Section 7 • Marketing Approximately 21 percent of business customers


reported first learning about the facility they rented while driving by it, as seen in Table 7.4. Friends, fam- ily, and coworker referrals accounted for nearly 16 percent of business customers learning about the facility. Surprisingly, nearly 13 percent of business cus- tomers did not know how they first learned about the facility.


Listing in phone book/Yellow Pages (name, address, and phone number of company only)


In terms of technology, 11.1 percent learned about the facility


from its website, while 7.5 percent used a search engine to find it. Only 5.8 percent utilized online reviews, and 5.3 percent learned about the facility via social media. And 5.1 percent learned about their facility of choice by means of a promotional flier.


 8.4%


Detailed display ad in phone book/Yellow Pages (e.g., a half or full-page ad) Family/friends/co-workers word-of-mouth


Saw self storage facility while driving to/from home/work Flyer – promotional brochure


Online – Google, Bing or other general search engine Online – reviews


Online – social media site (Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.) Online – website aggregators (pulls together multiple sites) Online – self storage facility or related website Other


Don’t know Source: 2017 Self Storage Demand Study (SSA) 3.5%


15.7% 21.0% 5.1% 7.5% 5.8% 5.3% 2.7% 11.1% 1.1%


12.9%


Making The Decision While we have looked at how customers find a facility, when all is said and done, what was the most influential means of marketing when making the selec- tion of which facility to use?


According to Chart 7.6, nearly 38 percent of


the customers surveyed reported that driving by the facility was the most influential factor in making a decision to rent there, while 23.8 percent relied on the word of mouth referral of someone they knew.


Technology was the next most persuasive


factor, with 12.6 percent turning to online reviews and 12.3 percent finding an online search engine to be the most influential. Only 6.1 percent found a display ad in a phone book to be a determining factor.


Driving by the facility was most influential for the 60.9 percent of the Greatest Genera-


tion—the highest percentage for this category seen in Table 7.5. Boomers were next in line for drive-by influence at 42.8 percent, and 34.1 percent of Gen-X renters said this was the most influential factor in making their choice. Only 29.3 of millennials were influenced by driving by the facility.


After driving by, millennials were most influence by on-


line reviews; nearly 20 percent of this age group reported this was the most influential factor. And, while 12.3 percent of Gen-X renters and 9.5 percent of baby boomers agreed, only 1.1 percent of the eldest generation relied on online reviews.


For the Greatest Generation, 36.5 percent were most in-


fluenced by a referral from someone they knew. Nearly 29 percent of the surveyed baby boomers found this to be the most influential, and 19.9 percent of Gen-X renters agreed. Only 19.2 percent of millennials found word of mouth refer- rals to be influential.


Of the business customers surveyed, 29.2 percent stated


that driving by the facility was the most influential factor for them, as seen in Table 7.6. More than 24 percent found a word of mouth reference to be most influential, while 16.5 percent relied on online reviews. It is interesting to note that more than any other renter group, business customers found online aggregators to be influential (8.5 percent).


84 Self-Storage Almanac 2018


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