The Top Seven Marketing Concepts

What every self-storage owner must know to succeed

By Fred Gleeck

Inworking with more than 1,000 self-storage owners and operators, I have found aconsistent pattern behind what marketing efforts do and do not work for thisindustry. There are seven tried-and-true marketing methods that work best.

The vast majority of storage owners concentrate their marketing efforts inone area: their Yellow Pages ad. But this is a misguided approach. There are sixother marketing methods that yield a higher ROMD (return on marketing dollars).ROMD is a simple concept. You first determine how much you paid for a givenmarketing effort, then compare it against the amount of money that methodgenerates in revenue. It's the concept of leverage--the greater the leverage ofa marketing method, the more effective it is.

If you pay $1,000 for a marketing campaign and get $3,000 in return revenue,you have a ROMD of 1:3. The higher the second number, the better it is, and thegreater the leverage of your marketing efforts. Here are the top seven marketingconcepts in order of their ROMD, beginning with the highest:

#1: Repeat Customers

A repeat customer has the highest ROMD. It doesn't take a lot of money to geta customer to come back and rent from you again--although it does take asystem and a concerted effort. Most operators don't pay enough attention to thishighest ROMD item.

How do you increase your repeat business? First, you need to treat peopleincredibly well when they are renting from you. Don't just provide"good" customer service; give them great customer service. Howexactly do you do this? One way is to keep close at hand the typical"emergency" items everyone tends to need in the kind of crises theymight have while at your facility--i.e., jumper cables, a few assorted tools,and any other inexpensive items you can think of. Loan these out to people inneed.

Another way to provide great service is to give people a gift when they firstmove in. It doesn't have to be expensive. Simply give them a small item that hasa high perceived value to the customer but low cost to you. An example would besomething like a few boxes of various sizes. In addition to being a valuable andtimely gift, it will encourage them to buy more boxes from you when they needthem.

In addition to providing excellent service, you need to keep your name frontand center in people's minds, even after they are no longer renting from you.Once a renter moves out, you should continue to send him a postcard every threemonths or so. This is easy and inexpensive to do. Make sure the postcardcontains a valuable tip of some kind that will make people really want to readit. Offer a discount to anyone who presents the card at your facility. Not onlywill this encourage previous customers to return, it will have a pass-alongeffect--people who get the postcard will give it to a friend of relative whoneeds storage. Postcarding previous customers increases both repeat and referralbusiness.

#2: Referral Customers

For most self-storage operators, referrals are an afterthought. Not smart!Referrals generate the second highest ROMD. They should be given a much higherpriority than most storage operators and managers give them. It takes verylittle money to generate referrals, and the returns are substantial.

The most important component of encouraging referrals is free: ask forthem. To maximize the number of referrals you get, ask at three points in time.First, ask a customer when he first signs a rental agreement. He has just made adecision in your favor, and it's easy to get a referral out of someone who hasnewly decided to rent from you. Ask again whenever you or your manager doessomething for an existing renter where they are grateful and thank you. Finally,ask him again when he moves out. Assuming all went well, this is another timewhen he will be very willing to help.

Another successful technique to stimulate referrals is to give people adiscount on their rent if they send you someone who becomes a customer. Areferral flier or postcard can be used for this purpose. Put postcards up on thecounters in your office and slip an occasional flier under all of the units atyour facility. This small amount of money spent will produce great returns, evenif only a few additional people are referred.

#3: Storage Hotline

This is an idea I originated. A hotline is a separate phone line that givespeople a detailed recorded message. The reason why the ROMD for this techniqueis so high is that it costs very little money to implement, but it is incrediblyeffective. To properly provide a hotline, you need to set up a completelyseparate phone line--you cannot "attach" it to an existing one. Thebasic idea is that people are less reluctant to call a number when they are sureno one will be on the other end of the line trying to sell them something.

To make this concept work, you must advertise it as a 24-hour, free recordedmessage. The number you set up should be either a local or an 800 number. If youare located right near a state border, go with an 800 number.

Clients ask me how long this message should be. I always tell them it cannever be too long, only too boring. The message should be recorded to soundinformational, not like a sales pitch. I normally counsel people to title theirhotline something like, "The Seven Things You Need to Know Before You Renta Unit." Each item should be along the lines of, "Only rent from afacility that has individual door alarms... ," etc.

Your hotline message should start by listing features unique to yourfacility. You can list other features and benefits you find important, but startwith those that only you have. Your goal is to make your unique features soundindispensable. After listening to your hotline, when potential renters call yourcompetition, they will often ask if they offer those unique features--and yourcompetition will have to say "no." If you made a convincing argumentas to how important those features are, they will come back and rent from you.

In most places in the country, the cost of an additional phone line and avoicemail system is minimal. There is no one I know who uses the hotline system correctlywho isn't delighted with the results. A major benefit to using a hotline is thatwhen people call your regular phone number, the amount of time you have to spendon the phone with them is dramatically reduced. Most of the basic questions areanswered on the hotline message. A manager doesn't have to spend his timeanswering the same repetitive questions. Your hotline serves as an electronicsalesperson. It works 24/7, and all it wants as compensation is that you payyour phone bill.

#4: Centers of Influence

Centers of influence are people who can persuade your prospective customersin their decision of where to rent a storage unit. They includeapartment-complex managers, truck-rental personnel, managers of localreal-estate offices, housing-community managers, clergy, shopkeepers, etc.

When I first moved to New York City after graduate school, I met a recentdental-school graduate while apartment hunting. I started going to him for mydental work and referring him to everyone I knew. Ten years later, he told methat nearly 20 percent of his business was a result of my referrals. That's whatone "loudmouth" who loves you can do for your business; and thisapplies to any industry, including self-storage.

The key to generating business from centers of influence revolves aroundconsistency of contact. Other so-called marketing experts recommend bringingpotential allies cups of candy and occasionally returning to refill them. But,first of all, few people ever bother to go back and refill them. Second, bribingpeople with sweets is a trite and overused concept. It is a sign of lazymarketing and low levels of creativity. It's something that has been done forthe last 20 years in this business, but it's time to move into the 21st century.Rather than giving people candy, give them something of real value with verylittle cost to you.

I like the idea of preparing a short report on storage--something between 15and 20 pages. This can be reproduced quickly and inexpensively. At the back ofeach report, include a coupon for $10 off the first month's rent. When youapproach your various centers of influence, rather than offering them candy,leave them copies of an informational report they can give people who ask themabout storage. The person who gives out the reports will look good, and businesswill inevitably come your way.

Make sure you go back to these individuals every month to check in andgive them more reports if they need them. When you print up these reports, besure to put a price on the front cover. Even though you don't charge yourcenters of influence or customers who ask for them, it increases the perceptionof value.

#5: Public Relations

Public relations is much more effective than any advertising you can do. Iput it in position No. 5 in terms of ROMD. When you do get press coverage (andyou will if you're persistent), it is well worth the investment of time--and itcosts you very little money.

Press coverage is so effective because it is perceived as unbiased. Articleswritten about your facility will generate a significant number of new renters.If you were to purchase an ad roughly the same size as an article that getswritten about you, it wouldn't have the same effect. People often perceiveadvertising as sales puff. They don't believe most of it. An article, on theother hand, is perceived as unbiased information.

What's the secret to getting coverage? You have to put in a regular andconsistent effort. Send press releases out weekly. If you take just 20minutes every week to send out press releases to your local media outlets, youwill eventually get covered. Each week, try to tie the need for storage into alocal current event. Write up the press release and send it out to each of yourmajor press outlets. If you need help in writing press releases, there are manygood books on the topic available at amazon.com or your local bookstore.

The key to getting coverage is persistence. If you do this every week, you willget coverage. The question is not if , but when, so start doingthis immediately.

#6: Direct Mail

Properly used, direct mail can be very effective for self-storage operators.The biggest mistake I see being made by those who use it is that mailings areoften general and unfocused. There are two primary kinds of direct mailself-storage owners use. First are mailers they send out independently. Secondare those included in a co-op effort, such as Val Pak or the Money Mailer. Bothcan be effective if used correctly. In the case of either, there are five basicrules that apply:

1. You must have a powerful headline. You've got to get people to readyour direct-mail piece before you can expect them to do something, soyour headline is the single most important item on it. The headline shouldcombine your greatest benefit with your customers' greatest need. An examplewould be: "How to Reduce Your Rent by 17 Percent." This will get yourad read if you are dealing with a lawyer, or any other businessperson, who ispaying big bucks for office space. They want to cut costs, and freeing up spacecould save them a lot of money.

2. Think benefits. Most people with limited marketing knowledge tendto only list the features of their product or service. Make sure to include thebenefits of the features as well. If you say, "All of our units areclimate-controlled," be sure to add, "so your things will be protectedfrom the extremes of heat and cold."

In a business like self-storage, it's easy to forget to add benefits to yourfeatures. They seem so obvious, but people don't necessarily make the leap tocomplete your thoughts. When you're in the storage industry and you hear someonesay, "All of our doors are individually alarmed," we mentally add"so the manager knows when an an unauthorized person has entered aunit." But this missing piece doesn't exist for those who aren't in theindustry. You have to put it out there for them.

3. Give people a reason to respond now. In any direct-mailpiece, you want people to act immediately after they open it. If you can't getthem to do it then, chances are slim to none they will do it at all. Make them atime-sensitive offer that is tough to refuse.

Consider an inexpensive gift of some sort. A small expense is nothingcompared to what a new storage customer is worth. You want to make a verypowerful offer to entice potential customers to call or come in and visit yourfacility. If nothing else, you at least want them to call your hotline. Thiswill at least give you a chance to sell them on your facility.

4. Send out a series of mailers, not just one. It's better to pick asmaller group and mail to them two or three times than to increase the scope andsize of your mailing. If you find a group worth targeting, they are worthmailing to more than once. The rule of thumb is that if you get a 5 percentresponse from your first mailer, then your second and third mailers should alsogive you a 5 percent response. I recommend you mail them a series. Have thesecond and third mailer refer to those pieces which preceded them.

5. Customize your piece to your market. A direct-mail piece to allbusiness people will get very little response. Pick out a specific group andwrite to them. If you decide on lawyers, then write specifically to lawyers.Write the piece in their language and target their greatest needs. If you don'tknow how they speak, find a group of them and ask. Make sure you put yourself intheir shoes before you start writing. If you don't, your piece will not be worthmailing.

#7: Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages are where most storage operators put the bulk of their marketingefforts. This is misguided. It isn't that advertising in the Yellow Pages isn'tnecessary, but in terms of ROMD, it ranks as the seventh most effective means ofmarketing.

I have a client who, when he first opened his self-storage business, put afull-page ad in his local Yellow Pages. Over the next five years, he was able toreduce his ad size until he now has just a line listing and nothing else. If youproperly use all of the other marketing systems mentioned above, you candramatically reduce your reliance on Yellow Pages advertising. Do it correctlyand you can cut your Yellow Pages budget by a minimum of 50 percent. And, if youdesign your ads effectively, you can get the same level of response from an adhalf the size of the one you're using now.

The most important part of any ad is the headline, but more than 95 percentof owners get this one wrong. They put the name of their facility at the top oftheir ad. This is absurd. The headline is the "ad for your ad." Byputting the name of your facility at the top, you're saying the primary reasonpeople should rent from you is because of your name. But no one will readthrough your ad just because of something so trivial.

The second biggest mistake owners make in their Yellow Pages ad is listing afacility's features without explaining their benefits. Research tells us thatnearly 80 percent of renters will be first-timers, so keep this in mind. Whenyou list the feature "climate control," you cannot expect people tounderstand the benefit implicitly. You need to also explain the feature'sbenefit. Finally, if you offer a hotline, make sure to direct people to it inyour ad.

Follow these steps and your Yellow Pages ad response will skyrocket. Eventhough Yellow Pages are the seventh on the list of important marketingtechniques, you still want to have one. Using this advice has doubled or tripledthe response to some of my clients' ads.

In Conclusion

In order to maximize your marketing effectiveness, you have to leverage yourmarketing efforts. Sure, you'll probably need a Yellow Pages ad, but making itthe bulk of your marketing efforts is no longer sufficient. Prioritize yourmarketing efforts based on ROMD. Make sure to use the other six marketingtechniques we've discussed here as well.

If you follow these suggestions, you'll find your budget for marketing canactually decrease over time without hurting your occupancy rates--which mayactually go up. How much money would that save you? How much more money will yoube able to put in your pocket? Stick to a sound marketing plan, and your ROMDwill be substantial.

Fred Gleeck is a self-storage profit- maximization consultant. He helpsstorage owners before and after they get into the business. He is the author ofSecrets of Self Storage Marketing Success--Revealed! and numerous other trainingitems for self-storage operators. To get regular tips on self-storage, send himan e-mail at [email protected];call 800.345.3325.