You may or may not know that Internet marketing is available for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. In addition, the Internet allows you to display a plethora of information to potential renters like: pictures, maps, unit sizes, prices, and specials. In fact, you can even give customers the ability to rent instantly (if this feature is available on your website)! Internet marketing is flexible, meaning you can quickly and easily change your ads throughout the year. And arguably the best aspect of Internet marketing is that traffic, consumer patterns and behaviors and the actions these people take can all be tracked and monitored – making it easy for you to evaluate its effectiveness.
Because this topic is still new to some of you in the industry, I wanted to share the terms most commonly used when talking about Internet marketing:
1. URL – the website address you type into your browser to go to a webpage.
2. Search Engine – I’ll just say Google. Google is the most widely used search engine. Some other popular search engines include Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.
3. SEO – the acronym for Search Engine Optimization. This process helps YOUR website move higher and higher in the search engine rankings when people type in specific words or phrases into a search engine. The websites you see on the first page when you search for something are well optimized and are receiving most of the traffic.
4. PPC – the acronym for Pay Per Click. This is a form of Internet advertising (and a major source of Google’s revenue) that allows you to only pay when people click on your ad and are taken to your website.
5. CTR – the acronym for Click Thru Rate. This is the percentage of people who click on your ad out of all those who see it. The higher this percentage, the better.
6. CPC – the acronym for Cost Per Click. This is how much you pay each time somebody clicks on your ad. In the self storage industry this is usually between $1.50 and $3.00.
7. Impressions – the number of times your ad was seen by a searcher on a search engine.
8. Conversion Rate – the number of actual renters out of all your inquiries. You want this number to be high as well.
9. CPA – the acronym for Cost Per Acquisition. This is how much it costs you to acquire a new customer.
10. ROI – the acronym for Return on Investment. This is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment; in terms of marketing it is how much profit you’re making for each marketing dollar you spend.
Your goal for Internet marketing should involve capturing as many tenants as possible through the Internet at the lowest possible cost (lowest CPA). Because the Internet allows you to display so much information to potential renters, often times these potential renters come to you already knowing where you’re located, your office hours, unit sizes, and specials and therefore, are ready to rent a unit.
People using the Internet will contact you in one of four ways: