Facility Marketing & Promotion Track
Facility marketing is more important now than ever, not only for attracting new tenants and increasing profitability but as a way to differentiate your site from competitors. This track is for self-storage managers and owners who want ramp up their marketing efforts and learn new, more effective strategies. Sessions will address electronic methods of marketing such as e-mail campaigns, lead generation, successful websites, search-engine optimization and social networking. Traditional marketing will also be covered: Yellow Pages, direct mail, word-of-mouth, the importance of tracking and more.
Tuesday, Oct. 6
Manager-Friendly Tools for Creating New Business
Randy Hatch, Michaels Wilder Inc.
10-10:50 a.m.
10-10:50 a.m.
Find out where customers are looking for self-storage and how to generate more prospects in this comprehensive session. Our speaker will teach you the most cost-effective ways for delivering your marketing messages and master the return on your advertising investment. You’ll learn about the consumer purchase process and your media choices, including print and online Yellow Pages, syndicated search, and guarantees. You’ll also learn about mobile-message options, local YP advertising, and online search tools such as search-engine marketing and search-engine optimization. Discover how to generate the most leads for your business!
Building an Effective Self-Storage Marketing Plan
Tom Litton, Litton Property Management
11-11:50 a.m.
11-11:50 a.m.
As the saying goes, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” In today’s economy, a smart marketing plan that considers modern methods is more critical than ever. This seminar will teach you to build a plan that is simple yet effective. In this powerful, humorous, engaging seminar, our speaker will provide the 10 critical steps to building a plan that works for self-storage businesses of today.
Seven Bold-Faced Lies You've Heard About Marketing (and the Facts Behind the Fiction)
Derek Naylor, Storage Marketing Solutions
1-1:50 p.m.
1-1:50 p.m.
Throughout self-storage history, owners and operators have been told or assumed certain things about marketing that are simply not true and costing them a fortune. In this session, we'll identify the most common marketing lies and myths, and provide you with real-world marketing solutions. You’ll learn the truth about what works and what doesn't, how to get greater results from your existing budget, and how to be more effective in your local market (without spending more money). You’ll hear a new perspective on self-storage marketing supported by hard data. This is can’t-miss information that will help your facility gain momentum immediately and for years to come.
Special Event Marketing: Low-Cost Ways to Build Business and Community
Bob Copper, Self Storage 101
2-2:50 p.m.
2-2:50 p.m.
In today’s competitive environment, self-storage marketing is no longer about the best Yellow Pages placement or the coolest branding. It’s about grassroots and creating top-of-mind awareness in the potential tenant universe. Hosting a special event allows you to draw prospective customers, build consumer confidence, differentiate your facility and generate goodwill in the community. You’ll develop relationships with local residents and businesses, and have fun! During this entertaining and thoughtful session, you’ll get ideas for choosing, planning, organizing and executing a successful event that earns business in this challenging economy.
Hit Your Target: Effective Ways to Identify and Reach Self-Storage Prospects
James “Jim” Hawley, Supply Side USA
3-3:50 p.m.
3-3:50 p.m.
The key to marketing is to understand your customers and local base of prospects. Different consumers require different marketing, so it’s important to fully understand local demographics. In this session, we’ll explore the top 10 reasons people rent self-storage, what they look for, and how these needs drive sales. We’ll also analyze the return on investment for various consumer segments and discuss useful sales tools that will help the customer make the right choice. Finally, we’ll discuss retail programs to suit various demographics and how each can position your facility as a “store of the community.”
Wednesday, Oct. 7
How to Use the Internet to Build Your Self-Storage Business: An Overview
Eric Shanfelt, Virgo Publishing
8-8:50 a.m.
8-8:50 a.m.
This seminar is the first in a four-part series that addresses the critical topic of online self-storage marketing. In this segment, you’ll learn about the importance of Web-based marketing as it relates specifically to this industry and the goals it can accomplish for a self-storage business. Our presenter will provide you with an overview of how all the pieces work together: the Internet, e-mail, search engines, online advertising and more.
Building Your Own Self-Storage Website and E-Mail Database
Christopher Baird, Automatit Inc., and Stacie Maxwell, Universal Management Co.
9-9:50 a.m.
9-9:50 a.m.
Whether you’re interested in revamping an existing self-storage website or creating one for the first time, you’ll need to address some essentials to ensure the site is successful. The second in our four-part series on online marketing, this seminar will help you define the goals of your website, identify the fundamentals of content and design, and address working with a Web-development company. You’ll learn how to use your website to build an e-mail database of customers and prospects. You’ll also be taught how to use and maintain that database, including issues of e-mail etiquette, and the creation and delivery of messages.
Marketing Your Self-Storage Business Online: Directories, Search Engines and More
Brandon Braud, Upickstorage.com
10-10:50 a.m.
10-10:50 a.m.
Once you’ve built your facility website, how do you get people to find it? Part three of our four-part online-marketing series explains how to go about promoting your website and business on the Web. Our presenter will first teach you how to define your marketing goal and message. Next, he’ll address the use of online directories, such as online Yellow Pages, and geographically focused search-engine advertising (pay-per-click). Finally, you’ll learn about other Web-based advertising options, including regional and industry-specific guides, and ways to promote your website at no cost.
Seeing the Web at Work for Self-Storage: Online Case Studies
Eric Shanfelt (Moderator), Virgo Publishing
11-11:50 a.m.
11-11:50 a.m.
In this final segment of our four-part online-marketing series, we bring together all that we’ve learned about Web-based marketing and see it in action! We’ll look at case studies of three different self-storage operations that managed to harness the power of the Internet and improve their business. You’ll hear first-hand experiences from operators, see demos of successful websites, and learn about campaigns that did and did not work (and why). At the end, our moderator will summarize what you’ve learned and open the floor for Q&A.
ISS would like to thank the members of its Education Advisory Committee:
Jim Chiswell,
Owner and President, Chiswell & Associates LLC
Mel Holsinger,
President, Professional Self-Storage Management
Jeff Greenberger,
Partner, Katz, Greenberger & Norton LP
Charles “Chip” Cordes,
Vice President, JanUS Door
Wayne Docktor,
Manager, All American Self Storage in Palmdale, Calif.
John Roser,
South Texas Regional Manager, AAA Storage
Gina Six Kudo,
Manager, Cochrane Road Self Storage in Morgan Hills, Calif.
Terry Campbell,
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, BETCO Inc.
Owner and President, Chiswell & Associates LLC
Mel Holsinger,
President, Professional Self-Storage Management
Jeff Greenberger,
Partner, Katz, Greenberger & Norton LP
Charles “Chip” Cordes,
Vice President, JanUS Door
Wayne Docktor,
Manager, All American Self Storage in Palmdale, Calif.
John Roser,
South Texas Regional Manager, AAA Storage
Gina Six Kudo,
Manager, Cochrane Road Self Storage in Morgan Hills, Calif.
Terry Campbell,
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, BETCO Inc.
Best Practices for Self-Storage Marketing
