iven the slowdown of the storage industry in late 2023 and 2024, it is time to get back to marketing basics and the ground war that made many of our sites stand out from the others. Just about all small and large operators embrace today’s internet and SEOs to drive traffic for rentals. This internet marketing has worked for all of us, but now is the time to stand out from the other competitors with grassroots marketing. What do I mean? Hit the streets and knock on the doors of apartment complexes, retailers, assisted living communities, nursing homes, and others.

Boots on the ground marketing has become a lost art driven away by the internet. Why not have the best of all worlds and add additional business from a couple hours of weekly marketing to the area businesses when many of the competitors are asleep at the wheel? I get calls from clients each week complaining about the drop off in rentals; when I ask what they are doing to market their sites, I’m met with silence. I ask what they have done to invest back into the community and the answer is usually nothing. Well, there you have it. In the old days, before the internet, the site’s success was often tied to direct marketing, flyers, broker breakfasts, high school sponsorships, etc. These efforts made the difference in rentals. Now, with a slowdown and an oversupply of storage, grassroots marketing (and being able to grab any rental possible without giving severe discounts) is a must for today’s success.

I currently use this grassroots marketing for my sites, and we have not decreased in occupancy but instead increased as we started in early 2024. Our revenues are higher by a large margin over 2023, with no end in site based on the successful marketing campaign. Many businesses and apartment communities have said, “I’m glad there is still a storage company that wants our business, and since you are the first one to show, your site will get all the referrals.” We are in the process of contacting the local high school to sponsor a site banner with a special QR code that can be scanned for a special discount on available units. We will be using door hangers in the ZIP codes where the largest share of our renters come from for rentals. We also data mine our tenants for constant referrals, offer their friends a waived administrative fee or free lock for renting (95 percent of the time they take the free lock), and give a one-time credit to the existing tenant based on the unit size rented (from $25 to $100). This strategy has worked like a charm in drawing tenants away from competitors as they’re tired of getting two or three rent increases a year. The tenants then tell their friends from the previous storage site, and we make out like a bandit.

Want a quick acid test of how well located your site is by name and location in your three-mile radius? Go to various businesses and ask them if they’ve ever heard of your site; if they cannot answer, you have failed at your local investment and/or grassroots marketing efforts. This is where most storge has failed to keep up, thinking the investment could not slip as far as it had in 2024. Name recognition is everything in today’s market. Forget about competing with the REITs and large regional players by internet SEO presence alone. You can compete against them with grassroots marketing; they are not going to be hitting the streets, and this is where the difference is made in a soft market. My management company competes against the REITs in smaller markets; we advertise at all levels and have always done it that way, but this year required a new start and we are glad we did.

A slow spell is no time to cut the sites’ advertising budget; you must increase it to keep in front of the consumer. Your site is the one you want to be recommended by apartment managers, nursing home attendents, retailers, etc. With consistent visits each week, unless the manager is grumbly, the marketing return should pay off quickly.

These marketing visits are not one and done; they are a weekly activity to boost a relationship with the employees sending prospective tenants your way. Have the manager document where/when they went, whom they visited, and what was discussed as far as an offer. Marketing can be tracked through marked flyers with a number that the tenant must bring in for a special discount. When the manager tracks the marketing return by a numbered flyer, they can thank the referrer with a gift basket, cash referral if allowed, movie ticket, a pizza, a box of donuts, or something else. If you find out you have a super star referral person sending business the site’s way, make sure to recognize their effort, not stop in its tracks. This is not the time to get pennywise and pound foolish, or the business will disappear.

If the site’s move-in volume has dwindled, give the above ideas a try. You might just be surprised at the results! Use a five-point marketing plan, going to a particular area’s businesses each week on a certain day and following up the next week. Drop off pens, flyers, magnets for move-in packages, etc. Make a special flyer for real estate offices that can be tracked and offer to sponsor an office breakfast meeting to explain the benefits of decluttering a home for listing. These strategies will not work unless there is consistent follow up.

Let’s hope that the interest rates drop in the fall to allow for increased home sales and commercial expansion to return to the days of past. In the meantime, hit the streets and get back to grassroots marketing. It may be the difference between making a profit and losing money. Good luck!