Marketing is a critical component of any business, but it can be difficult to know how to allocate your marketing budget, especially if you are a small business owner. If you own a self storage facility, there are a few things you should keep in mind when planning your marketing budget to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck and maximizing profits.
The Importance of Budgeting for Self Storage Marketing
Self storage facility managers need to be mindful of their marketing budgets and allocate money accordingly. There are many effective marketing techniques that can be used, but your exact results may vary depending on your exact audience.
Managers in the self storage industry should evaluate their goals and determine which marketing strategies will best help them meet these goals within their budget constraints. By planning ahead and being strategic with their spending, self storage facility managers can get the most out of their marketing dollars.
A Marketing Budget Keeps You From Using Operating Budgets
In order to attract new customers and keep existing ones coming back, you need to invest in marketing. However, it's important to remember that your marketing budget should not come out of your operating budget. Here are three reasons why:
- Marketing investments can pay off with increased revenue in the long term
- Marketing costs are often tax deductible
- It's important to keep your business operating expenses as low as possible in order to maximize profitability
Operating budgets are for day-to-day expenses like rent, salaries, and supplies; they shouldn't be used for long-term investments like marketing. By creating a separate marketing budget, self storage operators will be able to better focus on making their business grow. And don't forget - always keep track of what's working and what's not so you can adjust as needed.
What To Consider When Crafting Your Budget
When creating your budget, you'll need to set some goals for your marketing efforts. Ask yourself the following when crafting your budget for self storage businesses:
- What do you want to achieve?
- Do you want to increase awareness of your brand?
- Do you want to drive more traffic to your website?
- Are you looking to increase sales or engage your existing audience?
Once you've identified your goals for your self storage business, you can start to allocate funds accordingly.
Know Your Goals
The first step in planning your marketing budget is to know your goals. What do you want to achieve with your marketing? Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Get more people to rent storage units? Once you know your goals, you can start to allocate funds accordingly.
Understand Your Target Audience
It is also important that you have a good understanding of your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your marketing? What are their pain points? What are their needs and wants that are driving them to potentially rent storage units? Knowing this information will help you create targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with your audience and achieve your desired results.
Review Past Campaigns
Another helpful tip is to review past campaigns and analyze their effectiveness. Which campaigns performed well and achieved your desired results? Which campaigns fell flat? What did you learn from each campaign? This information can help self storage operators fine-tune future marketing efforts and make sure they're using resources in the most efficient way possible.
Creating Different Types of Budgets
There are a number of different marketing channels you can use to reach your target audience. Some of the most popular options include traditional advertising (such as print, radio, and TV), digital marketing (such as email campaigns and social media), and events (such as onsite events, trade shows, and open houses). Consider all of your options and decide which channels will work best for achieving your goals.
Digital
There are many different types of digital marketing campaigns that self storage facilities can use to reach their target markets.
Email Marketing
One popular type of digital marketing campaign is email marketing. This involves sending out mass emails to a list of potential customers with the goal of getting them to purchase a product or service from the company. Remember: you must get someone’s permission before sending them a marketing email to comply with the FTC.
Social Media Marketing
Another type of digital marketing campaign is social media marketing. This involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms in order to build brand awareness and generate leads. Organic social media marketing consists of posting content on your social media channels. You can also run paid ads on social media, where you can test different types of budgets before determining the best ad spend for you.
SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns involve improving the visibility of a website in search engine results pages. This means researching keywords to include on your website to optimize for search. You can also lean into local SEO, where you utilize free tools such as Google Business Profiles.
Paid Advertising
Additionally, businesses can also use paid search advertising and retargeting campaigns to reach their target audiences. Keyword research can also come into play for these types of digital marketing campaigns.
Each type of digital marketing campaign has its own set of benefits and drawbacks, so businesses should carefully consider which type of campaign is right for their needs. And remember that every digital marketing campaign is unique and, as such, will have different budgeting requirements.
Print Marketing
Print marketing campaigns can be an effective way to reach consumers and generate interest in your facility’s products or services. There are many different types of print marketing campaigns that you can use to reach your target audiences. One popular option is direct mail, which involves sending advertising materials directly to consumers through the mail.
Another common print marketing tactic is insert advertising, which involves placing ads in print publications such as newspapers or magazines. Self storage business owners can also use point-of-purchase displays to promote their products or services at your facilities.
PR
PR marketing campaigns come in all shapes and sizes, but all have the common goal of raising awareness for a product, service, event, or cause. The type of campaign that is right for you will depend on your goals and budget. Here are some of the most common types of PR campaigns:
- Media relations campaigns rely on building relationships with journalists and influencers to generate positive media coverage. This can be done through pitching stories, holding press conferences, or arranging media tours. You can also create a free account with HARO and answer relevant questions journalists have.
- Product launch campaigns are designed to generate buzz around a new product or service. This can be done through targeted advertising, social media promotion, and PR events.
- Crisis communication campaigns are implemented when an organization is facing a PR crisis. The goal of these campaigns is to mitigate the damage and restore public trust.
- Brand awareness campaigns are designed to increase visibility and name recognition for a brand. This can be done through traditional advertising, PR stunts, or social media marketing.
Events
Onsite events are an effective way to attract prospective customers to your self storage facility. Such events can focus on community causes or organizations, such as extracurricular activities or sports at local schools, charitable causes important to your community, or holidays. These events are great for building relationships, rising to top of mind when local residents need storage, and overall brand awareness.
Beyond hosting an onsite event or open house at your self storage facility, you can also attend local trade shows. Booth fees will vary depending on the event but are a great opportunity to connect with your local community and other industry professionals. Trade shows and other events run by your local Chamber of Commerce or similar organizations enable you to get the word out about your self storage business and meet prospective tenants.
Join the Storelocal Brand Program
Planning a self storage marketing budget can be challenging, but it is crucial to ensure you are allocating your resources in the most effective way possible. By knowing your goals, understanding your target audience, and reviewing past campaigns, you can create targeted marketing campaigns that will help drive traffic and increase rentals at your self storage facility.
When you join the Storelocal Brand Program, marketing is easier than ever. The Storelocal Brand Program provides economies of scale and online visibility to independent owners, so you can prioritize converting leads to rentals and running your self storage facility.
