It’s a brave new self storage world out there, especially in marketing.
When I first got in the business on December 31, 1999, over 80% of our new customers came from Yellow Pages ads. Remember those?
The last yellow page ad I ran was in 2013 and the cost per new customer was over $3,400 for that ad. Less than 1% of our new customers cited yellow pages as their source for finding our facility.
So where are they coming from now?
The largest draw is still drive by. That speaks to location being so important.
But today I want to talk about new frontiers in self storage marketing: online.
My hope is to start a conversation, an experiment, with this post and see who has gone further than us. Let’s explore together new modes of getting customers.
In the “Internet Marketing” world, “Re-Targeting” and “Facebook Advertising” are the key buzz words for 2015 & 2016.
First “Re-Targeting”.
When a prospect (i.e. first time visitor) hits your website, the logic is that they’re looking for self storage. Very few people hang out on self storage websites unless they’re in need of self storage.
“Re-Targeting” is achieved by placing a piece of code on your website, called a script or pixel, that leaves information on their computer, such as cookies, or tags their personal online ID so they can be recognized by other websites and their behavior on your website can monitored. This is how Google Analytics gets its information. It’s how social media platforms can target people for your ads. It’s how sites like Amazon know exactly what to recommend to you every time you visit.
OK…I am going to wait a moment and let the creepy factor settle down. I know it sounds bad, but that’s the beauty of the internet. You can focus your marketing so precisely that you can run adds to people who visit specific sites, have particular interest, and so forth. With social marketing sites, like Facebook or Twitter, you can even target them across devices – if they visit your website on their desktop, social media sites will still recognize them if they’re logged in on their phone or tablet.
I’m sure you’ve experienced it. You’ve looked for shoes only to have similar shoes appear in ads on Google or in your inbox soon after. This is how Google’s algorithm, in the most simplistic terms, decides what websites are the best match for you when you do a search. This is how online stores know what offers to email to you.
That is the wonderful new world of “Re-Targeting”.
Why not for self storage marketing?
You could set up your site to tag first time visitors and for the next week run ads to them about your facility.
We’re trying it and I’ll let you know the results.
Where would you run ads? The first logical place is Facebook, but you could also run ads on Google or straight to their inbox if you have their email address. Offer a special, or a free lock, if they fill out a form (giving you their email address) to set an appointment in the next 24 hours. This will also allow you to keep them in your prospect pool for future advertising so when they do need self storage, they’re already familiar with your facility.
Be creative.
We’re experimenting with ads on Facebook.
Facebook tracks EVERYTHING about its users so your targeting can be incredibly precise.
We opened a new facility last week. I went on Facebook and created a target audience of anyone who lives within 5 miles of the facility’s location.
We ran an ad that showed up in that audience’s newsfeed offering a special on self storage. When someone clicks the ad, it takes them to a landing page (which, yes, also has a pixel to tag them so Facebook knows who clicked on the ad) where they can print off a discount coupon to present to the manager when they go in for a rental special.
So far we’ve had 17 flyers printed off, and I think only one person has shown up to claim the special offer, but we anticipate more soon. My total cost so far for the ads is $125.13.
I’ll keep you posted on that strategy.
Facebook is a great medium for advertising because you can target so easily. You can run adds to people who live in a certain area, have certain interest, visit certain web sites, and on and on. You’re only running ads to people who most likely to be interested in your product or service and….it’s relatively inexpensive (especially compared to the Yellow Pages ads of yesteryear).
The entire reason for this post is to demonstrate that we’re all experimenting and trying to figure out strategies for using technology to get new customers.
It’s very much a work in progress. The technology is being improved and changed at an incredibly rapid pace so anyone who says they have it all figured out…well I’d stay away from them.
Whatever you’re doing that works now will most likely have to change by the end of the year. But this doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating.
Explore, experiment, and be creative.
This isn’t to say that old school marketing is dead. We still do all the normal things like going to the apartment complexes nearby, placing flyers in restaurants in the area, paying other self storage managers $25 cash for every referral they give us if they can’t accommodate a customer (other self storage facilities are our best source of referrals next to past customers).
But this new landscape of internet advertising is just beginning to open up to us, the small self storage investor, as a viable way to connect with prospects.
Just remember, you may be able to make an initial contact online with a prospect, but it still takes one-on-one sales skills to turn a prospect into a customer, and great customer service to make a customer a raving fan.
Some things will never change.
Let us know what you’ve done in the comments below or on Facebook (be sure and Like my Page if you haven’t already) so the entire community can hear what you’re doing. I would personally be very interested.
Together we can produce some fun and creative ways to lease up our facilities using new online strategies.
Let’s do it.
