Mar
29

How to Effectively Market Your Self-Storage Business

If you own or manage a self-storage business, you need good marketing. That helps people find what you have to offer, and encourages them to use your services. But what kind of marketing strategies should you use? How can you grow and develop your online presence?

The good news is that there are a lot of different ways to get your self-storage company noticed. Here are some of the biggest areas to consider when it comes to marketing your storage facility the right way.

Promote Your Business Online

The most important thing to do is promote your business online. While some people still use phone books and other methods to find information, the vast majority of people use the internet. If you don't have a strong online presence, people aren't going to know you're around.

Because you want to make sure your self-storage company is easy to find, you want to have a strong online presence in several different areas. A website, directories, and social media sites are three of the best places to start. When someone searches for self-storage options in your local area, you want to be at the top of the search results, if possible. 

Additionally, using eye-catching visuals on your website and social media platforms can help draw attention to your business. Consider incorporating free-stock images to enhance your online presence and make your self-storage company stand out from the competition.

Keep Your Social Media Presence Strong

Social media is an extremely valuable tool for helping businesses get noticed. You want to make sure you're keeping up with your presence there. If you haven't tweeted in weeks, or your most recent Facebook post was last year, that's not helping your business. Potential customers need to see that you're active, and your business is interested in engaging with them.

Consider hiring someone to manage your social media, or designating a couple of current employees to make scheduled posts. You can also hire a freelancer or a social media management company. No matter how you choose to handle the issue, though, have strong rules about what kinds of things can be posted. You don't want to alienate any customers.

Offer Discounts and Promotions

Discounts and promotions are great ways to bring in new customers. You might offer a discount on the first month's rent of a new storage unit, for example. You could also give discounts for larger units or a longer-term contract. That way, potential customers feel like you're giving them good value, and their business is important to you.

Promotions work well as another way to get noticed. Promote your business through local events, advertisements, and interactions. You want to be a household name in your local area, so you can stay ahead of your competition. Whether you're a new business trying to get established or you just want more customers, providing value matters.

Partner With Local Businesses

To stay relevant in your local area, consider partnering with other local businesses as part of your marketing. That way you get noticed by their customers, along with other potential customers you're trying to reach. If other local companies vouch for you, that also encourages their customers to use your services. This can make you seem more trustworthy.

Keep in mind that a partnership like this will go both ways. You'll also want to vouch for the companies you're partnering with. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, it's better to avoid the partnership. When you choose carefully, you and the other companies will all get benefits from working together to build a stronger customer base.

Don't Underestimate the Value of Customer Service

Customer service is extremely important. It helps generate word-of-mouth advertising. When you treat customers well, the word gets around that you're a trusted company. You can't pay for that kind of advertising, but treating customers poorly could earn you a bad reputation.

Even when customers are in the wrong, or you can't meet their needs, you still want to provide them with good service. That means treating them with respect and being fair with them. If you do that, your self-storage business can get a marketing boost from happy customers talking about their experiences.

Be Sure to Respond to Reviews

Part of customer service is reacting to reviews of your business. Whether good or bad, it's important to reply. You can simply thank them for the nice review if they have good things to say. If you get a bad review, make sure you reply professionally and ask the customer to contact you to talk about the issue.

You don't want to get into a public argument that could create drama for your online presence. Taking the conversation off of a public review site lets you work to resolve it more easily. The response also shows others that you see your reviews, and that you take them seriously.

Leverage Google Search Results Through a Self Storage Aggregator

Google search results are among the biggest considerations when you want to improve marketing strategies for your self-storage business. The goal is to rank as highly as possible for keywords people will use to find your business. That's not just self-storage, but also your location and words like storage units, vehicle storage, and more.

When you use self-storage aggregators like EZstorit.com, you make it easy for Google to rank you highly for your location and what you're offering. Your company will show up when someone uses the site to look for units in your local area, so you have a higher chance of getting found.

The aggregator does a lot of the work for you, so you can worry less about getting your site ranked in Google. Instead, the aggregator site will rank highly, and you'll get found through that site. That doesn't mean you shouldn't focus on other marketing strategies, too. But a self-storage aggregator can help your business get found, so it can grow.

The Bottom Line for Your Self-Storage Company's Marketing

The goal of marketing your self-storage business is to bring in more customers. It's important to do that if you want to your business to succeed. Doing this correctly matters, though, and your online presence is a significant part of that. With the right marketing strategies your self-storage company will be far ahead of the competition.

Make sure you leverage the power of Google search results, but also keep a strong social media presence. Answer reviews, and keep your website and contact information current, too. Work with some local businesses on partnerships, and see what kinds of promotions and discounts you can offer. 

By focusing on those areas, and providing quality customer service and a great product your customers can trust and rely on, you can see your self-storage company experience continued success. Getting started isn't difficult, and you can start seeing the benefits quickly, as well.

By: Lee Preston
Lee is the Director of Marketing and Promotion for EZstorit.com. When she is not working with our storage facilities partners, she is writing about topics that affect our daily lives.