7 self storage marketing ideas you can try right now
By Anna Roberts
Published 1 year ago
Your company without marketing is like a man looking for love, refusing to talk to anyone.
Unless you put your business out there, how on earth are you going to find someone willing to use your services?
You don't have to be a total marketing pro to get started. There are some basic tactics you can implement that will attract customers.
All you need is the willingness to put some effort in and the drive to keep going.
Your self storage business deserves attention. You've put the energy and effort in to get it where it is today - you just have to make the next step to push it even further.
People need storage, and you have the solution to help them.
In this article, we cover the likes of social media, video, PR opportunities, and special offers; and we'll do a whole other article dedicated to the marketing giant that is Google !
In the meantime, win customers with these actionable marketing ideas today!
Table of contents
- Be helpful with social media
- Engage your audience with video
- Create a website design that maximises sales
- Partner with local businesses
- Make use of PR opportunities
- Hold special offers and compelling incentives
- Try self storage comparison sites
- Key takeaways
- FAQs
1. Be helpful with social media
Ads on social media are crucially important - and something we covered in our other blog post.
But what about the social media part without ads? The organic bit?
It's true, organic social media isn't as vital for self storage businesses as other elements. However, it still can be useful. It all just depends on how you use the platforms.
Facebook, for example, is an excellent place where you can include all the essential information about your site.
You can include on Facebook:
● Your location
● Reviews
● Opening and closing times
● Offers and incentives
Twitter can be an excellent place to respond to questions and use it as a line to talk to customers about any queries they might have.
Just accept that it's not going to be a place with a huge, engaged following, but it is a direct line to people and is worth setting up and keeping afloat.
Focus on delivering value to people's lives, being authentic, and you can't go wrong.
2. Engage your audience with video
You can use video to help, explain, and market your self storage business.
You can upload videos on YouTube and embed them across your website on different pages. For example, any sales pages, informational pages, and about us pages too!
Users are watching videos more than ever, with views doubling since 2018.
Videos are effective because they can be more engaging than text. They require less effort on the user's part.
It's also becoming such a norm in people's internet experience that it can almost be expected. TikTok, for example, is the fastest-growing content sharing platform and is based entirely on video.
OK, but what does this look like for a self storage business?
Here are a few ideas you can initially try:
● A tour of the self storage facility
● A guide on understanding sizes
● An overview of a new customer's experience
● A guide on how to pack your self storage facility
● How to best pack a car with items to place in a storage facility
● Meet the team posts
● Fun features around national days of celebration
These are all videos that are designed to help and will give customers a much clearer idea of how things work.
You don't need fancy equipment to start with either. Just your phone and some basic editing software or apps, and you're good to go!
3. Create a website design that maximises sales
Your website will be the main touchpoint where people enquire about self storage.
76% of people used web-based enquiries in 2021 when contacting about self storage. This is an increase from 69% the previous year and is expected to increase further.
You therefore need to ensure the design of your website maximises sales.
Think of it like a shop. If people were to enter somewhere and there was a poor layout, rude staff, and old shabby decor - it's not going to take long for someone to leave.
But if they go in and they're greeted with genuinely helpful staff, the goods were set up in a way that made sense, and on top of that, the shop smelled good and looked nice - then chances of a sale are greatly improved.
How does this translate to web design?
We could do a whole other post on this, but here are some key things to keep in mind:
● Optimise design for mobile
● Have clear calls to action (CTAs)
● Include good-quality images
● Make sure site navigation makes sense
● Include online booking '3 even a simple link to your Explorage.com listing can help capture that customer conversion.
4. Partner with local businesses and organisations
Connecting with other local businesses and organisations can lead to a huge amount of potential customers.
In your area, other companies will be related to what you do. You can reach out to them and ask if they would be willing to have some flyers in-store or recommend your services to people. You can sponsor local sports teams or charities, and even offer short term spare space as part of a community engagement campaign.
Think about who your audience is and why they use self storage.
Here are a few common reasons:
● Home renovators are 3x more likely to use self storage than others
● 72% of self storage users are between 40-70 years old
● Divorced or separated people have a higher chance of using self storage
Use this to think about businesses in your area you can reach out to and partner with.
For example, to reach the home renovators market, you can contact DIY or furniture stores.
For recently divorced, you can try family solicitors.
For 40 year olds, you might consider sponsoring a local teenage football team where their kids might go.
This is a great way to get the word out and is relatively cost-effective!
5. Make use of PR opportunities
Don't get scared by the word PR.
PR stands for public relations and simply means an activity that creates and maintains awareness through positive public perception.
These can range from big public stunts to simple sponsorships.
A notable example is when Rishi Sunak first competed against Liz Truss as the next British Prime Minister.
When he initially lost, a UK job search company used a billboard on a van at Westminster with Rishi Sunak's face with the words 'Didn't get the job?'.
This caught media attention and was reported widely. It was effectively free advertising (minus the cost of the billboard and van) that got the company's name out there.
Now you don't have to go as big as that!
A few ideas you could make use of are:
● Sponsoring a local sporting event.
● Reach out to charities and offer your services to them. For example, any local flooding could use a storage company's help. It's also just a nice thing to do.
● Hold an auction for unwanted goods from left behind storage and donate the money.
If you've got a creative mind, you can brainstorm all sorts of ideas.
6. Hold special offers and compelling incentives
Offers and incentives can catch potential customers' attention and compel them to make a purchase.
It's a great tactic for new customers.
You effectively give a unique deal to someone so they make use of that special saving.
For example, for recently divorced people, you could offer 50% off for the first 4 weeks of use (you could also get a bit of cheeky PR out of this too).
Or how about for new customers, 99p for the first two weeks, followed by 50% off for the next two weeks.
Once they're using your service, they're much more likely to stay longer term than get up and move their stuff again.
You then want to get the word out about these deals.
Put out ads on Facebook and Google. Try email, billboards, or even your local news website.
7. Try a self storage marketplace
Many customers look to online marketplaces and comparison sites for most other aspects of their lives, from travel to car leasing, insurance to mortgages; so it makes sense to get listed on a self storage version so you can reach a wide audience range too 24/7.
These sites are used by a customer during their research stage and are particularly useful to those customers looking for storage out of office hours. This is often the time when they have a free moment to investigate their options and are most susceptible to making a booking whilst it is front of mind.
It's not all about price. A good self storage marketplace (such as Explorage.com ud83dude09), understands that customers consider a range of options when booking self storage, and often their decision comes down to a blend of convenience, security and price. They will therefore help you to showcase your storage facility in its best light, giving the customer as much information as they need to confidently reserve a storage unit there and then. This means you have a customer, who has not only shown an interest in storage, but who has actually committed to moving in.
It gets your company in front of the right eyes very easily.
Just make sure your offering is competitive, you create a compelling listing - showcasing what makes your facility great, and you will yield excellent results.
Tip: Bear in mind not all storage marketplaces are created equal. Some are quite literally a pre-paid online directory; think advertising your guest house in the Yellow Pages vs on Booking.com.
Key takeaways
Which ideas are you going to try out first?
You should have at least one or two tactics you can try right away!
Let's recap what we've gone over:
● Use social media to connect with potential customers and provide helpful information.
● Engage your audience through video, which can be more visually appealing and attention-grabbing than text alone.
● Design your website with the goal of maximising sales, such as by including clear calls to action and making the booking process easy and convenient.
● Partner with local businesses and organisations to reach a wider audience and potentially offer mutual benefits.
● Take advantage of PR opportunities to get media attention and increase brand awareness.
● Offer special offers and compelling incentives to attract new customers.
● Consider using self storage marketplaces or comparison sites to showcase your offerings and reach a relevant audience.
FAQs
How can I promote my self storage business?
You have key strategies available to you to promote your self storage business. These include:
● Know your audience
● Use Google ads
● Maps optimisation
● Website SEO
● Facebook ads
● Email marketing
● Social media
● Videos
● Website design
● Partner with local business and organisations
● PR opportunities
● Special offers
● Self storage marketplaces or comparison sites
How do I get more storage customers?
The best thing you can do is to fully learn what your audience wants and deliver this to them.
Make sure your offering is competitive, and use special offers and incentives to bring in new customers.
Try a referral system for customers to bring in more.
Stay creative and keep trying new things. Once you've found what works, keep doing it and improving along the way.
