By CJ Pomerantz
DON’T Google Yourself
Seriously. Don’t do it. This is important for both your mental health AND the mental health of your marketing team. Google search results and ad delivery are so hyper-specific that the results you get from a search won’t be the same as the search results that someone who is actually in the market for storage would get, even if you are both using exactly the same search terms in exactly the same place. On top of the fact that you’re not seeing what a potential tenant is seeing, you also might be eating up part of your ads budget if you are served and click on a search ad. Instead…
DO Audit Yourself Regularly
A host of tools can help you see how your SEO is performing by taking an average of your site performance over time. These tools include SEMRush, SpyFu, LightHouse, and several others. Here at Automatit, we rely most heavily on SEMRush and Lighthouse, which give us a good idea of both the technical and keyword side of the SEO equation.
Regularly auditing your website will let you know where your efforts are successful and where they need more work. More important, regularly auditing your website will help you keep your technology up to date with Google’s algorithm. Google updates the algorithm anywhere from 3-6 times a year, and a quarterly full audit of your website’s copy and technology will help you keep your website humming. Just like owning a car, taking care of small maintenance items regularly prevents catastrophic (not to mention expensive) failures from occurring down the road.
DON’T Monitor Your Analytics Daily
Similar to “Don’t Google Yourself,” don’t monitor your analytics daily. In hyperlocal marketing, daily users go up and down for dozens of reasons, including local sporting events, national news, and even something as simple as the weather. Looking at your website’s analytics daily is not giving the signal a chance to separate from the noise.
Trying to track what is happening daily, and what to attribute that change to is like trying to figure out which snowflake started an avalanche. You just can’t do it. Instead…
DO Set up and Monitor Weekly Reports
Within Google Analytics (or other audit platforms like SEMRush) you can set up reports to be automatically delivered weekly. Daily checks will show you every single thing that’s happening on your website. That’s a lot of information, and it’s going to overwhelm you.
When you review performance on a weekly or monthly basis, it’s easier to pull the signal out of the noise. You’re looking for trends, not individual events. Trends allow you to make smart, informed decisions. Individual events can lead to rash, ill-considered decisions. We want to make sure all of our marketing decisions are smart.
DON’T Rush New Ideas
Whether you’re planning to start a YouTube channel, a direct mailer, or even have a guy spin a sign in a chicken suit, make sure to take the proper time to plan.
If you’re creating a YouTube channel, who are you trying to reach? Is your audience affluent or struggling to get by? With your direct mailer… What radius are you targeting?? Is it just going to residences, or are you reaching out to businesses? What are your busiest times of days for your chicken suit guy to be spinning a sign on the corner?
No matter what you’re trying out, it’s important to have it thought through and to understand what your goals are. Instead…
DO Test Lots of Ideas
…And be ready to drop things that aren’t working to move on to the next idea. You want to make sure that you’re giving all of your tactics a fair shake, but if you’ve been running something for 3 months, and not seeing results, it’s time to try the next thing. The great thing about that is that during the three months you’re running one test, you can be prepping for the next one. And if you find that the first idea is working for you, there’s no reason you can’t layer the new test on top of what’s already working. Marketing isn’t a series of individual tactics, it’s weaving an campaign ecosystem that works for you.
DON’T Get Discouraged
It’s easy to feel like you aren’t making headway when you’re just starting up a new marketing campaign, or making a big change to how you’ve always done things. That’s natural. And if you’ve put a ton of effort into something, and it doesn’t seem to be moving, it’s totally natural to feel like throwing in the towel. But don’t do that! Instead…
DO Remember it’s a Marathon
…not a sprint. You aren’t looking to lease to one new tenant, you’re looking to fill up a new building, and you aren’t going to do that in one week or month. Heck, you probably won’t even do it in one quarter! But after a year, you’ll look at your 95% occupancy with stable churn and steadily increasing rates and be glad you stuck with it. So take a deep breath, have a drink (it’s important to stay hydrated during a marathon!), and keep going.
DON’T Spam Your Audience
There’s nothing more annoying than a brand that sends you 10 marketing emails in a week or drops the same promo code on your social media timeline 30 times a day. Yes, it’s important to be a brand that adds something to your audience’s day so that when they are ready to make their buying decisions you’re top of mind. But don’t make the thing that you add to their day an eye roll. Instead…
DO Be Consistent
Pick a schedule for reaching your audience, and stick to it. Are you going to emails once a week? Twice a month? How frequently are you going to post on social media? Pick a cadence that helps you stay top of mind, without becoming too overwhelming for you, or your audience.
Consistency is the most important part of marketing. Your audience needs to see your message 7-8 times before they remember it, and about the same number of times before they make their buying decision, if you want to have a shot to win it. Find your sweet spot and stick to it.
BONUS DO: Take care of yourself - Drink enough water. Take breaks throughout the day. Marketing is hard because it takes analysis and creativity and demands that you use both sides of your brain equally. So be kind to it!
