The United States has always been a country that has talked about protecting and promoting the little guy. Politicians always talk about trying to speak for the minority. Unions like to say that they give every worker a voice. Home owners associations are intended to give individual owners a voice in their community.
Now there is an association that ensures that every self storage facility not affiliated with a larger company is given the same chances as those that do fall under the umbrella of a larger corporation.
Current estimates have about 46,000 self storage facilities operating within the United States. Of those, almost 5,000 (right around 10 percent of the total) fall under the corporate umbrella of five companies. About 2,400 (approximately 5 percent of the total) other self storage facilities are run by the next 45 top companies.
That leaves around 85 percent of the self storage facilities in the nation, over 39,000, to compete amongst each other when it comes to being found within the first couple pages of an internet search making it harder for any of them to really succeed.
Under the umbrella of the National Self Storage Alliance this will not be as much of an issue.
“Many storage operators are competing for the same prime Google real estate of showing up in the top three organic searches for their respective keywords. By joining the Alliance, all of these competing dollars could be spent driving traffic and renters to one website and one brand instead of a multitude of sites,” according to an Alliance press release.
Self storage facilities that do choose to become members will have to pay dues to the Alliance which will operate as a non-4-profit organization focused completely on promoting the interest of the member self storage facilities.
What individual facilities will get in return for their dues will be advertising on a national and regional scale under the banner of the National Self Storage Alliance. Initially it will come in the form of internet advertising, but will eventually become radio and television spots as well.
However, what member self storage facilities will have to give up something, their individuality that makes them unique and sets them apart from the rest. They will be expected to operate under the banner of the National Self Storage Alliance, a key aspect of building a national presence for the brand.
Sources Used:
“National Self Storage Alliance Formed.” National Self Storage Alliance; 11 March 2011.
“National Self Storage Forms Alliance Co-Op for Small to Mid-Size Facility Operators.” Inside Self Storage; 16 March 2011.