June 3, 2025
Marketing your self storage facility takes trial and error.
But that doesn’t mean you have to lose time and money on a marketing campaign that doesn’t work. New operators and experts in the self storage industry both ask the same question throughout their journey: how can I avoid marketing mistakes for my self storage facility?
See our list of self storage marketing mistakes to avoid and avoid these common pitfalls.
Have you optimized your website and Google Business Profile?
Your self storage business started with an outcome in mind. Maybe you have a notebook full of ideas to get you there. Maybe you’re following the latest trend on LinkedIn. Either way, don’t skip the basics. Investing time and money without first building a strong digital foundation is a quick way to lose both.
What should I focus on first in self storage marketing? Your website and Google Business Profile are the backbone of your self storage marketing efforts. Build them up before you do anything else.
If a potential customer landed on your website, they got there looking for a place to rent a storage unit. The plain and simple: none of your marketing efforts matter if leads can’t make a purchase. Before you run ads, before you even think about a marketing campaign, you need a website where they can easily rent a unit.
Send a signal to renters: you’re a local who knows local terms. Better still, send a signal to Google that you’re near the places you’re next to. When people search “storage units near me,” you need to show up! Those are your renters. This is especially true if you’re in a big city–ranking for the area of town you’re in is more important than ranking for the city overall.
Before anything else about your facility, a potential customer will probably see your Google Business Profile. Does it have good photos? Reviews? Office hours and business information? If not, searchers will pass right by. But if you’re rushing to throw your GBP together today, remember that Google needs time to discover it. Building your online presence doesn’t happen overnight. If you launch your GBP a day before your storage facility, expect slow traffic for a while.
Does your GBP list your Services? Are your Q&As set up to highlight your best amenities? Are your Products–your units–listed? Special Business Attributes like tagging your business as veteran-owned or woman-owned up-to-date? And most importantly, have you linked to a Local Landing Page? If your GBP isn’t sending traffic to your website, it’s not serving you as well as it could. Check out our GBP playbook to dig deeper on GBP optimization.
And remember: respond actively to every review on your GBP with tact and professionalism. It doesn’t just signal to Google that you’re legit–it tells potential renters they can trust you.
Customers either like what they see…or don’t. Up-to-date photos show a customer that you pay attention to your business and stay active, that you deliver a legitimate product. Outdated or stock photos tell the opposite story. Not sure where to start? Our photography and videography guide can hook you up with pointers.
Potential customers get to your website–and then leave.
Ever tried to carry water in a leaky bucket? You might wonder why you have the bucket at all. Your website’s no different. It’s clear that in today’s digital world, you need a website. But why you need it matters. The answer to that affects the entire purpose behind your web design.
Why is web design important for self storage marketing? It’s true your self storage marketing efforts need to drive traffic to your website. But your website’s main job is to convert leads into renters.
In the self storage industry, some websites have a conversion rate as low as 1%. For every 100 visitors, that means 1 will rent. Even if your conversion rate’s higher, look at it this way: out of the pool of people landing on your website, you have a chance with a small number of them.
A confusing website layout or one that isn’t focused on conversion gets people to land on your page…and then leave. You do want traffic – it’s the first step toward a rental. Even if you’re getting a ton of traffic but no rentals, you’re not making money. Don’t get too focused on non-conversion factors like how big your logo is. The most important thing is converting leads to renters, and that means putting your units front and center. It means a smooth rental process that takes no time at all. And it means a clear, clean display of everything you offer at a glance.
You have a steady flow of renters. Your facility’s reaching capacity and rental rates are right for demand. You’re making money, but your low website traffic’s keeping you up at night. What changes need to be made? What can you do? Let’s be brutally honest–you don’t make money on clicks and impressions. Traffic is important, it gets you renters. But if your marketing campaign’s working, don’t let website traffic numbers fool you into thinking it’s not. Or worse, getting sold on a marketing company purely on your traffic numbers. Your measure of success is units rented, plain and simple.
Focus on a website that builds trust, educates leads, and converts them. If you’re sure that’s working as intended, remember that spending money on ads that target the wrong audience (people that don’t need your service, people who live too far away, or people who can’t afford you) sends traffic to your website that has no chance of turning into a rental.
Half of users searching for self storage did so using a smartphone in 2023, according to the SSA Demand Study. With e-commerce only getting bigger, ignoring how your website navigates on a smartphone’s a devastating mistake. Just like any shopper won’t stick around for a clunky website, that’s true even for a new website that isn’t optimized for a smartphone. You want your website to load quickly, with headers and navigation built for a smartphone display. Your web designer can craft your website intentionally to make this happen for you. Are they?
From consistency issues to not having a game plan–it’s not running smoothly.
Getting the ball rolling on your self storage marketing efforts takes inspiration and perspiration. Once you’ve got everything in place, does that mean you’re done? Don’t trip at the finish line. Your operations need constant check-ins and adjustments.
How do my self storage operations affect my self storage marketing campaigns? Inconsistency and lack of follow-through can stop your marketing efforts dead in their tracks. Confused customers won’t take a chance with your business.
Pay attention to your online presence and what leads get when they try to rent from you. Google yourself from time to time to see what leads actually see. Mystery shop on your website–that means trying to rent a unit from yourself–to make sure the process is easy and isn’t confusing. Go a step further and mystery shop over the phone or in-person. If you don’t audit your operations, you won’t know where the weak points are. And in the self storage business, the weak points mean lost revenue.
Without keeping track of your marketing efforts, there’s no telling what’s working and what isn’t. Meet with your marketing person or company periodically, and at regular intervals. If you single-handedly run your marketing efforts, are you setting aside time to evaluate them? Do you have proper tracking set up for your paid ads? You’re spending money on these tactics–and knowing what’s working and what isn’t gives you fuel for your next attempt. So whenever you try out a new idea, ask yourself first whether or not you can track the results. Workshop the marketing campaign until you can. Most importantly, analyzing your data tells you where your leads are actually coming from. If a platform isn’t serving you leads, you can stop spending money on it, or adjust your spend.
A phone call from a potential customer means a targeted exchange of active listening and proactive motion towards your sales goal. Your top priorities are to get that lead’s contact info, get them to rent a unit, or get them to come tour. But what’s your process for doing that? If you’re hoping to find the answer to that mid-call, you may not be moving those leads along in your sales process. If your manager handles calls, do they have a process? Is that process consistent across multiple managers? Without a gameplan, leads turn into missed opportunities because of missing contact information.
Oh, and pick up the phone when a lead calls. No explanation needed, right?
Customers want everything quick and simple. That means your promos and discounts need to be understood effortlessly, with no time wasted rereading them. It means managers need the correct information and messaging for common customer and lead questions. And it means consistent messaging and branding across all platforms and channels. Not just your website–your social media, your signage, everything. The worst pitfall for consistency is assumption. If you assume everyone’s on the same page, how can you be sure? Train new managers on your messaging, train existing managers whenever something changes for your branding or messaging, and double-check how you’re presenting yourself across every platform.
Your attention’s somewhere–just not the right place.
If you have to choose between likes on social media or actually getting renters, it’s clear which one serves you best. Building your brand has advantages, but an expert operator knows vanity metrics for what they are: a distraction from your goal.
How should I spend my self storage marketing budget? Stretch goals come after everything else is running perfectly. If there’s room to improve your marketing efforts, focus there first!
How much money a month do you get from 10 renters? How much from 10 followers on social media? Getting a huge social media following might put your brand out there, but converting leads offers a much more tangible benefit. Return on investment matters. Sure, it’s fun to go viral. But does going viral outside your neighborhood do you any good?
The 2023 SSA Demand Study tells us that about 4% of renters’ first contact came from a social media site–combined. 18% came from a search engine.
Your Google Ads are set up and running. But you’re not tracking them, or you’re tracking the wrong thing. It’s tempting to think an ad’s working just because someone landed on your website. But if you’re tracking just traffic, you’re missing out on the big picture. Tracking which leads actually rented is more useful in our industry. But you can go deeper. If your rental software lets you integrate fully with Google Analytics, you can see where in the process a lead gave up. Over time, that tells you what needs adjusting.
Even with proper tracking, it’s important to target the right keywords. For example, Google results for “RV parking” include campgrounds–which means it’s putting your ads in front of someone who isn’t looking for RV storage. It’s not enough to just spend the money–if the wrong people click your ads, you’ve spent money for nothing.
Renters aren’t travelling over an hour to rent from you, no matter how great a facility you are. Learn who your renters are by tracking data and talking to existing customers. Sometimes you’ll uncover renters from outside your neighborhood because they work near your facility–are they an outlier or part of a bigger trend? Decide who you’re convenient for and what area of town they’re from. It takes a bit of trial and error to get this part right. But once you have some renters in the door, you’ll start to get an understanding of where they live and their backgrounds. Look for what they have in common in demographics and what drew them to your storage facility in the first place–it could become your next marketing campaign.
Is your website ranking for keywords that don’t matter? Ask yourself what a customer’s actually searching to land on your website. You’re not one of the big chains, so thinking big shouldn’t take priority over thinking local. Being on page 1 matters–and showing up in the local pack matters. But if your website’s converting renters, does hitting rank 1 in a Google Search get you anything? Against a big chain, rank 1 means spending as much as them–that might be money you don’t have. No sweat. You can beat them in different ways: lots of reviews, grassroots marketing, and a solid referral program.
Marketing mistakes can sink your ability to attract or convert leads--but you can stop them ahead of time! Reevaluate your marketing campaigns with new knowledge. Launch new campaigns that work smarter, not harder. Your self storage business was meant to thrive!
