Digital marketing for self-storage is when self-storage businesses utilize digital marketing methods to promote their brand, products, or services. Digital marketing is really an umbrella term that encompasses various ways of internet-based promotion such as social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and even targeted online advertisements.
Some self-storage facility owners and managers may wonder if their self-storage businesses need digital marketing. Self-storage facilities don't have the aesthetic appeal that many other businesses employ in their marketing efforts! While some aspects of digital marketing are highly visual, there's more to it than that. Digital marketing is important for self-storage businesses because it increases their online visibility, enabling them to reach more potential customers. The overall desired benefit is, of course, increased revenue.
Still, the relevance of digital marketing for self-storage businesses isn't always easy to identify. Even when self-storage businesses offer instant online booking and payment, their customer base is still largely limited to those near their storage facilities. Using the world wide web to promote a business doesn't mean that you're promoting your business to the whole wide world! Over a third of U.S. residents regularly use the internet to find a local business — in fact, only 1% of the population say that they never look for local services online. Online marketing has become so important that putting no effort into digital marketing would be foolish.
Compared to old-school methods such as billboards and printed materials, digital marketing is usually more effective, cheaper, and less cumbersome. With traditional forms of marketing, not everyone that sees a business's message will be a potential customer. A key strength of digital marketing is that it gives companies greater control over who sees their message. Businesses can pinpoint their desired audience more precisely by choosing factors such as location, age, and interests. With careful targeting, businesses can improve their marketing ROI by ensuring that the people they're reaching are likely to need its services.
Digital marketing is also faster to implement than offline methods and much easier to track. The combination of fast implementation and targeting specific demographics can be particularly useful for self-storage companies. For example, during summer a self-storage company could quickly and accurately launch a digital marketing campaign aimed at parents whose kids are leaving for college. Digital marketing doesn't have to replace traditional methods. In fact, self-storage companies can benefit greatly when they use digital marketing alongside methods such as flyering as part of an overall strategy.