Few demographics move around as much as college students. A new semester often means an entire new dorm room, house, apartment, duplex, condo, or whatever they can afford on their limited budgets.
Just because those budgets are limited doesn’t mean that it’s small! According to Statista, over 18 million U.S. college students spend almost $500 billion annually. Let’s repeat that so it sticks: 500 BILLION DOLLARS!
Just because they’re eating ramen noodles out of a styrofoam cup doesn’t mean that you’ll have deadbeat tenants. There is a massive potential for revenue in college students, who make up around 5% of self storage sales across the urban, suburban, and rural market!
That means 5 of every 100 people renting storage is a college student. That percentage feels small until you put faces to the statistics. These statistics are generalized – the figures would likely grow much larger with facilities that target their marketing!
So how do you market to a population that grew up on the internet, that has been marketed to since they can remember?
Your internet presence has to be strong, your outreach has to be active, and you can never try and be hipper than you are. They smell that from miles away (and they don’t like the scent)! The best way to be is to be yourself.
Marketing to college students isn’t about going viral on TikTok. It’s about being the best solution to their problem! Here are a few key ways you can show them you are that best option:
The average human will make up their mind about your website in less than a tenth of a second just based on first glance, and their final opinion is formed in 7 seconds. This is just for the average person - the generation that grew up on the internet will be even faster!
A clean, up-to-date website is crucial for young renters who expect their experience to be quick, online, and modern. If your website looks like it’s from the 90’s, they’re going to assume your storage units to look like it too!
Putting your best foot forward also means digitally. When students come to your website what do they see? If the answer isn’t an automated, clean rental tool then you’re missing the mark.
Make the best first impression you can with a clean, attractive website!
If you want more brand recognition from these younger demographics, go to where the students are! Sponsoring student events, like intramural sports or movie clubs, is perfect for getting your name in front of some new eyes and potential new tenants.
More often than not, these organizations are looking for small donations and sponsorships, and the cost of backing the students is less than most avenues of marketing. You could spend a lot of money on radio ads or spend a fraction of that to get in front of a bunch of students who actually have a good reason to rent from you.
Good marketing is setting up something to attract tenants; great marketing is going out and finding them. Make your money go further by going further into your community!
Sponsoring events is an amazing way to get some brand exposure, but nothing quite compares to getting your feet on the ground and being where the future tenants are!
Most college campuses are open to outside groups, so, for example, setting up a booth that hands out free water bottles to thirsty students is not only okay but encouraged! The point of being on campus is to be a resource, not white noise. Bring something valuable to the table - water, donuts, pens, paper, whatever.
Your goal on campus is to create a good impression of your brand, so when the students need some additional space, they think of you first.
Google Ads have been in the self storage conversation for years now, but are they effective for college students?
Running Google Ads during semester changes can be a brilliant way to get more attention on your facility when students are desperately trying to find a place for their things! Students, and any younger demographic, are far more likely to find their storage unit on Google than by driving by.
There are multiple kinds of ads you can run, but we recommend search ads, which have a higher conversion rate at 4.4%!
Google Ads are a great way to stay competitive in a saturated market. When you’re competing for precious space at the top of the search engine, ads can skyrocket your facility to the top!
Everybody loves free stuff, especially college students. Hosting a raffle can be an amazing way to get students into your facility!
So what kind of prizes are college students interested in?
Anything you can offer to make their life either easier or more fun is a great rule of thumb for finding the perfect raffle prize!
So you’ve found the perfect prize, what’re you doing this for again?
You’re getting students to come to your facility, give you their information, and meet you face-to-face. With a raffle, it’s not just blind statistics and faceless email addresses, it’s people with hands to shake!
If you’re looking for more direct results, consider hosting a raffle where the students enter by renting a storage unit during the semester change. You may have less traffic on your facility, but you will see direct results! The prize will need to be substantially larger to get much interest, but even if you only get a few renters, that could be well worth it.
Want to break into the college market? Any of these ideas are a great start to a whole new marketing campaign!
Lean into your community and your business’s brand. Keep an ear out for events you could sponsor or help out at. Offer to host student events at your property.
Meet people, shake hands, and offer a clean, convenient solution to their problems. After all, no college student has ever complained about having too much storage space in their dorm!
Looking to learn more? Check these out!
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
