Do you own a storage facility? Are you looking for ways of marketing your business in the digital realm to gain more visibility from customers? If so, you’re on the right track as that is a wise decision.
According to the latest statistics, as of March 2021, more than 5 billion have access to the internet. Furthermore, about 80% of people look up a business online before visiting a physical storefront or committing to a purchase.
What does all of this mean for you and your business? It means in order to properly market your storage company, you must have an online presence. This is non-negotiable in this day and age. And like other local services like portable storage and moving companies, the storage industry is growing fast.
And in today’s post, you will learn about all details, tactics, and strategies needed to market your storage company online.
Make Your Company Stand Out
Storage facilities are becoming more popular and in demand as people’s lives begin to shift. Many people are working remotely now, and are enjoying traveling a little more, and as a result, need a trusted place to house their possessions. This also means that the competition is stiff in this industry.
Hence, if your storage company is going to compete in the online space, you need an excellent digital marketing strategy. You must find a way to be at the forefront of your target market’s mind. When you accomplish this, your storage facility will be the first one they think of when they’re in need of your services.
But this then raises the question: How can I separate myself from the competition?
Easy, by proactively finding ways to give value to your customers. When you can supply your market with more value than any other business, guess what? They won’t want to go to any other business. Marketing your storage company online begins with understanding what makes you different, and then building on top of that to give more value to your customers than anyone else.
Developing Your Digital Marketing Strategy
There are countless ways to market your storage company online. To see success, you may have to experiment with different strategies to see what works best for your company. What works well for one business may not always work for another. It all depends on what you offer, what your customers want, and how you deliver it to them.
But with that in mind, there is a myriad of methods you can certainly start using now to begin building momentum.
Set up a Professional Website
First things first, you need a professional storage company website. This is a necessity for your business. Think of your website as the hub that everything else in your marketing strategy revolves around. You want to drive all the traffic garnered from your social media accounts (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc) back to your site.
Once you accomplish this, you can then have them signup to your email list or contact you for a free quote, etc. The idea is to have the potential customer take an action once they’ve landed on your site. If they just come and go because you don’t have your site set up correctly, you’re leaving a lot on the table.
Additionally, you’ll also want to take the time to learn how SEO works. Search Engine Optimization enables you to become more visible in the search engines like Google and YouTube. This will generate more leads, clients, and sales. If this is out of your wheelhouse, then it may be beneficial for you to hire an online marketing service to assist you with this.
Make Your Website Use Friendly
What good is having a professional website if it’s too complicated for anyone to traverse quickly and easily? Ensuring that your site is user-friendly and easy to navigate is of the utmost importance. If users find your website too complex, they’ll get annoyed and move on to the next storage company.
So make everything clear, simple, and easy. Make sure that all the key pages (About us, Contact us, Blog, Services, etc) are noticeable and clearly labeled.
One of the most irritating things about visiting a new site is when the key elements of that site are discreetly labeled and tucked away at the bottom of the page. Make it easy for your customers to find what they’re looking for, make it easy for them to learn about you and your storage services, etc.
Little things such as these can really help your business to both attract and keep new customers. Moreover, you also want to make sure that your site looks clean, polished, and professional. If you have an amateurish-looking site, that will tell the customer a lot about the quality of your brand and services. So make your site does the talking for you by making it stand out with the touch of professionalism that it deserves.
Allow Customers to Rent Units Online
Set up a system on your site that permits your customers to rent out units online. This is a convenience factor that will make things easier for your customers. It will require some upfront work on your site in order to set things up correctly, but it could be a great tool to add to your digital marketing strategy.
People have busy lives; careers, family, friends, hobbies, obligations, etc. The list is unending. So if you can do anything at all as a business owner to make their lives just a little less complicated — why not do it?
And what’s a surefire way to accomplish that? Setup online rentals that will allow your customers to rent the unit(s) they need in the comfort of their own home.
Social Media Marketing
Leveraging the power of social media marketing for your storage company is paramount. For example, you could take 1-minute videos of your storage units and post them to Instagram for your followers to see. And don’t forget, you also have Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube, etc, all at your disposal as well. You can create and post storage memes on Facebook related to your business.
You could also film YouTube tutorials that inform and teach your audience certain methods for a smooth move such as how to properly pack for storage units, the best ways to box up possessions, etc. Anything you can do to add value — even if it’s in a small way — helps to establish credibility and build trust with your customers.
Share Your Story
People love stories, we are all suckers for a captivating, enthralling, and emotionally riveting narrative that tugs at our heartstrings. Use this to your advantage in your digital marketing strategy. Share why you decided to start your own storage company. Do you love servicing people with their possessions because you understand the importance of sentimental value?
Are you looking to help because of a painful experience where you lost all your belongings in a house fire or natural disaster? Whatever it is, share your story! Don’t be afraid; people want to hear these things about your business! It’s what gives your company that touch of humanness that it needs to become successful.
Stories form the bridges that connect us with one another. And the stronger the connection between you and your customers, the more they will keep returning as well as recommend you to their friends and family. Post your story on your Facebook fan page, share video clips of you explaining your story on Instagram — get it out there.
When people understand your story, you’re no longer a colorless company or a cold corporation. Instead, you become a companion.
Create a Blog
Every business needs a blog on its website, and any storage company is no different. Blogs are great for generating traffic, creating visibility, and attracting more customers. If you can post high-quality content on a consistent basis (or outsource it to someone to do for you), it will build your credibility as an authority in your industry.
Potential customers will come to trust you more. This is because having a blog that’s full of high-quality content is indicative of someone who knows their business and takes it seriously. You can teach people the best ways to vet a storage company, what to look for in high-quality ones, and a whole host of other things that will help them make more informed decisions when choosing a unit to store their valuables.
This kind of knowledge that you share — free of charge — may even be enough in and of itself to make customers want to pick YOUR facility over another one that doesn’t have a blog.
Use Email Marketing to Build a Relationship with Customers
Did you know the first electronic message was sent back in 1965? Email has been around for decades, and its influence has only grown during that time. Today, many businesses wouldn’t be in business without email. Now, that may not be the case with your storage company, however, that doesn’t make this concept any less valid.
Using your email list to stay connected with customers will help you build trust, and as a result, forge a stronger relationship with them. And when that relationship has been solidified, who do you think they will turn to when they need assistance with storage? You got that right — they’ll come to YOU.
Utilize Review Sites to Build Trust
A very powerful digital marketing strategy is social proof. When you can get other people to do your marketing for you — by saying positive things about your business — getting more customers becomes a cakewalk. And this is a necessary component when trying to market your storage company online (or on any other medium for that matter).
The reason being is that people don’t like buying from random companies they have no prior knowledge of. So in order to quell some of their suspicions, social proof is required. And the best way to do this is through review sites.
Sites such as Yelp, ConsumerReports, Hubspot, Facebook ratings and reviews, etc, are all great avenues to accomplish this. So anytime someone uses your services, ask them to write you a review on one of these platforms. If they truly had a good experience with your storage company, they will be more than happy to. And the more positive reviews you garner, the more likely other customers will choose your services as well.
Always Be Improving
Remember, the more value you can provide to customers, the more customers you will gain. So think of ways to improve your services. What can you add to your storage company that would enhance its USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?
Maybe you could build a large, commercial-grade fence around your facility for extra protection of the units. Or you could hire security guards or possibly even add surveillance cameras for additional safety measures. Maybe you could offer deals and incentives for referrals or repeat customers, etc — get creative with it!
Think of ways you can upgrade your customer service process to enhance the value you offer your customers. Once customers see the top-of-the-line features you’ve added to your process or the incentives you offer, it will be easier to attract more of them, as well as keep old ones.
Utilize SEO for Your Company Website
If you’re looking for a particular service, what’s the first thing you do? If you’re like most people, you turn to Google for answers. You type in what you’re looking for and a plethora of options are presented to you on the first page.
And chances are you don’t go any further than that first page because there’s almost always a company that suits your needs there. Those businesses that appeared at the top of the first page on Google got there through a proper SEO strategy.
And you can do the same thing! Of course, you’ll either have to learn how SEO works or hire someone to do it for you. But either way, it will be worth it in the end. Without a proper SEO strategy, potential prospects won’t be able to find your site, and you will lose out on a lot of business unnecessarily.
Try Your Luck with Facebook Ads
Another great strategy to add to your marketing toolbox is Facebook ads. This method is great for finding your target demographic as Facebook makes it easy to hone in on your ideal customer. This can be an incredibly helpful system if you have a detailed understanding of who your target customer is.
You can use benchmarks like location, age, marital status, interests, etc, to pinpoint potential customers and send them to highly targeted landing pages. You will have to experiment with this method to determine (and strengthen) its accuracy. You can use a procedure called split testing (also known as A/B testing) to assess and improve the performance of your Facebook ads.
Give Away a Free Product
This is another way to build trust with your customers. If you give away a quality product — free of charge — not only will they appreciate the gesture but they’ll also be more inclined to trust your business. You could give away a free ebook that tells customers how to pack their possessions properly to make the best use of the storage units, etc.
And in exchange for this free gift, you could ask for their email. Now that they’ve joined your list, you can work to build and strengthen that relationship by continuing to add value to their lives by delivering free content, periodically.
Then once they’re ready to rent a storage unit for their valuable possessions, your company will be top of mind. This also has a psychological effect on people. The more you continue to add free value, the more they will feel indebted to you and will want to return the favor. It’s called the law of reciprocity.
Build a Foundation for Conversion
Gaining more traffic is only part of the marketing development plan. Once the traffic has been accrued, you got to have the right system set up to accommodate it. If someone shows an interest in your brand and what you offer by opting into your email list, what next?
Do you have a funnel set up for them to go through that will eventually lead to a sales offer? Do you have a sequence of emails arranged to be sent out intermittently to help develop that customer relationship?
These things must be established beforehand in order for your storage company to be successful online. If a potential customer signs up to your email list, but none of these factors have been addressed, then the development of that customer relationship (as well as the potential sale) will die right then and there.
Take the time to build your strategy for sales conversion. This system is the lifeblood of your online business, so ensuring that it is fully functional is paramount.
Google Pay per Click Ads
PPC ads can be a little bit frightening when first starting out, as the potential of losing money on your ad campaigns is a real possibility. But if you can get over your initial nerves and learn how to use it, it can be quite lucrative. PPC can draw in new customers to your website by finding and using certain keywords that your target demographic is searching for on Google.
Many business owners tend to avoid using Google pay-per-click ads because of budget worries. But a PPC ad campaign permits you to establish a certain amount of money using a fixed budget system. This allows you to choose how much money you are comfortable spending monthly, and let’s stick to that number.
Post a Video Giving a Virtual Tour on YouTube
Welcome prospective customers into your facility by giving a virtual tour of your storage units. Once filmed, you can even post these videos on your storage company website as well. Doing so will provide your customers with a more detailed perspective of your facility.
Make sure that your units are washed, scrubbed, and sparkling clean (first impressions matter). Take them on a tour not just through the units, but through your entire warehouse. Show them the front desk security, the safety features of the building, etc, leave no stone unturned.
The idea is to give your customers a glimpse of the top-notch and up-to-date facility you’re running to garner trust. You want to be as transparent as you can, and one of the best ways to do that is by showing your customers what you’re working with and how it can benefit them.
Website Chat Services
As customers begin to land on your storage company website, they will have questions that they want answers to. This is where having a website chat service can come into play. A website chat service guides your customers in the direction they want to go. It will answer any questions they may have about your business, providing them with relevant data that they want and need.
Furthermore, it will also give important customer information to your team all within seconds of the interaction.
Inspect Your My Business Listing on Google
The Google My Business Listing is a very useful tool for your digital marketing strategy. When someone goes to Google and types “Storage companies near me” your position may show up in Google Maps. Google usually ranks businesses the highest if they put out good quality content, have good reviews, as well as a 360 virtual tour of the facility.
This means that by investing time to make great content, take high-quality photos, and attain 360 images for a virtual tour, you will improve your chances of being ranked higher by the Google My Business tool. As a result, you will put yourself head and shoulders above the competition and draw in customers at a more rapid rate.
Are You Ready to Grow Online?
Making your business operational in the digital space is certainly a process; it takes time, effort, and hard work. But when it’s done correctly, it will be all worth it in the end. Now that you know how to market your storage company online, it’s time to take action!
But if you still feel as though you need assistance, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us today for a free quote and our team of experts will be happy to assist you.
