Land built the McDonald’s brand franchise.
Ray Kroc knew he’d never get his business partners to fold. They were good men willing to settle for the success they’d had.
The enemy of scale.
A legally binding agreement kept Ray on a short leash. From the brothers’ perspective, Ray could dance around the chess board all day long, but he’d never be able to land that final blow.
They built it, they owned it — it was their namesake.
Be wary of the dog who doesn’t want to be leashed.
No matter the slack — it’s destined to break free.
From operator to owner
With the help of Harry Sonneborn, Ray set up the McDonald’s Corporation — a separate business, not to be confused with the restaurant chain.
Ray and his McDonald’s Corporation owned all the land beneath all the McDonald’s franchises.
The brothers stopped watching the board.
Power dynamics always boil down to property ownership.
Check mate.
Who owns the land you market on?
Ownership and convenience are mutually exclusive in marketing.
The easier it is to turn a dollar, the less you own. Website builders are perfect examples.
Squarespace is lovely. It’s also slow — bloated with elements and code your site doesn’t need but still has to load.
In other words — when it comes to owned media strategy — convenience trades away control.
Most builders have turned into glorified PowerPoints — flashy, cluttered, and hard to own.
Here are three ways to take control:
1. Make sure you own your domain outright and have full DNS access. Some budget marketing companies register your domain in their name or build on proprietary platforms — meaning if you leave, you can lose the site along with your domain.
2. Hire a developer to build only what you need. With today’s AI tools, you don’t have to know code — you just need someone to set up a simple site on a server you control.
3. Build in layers, not trends. Don’t let marketers talk you into expensive creative extras. Strong design and optimized copy are more than enough for round one.
And this isn’t just about code — it’s about your voice.
Can’t we say what we want?
Your First Amendment rights don’t extend to private platforms. The more you rely on them, the less control you have. If an algorithm or a megalomaniac doesn’t like what you say, your reach can vanish overnight. That’s why owning an independent home for your voice matters more than ever.
Your growth is just as fragile. Algorithms shift, ads surge. CPCs have skyrocketed, leaving those hooked on quick wins in a pickle. Suddenly, SEO isn’t dead — it’s the smartest long-term investment you can make.
Because SEO is ownership. Every article, backlink, and piece of content sits on ground you control. Ads stop the second you quit paying — organic content can hit forever.
That’s the compounding effect — content that keeps pulling attention while you sleep.
Do you own your social media strategy?
Social is necessary but dangerous if it’s all you’ve got. Pour all your energy into Instagram or YouTube and you’re just building equity for trillion-dollar companies.
Your review platforms — Yelp, Google Business Profiles, even Amazon storefronts — look like assets until the platform buries your reviews or suspends your listing altogether. Useful channels, but dangerous if all your eggs sit in their basket.
The long play is siphoning traffic off those platforms — using them as middle men, not final bosses.
Draw attention there, but funnel it back to a site, list, or community you own. That’s where your brand compounds over time.
It’s ownership, not anarchy
Ownership isn’t about ditching every tool or channel — it’s about knowing which levers you control and which ones control you.
Even if you play the game perfectly, you’ll likely never be able to own your digital IP entirely.
If you buy a home, you’re still paying state and federal taxes for the privilege.
And the landlords? Tech conglomerates who don’t have your best interests at heart.
Monopolistic by design, fast and loose with your data.
So the real question becomes: how much of the machine do you want to own, and how much are you willing to rent?
Let’s reframe owned media strategy
Imagine you went to an arcade to play pinball each day. Each week you dropped quarter after quarter in the machines. Then, you decided to buy a pinball machine for your home. You’re still dropping quarter after quarter but those coins are all running to your machine.
The neighborhood kids hear about your purchase. Soon, they’re begging you to drop in quarters for a turn. Holidays turn into a revenue stream as cousins feed coins into your machine.
Returns on investment are good — residual returns are better.
That only happens when you own the machine.
The game changes when you stop playing on someone else’s.
When should you build on someone else’s land?
Brand partnerships. When you partner with another brand, you’re not giving your message away — you’re borrowing equity and sharing it with a new audience.
I worked with a plumber who landed a segment alongside Mike Rowe. It took some hustle and connections to make it happen, but the payoff was lasting — a polished brand asset tied to one of the most respected names in the trades. That clip lives on his site in perpetuity, giving every future customer a reason to trust his work before they even call.
Influencer and user-generated content work for that reason. Niche audiences listen to their gatekeepers, and if you’re a company in a specific industry, odds are there are creators who’ve built entire followings around your product or service.
Their opinions matter — and their audiences act.
That reach comes with a bonus: many of these creators are videographers, strategists, and designers in their own right. Frame the contract well, and you’re getting agency-level content tied to an aligned audience — with usage rights that last forever.
It takes strategy and communication, but it’s in your wheelhouse. Borrowed land can build real equity when it’s intentional.
Ownership ensures you have leverage
It all comes back to leverage. Ray Kroc didn’t win because he flipped better burgers — he won because he owned the ground everyone else stood on.
The tools, platforms, and partnerships available today are powerful but they’re rented lanes.
These companies change the rules whenever it suits them, and you’re left scrambling unless you’ve built something of your own.
Ownership isn’t about being isolationist. It’s about deciding what pillars of your brand can never be ripped out from under you — your site, your content, your audience, your list.
The question isn’t whether to rent or to own.
The question is: what part of your media strategy is non-negotiable?