Marketing and business

Kamyar Shah asked:


When the self storage industry was in its infancy, marketing was not a big concern. Since there were very few facilities in existence, an owner merely needed to provide a fairly safe and clean environment for the small number of people looking to store their belongings. Over the years the number of available units has grown, as well as the number of people needing storage. Today, there are nearly 50,000 self storage facilities in the U.S. alone. Therefore, the savvy customers have developed much higher expectations, making marketing in the self storage industry a vital tool.

Self storage marketing is the promotion of your self storage business. Self storage marketing is usually always centered on the customer. A recent industry study showed that the reasons people need self storage are that, 44% are moving, 34% don’t have enough space and 15% are people with business needs. Self storage businesses determine what the customers needs are, and implements them into their self storage properties.

A well-known analyst and marketer has divided marketing into four general sets of activities that are common in any business. These activities have become universally recognized as the “Four P’s”, and are often referred to as the Marketing Mix.

.Product: The product aspects of self storage marketing deal with the specifications of the actual features, benefits or services that the self storage properties offer, and how it relates to the self storage renter needs and wants.

.Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for the unit, including discounts.

.Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or self storage company.

.Placement or Place: refers to how the property gets recognized by the customer.

As well as the standard Four P’s (Product, Pricing, Promotion, and Placement), marketing for a service industry such as self storage calls upon an extra three activities, totaling seven and known collectively as the Extended Marketing Mix. These are:

.People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on customer service. They must be appropriately trained in the ways of self storage, well motivated and the right type of person.

.Process: This is the process involved in providing a service and the behavior of people, which can be crucial to customer satisfaction and service.

.Physical evidence: Unlike a product, a service cannot be experienced before it is delivered, which makes it intangible. This means that potential self storage customers could perceive greater risk when deciding whether to rent. To reduce the feeling of buyers’ remorse, and improving the chance for a rental or reservation, it is often vital to offer potential customers the chance to see what a service would be like. (Site visit)

For a self storage marketing plan to be successful, the mix of the four “P’s” must reflect the wants and desires of the self storage consumers in the target market. Trying to convince a market segment to rent something they don’t want is extremely expensive and seldom successful. Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, to determine what consumers want and what they are willing to pay for it. Marketers hope that this process will give them a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing management is the practical application of this process. The offer is also an important addition to the 4P’s theory. As in any business, the idea of marketing is to promote the business - both as a whole and on an individual level.

In the past, self storage as a whole has sometimes had a bad reputation. Oftentimes when people think of the industry they think of the horror stories that are shown on the evening news - the meth lab found in a unit, a soldier’s items being auctioned by mistake, the hurricane damaged storage property, the car used in a homicide being stored in a space. Unfortunately for the storage industry the every day good things that occur are just too mundane to draw attention. This is one reason why positive marketing on a national level is extremely important. Self storage organizations, private, statewide and nationwide have all become very important in the positive marketing for all self storage owners and managers. Many of the larger private self storage organizations put on large conventions to increase the awareness of the self storage industry. This allows owners and managers to meet, exchange ideas and learn some new techniques. Positive feedback nationally will always help locations on the local level.

Most self storage companies today have a customer focus. This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this:

.The customer-driven approach consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer

.The sense of identifying market changesbeing one step ahead of the competition will enable you self storage business to succeed.

.The product innovation approachusing that crystal ball to be able to take into account customer needs vs. what will be profitable for your business.

In the field of business, self storage marketing is a broad term used to describe marketing in the self storage industry. Don’t confuse self storage marketing with self storage advertising. Self storage advertising is only one function of self storage marketing. Besides self storage advertising, there are other functions in self storage marketing like, sales of self storage, communications, pricing, market research and more.

The market will bear what research has been done to meet the customer needs. Figuring out which site should have climate controlled units, RV parking, drive up or stacked units will show in your occupancy rate. Being able to provide the customer and the local market with what will sell is the goal.

Direct self storage marketing is a function and type of marketing. Two main definitional characteristics distinguish direct self storage marketing from other types of self storage marketing or self storage advertising. The first is that it attempts to send its messages directly to self storage consumers without the use of intervening media. This involves unsolicited commercial communication with consumers or self storage businesses. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific “call to action.” This aspect of direct self storage marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable results regardless of medium.

“Bulk mail” is the most common form of direct self storage marketing. Bulk mail is sent at a reduced rate specified by the post office. Different areas or lists are used to decide where the mail will be sent. Telemarketing is the second most common form of direct self storage marketing. Marketers use random or selected telephone numbers to try and reach potential self storage customers. The third type of direct self storage marketing is, email marketing (including spam). This type of self storage marketing will soon pass telemarketing as the second most common form. While annoying, many people are drawn into the spam email by offering a promise, a discounted item or other “too good to be true” item. It’s very inexpensive and only takes a few people to fall for it to make a profit.

Prospecting customers through direct marketing and advertising can prove to be very beneficial to new self storage companies that might have a new site open. It has been shown to be highly effective to make yourself known in an affirmative way to the surrounding area and neighborhoods. By presenting yourself and your company in a positive way, the good deed will come back to you in rentals. You want to make sure that the area that your property is in knows that you are proud to be a part of the neighborhood.

Direct self storage marketers use other media such as;

.Package inserts- commonly referred to as “stuffing”, package inserts can be as diverse as cereal boxes to cigarettes to diapers to instant mashed potatoes. Recipes, mail away promotional items and offers are some of the things that might go in a package insert.

.Magazines- glossy ads that catch the readers eyeThere is a magazine out there for any type of hobby, hairstyle, fitness, glamour, gossip, travel, sports, boats, cars, families, babies, women, men, weddings, teen life, gay life, muscles, cooking, lifestyles, storage, consumer goods, decorating, seasons, clothing, shoes, lingerie, non profit organizations, gentleman’s, dogs, cats, pets and more.

.Door hangers- relatively inexpensive and used to target specific areas of your town or city. Whether you have a large student, elderly, retired, middle class, young families, etc. the inserts can be tuned to fit the type of market you are trying to reach. A door hanger can be one piece of paper or many sheets put into a plastic bag hung on the door.

V.K. Rajagopalan asked:


The benefits of affiliate marketing is more pronounced today than before. This is one of the main reason for the immense popularity of affiliate marketing programs among so many thousands of internet marketers.

Latest web technology has enabled the affiliate marketers to get their statistics and income figures the moment they make an affiliate sale. It is now possible to use companies like PayPal for payment and receipt processing. This has highly curtailed the time that an affiliate marketer needs to wait for his payments to be collected from the merchants.

Both the affiliates and the merchants have now realised that affiliate marketing is effective for both of them. The merchants perceive affiliate marketing as an opportunity to advertise their products at a much lesser cost. On the other hand, the affiliates see affiliate marketing as a uncomplicated way of earning profits online by doing something which they like most, and that is web publishing.

Just as the popularity of affiliate marketing has gone into overdrive, similarly the outlook of people has changed for the better about affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is no longer considered as a secondary method of marketing by the merchants, or as an additional income source by an affiliate marketer. For merchants and affiliates alike, affiliate marketing is now considered as a main source of profits and revenues.

We now need to analyze what type of affiliate marketing will work best for any person? Are there any differences in affiliate marketing programs? Are the paybacks from these programs the same? Which are those affiliate marketing programs that work better than the others?

There are actually varieties of affiliate marketing, and the types will depend on how you are going to classify them. The primary classification of affiliate marketing programs falls under two categories: pay-per-click (PPC), and pay-per-performance (PPP).

1. Pay Per Click (PPC) - PPC is the most popular type of affiliate marketing for affiliates with small websites, and probably the easiest way for them to earn money. In this affiliate marketing type, the merchant pays his affiliate whenever a visitor is referred to his site, that is whenever someone clicks through the merchant’s banner or text ads. The affiliate gets paid a certain amount even if the visitor he referred does not purchase anything from the merchant’s site. However, typical fees for PPC affiliate programs are small, usually not exceeding a dollar for every click.

2. Pay Per Performance (PPP) - PPP affiliate marketing is well liked among merchants and is also the most rewarding type for the affiliates. In this type of affiliate program, the merchant pays the affiliate only when his referral converts into an action - that is whenever the visitor he has referred actually buys something from the merchant’s site or when the visitor becomes a lead. This means that the merchant saves a lot on his own direct marketing efforts. On the other hand, this type of affiliate marketing becomes financially most rewarding for the dedicated affiliate, for commissions in PPP affiliate marketing usually comes in the range of 15% to 20% of the actual product sales. And, in the case of e-products or e-goods, the affiliate commission can go as high as 70 - 75% of the sale price.

Pay-per-performance affiliate marketing can further be classified into two types: pay-per-sales (PPS) and pay-per-lead (PPL). Both these are highly popular.

a) Pay Per Sale (PPS) - In a pay-per-sale type of affiliate marketing, the merchants pay the affiliate a certain fee whenever the visitor he has referred to the merchant’s site actually buys something from the merchant’s site. Affiliates are often paid on commission basis, although other merchants would opt to pay a fixed fee. But no matter what the basis of the fee is, it is generally higher than the fee paid to affiliates in a pay-per-click affiliate program.

b) Pay Per Lead (PPL) - The pay-per-lead type of affiliate marketing is a slight variation of the PPS type and is often used by insurance and finance companies and other companies who rely on leads for their company to grow. In this type of affiliate marketing, the affiliate is paid whenever the visitor he referred to the merchant’s site fills up an application form or any similar form related to the business of the company. Compensation for this type of affiliate marketing is based on a fixed fee whose rates approximate that of the fixed fee in the PPS type. Generally, the sales conversion rate is the highest in the case of PPL, because, the visitor is not required to purchase anything but only complete a non-financial transaction, like, filling up an application form, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.

Aside from these three specific types of affiliate marketing, a lot of other affiliate marketing types exist. If the classification is based on the depth of the affiliate network, it can be classified as single-tier, two-tier, and multi-tier affiliate marketing. There is also another type of affiliate marketing that pays the affiliate each time the customer he has referred purchases something from the merchant’s site.

Single-Tier, Two-Tier, and Multi-Tier Affiliate Marketing

These types of affiliate marketing are based on the different levels or tiers in the affiliate network by which payments are made.

A) Single Tier - In a single-tier affiliate marketing program, the affiliates are only paid based on the direct sales or traffic he has referred to the merchant. All the previously mentioned affiliate marketing types (i.e. PPS, PPL, and PPC) fall under the single-tier classification.

B) Two Tier - In two-tier affiliate marketing programs, the affiliates are not only paid for the direct traffic or sales that he brings to the merchant’s site, but also on every traffic or sales referred by other affiliates who joined as sub-affiliate of the above affiliate marketer.

C) Multi Tier - Multi-tier affiliate marketing works the same way, although the affiliate gets additional commission for more number of levels of affiliates in different tiers in the affiliate network.

D) Residual Income Affiliate Marketing - In this type, apart from the affiliate getting paid for every customer he has referred to the merchant’s site, the affiliate is also paid whenever the customer he has referred goes back to the merchant’s site and purchases another product. Commission for such type of affiliate marketing is based on either percentage of sales or based on fixed fee.

Every affiliate marketer finds that these different affiliate marketing methods work differently for each of them. For instance, multi tier affiliate marketing, also called Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) is a highly difficult type of internet marketing and it does not work for everyone. As a matter of fact, many legitimate marketers consider MLM as illegal or something which is undesirable.

An affiliate marketer has to try out different methods and decide which will work best for him or her. He/she should then concentrate on those affiliate marketing methods which are suitable for his/her style of internet marketing business.

prakash Sharma asked:


Myth 1: Marketing is a cost, not an investment

when you spend time and money randomly on marketing, then it probably is an expense because you’re not generating a return on the resources invested in it. Many people make the mistake of emulating the marketing tactics of large companies (such as image advertising) that just don’t produce good returns for small businesses. The fact of the matter is that small businesses have to produce BETTER marketing than large businesses because they can’t afford to make mistakes by dropping hundreds or even thousands of pounds/dollars onto campaigns that don’t work. What often happens is that business owners spend lots of money on ineffective campaigns, then erroneously conclude that marketing is an expense, or not worth doing at all.

However, the secret to marketing success is to create a marketing system. A system of activities, strategies, tactics and automation that reliably and predictably create measurable results and positive ROI. I call this the “marketing slot machine”. It’s a slot machine that for every £1/$1 you put in, you get £1.50, or £2 or £5 or more back out. Once you’ve created this system (which requires a small amount of experimentation and testing), you should be able to turn it on and off at will, and invest as much as you can to gain maximum returns.

Myth 2: Marketing is expensive

Marketing is only expensive (and therefore an expense rather than an investment) when it is either unaccountable or ineffective. There are myriad ways to market you business inexpensively that are highly effective, once you know how. The key is to understand the elements or variables that go into each activity or campaign, and how they affect the ultimate outcome. This is where most people go wrong, and that’s why their marketing fails to produce the results that they’d hoped for. Often the message is weak or confusing, it’s being sent to the wrong people, or they fail to follow up. Get the formula right, and marketing can be very inexpensive - I spend less than £100 per month on marketing and I’m getting great results.

Myth 3: Marketing means I have to be pushy and sales

Good marketing, done the right way is neither pushy nor sales. It’s a complete myth that pushy, “gift of the gab” people make the best sales people. Why? Because they spend most of the time talking about themselves or their products and then manipulating people into buying from them. Whilst this used to work, and still does occasionally, it often results in buyer’s remorse and a general sense of uneasiness on the part of the buyer. Much of the time it creates resistance and a feeling of wanting to run for the hills - have you ever felt like that?

Ironically, the best marketers and salespeople are those who listen. They listen to what potential clients are saying and see if there’s a match between what they offer and what the buyer needs. They build relationships and educate their prospects about how they can help them. The art is to get in front of people who have demonstrated a need or want for what you offer, and who will gladly learn more about what you do and how you can help them.

Myth 4: Marketing produces instant results

Some people believe that if they keep running their adverts/campaigns that they’ll “increase their profile”, and somehow, magically one day, a stampede of clients will come rushing to their door. I don’t subscribe to that theory, because I believe that all marketing should produce a measurable result that can be observed in a fairly short time frame. If you’re marketing efforts are not producing obvious, tangible results then you need to look at the elements that aren’t working.

Having said that, marketing is not something you can usually achieve overnight success in. It’s somewhat like rolling a snowball down a hill - there’s a cumulative effect and momentum increases over time. To create the cumulative effect and momentum requires sustained and consistent effort. Marketing isn’t something you do occasionally, and then put on the back burner. It’s something that you need to do constantly, bit by bit, in the same way that a sportsperson needs to train every day to be good enough for the Olympics.

Myth 5: Once my diary is full, I can stop marketing

It’s human nature that once you’ve got some well-paying work you feel rather pleased with yourself, and focus most of your time on servicing your new clients. However, if you have a sales cycle that’s usually more than a couple of weeks long, then you’re going to come a cropper once the project finishes. Because if you don’t continue to do your marketing whilst you’re working on the project, then at the end of the project you may find that your sales pipeline is empty and you have to start up your marketing all over again. It may then be a number of weeks before people start to progress down your sales pipeline towards actually doing business with you. This is what is commonly referred to as the “feast and famine” syndrome.

If you prefer to avoid these peaks and troughs of income producing activity, then you need to think about how you can do a little bit of marketing on a consistent basis. Even better - create a marketing system that easily and reliably entices prospects into your sales pipeline without huge amounts of effort from you.

Myth 6: My business is small, so I don’t need a marketing plan

I tried some marketing plan software once. It asked me a lot of questions about market share, mission statements plus product, price, promotion and place. Great fun, if your mind likes to chew on such imponderables. As a graduate of a business studies degree I knew exactly what it was referring to, but had no idea how that was useful to a small business. And guess what - that’s because it isn’t!

No wonder then, that most small businesses don’t have written marketing plans, when traditional style marketing plans seem convoluted and esoteric. However, this doesn’t mean that a marketing plan in your head is any better. The question is whether this results in any organized activity.

And to me, that’s the essence of a marketing plan - a blueprint for organizing your marketing activities. It doesn’t have to be high-faulting’ or fancy, or be filled with marketing-jargon, but what it does need to do is focus resources on specific action steps that need to be taken to achieve specific goals. There’s a world of difference between carrying ideas around in your head, and writing them down into an organized plan of action.

If you don’t have a written marketing plan, then I urge you to consider this: research suggests that businesses that create a written marketing plan increase their revenue by about 30% after having created one.

Myth 7: External marketing help is expensive

If you enlist the help of what I refer to as “traditional” marketing consultants, then it probably is expensive. You’re probably looking at thousands down in one shot, rather than hundreds and probably no guarantees of success. It’s quite possibly a stark choice between taking the family on holiday, and paying for your PR or marketing consultant.

If giving up your family holiday doesn’t appeal, then you may choose to go down the route of taking training courses, reading books, attending seminars, enrolling on e-courses and all manner of other self-study options. The problem with all of this, is that there is rarely any hands-on, customized support for you and your business. And, there’s no accountability - or as I like to say - a friendly kick in the pants to keep you on track. It may also take you quite literally years of trial and error to find out what works for your business. And that’s assuming that you even implement what you’ve learnt, which, sadly, most people don’t.

However, a new alternative has emerged in recent years - marketing mentoring or coaching. Rather than paying thousands to have a marketing consultant do it all for you, or struggling up the learning curve by yourself, you now have the option to work with a coach or mentor who can advise you, guide you and show you how to do your marketing for yourself. Plus they’ll make sure you stay on track. If attracting more clients is important to you, and you haven’t yet created your own “marketing slot machine” then I highly recommend you find a marketing coach who will help you create a marketing system that works for you.