Self-Storage Demographics and How to Use Them
May 19, 2023
Self-storage is a business like any other. You must research and plan accordingly to monitor your storage facility’s success and long-term goals. The market in the area you choose to operate your business in is going to heavily influence how you run your company.
From the very beginning, when establishing whether to develop a new plot of land or take over an existing facility. Your self-storage demographics will affect everything from the size of your facility to the prices of the storage units. It’s not enough just to know the age and income of your average customer. You must look at the data set critically, if you truly want to understand your target market and what sort of needs they have.
Self-Storage Demographics Data
Demographics are just basic statistics of the characteristics of a specific population. The population you will be most concerned with is the population of people who utilize or require self-storage services. The demographics of your area will have a lot of pull in how much you should charge for your storage spaces.
We live in the information age, where data is collected on a seemingly instantaneous basis. With the collection of all this data, parsing out what is useful information can be a challenge. However, narrowing down your focus to some key data points will help you find your bearings. Eventually, more specific data can be added once you have started mastering the data points.
Age. The age of the population you are targeting will affect not only who you advertise to but also how. Members of the older generations tend to prefer in-person business models and methods. Members of the younger generations tend to be more technologically savvy and more comfortable doing things without the aid of face-to-face customer service.
Gender. Self-storage is a unique business in that the difference between these demographics is that they don’t matter much in the industry. Everyone has possessions they deem worthy of storage, which is not exclusive to the gender of the person storing them.
According to the Parham Group, their feasibility studies determined that although most self-storage leases were under women’s accounts (about 84%), most patrons moving in were men (about 95%). These stats indicate that the range of men and women renting storage space is roughly the same (even indicating that couples are utilizing storage, with women owning the accounts and their partners taking over the physical labor), so there is no reason in designing your business to suit one gender or another.
Marital Status. A household of 2 is going to have more belongings than a household of just 1. Marital status also takes into account the prospect of children and their possessions.
Income level. The income level of your target market is going to determine how much expendable income they have. Determining expendable income, you must also take into consideration other contributing factors besides income level. These can include Employment Status, Occupation, and Education Level. The state of someone’s employment, along with their level of education will determine the trajectory of someone’s fluctuating income levels throughout a longer period of time.
Location. How near are your targeted demographics? If there is competition closer to your target market, how can you stand out and ascertain that customers utilize your services? Location matters, as every good real estate agent knows. The location of your facility within your target market will matter in terms of how accessible your facility is and how easy it is to find you in the world.
This demographic data is only of individuals renting storage space and does not include the stats and information needed for commercial tenants or recreational vehicle tenants.
New or Used
Whether you’ve decided to start from scratch or begin your venture with an existing facility, knowing your target market will be an important consideration. There are pros and cons to building a facility from the ground up in your market.
Demographics for Development
Developing your own facility means you can cater your business to the market that currently exists in your area. If you live in a metropolitan area, your concerns will be different than that of a rural area.
Check out the competitors in your area and determine what unit sizes are most popular, along with what times of year are busier than others. If you happen to notice the patrons in the area prefer a 10’ by 30’, with climate-control options, you know that your facility will need that option in spades.
Demographics for Existing Facilities
An existing facility not only comes with an existing customer base but also an existing demographic that you must consider when taking over the reins of your operations. The transition to being at the helm of our own self-storage facility will probably entail a few hiccups along the way.
Even though there is an existing customer base, the goal is to study the patterns of current customers in order to generate leads for prospective customers. This will also determine what kind of marketing strategies you will utilize when advertising to the members of the surrounding community.
You may not be sure where to start, and when it comes to marketing your new or existing facility, it can be a daunting task to undertake. Here at The Storage Group, we happen to know everything there is to know about marketing your self-storage facility, no matter what stage of the process you are in. As a digital marketing and software solutions company dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals, our clients are more than clients, they are our partners in advertising storage services to the public that needs it. To get started, call us at (407) 680-2235.