In years past, the best way to market a self storage facility was to put an ad in the phone directory and wait for phone calls. Today that approach will not always work. You need to be where your customers are: online. But, having a simple website is not enough in today's competitive marketplace. You need to actively market your storage facility to the people who need your services. The way to do that is to determine your ideal audience, buyer persona and buyer insights.
What is a buyer persona?
A buyer persona is drawing a picture of a person. It’s a fictional representation of your ideal customer. That persona will detail all the pertinent information that you will need for effective marketing like typical age, profession, family details, and even their favorite past times.
What is a buyer insight?
A buyer insight goes deeper into your ideal customer. It is more about the decision making process that is common amongst a group. It may not be a 24-year-old female; it could be a young woman and an older man that think the same way. A good way to learn about your buyer insights is to speak to current customers and clients. Their answers can help direct your website and direct your content.
Who is your target audience?
You may think it is any person or business within X miles of your self storage facility. That approach is not going to work when you are marketing online. Instead, you need to identify the people most likely to use your facility and then build your marketing around them. That is called building a buyer persona. For example, if your facility is located in the heart of an upscale neighborhood, you want the language and graphics you use on your website to represent that demographic. If your self storage facility is located in an outdoorsy area that nature enthusiasts flock to, think about blogging about self storage for sporting equipment and camping gear. If your self storage facility is near your city’s business district, shouldn’t your content appeal to a professional crowd?
Think about who typically uses your storage facility:
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Business owners
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Wine enthusiasts
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People moving or relocating
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Women looking for more household space
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People needing seasonal storage
Your facility may have more of one type of customer than the others. For example:
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Your site may be closer to an industrial or office park area and have a large percentage of business customers.
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You may be located in a single-family residential area and see more homeowners than renters.
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You may be close to an educational institution and see a lot of students needing rental units.
That does not mean that you have only one persona though. Even a facility located in a residential area will have a several businesses that rent storage units. Many people run businesses out of their home and use self storage as their warehouse or equipment storage space. Also, service providers with a large client base in the area may have a storage unit there for supplies and extra equipment.
If you are a self storage facility owner or manager, you need to know exactly who your target audience members are. That will help you focus your online marketing, content, and presence towards them. You can position your online profile such that you will be in place when your ideal customer comes searching for you.
Internet marketing has proven to be extremely successful in the self storage industry. When you want to make your online presence known, give us a call here at ROI Online. We have experience placing our small self storage clients in the right place to grow their businesses through SEO, keyword strategy, blogging, and social media management.
Have you faced issues competing with the big boys and self storage giants? What are you currently doing to overcome those obstacles?
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