Using video for self storage is a great way to market and promote your self storage facility

If you’ve ever wondered whether you can use video to promote your self storage business, then the short answer is yes! Don’t look at video as just another sales tool but rather, a tool to build occupancies. It tends to work really well when you want to show off your facility or show users how to use their self storage space effectively.

Video is a great marketing tool because it offers a powerful medium to build narratives around your site. You can use video to give your site a distinct personality and to tell your story in a far more engaging way than words or images alone ever could. Nowadays you don’t even need to invest in expensive state-of-the-art video camera; your smartphone is all you need. This makes video an inexpensive yet effective marketing tool for your self storage business.

By increasing the time users spend on a web page, Google will rank that web page higher. And you guessed it, video helps make your pages sticky. A good video can increase the time users spend on your page, so that’s a clear win with Google. But it gets even better.

YouTube also happens to be the world’s second largest search engine – processing more than three billion searches a month and attracting nearly one in every two Internet users. By having a dedicated YouTube channel for your brand and linking those videos to relevant pages on your website, you get to harness the combined might of the world’s two largest search engines. Another win!

Video is also inherently shareable. You can embed video in emails, and even send a “How-to” video link to a storer by SMS using Storman’s email & SMS functions respectively. Plus, it let you add personality to your marketing. While it is quite easy to create video content, before you hit record here are a few things to remember.

Things to Keep in Mind When Creating Your Video

1. Using your smartphone camera video is great but it has limited video editing capabilities. So invest in some basic video editing software such as iMovie (for Mac users) or Windows Movie Maker. These apps make it easy to edit bits out, and add voice-overs, transitions, your logo and contact information. Whatever you do, always keep your brand front and centre. Ensure the staff who feature in your videos are wearing company uniform. The same goes for any merchandise (e.g. boxes) you might use in your videos. Remember, branded is always better.
2. Name your video with an appropriate title and have a brief description to go with it that tells viewers what the video is about. Include relevant keywords so that customers can easily search and find your video. For example, a video describing how to reuse packing boxes is better off named as “How to Reuse Used Packing Boxes” rather than “Untitled Video 1.”
3. Have a call-to-action. It could be as simple as inviting people to subscribe and share. Remember also to embed videos on your website and include relevant contact information as text in the video.
4. Remember to have fun. Social media offers great channels to show off your site. Our recent post has some great ideas on how you can make social media work for your business.

Some Ideas to Help You Get Started

Ideas are only limited by your imagination. Here we have listed some for you to use and make your own.

1. You can configure Storman to automatically fire off an email when a storer moves in but this time you could embed a video with recommendations on how to pack efficiently.
2. Make a one-minute video on your self storage sites, employees, customer service and happy customers. 
3. Promote your facility by taking viewers on a tour of your facility. Showing storers the features your facility offers like security may help put their mind at ease.
4. Educational videos are especially popular. Storers use self storage for a range of reasons, but mostly they are new to using storage and would appreciate learning a thing or two about how to use (or not to use!) a product. Having a few how-to videos would not only be instructional for storers but are great to share around.  
5. How about having some fun? Invite audiences to take a behind-the-scenes look of what goes on in your facility. Give them a peek into your processes. Show them what the neighbourhood is like.
6. Get creative. Try something out of the box and offbeat. The goal is to make it interesting for the viewer so that they keep watching till the end and then hopefully share it.