Tell Your Business Story, Control the Narrative: Content-Driven Marketing for Self-Storage

It’s opening day for your brand-new, three-story self-storage facility, and the chamber of commerce is on site with their giant scissors to cut the ribbon. It’s also Girl Scout cookie season, and you’ve allocated space in the parking lot for the local troop to sell their wares. Christmas is right around the corner, and your Toys-for-Tots donation bin is filling up quickly. A new tenant is moving in, and you’re telling them all about the security features that’ll help keep their goods safe while they store with you.

These kinds of happenings go on in this industry all the time, but they aren’t always documented through social media or on a blog. Every one of them is an opportunity to tell the story of your business in a way that highlights who you are rather than what you’re selling. They showcase a service, a connection point or a better way to use your product. Simply put, these events are opportunities to use content marketing.

What Is Content Marketing?

I asked my daughter this question and her simple answer was, “marketing with content.” She may be a bit sarcastic, but she isn’t wrong. Basically, it’s using content rather than your product to promote whatever you’re selling. The messaging takes the focus away from a sales pitch and strives to provide a helpful resource instead. That resource can be entertaining or informative, but it isn’t simply highlighting a 10-by-10 unit for rent.

Content marketing tells a story and builds trust with your audience. It might detail a helpful tip for using self-storage, show a picture of your staff celebrating an event, or offer a how-to video on the correct way to use a Bluetooth lock.

We don’t often associate storytelling with self-storage, but we should. Your facility has a tale to tell. You already communicate it to people through pictures of your business on social media, the design of your website and your property’s curb appeal. Storytelling is what can form a connection between your customers and your facility.

What kind of story can a storage facility tell? It might be something like, “We’re here to help you through a tough time by providing an affordable, secure and clean unit in which to store your goods while you sort through that divorce or move or recent death.” Maybe it’s something more like, “When you rent with us, you are supporting veterans or providing food for the hungry, as we donate a portion of all our proceeds to charity.” These kinds of narratives connect with potential customers better than “We have climate-control and drive-up 5-by-10s available.”

Your Story

So, now you know that content marketing helps you tell your business story. The question is, what’s your story? What makes your facility different from the one up the street? To answer these questions, you must identify the heart of your operation.

Some self-storage operators are proactive in this regard. They’re passionate about customer service or veterans or the local homeless shelter and weave that into their marketing. Others are reactive, identifying what’s important to their community. This could be as simple as adopting the local high school colors in your branding or offering a larger military discount due to the proximity of an army base. However you figure it out, finding the heart is the first step to telling your story effectively through content.

Once you know your story, it’s time to share it. There are many ways to do this. But first, you must develop the content.

Your Strategy

First, you need clear objectives. What are you hoping to accomplish with your self-storage content? Are you looking to raise awareness of your brand or products? Are you hoping to share useful information so people will see you as a resource? Are you looking for leads? Perhaps you want to accomplish all of the above.

Each of these goals requires a different type of content. In marketing terms, this is all about your sales funnel and which part of the customer journey you’re targeting. That journey begins when a person develops a need and ends when they satisfy it. Your objective should target a particular point along that path, ideally helping them move to the next stage: renting a storage unit.

Content Types and Audience

Make sure your content fits the message and your target self-storage audience. If you’re celebrating a work anniversary or the fact that you just cleaned out a unit on a hot day, a well-planned picture is better than an article. But if you’re sharing tips about long-term storage or RV parking, a single image might not be the best option. A blog post with a few images or a short video would tell that story better.

You must consider the physical and digital location of your audience. Once you determine where they’re looking, you can produce the types of content that best fit those channels. If your audience isn’t on TikTok or reading the local newspaper, don’t focus your effort there. Signage at the local high school could be a fantastic spot for all those Friday night football attendees. You could also try sponsoring homecoming parades or other highly visible community events. Social media platforms are also a great option depending on your tenants.

As you’re producing content, don’t forget to add a personal touch. Artificial Intelligence is all the rage, but it can’t replace the human element, especially when you’re coming up with written material for a blog, email or social post. The tech giants are also getting very good at spotting the artificial posts and penalizing those that rely on them too much. Your content should come from you. Customers can spot the difference.

Quality is also essential to telling your story well. Beautiful pictures, high-definition video and well-produced content are becoming the norm. You can say all you want about your clean facility or friendly staff, but if the attached picture or video is grainy or poorly produced, no one will believe you.

Distribution Channels

Social media platforms are great places to disseminate your self-storage content, but they aren’t the only channels. Your Google Business Profile is another great option. Both allow for images and copy as well as website links. You could also publish a blog or produce simple videos on YouTube. Maybe roll out an email campaign.

Depending on your customer base, you could even pursue billboard space, which can be used to talk about charitable giving, helpful tips or your staff. Some of the best billboards I’ve seen feature the energetic staff at a local orthodontist’s office. They don’t say anything about price or product. Everyone knows their big seller is braces! Instead they tell the story of a team that’ll make you feel welcome and knows how to have fun. Most people know you sell storage units, but do they know you have a friendly manager or resources to make their moving experience less stressful?

Controlling the Narrative

At the end of the day, content marketing is just one of many strategies to employ as you highlight your self-storage business, but it’s an essential one. It showcases your facility in a way paid ads or street signage can’t.
It has other benefits, too. As you add quality content to your website and other channels, it won’t only educate your customers, it’ll enhance your SEO and build a strong reputation with those all-important search engines. Eventually, you’ll have a library where you can refer potential, new and long-term customers to get answers to their questions and learn about your business.

Your self-storage operation is already telling a story, whether you’re in control of it or not. Content marketing is the way you manage that narrative. When people discover they need your products and services, make sure the tale they’ve been told about your facility makes them want to choose it. Develop the story you want to be told, then share it in a way that makes your business shine.

Josh Huff is a marketing specialist and licensed drone pilot, capturing footage of self-storage facilities throughout the United States. His company, Lighthouse Storage Solutions, provides consulting, training, marketing and drone services. He has 15 years of marketing experience, having with various self-storage companies, from brokers and builders to owners and state associations. Josh’s industry insights have been shared through the Gabfocus Self Storage Podcast as well as state and national presentations. To reach him, email [email protected] or call 847.833.3101.