As we explore this new online marketing landscape for self storage, you’ll see that it takes a whole new way of looking at how to get customers.
The path to connecting with our client base online is not clear. We have to provide the right information and create enough value for someone to reach out and choose you for self storage
If you like having your marketing strategies delivered to you with exact instructions and tied up with a bow, you’re going to be very disappointed in this new world.
Success in this new marketing paradigm requires constant testing, making changes, and not getting too attached to a particular way of doing things. What works today, won’t tomorrow.
That is a hard lesson for a person like me. I want the know exactly what to do so I can do it and get on to the next thing.
My hope is you have been playing with the Facebook Ad Manager and have seen what the process is for setting up paid Facebook ads. If you haven’t gone through the last three Episodes which walk you through the process, click on the next few links:
Currently, I’m trying a lot of things.
In some markets, I’m running an educational video ad that talks about a particular aspect of our facility that separates us from the competition. These ads also give the viewer useful information. I’m setting them up as campaigns optimized for “Video Views.”
Then I run a “Conversion” campaign to the people who watched more than 25% of the video in that ad.
I am trying this strategy because if I run a Conversion ad to a smaller audience it often doesn’t convert well. The Video Views cost me between $.01 to $.03 per view and let me know who is interested in self storage. The concept behind this is the Conversion ad will then convert at a higher percentage because I can target people that I know have already shown an interest.
It works great in some geographies, not so well in others.
If I am running a conversion campaign that can’t get legs, I have recently started changing the campaign to optimize for “Reach.” Often these “Reach” campaigns are more effective than “Conversions in markets with a smaller audience size.
Landing Pages
Earlier in this series, I showed you that Conversion ads require a specific webpage or URL to link to. This is a place where the conversions are going to happen.
Most marketers use what’s called a landing page. That is a webpage designed to do only one thing. The reader either chooses the offer or declines it. There are no other distractions like multiple options, menu bars or information on other offers.
I like landing pages. Some people call them sales pages or squeeze pages.
The other option is to drive traffic to your website. Is there a page on your site where you want them to take a specific action like reserve or rent a unit? Sometimes that can work.
Even if that is the case, I still think it’s more effective to send the online traffic to a landing page first. They will get more focused information that sets them up to click on a link to that webpage and immediately perform the hoped for action.
Landing Page Software
There are different ways to create landing pages.
You can go to your website provider or you can create them yourself.
I have done both.
In my effort to get a handle on this new marketing world, of course, I learned how to do my own.
There are many applications out there that are simple enough for beginners to use. Some are even free.
I use a product called Leadpages. I like it because:
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It’s easy to use
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There are lots of pre-made landing pages to choose from and customize
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It integrates with my website so the URL address has my domain in it
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They track the page’s performance. I can easily see how many people are clicking on the ad to reach the landing page. I can then compared to how many people are actually filling out the form to accept the offer
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I can choose from already tested pages that have proven to convert.
My recommendation is to use an application like Leadpages instead of trying to build a page from scratch. This allows you to start with landing page template that has already been tested and allow you to track your conversions.
Just like the ads, I can do A/B testing with two slightly different versions of a landing page to see which one works best.
But for now, let’s not overcomplicate it.
Let’s create a single landing page for the fictitious ad that we have been running in Facebook.
In the last episodes, the example was a “First Month Free” ad. If someone claimed the discount coupon they could get their first month free.
The ad will have a call to action (CTA) button. It can say “Learn More” or “Get offer” or whatever you choose.
When the reader clicks on it, it will take them to the landing page.
Not we’ll walk through the process to create one.
All landing page software works slightly differently. Some CRMs also have the capability to create landing pages built in. There are WordPress themes that have this functionality also.
Creating a landing page in Leadpages is a drag and drop process for the most part.
When you log into the platform, you can look at landing page templates in a number of ways. You can sort them by highest converting, industry, or most recent.
I usually combine a general template type, like “eCommerce” or “Lead Capture” and highest converting.
For this example, I’ll use “Lead Capture.”
A simple one is “Audience Building 2.0.”
When you click the template you want to use, you’ll need to name it. Use a naming scheme that allows you to find it easily as you add more landing pages to your list. I name it after the offer and the date.
Next, you get the basic template.
It is critical no matter what type of ad you’re running (information, sales) is to have the landing page and the ad look congruent. Use the same colors, even the same image if you can. Definitely, have the name of the facility on both and the same style and language used in both.
What you don’t want to happen is to have someone click on a Call to Action in an ad then get to a landing page that looks completely different. This usually leaves them wondering if they are where they are supposed to be. The potential customer will most likely immediately leave your landing page and go back to their news feed.
Have them know they are in the right place before they ever read the first word by the appearance.
Here was the pretend ad we created last week.
The goal is to have the landing page be a seamless transition for the person going there.
Let’s get to work.
I can also insert and reorganize the page by adding any element on the left sidebar by dragging and dropping into the page.
I tend not to do that, especially at the top of the page because I chose the page based on previous conversion success.
Again, Leadpages has all the data from each page from all their users, and they organize the pages based on performance. I want to take advantage of that and the more I alter it, the less benefit I get from that.
If you don’t use Leadpages, I highly recommend using a provider that has data and metrics on how their landing pages perform. Copywriting and designing landing pages that convert is an entire industry and business that I find fascinating. But I don’t have time to learn.
I will alter colors to match our facility colors, but I try to keep this to a minimum if I can.
This is a basic landing page and I would probably add more to it. But I wanted to give you a simple example of how you can make a page look like your ad.
For me, the complicated thing here is how to deliver the coupon. For many, it is easy to follow instructions, but it always takes me a while to do so.
In my self storage business, I don’t use an automated client relationship management (CRM) program (such as Infusionsoft or MailChimp) like I do in my self storage coaching business and my real estate business. We use Sitelink at the facility level.
I am testing using marketing automation there as well and setting up email follow-up campaigns for the people who claim the coupon.
For now, I use Leadpages to send one email (a Thank You page) with the coupon attached. You can create this page in Leadpages as well and link it to your landing page. Because the number of responses I get is low (not in the 100’s or 1000’s a large business would generate) I choose the option to get a notification of the contact information of the person who claimed the coupon. This email is sent to the facility manager so they can follow up with them and get them into the facility.
Our managers are trained in sales and know how to turn a lead into a tour, and a tour into a lease.
Here is how I do that with this program.
I open the Call to Action button on the landing page.
Then I edit that with colors and logos.
Next, I go to integrations by clicking the second call to action button.
Here I can choose to connect it to another program, like a CRM, or have a lead notification emailed to someone. To make this simple, today I am going to have the Manager of the facility get a notification of a lead (however, if you get big into this with multiple facilities, I would recommend a CRM at some point. I think I am about there).
Next, I create the delivery of the coupon. This assumes you have created a graphic for the coupon. You upload it into Leadpages. This is a “Lead magnet.” When you click ”Lead magnet” in Leadpages, they will get an email with it attached when they hit the call to action button and fill in their contact information.
You are almost done.
Actually, you could stop here, but Facebook could not track your “conversions”.
You could theoretically see how many people clicked on the ad in the Facebook Ad Manager then go to Leadpages and see how many clicked and claimed it and do the math yourself.
I don’t like to do that. I let Facebook track its effectiveness and Leadpages track their stats.
That way if there is a breakdown and something is not working, it makes it easier for me to see where the breakdown is (and there will be breakdowns). For example, If I have a low conversion rate, I can see if it is the ad, the landing page, or the offer that the audience isn’t responding to.
For example, my Leadpages analytics could show that my landing page is converting at 30% or better (my benchmark target number). If there are low conversions for my ad in Facebook analytics I know that my ad or something I set up in my campaign needs to be addressed.
If the ad performs well (people are clicking on the ad), but the conversion rate on the landing page is 3% (which I have had), it tells me I created a bad landing page.
If the conversion rate is 0, that tells me something is most likely broken or not connected right in the ad or landing page.
If that is the case, usually someone will reach out who wants the offer and lets us know they didn’t get it.
Here is how you can track your effectiveness on Facebook and another reason why Leadpages is so easy to use.
Remember the pixel? The code from Facebook that you are to place on your websites, landing pages, etc. to measure effectiveness?
Well here is how I would use it in this simple Facebook campaign.
You can get your specific Pixel code from the Ad Manager.
If I place the pixel code on this landing page, it would report in the Facebook Ad Manager metrics how many people went form the ad to the landing page.
Interesting, but I don’t need that number using the pixel. I can get it from other analytics in Facebook Ad Manager and from Leadpages.
I want to know how many people claimed my coupon.
I mentioned earlier that people get the coupon on the Thank You page they receive after entering their contact information. If I place the code on that page, I know it’s measuring the metric I’m interested in. Not how many people went to my landing page but how many people claimed the offer.
There are all kinds of simple Leadpages ” Thank You” page templates to choose from. It is another landing page that you can customize or you can choose the “standard” Leadpages thank you page.
Here is an example “Thank You” page. When you click Leadpage Tracking it takes you to a section where you can insert Google Analytics and Facebook tracking codes.
Facebook’s instructions tell you to copy and paste the pixel code and put it in the Head Section of the web page.
This is much easier. You just paste it here.
This is another reason I like this program
This may be way more info than you wanted, but I felt it important to show you that if a guy like me can learn this, anyone can.
At the very least, you’ll know when you talk to someone that wants your online marketing business, you know some of what they will actually be doing.
Don’t Be Afraid of Change
This part of our business is becoming more and more relevant. It will separate the Mom & Pops from the real players. Soon, very soon, Owners who don’t want to learn this or turn it over and hope, will be so far behind they will be irrelevant.
That is my coaching today.
We have the tools to compete with the big players. We just have to use them, or at least understand them.
This industry is evolving fast. As it evolves, the gap between how Owners market and run their facilities, and what information they use to make decisions is changing fast.
As smaller players in this industry, it is critical we stay on the cutting edge and not lag behind. If we don’t, as more space hits the market, that will translate into low occupancy because you can’t compete with the larger players.
