Marketing • Section 8
circumstances change and their need for storage evolves. To be successful, self-storage operators must effectively add new tenants to fill units as they are vacated. Ideally, the cycle should be as seamless as possible, keeping occupancy rates high and stable month-over-month. To keep the process going, storage owners and operators across the country rely on marketing and advertising to ensure new customers are aware of the storage facility and choose to fill empty units when they are vacated. Well thought out marketing campaigns are vital. The best
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designed plans are geared to a specific, target audience and are expressly crafted to get the message to potential customers via the facility’s preferred media. This puts the onus on the business to know its target audience and understand how to best reach out to this demographic group. It is also important to have a solid understanding
of the self-storage store’s amenities that are most ap- pealing to this target group of customers. For example, business customers may be very receptive to extras such as available conference room space and open work stations for tenants. For other members of the commercial customer category, the decision to rent at a certain site may hinge on the security features uti- lized or the availability of climate-controlled units.
Understanding The Customer Owners and operators who know which specific fea- tures and benefits are most appealing to their target customers can use this information to create cam- paigns that highlight the property’s corresponding amenities. In-depth knowledge of the customer also enables storage professionals to craft a message that is both appealing and enticing to customers. Many experts suggest including a discount coupon or other call to action that can serve to motivate the potential tenant to reach out and contact the business. Assigning individual promotions or phone num-
bers to each campaign can also help owners and operators track their mar- keting efforts. Since advertising can be extremely expensive and is often cited as the number one operational expense for self-storage businesses, many industry professionals feel it is vital to monitor all marketing and ad- vertising expenses as closely as possi- ble. Many use the data to evaluate their marketing plans every year—some operations reevaluate these expenses on a more frequent basis to help opti- mize the marketing budget. Using this type of tracking data, industry professionals can pinpoint
he self-storage business model centers on short-term rent- als. Storage facilities are constantly in flux with tenants moving into and out of the property every month as their
which campaigns are most successful and which fail to produce the desired results. Efforts with the lowest numbers are often discontinued. The corresponding advertising dollars can also be shifted based on the results of the tracking programs, meaning money spent on media or programs deemed less effective can be reallocated to more successful marketing and advertising campaigns. The end goal is to minimize waste and optimize all advertising purchases. Creating excellent marketing and advertising campaigns
requires the right media as well as a thorough understanding of the factors behind a customer’s need for off-site storage. Just as there are many different media owners and operators can choose when putting together a marketing plan, there are also a wide variety of situations driving potential customers to
Chart 8.1 – Information Wanted by Renters
Unit Availability Facility Location Unit Features Other
Unit Sizes Price
0 102030405060708090 Percentage of Renters
Chart 8.2 – Number of Facilities Contacted
Rented From 1st Facility Contacted 53% Contacted More Than 2 Facilities 27% Contacted 1 Additional Facility 19%
Source: 2013 SSA Self Storage Demand Study
100 Source: SSA 2013 Self Storage Demand Study
Chart 8.3 – Number of Facilities Contacted by Region Contacted 1 Additional Facility Contacted More Than 2 Facilities Rented From 1st Facility Contacted 0 Percentage of Renters
10203040506070 Source: SSA 2013 Self Storage Demand Study
2015 Self-Storage Almanac 87
South West
Midwest Northeast
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