Posts filed under 'Public Relations'
OB Companies/Simply Self Storage is putting INSOMNIAC kiosks in several shopping malls across the country. The kiosks have been specially designed in conjunction with Simply Self Storage and will feature eye-catching signage to draw consumers to the self-service kiosk.
Simply Self Storage’s first INSOMNIAC kiosk was installed this month at its brand new state-of-the-art facility featuring three stories of heated and cooled units at University Mall in Pensacola, Florida. The second kiosk will be installed in August inside Castleton Square mall in Indianapolis, Indiana where Simply Self Storage is just finishing up completion of its newest facility. Both self-storage facilities are located adjacent to the malls and are joint ventures with Simon Property Group, an S&P 500 company and the largest publicly-traded U.S. real estate company.
“We believe shop owners and mall visitors alike will enjoy the self-service convenience of being able to rent storage units using INSOMNIAC,” said Kerry Richard, Vice President of Operations for OB Companies/Simply Self Storage. “We see locating INSOMNIAC kiosks inside malls as a key ingredient to our success in capturing new customers for our mall storage properties. We’ve been really impressed with INSOMNIAC and the OpenTech team and look forward to using the kiosk at other properties in our ever-expanding portfolio.”
This is a brilliant marketing strategy. The kiosks are a winner, but putting them in malls is really thinking outside the box. This is the kind of thinking that will take the self-storage industry’s reputation to the next level.
July 27th, 2007
“Transformers” is one of the most anticipated movies of the summer – and the DreamWorks-Paramount Pictures film has plenty in common with portable storage.The Transformers movie is based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures. As its name suggests, Transformers are robots that have the ability to transform themselves from one object to another. In the Michael Bay film, for example, a yellow Camero transforms itself into a guardian robot to protect Sam, the story’s teenaged protagonist. Another Transformer morphs from a cell phone to a Decepticon, an evil robot clan with hopes of taking over the world. Transformers, in essence, can transform into electronics, vehicles, animals and other objects.
If you are still wondering what that has to do with portable storage, the answer is simple: Portable storage units can transform from a large steel box to many other practical commercial, educational, government and industrial uses. In other words, portable storage isn’t just for storage anymore. Indeed, portable storage can be transformed into classrooms, air conditioned office space, makeshift pharmacies, informational kiosks and much more.
“The classic Transformers story line is just as relevant today as it was when the toys were first introduced decades ago,” said John Finnessy, CMP, Executive Director the National Portable Storage Association, or NPSA, a nonprofit membership association dedicated to the advancement of the portable storage industry. “Much the same, portable storage is just as relevant today as it was when it was introduced 50 years ago. Actually, portable storage is even more relevant because it’s evolved beyond containerized shipping to offer many innovative uses that save users time and money and make doing business more convenient.”
Click here to read the rest of this release.
July 14th, 2007
The sale of the Delta Self Storage portfolio in California demonstrates the Marcus & Millichap advantage: a national investor database and broker network that guarantees success. The portfolio sold for a combined $27.2 million, or $62.10 per net rentable square foot, with the cooperation of Marcus & Millichap brokers and financial experts in Florida, Seattle and Sacramento. The total net rentable square footage of the portfolio is a whopping 438,175.
The agents involved were Michael A. Mele, a Senior Investment Associate at Marcus & Millichap’s The Mele Group and Scott Rutherford, an Investment Associate at The Mele Group, Joel Deis, an agent in the Seattle office of Marcus & Millichap, Christopher Secreto, a Director and Financial Expert for Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation in Seattle, Michael Morgan, an agent in the Seattle office of Marcus & Millichap and Bobby Loeffler, Director of the National Self Storage Group at Marcus & Millichap in Sacramento.
Click here to read the rest of this release.
July 13th, 2007
Demand has slowly been increasing for climate-controlled self storage, according to Dean Brown, president of American Steel Buildings. More and more self storage locations are catering to affluent consumers and businesses with items that require controlled temperatures, according to an article in Construction Digital.
“We’ve had more and more of our clients asking about climate-controlled self storage,” Brown, who supplies steel buildings for self storage businesses, told Construction Digital. “It used to be about 10 percent of our clients asking about climate-controlled units. Now we’re seeing about 30 percent of our clients asking about it.”
It’s great to see other industries focusing more on self-storage. It’s even better that the stories aren’t about a steel crisis. There are many opportunities in vertical trade magazines to get your name in print. It’s just a matter of having a good story and a relevant target.
Click here to read the rest of the story on Construction Digital.
July 12th, 2007
A follow on to yesterday’s posting… When I said to “get involved” by posting on other newspapers’ comment boxes about self-storage stories, I got a comment on my blog. But the comment wasn’t relevant. It was merely an unrelated promotional message for a company, whose name I won’t mention. I deleted it because this blog doesn’t promote services, not even my own. That’s not true blogging.
I thought it went without saying, but it may very well be that we all need a little more education on the web 2.0 world before we can properly use it as a public relations tool. Here’s a quick hint: Don’t spam someone’s blog or post irrelevant comments on a newspaper’s comment box. You’ll lose credibility with the blog, the newspaper and everyone who reads it.
If you decide to comment for PR purposes, the idea is to add something to the conversation, a witty thought, a cogent comment. You’ll get credit by registering your name on the comment. No need for shameless, self-serving plugs, OK?
Hopefully, this will save some of you some red-faced heartache when an editor blasts you for irrelevant plugs… or quietly deletes it and puts you on the blacklist.
July 11th, 2007
Want some publicity for your storage facility? Then get involved in the web 2.0 world and start commenting on online newspaper stories about the industry — especially ones in your home town. It’s quick, it’s free and it’s effective. It’s called viral marketing. Why not give it a try? Social media is the wave of the future.
For all of you self-storage operators and consultants and real estate brokers in Arizona, here’s an article to get you going:
Click here to read: Can’t get a handle on clutter at home?
Just don’t say anything I wouldn’t say. In other words, tread carefully because if you don’t choose your words wisely they could come back to haunt you. It’s a balancing act. You need to know the ways of communicating in a socially networked web 2.0 world.
July 10th, 2007
When South Lamar Storage & Wine Cellar opens its doors on July 16, area residents and businesses will be introduced to a whole new approach to self-storage, according to a press release about the opening.
In addition to traditional storage services for general household and office items, the company will offer climate-controlled self-storage solutions for fine wine, tobacco and archival collections, and concierge services to meet the needs of downtown Austin’s high-end clientele.
Will Steakley, vice president of residential sales at urbanspace Realtors LLP in Austin, explains that as Austinites move into small urban spaces, their storage needs are evolving. “As our youth and empty nesters trade in a garage full of lawnmowers for the simplicity of a maintenance-free box in the sky, the demand for accessible long- and short-term storage within our urban core will become more and more precious,” he said.
I applaud this out of the box thinking. It may not be a whole new approach to self-storage in some regards. Wine storage is nothing new, but this is definitely a fresh approach that will have no trouble finding media attention in Austin, which is a great media market. Congratulations to South Lamar Storage for its innovation — and its commitment to communicating its differences in the local market.
Click here to read the rest of the release about South Lamar Storage.
July 6th, 2007
Zacks Equity Research highlighted Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) as the Bull of the Day. Shares of PSA have traded down about 17% since mid-April.
Zacks attributes this to a correction in the sector as investors are taking profits after multi-year gains. Zacks thinks the sell-off has been overblown and PSA is still operating in an excellent environment for self-storage.
The company continues to have strong earnings momentum, and as the economy strengthens, the company should see even greater returns. With the acquisition of Shurgard, PSA removed a major competitor, and is by far the largest self storage operator in the U.S. Zacks is also encouraged by a slowdown in new supply coming on line in major markets.
This is good news for all of self-storage because PSA is a good indicator of industry health. I’m glad Wall Street is watching. It gives us a real look at the industry, not just what the internal pundits say. If I were in charge of marketing for Public Storage, I would amp up my marketing right about now. In fact, if I were marketing for any quality facility, now is the time to beef up marketing/branding campaigns to leverage this rebound.
July 3rd, 2007
Ouch. The author of “Sorting It Out: One Disorganized Woman Solves the Problem of Too Much Stuff” just blasted self-storage. She writes:
“Renting storage space is generally one of the most useless expenses anyone can add to the household budget. I’m hard-pressed to come up with a legitimate reason for it, except for those rare instances when the rental facility is truly a temporary or seasonal solution to a storage problem.
“Temporary does not mean forever; that would be permanent. So, if you have stored something for longer than a year (a very generous length of time), it is probably no longer a temporary arrangement. If you haven’t accessed what you have in storage during that year, unless you were off having a fine old time touring the continent (or facing the challenge of serving our country abroad), it’s pretty safe to conclude that you don’t need what you’ve stored. That means it’s time to unload the burdens of the storage unit and all of its unnecessary contents.”
Good grief. Not someone we want evangelizing for the industry, is it? This is the kind of information that needs to be combated with information to the contrary. This author goes on and on and on about self-storage’s origins — all in the name of promoting her book.
See, if you buy her book, she figures, you won’t need self-storage because you’ll be organized. What she fails to acknowledge is that there’s many other reasons people use self-storage, among other key points.
What do you think? Is she accurate in her description of “selfish storage?” Or shouldn’t we do some education to the contrary here?
Her blog comments have plenty of supporters. What say you?
Read her blog here.
June 29th, 2007
Here’s one way to get publicity: Hire someone with star power to manage your facility. That’s just what Hawaii Self Storage did.
Shaun Salvador in 1996 was a football walk-on for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, for which he played a year at tight end, including one game he suited up against University of Hawaii (which UNLV lost), according to the Star-Bulletin. The Star goes on to conduct a Q&A with the “star.” This is priceless publicity because folks in the local community will doubtless want to meet him, or at least the kids will.
What can you do to leverage the star qualities of your staff? They say everyone has their 15 minutes of fame. Perhaps you don’t have any ex-college football heros on your team, but ask questions of your staff and make the most of their experiences. It could be that they are comunity service superstars or foster parent heros. Get the idea?
Click here to read the story in the Star-Bulletin.
June 26th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts
