You spend lots of money on marketing your storage facility.

A website. Flyers. Google Ads. Billboards. Some people even create music videos for their storage facilities.

But how much attention are you paying to your word-of-mouth marketing? If it’s worth buying an ad, don’t you think it could be worth spending a bit of money (or at least a bit of time) on word-of-mouth marketing, too?

The things your customers say about your facility matter. We all know that on some level. It’s the entire point of getting customers to review your business, after all.

Word-of-mouth marketing is basically just reviews people give to their friends, family, coworkers, or even random strangers on local Facebook groups.

If you’ve been slacking in this arena, never fear: I have some helpful tips—some sourced from operators like you—to help jumpstart your word-of-mouth marketing strategy and get you more rentals!

Why word-of-mouth marketing matters for self storage

Before we dive into the tactics you can use, I want to touch on why it matters to begin with.

If you’d rather just get right to the ideas, click here to jump down the page!

For those of you sticking around, let’s learn something about word-of-mouth marketing. You might also see it called “WOM” or “WOMM” in various corners of the internet (or maybe even in those old-fashioned paper blog articles that come in magazines—remember those?).

The problem with word-of-mouth is that it feels so intangible. It can’t be quantified very easily in the way that clicks on Google search can. That can make it feel like it isn’t happening at all if we’re not carefully paying attention.

Of course, you can always set up some kind of customer survey that asks where they heard about you or why they chose to rent, but you may not get a significant enough data pool if you only run one or two facilities.

Instead, let’s go over data presented by companies that do this kind of research at scale.

88% of people have the highest level of trust when a brand is recommended by friends or family (Semrush)
90% of people are more likely to trust a brand recommended by other people‚including strangers (Semrush)
72% of customers will talk to someone they know about a good experience (Persuasion Nation)
Word-of-mouth is 5x more effective than paid ads (Persuasion Nation)
92% of consumers trust recommendations more than what companies say (Webfx)

Those are just a few stats from a very long list. But they do a pretty good job of illustrating a simple concept: People trust people more than companies. Obvious, right?

So, if it’s obvious, why don’t more people include initiatives related to word-of-mouth as line items in their marketing budget?

How to improve word-of-mouth marketing and get more self storage rentals

If you skipped ahead and are joining us here—welcome!

For everyone else, hopefully you’re now seeing that improving word-of-mouth is important to your storage business’s success.

The thing is, just providing “great” customer service isn’t really enough in most cases. Storage is pretty simple. We all know it. So having a smile on your face as you help customers, making sure they have quick and painless service, that’s all great.

But that’s not enough to wow them into talking about your business.

Your facility isn’t Dave & Buster’s. You’re not delivering an exciting adventure that will leave them with a story to tell. (Note: Ignore this if you’ve decided to install a bowling alley and laser tag at the back of your storage facility).

This means you need to go the extra mile to make people feel really, really great.

What follows is a collection of ideas—some sourced by operators, some from the minds here at StoragePug—that we hope will help you hit the mark.

#1: Personalize your interactions

This is a classic customer service lesson.

You probably have software you use to manage your facility. Most of those have a CRM (customer relationship management) aspect to them where you can keep notes.

Whether it’s in your software or via a more convenient method for you, keep track of important things customers might tell you.

Then use those notes to personalize their experience. People are much more likely to feel seen and respond by singing your business’s praises if they feel like they didn’t just receive stock or company kindness.

Here are some basic ideas:

Take note of recent life events. Note down things like births, marriages, divorces, deaths, and vacations. These are all significant parts of your customers' lives, and if they share them then it's not prying to know about it!
Where possible, work that knowledge into future conversations. This gives your customers the feeling they're not just a line item on your PNL but are instead valued guests at your business.
Send cards—handwritten ones are the best. If it makes sense, send a handwritten thank you, congratulations, or condolences card to let them know you listened and care. We'll touch more on the handwritten element in the next section.
Use this knowledge to provide better service. If you know they went on vacation, put on a note on their record and keep track of whether or not their code is being used or unit visited. If they've had a loss? Use that knowledge to give grace where possible.

What matters most is how you make people feel. They might still be renting the same unit and get the same deal, but what will set your business apart—and make them talk—is a service experience that makes them feel seen.

#2: Thanking new renters (but with gusto)

You might (hopefully) thank new renters for doing business with you.

That’s great!

Now do it with fervor. Take it the extra mile. Do it without even saying the words. After all, don’t we all know actions speak louder than words?

Kate Plassmeyer of Lake Charles Storage told us about how her managers write hand-written thank-you notes to customers. This is a serious win, and it’s a great way to set your “thank you” apart from every other business.

Combine it with the personalization element to level it up even further.

Here’s an example: Maybe your facility leaves welcome baskets in units. You secured a rental over the phone, and they mentioned needing storage because they just got married and don’t have room for some of their old furniture.

Leave them that thank you letter in their basket. Use it to congratulate them on their wedding, and leave them a little wedding gift! A bottle of champagne with a handwritten note in their basket can go a long way to showing them you listened and cared.

#3: Seeding positive attitudes (with actual seeds)

Here’s a unique one, and I kind of love it. Give your customers seeds.

Credit for this one goes to Melissa Lewis at Stop-N-Go.

According to Melissa, “We’re currently giving all new move-ins flower seeds for the spring. People seem very happy with them.”

This is definitely a way to stand out from the crowd and be remembered. Just imagine folks calling their friend or family member on the way out of the gate to chat and mentioning this unexpected gift they got for renting a storage unit.

Pug Pro Tip: Take it a step further. Partner with a local florist or other local plant expert to make sure you’re providing local seeds that will be easy to grow and flourish in the local gardens. Here in Knoxville, we had a coffee shop that would do this and even provide detailed instructions (from their partner) for how to take care of the plants!

Another way this is a win is if you can get the local partner to link to your facility’s website for an awesome local backlink and attention from their customers.

#4: Water on a hot day, hot drinks on the chilly ones

Many operators provide drinks at the office. Providing drinks and snacks is a nice little touch we can offer customers.

But let’s be honest: This is becoming the norm for many industries, and even if it isn’t the norm in storage, your customers are comparing you to more than storage facilities alone. I know the place that changes my oil has free coffee and bags of nuts, but I sure don’t tell anyone about it after I get my oil changed.

Level this initiative up by getting out of the office and giving people what they need.

It’s a hot summer day? Bring a case of cold water around to the facility every so often and hand them out to people loading or unloading items.

It’s cold and windy outside? Get out there and offer coffee or hot chocolate to people, or at least invite them to stop by the office to grab some and warm up.

In these cases, it’s not the drinks or snacks that make the difference. It’s the fact that you took the time to find the customer and offer what they probably needed.

2023 Manager of the Year, Jenny Rodrigues of Ohana Self Storage, explains it well: "When you take that extra minute to do that little extra that doesn’t take much time, it goes miles with people and customers will appreciate and feel like they are not just a number but they matter and are part of your storage family."

Here’s the .5: Don’t be afraid of spending money sometimes

Here at StoragePug, a lot of us have been reading this book titled “Unreasonable Hospitality.”

One of the lessons we take away from it is that it’s definitely worth it to make that impression on a customer. In the book, the author—a restaurant owner—talks about going out of his way to surprise customers with sleds for their children (after hearing this was their first time seeing snow) and other seemingly insane things you’d never expect a restaurant to spend money on for seemingly no monetary return.

Consider adding word-of-mouth marketing to your marketing budget.

Your storage facility isn’t a world-class restaurant that can afford the kinds of things they can in the book, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spend ANY money on these endeavors.

Make the effort to find some small part of your marketing budget—even just 5%—that you can apply towards your managers doing unexpected, personalized things that leave a lasting impression on your customers.

Treat your customers to unexpected moments of care and hospitality, stand out from the crowd, and start growing the strength of your word-of-mouth marketing engine.

Here are some of my other favorite posts to check 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.