If there is one thing that everyone in the world likes to do, whether they are any good at it or not, it is sing. We’ve all sung in the shower, during the National Anthem at ball games, while driving, or via the local karaoke bar. Shows like American Idol has made singing competitions almost become in vogue.
One self storage company has decided to make America’s love of singing competitions work for them. Earlier this year, the good people at SmartStop Self Storage announced their “Sing it Smart!” video jingle competition. For the chance at a $5,000 grand prize contestants were asked to record a 30-60 second jingle for SmartStop Self Storage.
"One day in a meeting we were kicking around ideas about how we could sing the praises of SmartStop Self Storage," said H. Michael Schwartz, CEO and Chairman of Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. (SSTI), the parent company of SmartStop Self Storage.
So they let other people do it for them.
As the end of the contest draws near, the top 15 have been chosen by a special panel of judges and will be posted on the SmartStop Facebook page for voting starting November 17 – 21.
"The creativity and quality of the submissions were amazing. It's obvious that a lot of hard work went into this effort, so we want to say thank you by making everyone a winner,” Schwartz said.
Marketing efforts like this are commonly referred to as viral marketing. When you think viral, a negative connotation typically pops into mind. Parallel that to what is desired in marketing campaign though and it is exactly what you want.
The purpose in picking the best video, the people at SmartStop Self Storage are hoping that it will be something that people will want to share with their friends, who will share with their friends, who will share with their friends, and so on; a lot like when one person in class has a cold, eventually everyone does.
This kind of marketing is becoming more common in many industries, not just the self storage industry. In 2010, Storitz.com launched their ‘Eat, Pray, Store’ campaign around the time that the Julia Roberts movie Eat, Pray, Love was released on DVD.
The idea was for contestants to make a video similar to the scence in the movie where Julia Roberts packs her things away in a self storage unit before heading out on her adventure.
“Within our facilities, we have quite a number of people who anecdotally tell us about their storage rental needs. I would estimate that every day our facilities rent units to customers who are gearing up for a great life experience such as an extended trip to another part of the world. We're here to make the transition as seamless as possible for them,” said Mark Beck, Operations Manager of StorQuest Self Storage.
Sources Used:
“Public Voting Begins Today for the SmartStop(TM) Self Storage "Sing It Smart!" Video Jingle Contest.” Market Watch; 04 November 2011.
“SmartStop(TM) Self Storage Launches "Sing It Smart" Video Jingle Contest.” Market Watch; 23 September 2011.
“Self Storage Directory Provider, Storitz, Uses Julia Roberts Film and Social Media for Marketing Campaign.” Self Storage Industry News; 26 November 2010.
“The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing.” Web Marketing Today; 01 February 2005.