Any one got an ideas on stimulating business in a very slow/soft Market. I have the community involvement, advertising and the promo specials as well as the FREE moving truck . I however have soooo many other sotrage facilites all around me and I think it really confuses people. I am looking for something out side of the box to really get the business going. My property is not quite 2 years old and have a beautiful location. In fact we took the beautification Award not even a year ago. We are resident managers, very involved in our community. But what is one to do when they have 23+ competitors in a 8 mile radius???? I know better than to give it away. We have done well so far and have very happy tenants, we support other local business's however we have recently dropped off and I am not one for giving up. I really need the Hum Dinger Idea!!!

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Sandra,
I need some advice too! My facility has been open for 6 months we are at 23% I've been marketing my butt off. I could really use some good ideas

I can tell you that as a new comer over here, I really had to market my but off too. I will tell you the first year is critcal. Go everywhere and meet everyone and take them goodies to help them remember you. If time allows donate your time or services after to work to a local charity somehting of that nature in your company's name. It really helped me get to know people and we did so well in the first year and many of those tenants are still with us. I worrie now that I feel I have tried so many things and it just suddenly got way to slow. Not sure how to reboost things and get the attention back on my property.I can tell you that the churches are a really good market as well, be the one willing to recognize in a rate discount who they are. I have several at my location and they love it here. Good luck girly

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Do you have testimonials from happy tenants? Can you offer them a bounty for referrals? Are you members of the chamber of commerce so you can get in front of businesspeople who can help you virally?

Have you looked at your facility from the outside in, like a customer, and asked "what would attract me, what would I expect from a storage place?" Focus your marketing efforts on that answer, provided you're not already doing that, and please forgive the preaching to the choir if you are.

When our customers move in, they fill out a 5 question survey, and one of the question is "How many other storage facilities did you visit before renting here?"

If they enter something other then zero, I always ask them who they visited and why they chose us. You'll get some good answers from that question.

We here in East Orlando are way overloaded with storage facilities too....It seems like there are one or more on every corner.

We are at 92% occupancy, for which I am very grateful, but I have found that joining an organization or two that you are interested in is very helpful. We get 4 of 5 rentals a month from other members of the American Legion. We would be members even if we didn't work in storage, but since we are here, and some of the other members need storage, it works out well for all.

We also have a referral program, where a current tenant gets a sizeable discount off of their next months' rent if they send a friend or family member over and they get a storage unit.

We also have a lot of Homeowners' Associations rent here. They get a discount off of their unit whenever one of their homeowner's rents a unit...so the president of the HOA's usually recommends us to their neighbors.

Wow, these are all great ideas. Some of which we are doing and others we are not. Thank you for all of the replies, they are very good. I will put them to good use, I can promise you that. I did try the Homeowners association over here and we did not have much success with them at the time, but thank you for reminding me to try again.

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We have a LOT of housing developments around here, there are about 50 HOA's in the surrounding area, if you can find out who the president or treasurer is, contact that person. They might let you give a short presentation at their next meeting, or at the very least let you mail them some info about your facility. The HOA's we have in storage here store their community Christmas and other holiday decorations, signs for their annual community garage sales, etc. The officers are always looking for a way to cut costs, so if they can get reduced price or free storage for the community storage unit by recommending us to their homeowner members, they usually will be happy to do so. Also some HOA's have monthly or quarterly newsletters or websites that they may let you advertise in for a small fee or no fee.

What we offer the HOA is that for each homeowner in their development that rents with us, we give them 50% off the next month's rent for the HOA unit. Most of them have small 5x5 or 5x10 units, so it's worth it to us.

You can also try Day Care Centers with the same deal. They usually could use off-site storage for holiday decorations, etc. See if you can leave literature for the mom's and dad's, or if they have a newsletter or website will offer you free advertising in exchange for storage discounts, or give them a percentage off the day care storage unit for each new rental they refer.

These are wonderful ideas! Thank you for being so helpful. I will be working on this right away. Have a Great day!

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Click my username and look at my post regarding internet search results and blogging. If you have a bunch of competitors in your market and none of them are blogging, you need to start. I sometimes feel like I'm beating a dead horse with all my google, blog post BS, but I know it works. The key to success in a crowded market is differentiation.

All my competitors offer the exact same thing I do, space, boxes, gates, fences, pleasant staff, location, blah blah blah...What sets us apart is we are having a conversation with our community through our website. People like doing business with people they know...If they know you they will come...talk to your market, give them information they need...it's all about giving and communicating...

my competitor questioned why i would put something on my web site that encouraged people to buy overhead racks to install in their garage, so they could store stuff at home instead of a storage facility.

Fairborn Self Storage Call 879-3008 » Blog Archive » Check out this Idea from Kirk Nash and Dan Degenhart

He thought it was highly stupid...What I think is highly stupid is people staying in a storage unit for 12 plus months, however, nothing I say or do on my website is going to change the fact that people will always NEED storage, they won't spend $100 on overhead racks and will instead give me $900 in rent over the next 10 months.

I believe that giving people an alternative to my business is good business and brings me better and more loyal and likely repeat customers.

Visit Websitetology » Websitetology Seminar on Tuesday March 25th and learn what I know about blogging. It's March 25th in Dayton, Ohio...let me know if your coming and I'll buy you a drink!

I love it, but I think I am confused about how to get strated? I think this is just the right idea for me, but I fear I may need to call on your help to educate me more. I will be on the webinar the 25th for sure. I wish I could be there, I could use a drink...lol Thank you, this sounds WONDERFUL!!!!

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