College students are the best customers for many self storage businesses this time of year. What other large demographic lives for nine months out of the year in one place and three months in another? They are consistent self storage customers and self storage businesses are working in high gear to attract their attention as semesters wrap up for the summer.
Those in the industry agree the way to gain business from college students boils down to three main elements: web presence, posting fliers and student specials. Having a good website and taking part in social media is key. They Tweet, they Facebook, they carry around iPhones and Droids, and they’ve probably never picked up the Yellow Pages. In addition to your website, you can focus on web resources students use the most. Updating your listing on sites like Google Places, Facebook Marketplace, Yelp and SpareFoot is important, as well as possibly posting an ad on Craigslist and sign up to be featured on Daily Deal and on college classifieds sites like Uloop.
Some self storage companies in college markets are offering exclusive student move-in specials for one month or the whole summer. Student specials usually fall within the 15 percent range with an incentive for them to pay for all three to four months up front.
“We also market to the college students. Year round we offer them a 15% discount. During the summer if they want to pay the 3-4 months in advance they get a few more dollars off per month. Most of our college renters are returning year after year. Word of mouth is huge. We've had some come in and say that their friend told them about us. I also talk to the housing office at the university and they usually let me put fliers in the dorms. Another thing to remember is when all the students start coming back in August you should run some sort of special to counteract the student move outs,” wrote “pocstorage” on a May 6 posting on Inside Self-Storage’s online forum, Self-Storage Talk in its “Marketing to College Students” thread.
And it is important to reach out to students on their campus, as well, posting fliers in strategic locations. A self storage facility can also set up partnerships with restaurants and “hangout” businesses.
“Offline, you’ll have to spend a little money to make money. We recommend printing branded, university-centric fliers to post on community bulletin boards around campus and at local businesses frequented by students. Think about places like coffee shops, used book stores (especially now that the semester is ending), laundromats and convenience stores. If you’ve printed enough fliers, you might politely ask employees if you can leave a stack on the counter or cash wrap for students to grab on their way out,” noted a blogger on The Storage Facilitator powered by SpareFoot.
Sources Used:
“Marketing Self Storage To College Students.” The Storage Facilitator. May 2011.
Carlisle, John. “Go Back to School on Self-Storage Talk, Reel in College-Student Tenants.” Inside Self-Storage. May 8, 2011.