TSSA 2024 Marketing Workshop - Part 2

TSSA 2024 Marketing Workshop Pt. 2

Your operations are the foundation of your storage business.

In this part 2 session, Tommy and Darby covered the topics they didn't have time to get to during the workshop at the TSSA Big Ideas Conference in Austin. For this 2-hour session, be sure that you have your Google Business Profile sign-in info readily available, and you'll find links to the session workbook and slides below should you need them.

How to optimize your Google Business Profile
Using community-based marketing to stand out from the competition
Enhancing your grassroots marketing tactics with social media
Other experimental marketing tactics that may be worth a try

Featured Speakers: Tommy Nguyen & Darby Bozeman

Aired: November 20, 2024
Duration: 2:00:46

Overview

If you don't have time to watch the whole session, here are some of our favorite parts:

At 3:30, our experts talked about the features of your Google Business Profile that matter most.
6:50, they started reviewing real examples of storage facility Google Business Profiles.
Starting at 20:00, they highlighted what makes a good business description on your profile.
At 23:20, our experts shared the different types of contact info you should include on your profile.
29:30, they talked about how to optimize the locations and areas section of your business profile.
Around 34:00, they discussed how to adjust your office and access hours on your profile.
At 40:00, our experts highlighted extras you can add to your profile depending on your facility.
47:30, they started sharing how to access your reviews, respond to them, and get more.
Starting at 1:00:40, they covered how to create a review link and make a QR code with it.
Around 1:08:30, our experts walked through the importance of using grassroots marketing to stand out.
1:11:55, they discussed using community involvement to stand out from the REITs.
Starting at 1:16:55, our experts highlighted real operator examples of grassroots marketing in action.
At 1:20:00, they shared how to start a review program at your business.
1:28:50, they highlighted the steps to starting a referral program to bring in more renters.
Around 1:32:50, our experts started digging into experimental marketing tactics you can try once your basics are covered.
At 1:50:40, they quickly review the vitals you should keep an eye on while marketing for your business.

Carol Mixon-Krendl

SkilCheck

Website: https://www.skilcheck.com/
Email: carol@skilcheck.com

Hailey Teal

Jenkins Organization

Website: https://www.jenkinsorg.com/
Email: hailey@jenkinsorg.com

Resources from this session

Awesome Quotes

“Once your operation is in place, you can become more dynamic with your pricing, but that requires data. You need some method of being able to record the data that you need to know whether your price is in the right place - whether you need to move it up or start giving some concessions.” - Warren Lieberman

“I never want to downplay to what someone else is doing. I'm better than they are, then I'm going to be worth a higher price. That's what value is. If you go out to a restaurant and get really good service, would you go back? Yes! What if it was pricier? You'd still go back because you got better service and a better product.” - Jim Mooney

"It's good to be informed on your competition. I don't want to ignore them, but I don't want to respond too strongly to them either." - Warren Lieberman

"We did a survey of 10,000 facilities on their pricing. We found out that two-thirds of those operators didn't change the price of a single unit of the course of a month." - Warren Lieberman

“Rate increases and value pricing are the number one ways to grow your revenue.” - Jim Mooney

"Tenants in more convenient units tend to be less price sensitive." - Warren Lieberman

"The size of the unit is only one aspect of what people are willing to pay for." - Warren Lieberman

Highlights

Foundational marketing strategies to have in place - whether leasing up or stabilized:

Website
Set up listings (Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps)
Social Media
Establish Local Partnerships

Lease up marketing strategies:

Lead Generating Strategies (like digital ads)
Aggregators (Sparefoot, Storagefront, etc.)
Awareness Campaigns (like billboards, flyers, and sponsorships)

Your average customer value
Find the average stay length of all tenants. Next take your economic occupancy and divide by how many units you have. That will tell you what the average customer pays.

Multiply the average length of stay by what the average customer pays, and that's the average value of a customer.

For example, if a customer stays for 12 months and pays $100 per month, then their value is $1,200.

Your average lead value

Figure out your closing rate (or conversion rate) i.e. how many leads do you turn into tenants? Multiply that by your average customer lifetime value to figure out what your leads are worth.

Pro Tip: see which lead sources are converting the best. It may be that certain sources have a higher conversion rate, so those leads are worth more to you than a source that barely converts.

Typical Lease-up timeline

According to our panelists, it's typical to see a 3-4% increase each month, putting your facility at 36% after the first year, and 72% after the second.

Alternately, you can look at your lease up goals through the lens of your units, aiming for 20 units rented per month.

For Nick and StorageMax, they pro forma their economic occupancy at 85% with their sweet spot at 92%.