E-mail marketing is a great tool for reaching potential self-storage tenants and keeping in touch with current ones. It also allows your facility to be in the forefront of people’s minds for referrals. When building a successful e-mail campaign, you need to think about your audience, content, frequency and more. Here are some pointers to get you started.
Audience
One of the keys to building a successful e-mail marketing campaign is to have a robust database of customer addresses. There are many online marketing platforms that allow you to store e-mails in lists or segments based on type. They can also be used to send and track messages.
To begin building your database, collect and consolidate e-mails you receive from inquiries, reservations and rentals. Any events attended by facility employees are another great place to get e-mails. Business cards are always exchanged, so add these addresses for potential rentals!
You can also gather e-mails from your website and social media platforms. You can even add sign-up forms that link right to your database. This will allow people to opt-in to your campaign easily and quickly.
Subject Line
How do you get readers to open your e-mail? A compelling subject line is a must! Test different possibilities often.
Stay away from subjects that simply state the store name and date. Superior subject lines contain a question or statement that makes the reader want to open the message. If you’re offering a terrific promotion that’s exclusive to the e-mail campaign, mention it right in the subject line. Subject lines can even contain emojis! Making your subject stand out from the clutter in everyone’s inbox is critical to boost your open rate.
Content
E-mail marketing should contain valuable content the reader wants to view. However, it should also maintain authenticity and professionalism that reflects your self-storage business. Relevancy of information builds trust that your e-mail is something the recipient will want to continue to read each time he receives it.
Your campaign should also include calls to action. This might relate to a link to your website, details about a promotion, happenings at the storage facility or a lead-in to your blog that offers valuable information.
The content of your e-mail campaign should remind customers about your referral program. Tenants love to save on rent or earn free rewards! Make sure this program is clearly explained and prominent in each message.
Links to your social media should also be a staple in your e-mail messages. Asking for feedback on your review platforms is a great add-in to the content.
Finally, it’s important that each e-mail campaign match the branding message of your business. After all, it’s an extension of your current marketing program, so keep your message and tone consistent with your brand.
Platforms
When choosing a platform for your e-mail campaign, make sure it can host your database and allow you to create visually appealing messages. It should also provide reporting tools. Tracking your opens and click-through rates can be helpful in enhancing your e-mail marketing. You can then use these reports to discover what content was of interest to readers. This can help you when forming other messages and keep information relevant and valuable.
Some great e-mail platforms include Constant Contact, FeedBlitz and MailChimp. You can also use your self-storage management software’s CRM (customer relationship management) feature to send marketing messages.
Frequency and Courtesy
The frequency of your e-mail is also critical. You don’t want to become “spam-like,” but you do want to send messages often enough to stay in the forefront of customers’ minds. A good timeframe for most storage operators is every other month.
Always include an unsubscribe button in your e-mail, and then actually remove from your list anyone who requests it. This will keep the list clean and ensure messages reach receptive candidates.
An e-mail marketing campaign can be a cost-effective strategy to reach a large or targeted audience with a click of a button. It also allows you to personalize your message as well as communicate with your current and prospective customers on a regular basis.
Melissa Stiles, marketing manager for Storage Asset Management Inc., is responsible for the direction of marketing and sales functions of the company’s 40-plus managed self-storage facilities as well as its corporate marketing. Her previous experience includes traditional and digital marketing, specifically social media and search engine optimization in the nonprofit and manufacturing sectors. For more information, call 717.779.0044; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.storageassetmanagement.com.
