Don’t build your business on borrowed land

Want to know why you shouldn’t build your business on borrowed land? When you are marketing your business you can essentially be building your business on owned or borrowed land. In this blog post you’ll learn about what the difference is between owned and borrowed land, why you shouldn’t build on borrowed land and what to do next if you are currently just marketing your business on borrowed land.

 

 

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DON’T BUILD YOUR BUSINESS ON BORROWED LAND

 

What does ‘building your business on borrowed land’ mean?

You might have come across business or marketing experts saying that you shouldn’t build your business on borrowed land, but not understood what that expression means.

‘Building your business on borrowed land’ when used in relation to marketing is about using platforms that are not owned or controlled by the business, business owner or entrepreneur. The platform is owned by another business and then your business is borrowing (or some class it is as renting) access.

In digital marketing, this phrase is commonly used to describe using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and TikTok. But it also applies to search platforms such as YouTube and Pinterest.

 

Why social media marketing is a popular marketing choice? – The advantages of using social media platforms to market your business

Even though there is a lot of advice out there to not build on borrowed land you are likely to see many businesses marketing on social media – and for good reasons.

The fact is there are numerous advantages of marketing your business on social media platform). And this is why many businesses will decide to market their business on social media despite the warnings. Here are some of the advantages:

1. Free to use

One of the main reasons, especially amongst small businesses, that businesses start and end up relying on social media is because it is free. Whereas other forms of marketing and advertising will require a financial investment. This means the barriers to entry are low – and it makes social media a popular choice.

 

2. Easy-to-use

For most people social media platforms are fairly easy to use. You don’t need coding knowledge and you aren’t having to mess around with HTML The social media platforms want as many people as possible to use their platforms so they design them in a way that is user-friendly. This means for a business owner, who isn’t a trained marketer it is an easy way to market their business.

 

3. The large user base of social media platforms

A major advantage of using social media is that social media platforms have large user bases and if you open an account you will have the ability to tap into that network. One of the aims of marketing is to get in front of the right people and given the number of users on every social media platform it feels very achievable that you’ll be able to end up in front of the right people.

 

4. Great for building a community

Social media platforms weren’t originally designed for businesses to use them as marketing tools. They were designed to help people to connect with each other. They are social in their nature and that means they are perfect for building a community. The ability to connect with people, comment on content and have conversations in the DMs means they are perfect for being able to have conversations with your audience and build an active community.

 

That is just some of the advantages of using social media marketing to market your business. So it is easy to see why social media marketing is a popular choice. But whilst there are advantages there are also major disadvantages, which mean you shouldn’t focus on building your business on social media (since it is borrowed land).

 

Why, even with all the advantages, you shouldn’t rely on building your business on social media (since it is borrowed land)?

As discussed there are many advantages for using social media to market your business, but there are disadvantages too and they shouldn’t be ignored. The disadvantages include:

1. Lack of control

One of the major disadvantages is that you don’t have control. The social media platform is in control and at any time can make changes that impact your business. This can be anything from you having your account restricted, being limited to how you can set up your profile and to the content you can post.

 

2. Algorithm changes

If you are already marketing your business on social media then I have no doubt that you are aware of how much the reach of your content depends on the algorithm. This leaves businesses in a constantly battle of trying to understand the algorithm (which unfortunately social media platforms don’t share the details of), and then even when you might have just got to a good place the algorithm can change in a minute.

 

 

3. Limited tracking 

Whilst most social media platforms provide you with some type of analytics it can be challenging to track to the depth required to really understand the return-on-investment (ROI) and what is and isn’t working on a specific social media platform.

 

4. Not all of your followers will see your content – even if they want to

Given that social media platforms are businesses and ultimately they want businesses to pay-to-play organic reach on social media platforms is limited. This means that only a percentage, a depressing low percentage, of your followers will see your content. It varies platform to platform, but on the whole, you won’t get above the 10% mark. That means 90%+ of your audience want see a post. So you can spend ages building your audience, but then being able to nurture those relationships is difficult if they aren’t seeing your content.

 

That is just some of the disadvantages of marketing on social media, which is borrowed land. Essentially you don’t have control and as a business owner you ultimately are at the mercy of the social media platform. If they decide to make a change you just have to deal with it – and that isn’t a great way to build a business.

 

READY TO STOP BUILDING ON BORROWED LAND  AND DIVERSIFY YOUR MARKETING?  Very shortly I’m be launching a new programme to help small business owners who are confident selling on social media to diversify their marketing so they can build solid foundations that will support their business over the long-term future. Join my mailing list and be notified first when the doors open.

 

Borrowed land versus owned land

Now you know what borrowed land is, and why building your business purely on borrowed land is risky, you might be thinking what is the alternative? The alternative is to build your business on “owned land”.

 

In digital marketing, owned land is used to refer to digital properties or channels that are owned by the business. The business has owns the property or channel and as a result has complete control. Some examples of owned land are:

 

Company Website – As a business you can buy your own custom domain and then set up a website exactly how you’ll like. You have the choice of what website builder to use, which will impact design and functionality, and then all of the content that will appear on that website.

 

Business Blog – A blog, that is hosted on a company website rather than the free version of wordpress, is another example of marketing that is happening on owned land. The company has complete control over the design of blog posts and the information that is included.

 

Email Marketing Lists – Another powerful example of owned marketing is an email marketing list. Email marketing lists are made up of subscribers who want to hear from the business. A list will usually be built within an email marketing tool (in my business I use Kartra), but the business owns the list. The data can be exported and put into another email marketing tool.

 

 

 

The advantages of building your business on owned land

Now you know what owned land is and have some examples let’s discuss the advantages.

1. Control 

The biggest advantage is that you have control. There may be limitation based on your website builder or email marketing service provider, but you get the choice about who you want to use and then once you’ve made that choice you have control about how things look and what content is published.

 

2. Data ownership

When you build on owned land you get access to the data (rather than another business). Analysing this data can enable you to continually optimise your marketing and it can also help with making future business decisions.

 

3. Growing value in the long term

When you are building on owned land you can have confidence about using that marketing channel for years to come, which means you can approach your marketing with a long-term view. Taking a long-term view will enable you to market your business in a way that brings compounding value. As time goes by your website and email list will become increasingly powerful within the business.

 

 

The disadvantages of building on owned land

As with everything in business there are advantages and disadvantages. Some of the disadvantages of building on owned land are:

 

1. Upfront costs

Unlike social media which is free there are costs associated with building on owned land. You own it and that means you have to pay. However, the costs aren’t massive. Especially when you are starting out. You can get a domain for cheap. Then you can either build your website for free using WordPress and get it hosted by someone like Siteground. Or you can use Squarespace where the design and hosting is all rolled into one. Then for email marketing you can get started for free by using Mailerlite, or depending on what business you have it might be worth investing in a one-stop-shop like Kartra. 

 

2. Technical skills

The technical skills to set up an email list or build a website are slightly more complicated than using social media. However, it probably isn’t as technica as you might fear. In recent years there have been great improvements. I remember making my first website and sitting there building it with HTML. That is no longer required. Now there are great website builders that are super user friendly, and you can also get an expert to make your website if you prefer. Again with email marketing the tools are fairly user friendly and you ca also get someone to help with set up.

 

3. Limited audience reach

One considerable downside to building on owned land is unlike social media you don’t have an audience eager and waiting. You are going to have to work harder to get someone to visit your website, read a blog post or become an email subscriber. But the value of these people is so much more. As already discussed you can quickly build up followers on social media that rarely see your content, whereas it may take you longer to get that same number on your email list but a larger percentage will see your emails.

 

 

What should you do you are currently building your business on borrowed land?

 

If you are reading this blog post and thinking “Argh, I’m building my business on borrowed land” don’t fret.

 

First of all, I want to make it clear that I am not against using borrowed land within your marketing. The danger is if you are ONLY using borrowed land.

 

The aim should be to have a mixture of marketing that happens on borrowed and owned land.

 

So if you currently building your business only on borrowed land here are some things you can do straight away to start using owned land and put your business in a more safe and secure marketing position.

 

1. Buy your own domain and set up a website

Your business should have a website. And if it doesn’t that should be the first thing you focus on. It doesn’t have the be all singing and dancing in the beginning. A simple website with a home, about, services and contact is enough to get started.

 

2. Set up and start building an email list

Just as with investing the sooner you start building your email list the better. Time and time again you’ll see business owners talking about the fact they wish they had started their email list sooner so don’t ignore this. Decide what email service provider you want to use, open an account and get a form set up so people can start joining your list.

 

 

That’s it! You now know what it means to build your business on borrowed land and the risks of only using social media platforms that you don’t own.

 

There is no denying that marketing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube offer great opportunities for businesses big and small. But to build solely on borrowed land is not a smart business decision. By using a combination of marketing that is owned and borrowed you can make the most of borrowed marketing platforms, whilst ensuring you are building your business with strong foundations that you own and control.

 

I hope you’ve found this blog post useful. I would love to hear what your biggest takeaway is in the comments.

 

 

WANT TO RUN A THRIVING ONLINE BUSINESS? Learning how to successfully market your business is just one thing you have to master in order to run a thriving online business. As a Marketing Strategist and Online Business Mentor I help online, service-based, businesses to grow and scale thriving businesses that they love running and generate the money of the dreams. I do this through helping clients to think and act strategically from everything from offers, pricing and marketing. To find out, and apply for my 1:1 business and marketing mentoring click here.