How Extra Space Built a Marketing Team Ready for Change with CMO Dayna Hathaway

In episode 13 of the Inside Extra Space Storage podcast, McKall Morris talks with Chief Marketing Officer, Dayna Hathaway, to discuss how she's seen Extra Space evolve over the last 26 years, what she looks for when hiring, how AI developments are affecting marketing strategy, and more.

Hathaway also shares her philosophy around mentorship and her "personal board of directors"—including how seeking out experts in different areas helps strengthen a team.

Transcript & Chapters

00:00 — About Inside Extra Space Storage Podcast

Hathaway: I want the best SEO team that we have. I want the best PPC team. I want the best creative team that we can have. I can't know all of those skills at the level that I want to hire. But I can get that talent in the room, and I know the business well enough to help ask them questions, guide them along the right path to where they need to go. And together, that's something really powerful.

Morris: On Inside Extra Space Storage, we sit down with the experts building, operating, and scaling Extra Space Storage to not only be the world's largest self-storage operator, but one of the most trusted names in the industry. If you care about where Extra Space and the self-storage industry are headed, you're in the right place.

Morris: Welcome to Inside Extra Space, our podcast where we get some of our great leaders, put them on the mic, and see what happens. We're so lucky today to have Dayna Hathaway, our Chief Marketing Officer, CMO. Dayna's been with Extra Space for over 26 years and has been the head of our marketing team for a lot of years, and just this last year took on the CMO title. So, it's exciting. Welcome to the show.

Hathaway: Thanks, McKall.

Morris: I say that as if it's not your team doing all of the work to make this possible. The marketing team is one of my favorite teams to collaborate with. I'll just open with that.

Hathaway: Well, we like to be fun. We like to be good partners, so glad to hear it.

01:25 — Building Extra Space Marketing Over 26 Years

Morris: You've spent your whole career on the marketing team.

Hathaway: Correct.

Morris: Which is pretty awesome, to have 26 years at Extra Space in marketing. What from those years are you super proud of? Do you have any projects where you're like, "I just loved that one. That one really stands out to me"? What are some of your highlights?

Hathaway: Oh, yeah. With 26 years, there are lots of moments. If I go back to when I started, just coming in and being part of starting the marketing team. I was employee number three on the marketing team, and that's part of why I came. There was this opportunity to start the marketing department at Extra Space Storage and really take us into the future. So that was a moment right from the beginning that I was super excited to build something.

Hathaway: Going public with the company and being part of that, or the acquisitions we've done along the years. Storage USA, where we acquired someone three times our size and thought, are we crazy? Why do we think we can do this? And then realizing, oh, we can do this. Until most recently, the LSI acquisition. Those are major company moments.

Hathaway: There have been moments in marketing too, where we went from completely print marketing, Yellow Pages and direct mail, to 100% digital marketing. Leading that transformation and making that happen in a way that was positive for the organization was really exciting. So, there are lots of moments along the way like that.

Morris: I'm sure every time we've upgraded our digital marketing strategy, that has to be huge. I think of launching the website. Now it's a given that, of course, we have this incredible website that runs the way it runs. Then launching digital leasing on the website. There are always these new, evolving pieces.

Hathaway: Customer expectations are always changing as technology is changing. That gives us constant challenges, which are fun and part of the reason I'm here. But you're right, there are always these things. I tell my kids sometimes, yeah, I was there when we bought extraspace.com. There wasn't an internet, and all of a sudden there was. They kind of look at me like I'm crazy. But there was a time when we didn't have that as a marketing tool.

03:33 — AI and the Next Marketing Transformation

Morris: When you're looking forward, what are you looking at that has you excited or has you in that same mindset of transformation and innovation?

Hathaway: I feel like this will sound so obvious, but I have to say it. AI. It's here. It's in front of us. It's happening. And it's a major challenge for us as marketers because the landscape in terms of how customers, you and I, everybody as consumers, are shopping and interacting with businesses is rapidly changing. And if it's not, it will rapidly change.

Morris: But you've been through one of these before. You went from Yellow Pages to web. You can go from web to—

Hathaway: Right. I remind my team of that. We've had changes. There are many changes we can reference. It's not that we have a playbook for every change, but we know it will change. It's a matter of using that energy, being excited, leaning into it, being curious, and using it as an opportunity to grow and have fun along the way.

Morris: Do you have any AI projects you want to shout out in particular that your team's working on that are exciting?

Hathaway: Oh man, you shout one out and you wish you shouted the others out.

Morris: I know you've got a ton on the table.

Hathaway: One that I think you've heard about, and many in the company have heard about, is Boxy on our website. That's one that's consumer-facing, and we're starting to test whether people are interested in interacting with our website through an AI chatbot experience like you see on other websites. It's been out for a few months. It's early. We're seeing some initial good signals and some work still to do, but that's how every project on a website is. There's this optimization process that you go through until you really get it right.

Hathaway: Sometimes that takes a couple weeks, sometimes a couple months, and sometimes it's a year-plus. So, we're excited to see what this one does.

05:15 — How Data Shapes Customer Experience

Morris: Working with your team, you get a little peek behind the door and you're like, whoa, you guys are A/B testing constantly on little improvements, little changes through our whole system. It's really impressive. How do you view the data that you get from testing, and how do you implement that type of data?

Hathaway: We're all about the data. I think that's core to our DNA, not just on the marketing team, but here at Extra Space. I love how data and creativity come together on the marketing side. I love us working with our digital analytics team or the revenue management team, who we're close partners with.

Hathaway: I love seeing us take that data and also take the consumer experience, or customer experience, that's happening and put those two together, because that's where the magic happens. If we can use the data to really drive a better experience for the customer, regardless of whether that's our website, through the call center, or even walking into the store, the data is our guide to tell us how to do things better. And better means making the customer experience the best it can be. That's when we win.

06:17 — What First-Time Storage Customers Should Know

Morris: When we think about the Extra Space customer, you guys are communicating with them constantly through all these different channels. Big-picture self-storage question. What's the one thing about self storage that you think customers need to know before they walk in to get their unit? What's one thing you wish customers knew, as you've learned through the customer experience?

Hathaway: That's a great question. I don't know that I've been asked that question in that way. I would say there are more nuances to it than you think before you approach it. Most customers haven't rented self storage before, so they don't know what they're getting into, and it's more complex than meets the eye.

Hathaway: If they understood there are amazing people at our properties, especially, to help you through this and you don't have to have it all figured out, it would relieve a lot of stress. People come to us in times of stress, and then they come to storage and it's what I call the "oh crap" moment. It's like, I didn't even think about this. I have all these other things on my to-do list to get out of this stressful situation I'm in, and now I have to figure this thing out that's messy and I don't even know what it is.

Hathaway: If they understood you've got people out there, you've got experts that can help you through this, that would be amazing. We're trying to communicate that, but we'd love for that to be a story that people knew.

Morris: The fact that most customers haven't used storage before, they kind of show up in a time of need, a life transition, as we say in a lot of our mission statement material. I remember when I used storage for the first time. Moving here for this job was my first time ever using self storage. I had no idea what size I needed. I had no idea how the lease worked. I didn't know how far in advance to make a reservation versus how much I could just walk up. There is a lot of nuance.

Hathaway: So many things.

Morris: But you're right. For me, at least, I got on the phone, called the store, talked to a store manager, problem solved. That's good advice for a customer. Just reach out. You're going to have questions. We're going to have answers.

Hathaway: Right.

08:17 — What Makes a Great Marketing Employee

Morris: Another aspect your team focuses a lot on is innovation. You guys are always coming up with new ideas, new ways to approach things, ways to iterate and make things better. What do you think makes a great employee on the marketing team, and what characteristics allow your team to be so innovative?

Hathaway: We love to innovate, and if we're not innovating, then we're probably falling behind. That's important for us to always remember. As far as a good employee on the marketing team, I always tell my team, or talk to others, that it's not as much about the skills. There are some skills we need, but we need the right attitude.

Hathaway: We need someone who's super curious. That's probably the first one I talk about. Someone who's super curious, someone who's willing to roll their sleeves up, be a team member, get in there and brainstorm, and not be shy about throwing out the crazy, wacky ideas. A lot of them, as you know, don't land. They don't make the list at the end of the day, but they're an important part of the process to get us to that one that makes the list.

Hathaway: So, it's being a team player, having some grit, wanting to have fun, and being curious. I don't want to oversimplify it, but some of those qualities take you so far.

Morris: I love that. We've had a couple different leaders talk about curiosity as being a key thing for teams. Thinking about how what you do is going to impact other people is a curiosity, but also just, what if we did it this way? Have we looked at it from this angle? There's that curiosity to take a different perspective.

09:49 — How to Get Unstuck Creatively

Morris: Another aspect of your team is that they tend to be very creative thinkers, along with the innovative thinking. As an advice piece, what do you do personally if you hit a wall on innovative thinking or creativity? What do you do to pull yourself out of a creative lock?

Hathaway: This happens a lot. I always tease that I'm definitely not the most creative person on my team. We have a lot of creative people, so I lean on them. I get out of my office and go grab people and talk. Just throw the problem out there, throw the idea out there, try to get something started.

Hathaway: That's where I think it's really fun. Those ideas, like I said earlier, start to bounce off each other and challenge each other. Let's think wild. Let's think big and out there, and we'll land on the right thing. You always have to use your teammates and collaborate. That's how you'll get to something magical.

Hathaway: The other thing I would say is, for me personally, if I feel stuck or just can't find that creative energy, I find ways to unwind or recharge. We all have our own ways to do that. I'll find a minute to go grab a hike or go play some pickleball with my boys. Getting outside is usually my M.O., and that does wonders for me. Sometimes you only need 10 minutes or half an hour, and you're completely recharged and ready to go. Just give yourself a little reset.

Morris: And luckily we're so close to the mountains, you can just pop right out.

Hathaway: Yeah. Love it.

Morris: It's always interesting when you're asked to be creative as part of your work. There are days where I hit writer's block and I'm like, oh no, this is a white page. But you're right that having a conversation with other people and bringing in our teammates to brainstorm is the easiest solution because it starts creating that energy between everyone.

Hathaway: Right. In addition, it's such a great way to continue to team-build too. Bringing people together creates this energy that sustains us long term. There are lots of benefits. I love using that tool whenever I can.

11:53 — Mentorship & a Personal Board of Directors

Morris: Speaking of teams, Extra Space is pretty awesome about having mentors and mentorship programs, and also informal mentoring. Can you tell me about someone who mentored you in your career and what that meant?

Hathaway: I've had so many, informal and formal. I've told quite a few people I do this thing where I have my own board of directors. Everyone doesn't know they're on my board of directors, but I kind of target people that I admire, that I want to learn from, and I'll find ways to establish those relationships. That's more of an informal way.

Hathaway: On a formal side, I'll go to James Overturf, our former CMO who was here for a long time and hired me. He was an amazing mentor from day one. He showed me the opportunity I had, literally convincing me to come over to Extra Space for that opportunity. Then, each step of the way, he continued to remind me of the opportunity that was ahead, because there were continually opportunities coming.

Hathaway: He wasn't afraid to remind me of the opportunity, but also wasn't afraid to remind me where I was going to run into challenges because of things I needed to develop in myself or things I needed to help my team through in order for us to meet these next challenges. He had a way of doing that with humor, which was unique and uncommon. He didn't necessarily come in with a direct, hard conversation. He came in kind of poking and teasing me about it, which worked for us once I understood his language.

Hathaway: That certainly has been a powerful mentorship for me, and there are many others I could talk about. I think the power of mentors is so critical, and I love being part of receiving that mentorship as well as extending that mentorship to others.

Morris: I think now you're pretty well known as someone who gives a lot of great advice to people and acts as a mentor for a lot of people. How do you think about being a mentor now?

Hathaway: I think about it a little bit from what I just said. I've had the privilege and opportunity to be mentored by so many great people here and outside of Extra Space that I need to remember it's a little bit of my responsibility to pay that forward.

Hathaway: The second one is, there's nothing I love more than helping people get to their next place. Oftentimes, that's not the next title. It's just that they've got a challenge in front of them. It could be very small, seemingly small but big to them, or it could be bigger. Helping people think through how to do that in a way that will help them with their next move, and also allow them to be really proud of how they handled that situation, I love it. I love being part of those situations and helping people.

Morris: Because it's not just about how you get to the end goal, but what you did in between. You got there, but did you get there gracefully? It's so much easier when you have someone who can give you some advice and make sure you're not just achieving it, but you're getting there in a way that's aligned with your values and maintained in moments of stress. I think mentorship can be so powerful in that.

Hathaway: Absolutely.

15:08 — Leadership, Accountability, & Hiring Experts

Morris: You've got a big team. You've hired quite a few people. What advice do you give to new leaders on your team, people who are maybe just managing a project or managing people for the first time?

Hathaway: A couple things, probably. One, it's not all going to go perfectly. In fact, a lot of it won't go perfectly. So relax. We're going to make mistakes. Mistakes are a blessing because you're going to learn from those mistakes. Know that going into it and handle those with that kind of attitude. Extend grace, make sure you learn from those opportunities, and let your team learn with you along the way.

Hathaway: Along with that, I love to talk about 100% responsibility. No surprise, it's kind of core here at Extra Space. But if you're going to make mistakes, you also have to be willing to take responsibility for those mistakes. Sometimes people don't see both sides of that equation, and they want quick forgiveness and to pass on through that mistake without taking the responsibility. There's an important lesson in taking responsibility. Those go hand in hand.

Hathaway: The other one is, I always say we're not trying to be the smartest person in the room. You need to have a team that can do everything you need them to do, if not more than what you even know. We want to hire the experts. I want the best SEO team that we have. I want the best PPC team. I want the best creative team that we can have. I can't know all of those skills at the level that I want to hire. But I can get that talent in the room, and I know the business well enough to help ask them questions, guide them along the right path to where they need to go. And together, that's something really powerful.

Hathaway: I hope my leaders understand that too. No one likes the person who walks in and thinks they're the smartest person in the room. Recognize the power of the team and what we can accomplish together.

Morris: And not being competitive with the people around you, like, oh, they know so much more about this, I'm nervous. Instead, they know so much more about this, awesome. Let's empower them further, and we'll share our knowledge and benefit from each other.

Hathaway: Yes. Not competitive in that sense. We'd like to be competitive.

Morris: Oh, we're competitive. I've seen you guys do an office Olympics.

Hathaway: It's coming up next week, so come down.

Morris: The team is very competitive, but not in that way.

Hathaway: Only competitive for fun.

17:35 — How the National Solutions Center Evolved

Morris: In addition to the traditional marketing team that reports to you, you also have our call center, which we call our National Solutions Center, that reports to you. What do people not know about our call center operation?

Hathaway: I think there's a lot, and I'm particularly super proud of what's happened over there. They service us as an organization in so many ways. I think when we hear "call center," we just think they answer calls that are coming in for either sales or service. If you go back 10 years, that was the model, and that's why we called it the call center.

Hathaway: The reason we made the switch in name to National Solutions Center is because they do so much more than that. They handle our Facebook and social media incoming requests. They respond to all reviews within 24 hours. They service the kiosk team. I could go on and on. There's a myriad of things that they do.

Hathaway: They've done that because they've recognized they have resources, or they can add resources, in a way to support that. It's an effective way for us as an organization to continue to grow and have this service center that helps us do that in new and innovative ways compared to five to 10 years ago.

Morris: There's been a lot of innovation in that area. I feel like that's something where you look and say, of course, call center. But if you look one layer deeper, you're like, whoa, that's a big team of people doing a lot of interesting work that touches a lot of different departments. It makes sense to be paired with marketing because it is still so much about that customer journey.

Hathaway: It's about customer acquisition and the customer journey. To add to the cool work they've done, going into the pandemic we had to go remote very quickly. This was a call center where all agents were here physically, and within a week they were dispersed. Now we have call center agents all across the country, 300 or more agents. We also figured out very quickly how to do a lease over the phone, which wasn't something we did before.

Hathaway: It's that innovative culture, that ability to take on a challenge with curiosity, figure it out, solve it, and execute it.

Morris: So, innovative in fun ways, trying to get ahead, but also innovative when something has happened and we have to react to it. They pivoted so fast during COVID. I remember that. They were so impressive.

Hathaway: We had to. It was kind of a moment of do or die in terms of customer acquisition. So, yeah, I would say it's super impressive.

20:07 — Collaboration and Checking Ego at the Door

Morris: When you look across your team, both the National Solutions Center team and the marketing team, what do you think makes a great collaborative environment? You have this collaborative, innovative, creative environment. What allows them to collaborate with each other, but also across different departments?

Hathaway: I think some of it is that you have to build that muscle. You have to recognize you don't know it all, and if you're going to figure this out, especially in an organization this size, there's no way you can do it alone. Very few projects can be executed in a silo. Very few projects are just an SEO project or just a call center project. I would assume a lot of that is true across the organization, but in our world that's absolutely true.

Hathaway: You have to recognize that it's not a signal of weakness or not knowing enough because I have to reach across the wall to ask for help. It's actually a signal of strength. I know I've got this partner on the HR team or in accounting who can help me plug in this information that I'm not as strong at, and together that becomes that much more powerful.

Hathaway: The other thing I say frequently is, you've got to check your ego at the door. You will not successfully collaborate if you've got that ego, if you think you've got it all figured out. It's about partnership, using the strength of many people, and having fun along the way. I think it is more fun if you're working with other people rather than just sitting at your desk doing the project alone.

Morris: It is way more fun, and it's way more fun specifically to work with your team. They are so fun.

21:54 — Final Thoughts & Team Recognition

Morris: But I also want to give one more shout-out to your team. Your team is the one behind the scenes that came up with this podcast idea, does all the production work, all the prep and post-production, sets up lighting and camera, and your team has just been awesome. I'm so glad they chose me to collaborate with on this. I'll end with a thank you to your team for putting this all together.

Hathaway: I appreciate that. They deserve it, and we've loved partnering with you. You've done an amazing job in this role, so I appreciate it.

Morris: Well, thank you for that, and thank you to everyone who joined us for this conversation. We've got other episodes out there. Like and subscribe. More are coming, and there are great past episodes to listen to as well. Thank you.

Morris: Thanks for listening to Inside Extra Space Storage. Each episode features conversations with leaders and teams behind one of the most recognizable names in the self-storage industry. To connect with today's guest, reach out to them directly on LinkedIn. And don't forget to follow the show for more insights inside the industry. Until next time, have a great day and an even better tomorrow.

About the Host and Guest

Dayna Hathaway, Chief Marketing Officer

Dayna Hathaway is the Chief Marketing Officer at Extra Space Storage. Since joining Extra Space in 1999, Hathaway has played a foundational role in building the marketing department from the ground up, from developing retail strategy to guiding the brand through major milestones. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Westminster College and serves on the Utah Valley University Marketing Board of Advisors.

McKall Morris, Director of Corporate Communications

McKall Morris is the Corporate Communications Director at Extra Space Storage. She joined the company in March 2019 after several years in the airline industry. Since joining Extra Space, Morris has played a key role in advancing internal and external communications initiatives, helping shape how the company is represented across all channels. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah.

To learn more about Extra Space Storage, visit our investor site, or explore the next step in your career by viewing current job openings. This transcript was auto-generated and edited, including paraphrasing for readability. For the full conversation and exact quotes, listen to the complete episode on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.