The rapidly changing digital landscape is not only transforming the way we live, but also redefining how small businesses operate. Web3, a decentralized internet powered by blockchain technology, has the capability to reshape industries and provide new opportunities for growth and innovation—this is espcecially true when it comes to the potential value of Web3 for SBOs.

So, at our Future Summit Conference this past weekend, we spoke with Victoria Mariscal of Maris Consulting to help us explore the world of Web3 for SBOs and how this new technology can impact small businesses, advertising, and marketing strategies. 

From the benefits of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to the evolving role of NFTs, here, she lays out everything anyone looking to understand and harness the power of Web3 for the betterment of their businesses should know.

Tell us about how you came to Web3?

Right before the pandemic hit, I had this awesome opportunity to work with a beauty startup in LA and then, unfortunately, got laid off. So that forced me to reevaluate everything that I thought I knew because I thought getting the right job, going to school, and climbing the corporate ladder would be it for me. 

What I realized was 1. technology was changing very quickly, and 2. I knew I had soft skills that were applicable, but I didn't want to be a coder. So I was like, where do I fit into the next wave of technology, and how can I apply my business acumen to that? I started an LLC as a side hustle. And then, last year, I took the leap and bought a ticket to go to a crypto conference, but I had no idea what I was getting into.

I was like, I'm just coming here to learn, and I ended up meeting the most amazing people I'm still friends with to this day. I met my business partner there and realized that Web3 just has this whole other side and really just contains how business will be conducted in the next five to 10 years. We're looking at a new wave of technology, and it's not as scary as we think.

How does Web3 technology actually change the advertising landscape as we know it today?

A lot of people have been struggling in the past year to make Facebook ads as successful as they were maybe two years ago. There's a reason why: The algorithm change has a lot more policy control, and many more privacy laws have been enacted. What happened was corporations owned your data and sold it to brands who now have access to personally tailor what you wanted to buy. 

Web3 changes that where it gives ownership back to you, the user, meaning that there are more secure transactions and there are more fundamentally ethical ways to conduct business because everything is transparent and set on what's called a blockchain, which is essentially a public ledger in which every purchase that you make of that item is publicly documented.

There are a lot of buzzwords, but take DAOs, for example. If you've never heard of a DAO, it's a decentralized autonomous organization. Essentially a DAO is a way in Web3 where instead of having a corporate structure, people within the corporation have more voting rights to the decisions the company makes.

Take Create & Cultivate. In the future, there’s a possibility that if you go to every single one of their events, if you are constantly supporting the brand, and in theory, Create & Cultivate was a DAO,  you would have more say over maybe where they hosted the events, what the speaking topics were, what kind of small vendors they would host, what kind of events like parties they would throw. You're a part of the organization, and your involvement allows you to have more say in the brand's decisions.

What are the benefits of Web3 for SBOs, and how can they leverage this technology to attract new customers?

I would say one of the biggest parts of Web3‘s ethos is community. If you've heard of a Discord community, any conferences, or anything you would attend in the Web3 space, it is founded on community. So when you think about being in a small business, you serve your community.

Now, you're going to just look at how can I serve my community digitally, and how can I increase my reach. There's such a bad rap around NFTs, but an NFT is just a digital product, and it provides access to your community to have more say and also give you their input about what they want to buy from you.

What key factors should small businesses consider when building in the Web3 space? 

When we talk about building your brand, why do you go to your neighborhood coffee shop over Starbucks? Why do you shop at a certain store over another store? When we talk about being a small business in this space, it's very difficult. You don't have the budgets of the big advertising firms to lend you their names. But what you do have is the power of your people, who absolutely love your product, and they will rave about it no matter where they are because they know you, trust you, and only buy from you. 

The key to building your brand as a small business is focusing on listening to what your true fans want and by creating a safe space for your consumer to come in and converse with you. I always tell my startup founders, it starts with your brand, it starts with your personal brand because people don't just buy from a company, they buy from the founder. The same thing is possible in the Web3 space, just move that conversation online and create ways to gatekeep and reward your true fans for participating in supporting your business. 

What I love about that, it's almost like a stickiness that's created with your, with the brand. So there's, there's much more of an emotional connection.

What does this community first tactic mean for marketing strategies we’ve become accustomed to, such as paid ads?

I would say that part of that is really coming from Gen Z and the way that they make their purchases; they would rather buy something that their friends says is really awesome than buy something that they're seeing in an ad—and that's because of trust.

The consumer is looking for a brand they can trust to make the right decisions, especially during the pandemic. When we were really looking at the actions of a lot of big corporations and seeing them fail us time and time again. We're not looking at small businesses and going like, ‘Hey, I love what you're what you stand for as a founder, and I want to support you,” and I think that's really, really the key to anything. 

When we talk about advertising, we're seeing more of a creator economy blossom where Instagrammers that have a giant reach are now creating their own brands. And it's because people would rather buy from their favorite Instagrammers or TikTok stars than buy from a big corporation. That's just the bottom line because they feel like they know them; you see them every day and their storiesl you see their ups and downs and this feeling of vulnerability, sharing about mental health struggles, self-care. These trends show a vulnerable side to business owners that we've never seen before.

How can small businesses actually afford to play in Web3?

Web3 is evolving daily. It starts off with the technology piece, and then it becomes more intuitive to onboard more people. So, for example, maybe two years ago, if you wanted to buy an NFT, you would have to connect your wallet to transfer funds. Figure out your 12 secret word phrase that if you lose it, you're doomed forever, and you will never have access to your wallet again.

Now, it's not like that. One thing that's amazing is that there are new products coming out every day that are no-code solutions to build on Web3, meaning that now you can build an NFT without needing to be a coder. I say that because one of my clients is actually building that right now, and they just went into a beta phase. If you want to check out Spark, they also have a really awesome thing, and their goal is to market NFTs for marketers where, as your consumer purchases more, the NFT becomes dynamic and involved so kind of like levels up, kind of like a game and then you can track their behavior, so track what they're doing in the space to level that up.

So there's more tools coming out every day that are going to really lend a hand to small business owners and make it more attainable to integrate the technology into their everyday lives.

How close are we to widespread public adoption?

It needs to be easy for the public to use and integrate with your Apple wallet, you know, having your email as an access code will make that easier, and that's coming very soon.

I think the other piece is consumers understanding how to lend their data to these brands is also going to be very critical. Encouraging customers to join the communities of brands businesses that they really care about.

For example, Starbucks, Starbucks launched an NFT program, but they don't call them NFTs, they call them digital collectibles. And they game off participation in this digital journey to where they're able to get insights from customers. So, you play a game and say, which kind of roast are you: blonde, medium, or dark? Based on your choice, you're participating, you're earning and evolving your NFT, but in addition, now they know that you like dark roast.

Now, they can tailor more activities to your behavior patterns and then also sell you a product that way. So it's more encouraging the marketing landscape to change and evolve with the technology. I think small business owners can really leverage that to their advantage.