Brand-Aid – One Audience Branding Together

If you are anything like me, you like to be liked. It feels good to be part of something doesn’t it? Let’s face it, people long to be connected. For the last 400,000 years we have done just that and been connected with one another. In the beginning we hunted together for our best chance to be successful. Throughout history we have lived and worked in tribes for safety and security. We even slept huddled together for warmth and protection. But since the advent of television we have so quickly and successfully ostracized ourselves from one another. In the grand scheme of things, we have grown apart in a blink of an eye.

Now, with the internet and Facebook, there is no longer any reason for actually seeing each other in can just give 140 characters, and all of our friends know just exactly what we are doing. Is that enough, or do you still feel detached?

In branding, the new movement is inclusion. People need to feel part of something. As a person who brands self storage units, your self storage facility, and yourself as a self storage manager; it is your job to include them in YOUR something. Branding is easy; getting people to hear your name, and remember your name. But getting a group of ardent consumers to organize around the essence of your brand is entirely another thing all together. This is known as Brand Community.

Building a brand community in self storage is not as difficult as it may seem. Some in self storage feel our product and service is not a very sexy one. I don’t agree. So many think that this aspect of branding is a marketing strategy, but it is actually a business strategy. Make your self storage facility shine out among the unwashed masses of corrugated metal out there and MAKE it sexy. When customers think of renting mini storage in your community, focus on making your self storage unit be the only one they think of when they think to move to self storage. If you are building a community around your common interests, this will be effortless. At some level, everyone in the immediate vicinity around your self storage facility is either dealing with the same challenges, or has the same interests. Maybe it is a fantastic restaurant everybody loves near your facility, or maybe everyone has to deal with a bad politician; these are causes and common interests around which you can build your brand community.

You have your facility; you have your marketing strategy; why not elaborate that strategy into a brand community. It is likely that your facility lies in the heart of your community. Encourage your community to come together. Make your brand part of that community. Decide what attributes you appreciate, and which you would like your brand to represent. Then build with your community around that.

If your facility is called Big Western Self Storage, build your blog around that western ethos. Associate with people with similar interests and build that customer loyalty around that. If you don’t necessarily have a themed business, then build it around the philosophy of your community.

When you blog, blog about restaurants or community events or common interests of your brand. When you start a page on Facebook for your business make sure it is inclusive of your customer base and their ideals. Always work toward including your potential and existing customer base in your brand. You will reap the reward of a loyal group of renters, and potential renters at your self storage facility.