arketing is all the activities, promotions, service programs, and advertising, both traditional and digital, we undertake to create awareness of our storage property and to bring in qualified prospects to rent our spaces.
Planning for the right mix of advertising and store originated marketing activities that will produce the needed results can be challenging at best; no one wants to spend any more money than necessary to have the desired occupancy shown in the proforma. Making sure we pay attention to the source for each customer, watching industry trends, and observing which programs are effective for other storage operators can be instrumental in the success of the store. Today we are seeing numerous operators turn their focus to digital marketing due to the benefits of its low cost, ease of use, and ability to locate targeted groups easily online. Most self-storage operators have high-speed internet access at their facilities and webcams and speakers on the store computers, as well as smartphones that can capture high-quality photos and videos with the touch of a button. With these valuable tools, we can reach out into the world and clearly define to whom we market and what our specialized offer will be for each of the special groups.
Large or small, brand-new or older properties, we are all in need of a constant stream of inquiries to grow or maintain occupancy and keep rates as high as possible. Community events and grassroots marketing in your neighborhood can do just that while lowering your cost per lease (CPL). In 2023, Universal Storage Group’s (USG) managers made an average of 49,462 marketing messages per store per year, or 4,122 per month average.
Marketing strategies encompass a range of actions: outgoing calls, emails, visits, on-site events, social media posts, club meetings, expos, off-site networking, social media reach, and referrals. Despite 2023 results remaining below USG’s pre-COVID benchmarks, USG has seen notable year-over-year improvements. By the end of 2022, USG’s average cost per lease across the entire portfolio stood at $81.45, which USG observes as significantly outperforming CPLs of other top operators.
As experts guiding the public in storage solutions, we’re witnessing abundant opportunities everywhere. Engaging with the community doesn’t just enhance operational profitability but also elevates personal satisfaction when involving family, friends, and neighbors. This isn’t the moment to scale back on sharing your narrative; it’s time to ensure that everyone in your community is acquainted with you and your self-storage facility. USG’s approach involves Zoom meetings, Constant Contact, emails, Facebook posts, and in-person marketing visits. These multifaceted efforts aim to immerse us deeply on a local level. It’s up to each of us to generate our own on-site traffic from the community to enhance our web presence and online efforts.
USG utilizes these four tools for its grassroots marketing and its managers’ personal marketing goals (PMG):
- Community involvement
- Visits to all local retail and institutions/organizations
- Follow-up and market electronically
- Host events the community is interested in attending
USG sets a goal for each type of activity and then tracks its results.
Here’s a list of more than 20 events/items USG finds to be very successful if planned properly (at least 120 days or more in advance) and executed according to plan:
- Customer appreciation week
- Grand opening
- Local media
- Press releases
- Chamber of Commerce
- Business after-hours
- Ribbon cutting
- Yard sale
- Apartment managers drop-in
- Drive-thru haunted house
- Seasonal displays
- Lunch & Learns
- Coffee and donut tours
- Starving artists show
- Car show
- Pumpkin patch
- Green market
- VIP tours and reception
- Wine tasting
- Pet adoption/vaccination events
- Small business presentations
- Blood drive
- Car wash
- Charity event
- Local club(s) meetings
- Community and networking events
Here is the list of those whom you need to visit weekly, doing about 10 to 20 per week, or about two hours per week outside of the office, making quick visits and dropping off some sort of goody to each one along with your referral cards so that you are adding at least 40 to 80 new contacts to your email database each month. Don’t forget to sell to your competitors and share referrals with them when they are full on a particular size and when you have an exclusive size or product type. Groups to target include:
- Apartments, real estate offices, moving companies, building managers, BOMA, IREM, apartment associations, Home Builders Association
- Doctors, dentists, chiropractors, other medical professionals
- Title companies, CPAs, attorneys, banks
- Service businesses, local retailers, interior designers
- Distribution, manufacturers’ reps, truck-based businesses
- Schools, universities, large employers, hospitals
- Chamber members, other club members
- Non-profit organizations, government agencies
- Dealers of RVs, boats, motorcycles, and other motorized vehicles
- Homeowners associations, trailer parks
- Crisis centers, insurance companies, fire and disaster clean-up companies
- Churches and synagogues
Once you have visited each of these, make sure you get a business card and contact from each one. When you get back to your office, make sure to add them to your email database for announcements about your upcoming on-site events or “Business of the Month” program.
Most of us are members of our local chambers of commerce, but how involved are we in the monthly activities and events? When possible, are you attending every possible meeting to exchange business cards, meet new members, and have breakfast with other local businesses? If not, get out there. This is the logical first place to start participating. If your store is new or recently added a new phase or remodeled your office, now is the perfect time to host the chamber’s Business After-Hours and show off your product. Do they have your materials available to hand out to newcomers or those visiting the chamber offices? Make sure they do; and if you pay a referral fee, make sure you express this idea to the staff and leave them plenty of referral cards.
- Having a team focused on sales and customer service
- Knowing the year-to-date numbers
- Gathering marketing and demographic data about each customer at move-in
- Belonging to your local chamber of commerce
- Having an annual budget and income goals
- Setting monthly goals for outgoing calls, personal visits to local businesses, and marketing (send out marketing letters and other mailings/advertisements and emails)
- Having a viable PPC (pay-per-click) website advertising program and budget
- Making sure your software marketing choices match the actual events and programs you currently have in place
USG’s 2022 traffic sources (Chart 10.1) have proven the importance of each section or activity in contributing to the total results. Knowing the various demographics and profiles of customers assists in fine-tuning budgets each year to achieve the lowest possible lease cost but the highest possible amount of new renters.
What age groups is your store attracting? This will vary by location, as those nearest a college or university or military base will vary greatly from USG’s portfolio average shown in Chart 10.3.
Knowing what they store and why they are choosing your location and product is at the very heart of marketing. Without this information, you could be spending money and effort on programs that are not in tune with your customer base. See Chart 10.4.
Chart 10.5 proves that price is not the most important reason customers choose you; it is location and services/management.
Chart 10.6 shows the importance of knowing why they need storage. This should give you ample sources to market to that are involved with moving or small businesses.
Chart 10.7 demonstrates the significance of marketing to small businesses and retailers needing storage solutions.
There should not be a day that goes by that you don’t take some kind of marketing action. Send an email or several hundred, create some clever social media videos to share with your followers, make some outgoing calls to generate visits to the site, mail some letters or postcards to some target groups that need your product, and visit at least one local business on the way to and/or from the bank each day.
Use your digital sign to promote one of your customers or their business in addition to your own specials and the time and temperature. That really keeps the locals looking at your sign. Create an e-newsletter you email to everyone on your contact list from all the cards you gather at meetings and events and to the membership of all the clubs and groups to which you belong. Feature some fundraising news, a special customer or business, and show photographs or videos of how they use your storage property to run their business more efficiently; be sure to include a testimonial or quote. Show the logos of all the groups and associations you belong to as well. Photos, videos, and logos help you build credibility with your audience far beyond what thousands of words can do.
Just get out there weekly and spread the word; it is easy, costs very little, and produces big benefits for you and your store.
These are samples of USG’s neighborhood board with built in business card and brochure holders. These help the facilities USG manages showcase their community marketing efforts and the contacts they have made during their visits each week to local businesses. Customers love when managers can provide them a business card of a local supplier that they are interested in using. The businesses love it since it is free advertising for them.
