Many don’t know this but you can either rent or own your business. This is practically the same as renting an apartment or saving the costs up to build your own house. What does it mean to rent or own a brand?
To OWN means to build your own system that generates money for you overtime. You are the CEO and customer service representative of your owned platform.
To RENT means to build a business on top of someone else’s land. This literally means running a business using platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Google, etc. without your own landing page or subscriber lists.
These days, renting is more popular than ever. And it’s easy to see why.
These days, renting is more popular than ever. It is very easy to create and almost free. I don’t need a dime to get business running on Instagram or pay to create a business group on Facebook. I don’t need to get a domain or build a website to host my product videos if YouTube can do same for me for almost free. Renting makes getting a brand started feel easier and gives instant access to millions of people. As a matter of fact, many “social media influencers” have built massive businesses on these rented lands.
But there’s a major downside to renting that most people ignore:
You’re building a brand based on policy changes and algorithms of someone else’s platform. Have you ever wondered if you wake up one day and social media is gone and every followers or connections you have built over the years are taken away from you?
It’s not possible? Check these screenshots out:
We have seen series of cases where Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter shutting down business accounts and refusing to reopen them. It’s so painful when these accounts have gain a lot of traction and have made money in the past.
But how do you own your platform and protect your business from similar outcome?
- STEP 1: Build a Website: Having your own business or personal brand website gives you the unlimited power to decide what happens on the website. It’s your house, your rules. You decide how the algorithm changes or what the interface looks like.
- STEP 2: Drive Traffic to your Website: After building your own house for lease, you need to call the attention of tenants to your vacant apartment. After building your website you need to drive traffic from a variety of sources. This is where social platforms are most useful. You can run Ads or through organic method to direct people to your website
- STEP 3: Convert that Traffic into Subscribers: Let me first remind you that “Email Marketing still works” and has one of the most highest Return On Investment (ROI). When you have a lot of traffic into your website, you can direct this traffic into buyer by giving them free report or services of your product in exchange for their contact details. When you build relationship with your contacts, you can always present your products and services to them.
Owning your platform gives 100% control over direct communication with your audience/customers. It is safe and the most effective way to grow an online business.
This system is a bullet proof. There is no algorithm that prevents your customers from getting your message. No Instagram Oga can shut down your account and take your “followers” away from you. You Own It 100%
P.S: This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use social media platforms for your businesses. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. offer lots of benefits and it can be extensively used as a means to get more traffic to your website and more subscribers to your list.
For example, I use Google Ads for most of my product downloads and online courses. I can confidently say most clients I’ve worked with got to see my works on Google and some times, Facebook Ads.
Never let the overall process of your business depends on rented land. Own your platform and determine your communication flow. Don’t put your business at risk of shutting down by another man’s decision.
Own your platform. Own your communication.
Anything short of this puts you at risk of having your business shut down overnight.
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