marketing, I believe it does have some unique advantages that businesses can benefit from.

Our Answers to Use Blockchain to Benefit Business Marketing

• Blockchain makes cryptocurrency possible and it can be a unique reward system that stands out against thousands of loyalty program out there
• Blockchain's decentralized mechanism allows us to implement a platform-wide user contribution process that connects them with businesses, which in return can potentially give them lots of exposure

For more detail, you can read the original content from my full article on Medium -> https://hackernoon.com/what-can-blockchain-do-for-small-business-marketing-7a1458f1784c

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below. I love to hear what this community thinks and if we are on the right path.

Do you do a bank transfer when you’re buying coffee? Or do you do bank transfer when you buy stuffs in a supermarket? I have no seen where it’s being done and what they make use of is POS (Point of Sale) which they request just for your credit card and deduct the total money for what you bought, and that is way much faster than it will be if you are using a Blockchain wallet. I don’t know if anyone is really getting what I’m saying.

[Willchen319]

Why did you decide to use the NEO platform if it would make your tokens easier to he listed in exchanges if it was an ERC20 token issued in the Ethereum platform.

Have you considered less known but time tested platforms like Burst maybe?

Good question. I actually JUST posted a thread in the link below about why we are using NEO. And no, I haven't checked out Burst yet, but I will!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5030347.0

[RasicaOla12]

Small businesses in their custody will face certain difficulties in terms of capital and scale but they on a small scale they can diversify their investments and can reach the blockchain.

[Willchen319]

Small businesses in their custody will face certain difficulties in terms of capital and scale but they on a small scale they can diversify their investments and can reach the blockchain.

I agree. I believe the blockchain technology has the potential to reach every sizes of businesses. Whether it’s from the obvious financial, supply chain, or data information, there are other possibilities too. Just like the internet how it was when it first got started to how it is now. The biggest bottleneck is always how we can make it more easily accessible to the general public that aren’t techy. Blockchain needs to one day be usable even for mom and pops in order for it to go main stream.

[Willchen319]

The transparency aspect is actually a very good way to start when it comes to new businesses utilizing the blockchain technology. At least for one thing, blockchain allows the secure sharing of business processes within companies and partners, which can be related to business activities, contracts, records, and so on.

All these things make sense for a business trying to bring the future quickly into the present and I believe it would go a very long way for the development and growth of such business in a short time. nevertheless, we should still not forget that all these depends on how well the team is ready to work as blockchain technology itself will not just be some magic wand to make businesses successful out of nothing.

Thank you for that comment. Yes, we are working hard to make sure we are constantly researching, validating, and reacting in our development. We had 3 separate research done in the past 9 months. 1 general survey about people’s needs in marketing and acceptance to blockchain, 1 survey regarding the message and solution based on the our solution and the blockchain, and last research of actually visiting 150+ businesses to see their feedback of our prototype. We don’t want to just use the hype of blockchain as our main advantage. We want to make sure our solution actually needs the market’s needs and will be beneficial to our users.

[Willchen319]

The blockchain technology has been identified as a means of supporting and boosting upstarts and small businesses. The open source protocol, transparency, and peer-to-peer interactions makes it suitable. Your idea looks good on paper. Time to get to work.

I believe on the same thing. While cryptocurrency is at the turmoil right now and greatly riddled with so many scams and frauds, the technology behind this all which is the blockchain that is the one which is more important and has the potential to revolutionize many sectors including the SMEs players. Small business can be lean and can easily adopt to new technologies provided there is already an available infrastructure they can easily use...this is now the challenge of many providers to come up with the effective, robust but very much affordable platform for small business that can bolster their business and can level the field in the face of so much competition for customers' attention and purchasing power. This is the time for small business to shine...

So true. In our research with small businesses, their biggest bottleneck to gain more online exposure is a lack of time, budget and expertise. Blockchain's inherited advantage of cutting out the the middleman while still being transparent allows for automated activities. In our idea, we allow SMEs to set up promotional Challenges for people to participate. Then participants submit their completion on Nodis.io and allows it to be validated by the community. Both Challenge participants and validators are rewarded with tokens for their effort, which reduces the marketing cost of businesses. In the whole process, businesses are also getting exposure without them actually have to do anything (except in the beginning to setup the Challenge). This can then significantly reduce the requirement of time and online marketing expertise.

[Willchen319]

A currency like bitcoin can help many businesses that have very low profit margins, and this is possible because if you were to process the very same transaction with a bank, the bank will subtract a portion of that transaction and keep that money for themselves, but when it comes to bitcoin the buyer only needs to pay the transaction fee and you keep the rest of the money for yourself.

Correct. We just got to figure out how to stabilize bitcoin as well as other top cryptocurrencies. Without a stabilized economy, it's hard for businesses to remain profitable as they have monthly fix overhead to pay. Obviously, if bitcoin goes up another 200-300%, no one will be complaining, but it's only when there is a crash like the one we have now that it becomes a problem. While individuals may be able to hodl for longer but businesses don't have that luxury. Utility companies, banks, employees, and investors do not have the patient to wait 6-12 months before crypto's next spike.

[Willchen319]

Do you do a bank transfer when you’re buying coffee? Or do you do bank transfer when you buy stuffs in a supermarket? I have no seen where it’s being done and what they make use of is POS (Point of Sale) which they request just for your credit card and deduct the total money for what you bought, and that is way much faster than it will be if you are using a Blockchain wallet. I don’t know if anyone is really getting what I’m saying.

These are definitely valid points and will be a big hurdle to overcome for bitcoin and other altcoins. We at Nodis.io recognize that issue and so we only allow people to buy vouchers on our website using their tokens. Then shoppers will take those vouchers to redeem at stores. Much like how Groupon work. Shoppers earn tokens through participating in promotional Challenges.

[Willchen319]

Small businesses in their custody will face certain difficulties in terms of capital and scale but they on a small scale they can diversify their investments and can reach the blockchain.

Agree! However, like I said in my previous replies to others, we really need to make the technology more easily accessible for the non-techy users. It needs to be simple like WhatsApp for online messengers or Newsboard like MSN.com.

[bitgogo123]

Yes, blockchain can be combined with manufacturing and service industries. They are about to change the world. Otherwise the blockchain will be a bubble. But the cryptocurrency is not a bubble.

[lavian]

I think blockchain make a lot of changes in all business marketing and not only in small business. Through this, the system of business becomes more convenient and easy to operate.

[wuvdoll]

Yes, blockchain can be combined with manufacturing and service industries. They are about to change the world. Otherwise the blockchain will be a bubble. But the cryptocurrency is not a bubble.

I want to believe we are gradually seeing the adoption of the blockchain technology in a lot of businesses gradually and even though it is minute at the moment, it is still a big start. At least, like someone rightly said, this would bring about some level of transparency when we are talking about partnerships within the business and the need to always do things right.

However, every of these things we are saying is all still on the whole team behind the business, how ready they are willing to work, how effective they want to make their business solve a problem and bring a solution to the world and how they can integrate the blockchain technology in achieving all of that.

[Willchen319]

Yes, blockchain can be combined with manufacturing and service industries. They are about to change the world. Otherwise the blockchain will be a bubble. But the cryptocurrency is not a bubble.

I kinda feel the opposite. I believe cryptocurrency is more likely to be the bubble (as we have seem with many of the ICOs). But the blockchain technology is here to stay due to its immutable, transparent, and automation benefits. Many big companies and banks have already started to patent different applications with blockchain.

[Willchen319]

I think blockchain make a lot of changes in all business marketing and not only in small business. Through this, the system of business becomes more convenient and easy to operate.

Right. We just got to make sure the technology becomes a no-brainer solution that's absolutely easy to use even for people that aren't techy.

[KalaiBTC]

I am working on a blockchain startup to help small businesses with marketing. I am looking for feedback about my logic and idea so please help me out!

To start, I think there are some strong commonalities between a successful business and a thriving blockchain project:

Commonality #1 — Solution Focused
Business: Any successful business needs to be solving some sort of problem for a group of people. It can be as simple as “I want a coffee shop at this corner on my way to work” or it can be “I want to get survey results faster”.
Blockchain: Time and time again it has shown how institutions have failed us. The lack of transparency and their drive for self-interests at others’ expenses left all of us feeling frustrated or even betrayed. Blockchain aims at solving that problem and eliminates the middleman.

Commonality #2 — Trust Earned
Business: No one would trust a restaurant that constantly causes people to feel ill nor will we trust brands that violate their own value. Earning trust from others is difficult but highly rewarding when obtained. Unfortunately, trust can be lost easily when things go wrong.
Blockchain: It is the first real alternative that has shown potential in solving the trust issue with centralized institutions like banks or government. Through the use of smart contract within the blockchain, users no longer have to trust another human being to handle their transactions.

Commonality #3— Network Growth
Business: Throwing money at advertisement can only go so far. It is normally the referrals and returning customers that will ultimately make or break the business. A business that has already earned customer trusts can acquire returning business much easier than from a brand new customers.
Blockchain: A highly involved network of users is key to success. There are contributors and then there are beneficiaries. Sometimes it takes just one person’s influential action to get it going. It wasn’t until someone bought 2 slices of pizza with 10,000 Bitcoins that people realized this “digital money” can actually be used and have value.

Current Non-Blockchain-Based Marketing Options
There are so many options for businesses to consider. Aside from social media, there are e-marketing, print media, radio, TV, billboards, direct mailing, and all sorts of other ways. And in each categories of marketing methods, there are countless companies trying to compete with each other. While I doubt that blockchain can truly disrupt all the ways of marketing, I believe it does have some unique advantages that businesses can benefit from.

Our Answers to Use Blockchain to Benefit Business Marketing

• Blockchain makes cryptocurrency possible and it can be a unique reward system that stands out against thousands of loyalty program out there
• Blockchain's decentralized mechanism allows us to implement a platform-wide user contribution process that connects them with businesses, which in return can potentially give them lots of exposure

For more detail, you can read the original content from my full article on Medium -> https://hackernoon.com/what-can-blockchain-do-for-small-business-marketing-7a1458f1784c

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below. I love to hear what this community thinks and if we are on the right path.

So with Blockchain who do you think is safe, the seller who is offering the products and services or the customer who is buying them? And what kind of small business are you referring to, the online business or the offline, cause if you’re referring to the offline business which we do outside the internet, then you’re very wrong by putting digital currency to go together with such businesses, it’s a bad idea. Cryptocurrency is only fit for online businesses.

[Willchen319]

I want to believe we are gradually seeing the adoption of the blockchain technology in a lot of businesses gradually and even though it is minute at the moment, it is still a big start. At least, like someone rightly said, this would bring about some level of transparency when we are talking about partnerships within the business and the need to always do things right.

However, every of these things we are saying is all still on the whole team behind the business, how ready they are willing to work, how effective they want to make their business solve a problem and bring a solution to the world and how they can integrate the blockchain technology in achieving all of that.

Great point. I am actually writing an article on the value of a solution to solve a real world problem. Transparency and automation through smart contract can connect business directly to their customers. We want to create a platform where we are simply just a point of contact. Like a cross road where people meet up to decide what they want to do freely and not like meeting in a restaurant where the people need to follow the schedule/menu. And the solution is meant to be completely dummy-proof that even my parents can use. It'll be tough but that's where we are heading.

[Willchen319]

So with Blockchain who do you think is safe, the seller who is offering the products and services or the customer who is buying them? And what kind of small business are you referring to, the online business or the offline, cause if you’re referring to the offline business which we do outside the internet, then you’re very wrong by putting digital currency to go together with such businesses, it’s a bad idea. Cryptocurrency is only fit for online businesses.

Those are definitely valid points. In fact, we understood the difficulty of spending crypto in offline business and adjusted to it. I have personally visited over 150 small businesses (mainly retail, cafe, or restaurants) in the Greater Toronto Area. One of the biggest Challenge that they face is lack of traffic and awareness. Many of them have turned to social media for exposure but most are not successful. It takes a lot of time, expertise, and money.

This is where we come in. The idea is to enable businesses to post a Challenge on nodis.io for the community to participate. All participants that complete the Challenge will be rewarded with tokens. Then they can take the tokens to buy vouchers listed by the businesses. Vouchers will then be redeemed at the store level. This creates awareness, engagement, and ultimately traffic into the store. This essentially eliminates the need to have offline cryptocurrency transaction.

I hope this helps...?