We know you've got a lot going on in your life if you're about to open a new facility. Whether you're entirely new to the self storage game or you're just launching one more facility to add to your existing portfolio, we want to help you make it as successful as possible.
Below are our tips for how to make your grand opening as successful as possible from the website side.
1. Launch Your Website Early
It's important to get your website up and running ahead of time.
Operators may commonly feel like they have until just before their grand opening to get together what they need for their website to go live, but it's really the sooner, the better!
Having your website up in a "Coming Soon" state allows you to start building your ranking on Google—which can take months—and set you ahead of the game when your facility opens.
2. Set Up Your Google Business Profile ASAP
Just as important as (or even more important than) your website getting up early is your Google Business Profile going up as soon as Google allows it.
Usually, this means as soon as you have your office constructed on-site.
With your Google Business Profile up, you can start to generate local interest and link to your new website to help push traffic to it.
3. Price Your Storage Units
As soon as you can, set prices for your storage units. In order to start getting reservations, your customers need to know what your rates are.
Rates can and should change over time, so remember that you're not setting these in stone.
4. Start Pre-Leasing
Start gathering leads early—also known as pre-leasing—so that you have paying customers as soon as possible.
If you open and spend your first month trying to get customers, you could go days, if not the entire month, without a paying tenant.
Aim to have around 10% occupancy in your first month with pre-leasing and grand opening marketing.
5. Run Early Customer Specials
Run specials to entice customers to pre-lease or rent in your first month. This is a great way to hit your 10% occupancy goal.
One great special to run for your facility's grand opening (and pre-leasing) is a first 100 customers special. This encourages people that like to get a deal while also adding a sense of urgency to the deal.
Talk to your StoragePug Onboarding Specialist about launching your website as Coming Soon so that you can start pre-leasing as soon as possible! They can tell you exactly what you need to do to make it happen.