It’s award-season in Hollywood. Red carpets. Ball gowns and tuxedos. Humble speeches to eager entertainment reporters. It’s fun, fun, fun! It’s Hollywood’s way of patting itself on the back for a job well done.

But it’s not just about congratulating one another. It’s also about marketing the actors and directors and their movies. When a film is nominated for an award, viewer interest spikes. Everyone wants to see if the adoration is warranted—or not.

While not competing for an Oscar or Emmy, your facility is competing every day for the best tenants. Much like an actress making the talk-show circuit to discuss her latest film, you need exposure too.

Like Hollywood films, marketing comes in all shapes and sizes and what works for one self-storage operator may not be the best marketing avenue for another. One key to uncovering what will work in your market is understanding your current tenants. In this article, ISS columnist Derek Naylor shows self-storage operators how they can take a sample of their current tenant base to reveal interesting demographic information and build a new marketing plan to attract like tenants.

Another critical element to a successful marketing campaign is creativity. If you’re tired of the same old promotions, check out this article about the winners from the ISS “Best in Self-Storage Marketing” Contest.

Plus, the ISS marketing archives offer a slew of information on everything from building direct-mail campaigns to mastering social media.  

If you have an outstanding marketing idea you’d like to share, post a comment below or log onto Self-Storage Talk. You don't need a red carpet to get some well-deserved praise!