by Winnie Hsiu
November 17, 2011 6:04 PM
Last week, SpareFoot launched a social media contest for storage operators through its SelfStorage.com partner. It is called The Best Self-Storage Marketing Idea Contest. Storage facility managers and owners are asked to share their most creative marketing ideas that could be used to get more people to rent units with them. Ideas could be tried and true ones or crazy ones they are thinking about and haven't tried just yet.
I enjoyed reading Megan West's Christmas Marketing ideas. Since the holidays will soon be here, her idea is very applicable. She recommended setting up a gift wrapping station in a climate controlled unit where people could wrap their presents. Play Christmas music in the background and serve hot chocolate. This event could also be combined with a Toys for Tots drive if so desired.
Richard Hart also had a unique idea. He suggested giving apartment complexes flyers about your storage facility. The flyer explained a tweeting contest where they could tweet something odd or comical about a move. The winning tweet would be given a $50 Visa gift card. The tweet hash tag would be specifically coded for the apartment complex. The manager of the apartment complex would also receive a $50 gift card.
The goal of the contest is to inspire storage managers to recognize the value and worth of using social media for marketing and also as a platform to share ideas with peers in the industry.
Ideas can be posted from now until November 28. Then, SpareFoot will have a 'jury' of marketing experts review all of the entries and select five finalists. On December 1, the finalists will be announced. At that time, public voting will be allowed. People can vote for their favorite idea. Voting closes December 21.
On December 22, the idea with the most votes wins a Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire has a full-color touch screen. It supports movies, applications, games, music, web browsing, and free cloud storage for your Amazon content. And the nice thing is that it is half the price of an iPad. Sweet.
This is a wonderful prize for a contest. Especially for a contest held at this time of year. If your creative marketing idea is selected, you will get a great holiday gift for yourself or for someone special in your life.
Here is the link to the contest if you are interested. Right now, there aren't very many ideas. So far, you have a great chance of being selected as one of the top five finalists.
http://www.facebook.com/SelfStorageInc
Sources Used:
"Best Self-Storage Marketing Idea Contest: Learn From Peers, Win a Kindle Fire." Self Storage Blog; 16 November 2011.
"Best Self Storage Marketing Idea Contest." Property Management Blog; 11 November 2011