Whether you are getting ready to open your brand new storage facility or looking to increase occupancy at an existing one, you have many avenues to consider.
Self storage businesses can be very successful if they are marketed correctly, but they can also tank without the right marketing strategies.
Luckily, you have a lot of “been-there-done-that” businesses to learn from, so why reinvent the wheel?
Successful storage facilities follow the same consistent techniques that are proven to work, and so should you.
Here are five sure-fire marketing strategies to help you increase occupancy at your self storage facility and ensure you have a successful business.
The general recommendation is that your website should be operable long before you open your business.
This gives you time to develop an online presence that will attract customers, build audience excitement for your company, and get people to make reservations before your launch date.
Your early webpage helps you refine your pitch while you collect reservations.
While some people choose to have their website fully active so they can tweak it as needed, others find the excitement of a “coming soon” launch page helps them gauge consumer interest and get early sign-ups.
If you do this right, you might have some occupancy on opening day.
Add a rental process to your web page to give your customers an easy opportunity to make orders and reservations, and check out all in one visit.
This not only helps increase traffic and business, but it saves you time and money because your customers don’t need to go through you or an employee to get the basic experience.
You can have your web developer use your self storage management software's API to rent units in real time!
If you don’t currently have the ability on your site to do this securely, you should get in touch with us or schedule a demo.
Statistics show that people are more convinced to patronize a business if they feel a connection to it.
This is where your story comes in, via your “About” page.
Don’t overlook the importance of this page – people want to know why they should use your services when other companies provide the same exact product, maybe even cheaper.
But when they know your story and feel a connection, they will choose you.
Successful “About” pages are usually short and sweet. Most people do not have the attention span for your whole story.
Give it to them in chunks that are easily digestible, and you can tell the rest later.
Be honest, though – if you are not 100% up and running, let them know so that they will understand if problems show up in your beta testing.
Be sure you hit their emotions, whether you use humor, empathy, or excitement.
Humans remember things better when there is an emotion connected to it, and that’s just basic science.
Many people know they are going to need a storage unit before they actually need it and they will begin calling around or researching facilities early.
If you say, “Sorry, we aren’t open,” you may lose future business.
In the same vein, if your website is not accessible to pre-opening reservations, your potential self storage tenants will go somewhere else.
Facebook advertising is an effective way to target your audience to pinpoint precision.
Using metadata, Facebook can find your target audience for that leftover storage shed by watching for major life events, such as selling a house or moving.
Take some time to learn how Facebook business works and layer your targeting options based on your needs.
The extra couple of hours you put in to the right marketing strategies to increase occupancy at your storage facility today will pay off exponentially later when your units are full.
Then, you can increase your rates and start the process over.
Get in touch with us at StoragePug to learn more about our digital marketing services for self storage — or to schedule a demo.
To read more about my favorite StoragePug features, take a look at:
StoragePug is a modern marketing company for self storage. We create intelligent marketing websites that allow you to rent units & take payments through your facilities' website.
