The Real Reason Your Marketing Isn’t Working

If you’ve been struggling to get traction with your content, it’s likely because you’re relying too much on rented audiences. Platforms like social media, YouTube, and even Google can change their algorithms at any moment, leaving you scrambling to recover lost reach and engagement.

This is the trap many founders fall into. They put all their energy into growing their presence on rented platforms—without realizing that they don’t actually own their audience. The result? They’re constantly playing catch-up, trying to regain visibility every time a platform changes its rules.

Instead, the real key to sustainable growth is shifting focus toward an owned audience—a group of people you can reach directly anytime you want. The difference between these two models determines whether your marketing will thrive or struggle to stay afloat.

Let’s break it down:

Rented Audiences (Social Media, YouTube, SEO)

✅ You can quickly reach large groups of people if your content performs well ✅ Growth can be fast, but unpredictable 🚨 You have no control over the platform’s algorithm 🚨 Your reach can disappear overnight if the platform decides to change its rules

Owned Audiences (Email Lists, Communities, SMS, Private Platforms)

✅ You control when and how you engage with your audience ✅ Your content is always delivered to the people who opted in ✅ You aren’t at the mercy of algorithm changes 🚨 It takes effort to build and maintain an owned audience

If you’re not actively moving your audience from rented platforms to an owned list, you’re playing a dangerous game.

The Risks of Relying on Rented Audiences

Imagine spending months or years growing a massive following on LinkedIn or Instagram, only to wake up one day and realize your engagement has tanked. Maybe LinkedIn deprioritized certain types of posts, or Instagram changed how they show content to users. Overnight, your reach is cut in half—or worse, disappears entirely.

This happens all the time. A great example is Facebook business pages. Years ago, brands were able to reach large portions of their followers organically. Now? The organic reach of a Facebook business post is typically less than 5% of your audience unless you pay for ads.

That’s the problem with rented platforms: you don’t own the relationship with your audience. Someone else does. And they can take it away anytime they want.

The solution? Move your audience to an owned channel—fast.