The original article began with a training manual from 1996. The platforms have changed since then, but one business risk has not: access to somebody else’s audience can change without your permission.
Search engines, social networks and marketplaces can all introduce a business to new customers. Use them when they fit the buying journey. Just do not confuse an account, ranking or follower count with an asset the business controls.
Bring the relationship back to the business
Give customers a useful reason to visit the site, recognise the brand and choose a permission-based way to hear from you again. Keep customer data collection proportionate and explain what will happen with it. An email list is not an owned asset if consent, access and delivery have not been managed properly.
Measure concentration risk
Track how much qualified demand and revenue depends on each external platform. Document who controls the accounts, feeds and recovery methods. Consider what the business would do if an advertisement was rejected, a marketplace policy changed or an account became unavailable.
The answer is not to abandon large platforms. It is to use them deliberately while improving the product, customer experience and direct relationship that make the brand worth seeking out.
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