Improving Self-Storage Customer Acquisition Through Web Content

By Matt Cook

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series on improving customer acquisition.

In our first installment, we examined how websites are central to getting your self-storage value proposition in front of potential customers. John Milton, director of London-based ABC Selfstore, helped illustrate why Web content is a fundamental element worth focusing on. This time around, we’re going to dig a little deeper into the content.

There are, of course, a wide range of channels that can direct consumers to your website (social networks, news sites, organic and paid search to name a few), but the site itself should be the key destination in your marketing mix. As such, your Web content is a frontline opportunity to engage users and convince potential customers to store their belongings with you.

The trick is keeping your content fresh and updated. Once your website is designed and the initial copy is presented, how do you add to it so that all the important search engines see regular, relevant changes that can help keep your business toward the top of search results?

A popular way to add fresh and engaging content to a website is by incorporating a blog. Short for “Web log,” blogs became a phenomenon during the 1990s primarily as online diaries, but they have evolved into a popular form of publishing.

Simply having a blog is not enough; you also need to put the effort in to generate quality content. “You need to be disciplined about investing time in your content,” says Milton. “There’s nothing worse than a blog that hasn’t been updated for several months. That can actually work against you. Getting fresh content published once or twice a week should be enough for most operators.”

Strategies for blog content can encompass a huge range of themes and topics. You can keep customers updated about new products and services, pick up on relatable news stories, play to seasonal events and festivities, share interesting facts and history, and plenty more. It’s all about finding innovative ways to make self-storage relevant in the real world.

“There’s far more creative freedom with a blog [than core content], so you can have quite a bit of fun with them,” notes Milton. “At ABC Selfstore, we try to keep a good mix of content that is helpful to people on a lifestyle level as well as keep them entertained. As you’d expect, we point out the benefits of self-storage too.”

As with all marketing communications, it’s all about the wider mix. Great blog content can help your rank in online searches, but it needs to work alongside all your other efforts.

In our next installment, we’ll look at some of the wider tools you can deploy to keep customers informed and promote self-storage.

Matt Cook is a representative of ABC Selfstore, a U.K.-based self-storage operator with three London facilities. Founded in 1993, the company is a family-owned, independent business. For more information, visit www.abcselfstore.co.uk.