Grand opening are only effective if members of the press, and the local community show up.

I was thinking that I might have a marketing company design a press kit for our grand opening. Apparently these companies not only design press kits, but they have proper distribution channels to get it into the right people's hands.

I want to know if anyone else has ever done this. Was it effective? Was it worth the money?

Matz,
A brief question to get you in the mindset: I'm a reporter; what are you doing at your business that will make me more likely to attend your grand opening than that of the shoe store around the corner, the ice cream shop downtown, or any other business opening up in any other part of town.

There has to be something awfully unique about a grand opening to make it a newsworthy event. That is the factor that you have to determine; perhaps the marketing company can help you but it will take more than a glossy press kit.

I don't want to spoil the puddin' here, but that is what you will confront with most newspapers and broadcast outlets. Smaller publications or specialty publications might be interested, but there still has to be a hook beyond saying "we're here; come see us".

There has been a bit of a boom in self storage in Ottawa. They are litterally popping up everywhere. The Canadian public is still not using it to the extent that Americans are, so creating an awareness for self storage could solve alot of problems for people..

Our self storage facility will also be one of the nicest and most sophisticated facilities in the world. It has plenty of wow factor. We took an old abandonned looking military warehouse in the downtown core, and transformed it into beautiful building. The before and after effect are astonishing.

My parent company, Fuller Construction is a very respected familly-run business in the Ottawa area. They have been building and managing buildings in Ottawa for 125 years. Fuller was the original architect on our Parliament Buildings (the Canadian equivalent of your White House). This is their first venture in Self Storage, and they may have plans to expand later down the road.

I do not know if these points are make our facility newsworthy enough. What are your thoughts?

Matt:

I have been in the self storage industry for 23 years. I have even done some consulting work in Ontario. There are several “spins” that you can use as a hook. The first is the total dollar investment in the property that your team has made say its $1 or $2 million or more. That is a big number to most people. Second, you have built the facility in response to market demand from both residential and business customers. Third talk about the various security features that you have installed and are an integral part of how you will operate the facility. Fourth, mention how your self storage facility will help home based and small businesses because you will be accepting shipments for them. When you accept shipments (OK IO know that there are a bunch of legal issues associated with that practice), you are actually giving that person or busy a part time employee since they do not have to be there in person to have their shipment properly received. Finally, point out that the self storage business will have almost zero impact on roads and infrastructure (water- sewer) compared to other possible real estate uses. It is also not a bad idea to point out just how much in property taxes you will be paying if you have obtained an estimate or already have a tax bill.

A Grand Opening can be a very fun event. You can have a ribbon cutting at 10:30 or 11:00 with coffee and donuts, a box lunch for people who come to visit during the lunch hour and cookies and pastries in the afternoon. You can mail out a key in your invitation that allows the person to try to open the gift lock on a unit near the office. You can get keyed alike locks from a variety of sources and simple put in 10 or 15 winning keys. Many of the local merchants in your area will be glad to donate some type of prize for the trade-off publicity that you will mention them in your letter and display their name during the Grand Opening. If someone comes with a winning key you can simply have a display of the prizes in the unit that the customer can choose from themselves. Also remember that anyone who does come – tries their key and it doesn’t work goes into a second chance drawing. Since the probably is that not many winning key holders will actually show up, you award the remaining prizes through a drawing at the end of the day. You call the winners and they come back to the store to get their prize. And oh yes, you register everyone that shows up during the day and the following week send out a thank you letter to everyone that did show and a “Sorry you missed our Grand Opening Letter” to everyone else with a brochure and business cards enclosed.

Best of luck with your new facility. You will find it is a great business.

MisterJim444

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Learning Never Ends

I like two things: the wow factor and the renovation of a dilapidated property, particularly one that is downtown. The wow aspect gives you an opportunity to overcome misconceptions that still exist regarding storage facilities, and second, economic development stories are almost always newsworthy.

Also doesn't hurt to have the reputation of the parent company and that in itself can be one more plus in selling the story. I would be curious how a company that goes from building things like Parliament moves into the storage arena but that's more a sidebar.

Sounds like you have a couple of hooks for a positive story.