Maximizing Move-Ins

In the competitive self-storage landscape, maximizing move-ins is paramount to driving revenue growth, increasing occupancy, and ultimately boosting the value of your facility. One of the most powerful tools for achieving these goals is paid advertising. 

Diving into paid ads without a strategy is akin to setting sail without a compass. Here’s how to chart your course.

What is your goal?‍

Is your facility 30% occupied or 90% occupied? Is your facility stable? Has it recently been expanded, or is it a new development lease up? How big is your facility (a 10,000 sqft facility needs a lot less new customers than a 100,000 sqft facility)?

If you are starting from a low (0 to 50%) to medium (51 to 89%) occupancy, your goal might be to get 10, 20, or even 30 move-ins per month.

Review your occupancy and move-in trends for the last 3, 6, and 12 months and decide what your ideal range of new move-ins would be. Customers also move out monthly, so you need to account for that if you want to grow your occupancy. 

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Set your budget

Once you have your move-in target, you can set a realistic goal for how much you need to spend to attract new renters. Typically it costs $100 to $150 per new renter, but these costs can vary significantly by location.

If you aim to get 10 new renters monthly from Google ads, an initial starting budget should be $1000 to $1500 per month. 

If your location gets a lot of drive-bys or walk-ins, this cost may be significantly reduced. There might also be a surge in demand for people searching online for facilities in your market - giving you “organic” move-ins without the ad spend. 

It’s essential to track the costs of your advertising compared to the number of renters the ads bring in and make adjustments if the costs are too high or you do not see the number of move-ins you want to hit. ‍

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In-house or agency?‍

Google ads are often outside of the usual skill set of a storage facility owner. You must decide to manage the ads in-house (your marketing team or yourself) or contract an agency. 

There are pros and cons for both approaches. An agency might charge 10% to 20% of your ad spend or a retainer - but they might also deliver much better performance from the ads making their cost worthwhile. 

Doing everything in-house might save costs in the short term, but if you are missing out on potential move-ins and revenue, it could cost your facility more than hiring someone to run the ads on your behalf. 

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Choose which platforms you will advertise on:

You now have your goal, budget, and team to run ads. The next decision is where you plan to run those adverts. Google will deliver the most new move-ins and results. For simplicity, it’s best to stick with one channel first until you optimize it before adding additional marketing channels. 

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Primary Paid Media Strategies

Google Ads (This is the #1 channel for self-storage paid advertising):
When someone searches on Google or Google Maps for keywords like “storage near me” or “storage in City Name,” your facilities will appear at the top of the page. It is essential that your facility is running ads to people in a 3 to 5-mile radius around your location. ‍

Facebook & Instagram Ads:
These platforms offer highly targeted advertising options based on user demographics, interests, behaviors, and location, making it easier for self-storage companies to reach their ideal customers.‍

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Less commonly used platforms are:

• YouTube Video Ads
• Yelp Ads
• Local Directory Listings and Ads: on local online directories and classified sites.
• Storage-specific sites: like Sparefoot, but you have a lot less control than Google.
• Bing Ads: Similar to Google Ads but on Microsoft's search engine, Bing.
• Retargeting Ads: to users who have previously visited the company's website.

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The Cornerstone: Tracking Your Results

The foundation of any successful paid advertising campaign is robust tracking. It’s crucial to understand the relationship between your ad spend and the results it generates, such as calls, rentals, reservations, and actual move-ins. Your ad investment is a shot in the dark if you're not tracking these metrics. Setting up basic tracking mechanisms allows you to measure the effectiveness of each dollar spent and make informed decisions moving forward.

It is highly recommended that you have a separate telephone number to use just for the ads. This number can be set up in call tracking software and forwarded to your facility's main phone line. That way, you can see how many calls the ads are generating and how those calls are performing. 

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Key metrics to track:

• Ad spend: How much did you spend that week or month on advertising
• Move-ins: How many new rentals did those ads produce?
• Cost/Move-in: Total ad costs / total new ad move-ins. Try to keep <$100. 
• Impression share: this tells you how many potential leads you captured.
• Calls from ads
• Visits to your website from ads
• Rentals & reservations from ads

There are many more metrics to track, but these core metrics will give you a good idea of how the ad campaigns are performing and whether they generate positive returns for your storage business. 

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Targeting Your Ads

With a tracking system in place, the next step is to get your ads up and running. The secret sauce here is targeting. Your ads should cast a wide net over all the search terms and keywords potential customers might use. From "storage near me" to "storage in [town name]," covering all bases ensures your ads appear to those actively seeking what you offer.

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Geotargeting: Finding the Sweet Spot

Geotargeting is a powerful feature that allows you to tailor your ads to people within a specific radius of your facility. Starting with a 5-mile radius is a good benchmark, but this can be adjusted based on the results you see. The goal is to target your ads to the right people at the right time, making your facility the obvious choice for their storage needs.

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Start Small and Scale

When launching your first campaign, starting with a modest budget is wise. This approach allows you to test the waters, monitor results, and make necessary adjustments without breaking the bank. Over time, as you refine your strategy and identify what works best, you can confidently increase your investment to maximize returns.

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The Bottom Line

Investing in paid advertising can dramatically increase move-ins, drive revenue growth, and boost the overall value of your facility. You can develop an advertising strategy that delivers tangible results by focusing on tracking, targeting, choosing the right platforms, starting small, and seeking expert advice. In self-storage, visibility is everything. 

Effective paid advertising ensures that when potential customers start their search for storage solutions, your facility is front and center, ready to meet their needs.

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