Two Geeks, $1.65 Billion and a Fake Newsman Teach Self-Storage Marketing?

Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to
build something and sell it for $1.65 Billion so when two
regular guys do something like that, I pay attention.

Here is a link to a short video of the YouTube founders
excitedly announcing their new fortune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCVxQ_3Ejkg

Isn't that something?

And today, fake newsman Stephen Colbert of The Colbert
Report on Comedy Central was recognized as the 2006 "Media
Person of the Year" beating out the likes of long time
greats like Rupert Murdoch.

This recognition comes shortly after winning an elite spot
in Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" list.

If you've never seen The Colbert Report or watched a video
on YouTube, this might not be all that interesting to you,
but I'm about to drop the significance of this right in
your lap, so hang in there?

YouTube is an online video portal that makes its money from
advertising. Users can upload videos of whatever they'd
like and share it with the world. If you watched the video
above, you can clearly see that the two founders don't
appear to be exceptionally bright or business savvy. Yet,
they've just made a bucket-load of cash.

Stephen Colbert on the other hand is a pretty sharp guy.
He does "fake news" by sarcastically reporting on the day's
issues in a very egotistical, unique and comical way.

Through his show, he pokes fun of the mainstream media, our
government and other pundits that are in our lives while
making valid arguments at the same time. He interviews some
of the top political figures in our society today and has
built influence and an enormous following.

Guys like Rupert Murdoch and other "real" media figures
must be in fumes about the fact that they were just beaten
by a guy doing their job in a fake, sarcastic way when they
follow the rules and have a serious passion for their
important work.

Can this be true?

Yes. And, here's the marketing lesson for you to think
about?

The YouTube founders and Stephen Colbert have built
leverage by sacrificing a quick buck for a bigger play.

YouTube built gold by attracting enormous amounts of
traffic to their site by offering high quality, interesting
videos on their site without membership or charges. If
they would've went to a bank and applied for a loan on this
idea, they would've been laughed out of the bankers office
by telling them that their service was free of charge.

Just one year ago, Stephen Colbert was "doomed for failure"
by many industry experts. Yet today, his show is extremely
popular and he is very influential. He does this by giving
people what they want first. He knows the influence and
money will follow.

The distinction to be made is between strategy and tactics.

YouTube and Colbert could've possibly made money a little
faster than they did, but the amount would've been
miniscule compared to what it is today if they would've
taken the traditional approach and followed conventional
wisdom.

But they chose not to. Whether this is by design or dumb
luck, I don't know. All I know is there is a major lesson
to be learned from this?

So, how does this relate to self-storage marketing and your
facilities?

Here's how?

When you market your self-storage facility, are you
offering value first? Or are you running another "me too"
ad that simply tells people that you exist? Are you
looking at an overall strategy in terms of "lifetime
customer value" and "cost per acquisition" or are you
simply flying by the seat of your pants?

Are you recognizing your customer base for their real
value? Only you know at this point?

If you're after the big money and success in self-storage,
it's crucial that you understand how much each customer is
worth and how cheap you can buy them.

It's equally as important that you market by adding value
first (like YouTube and Colbert do) and the money will
follow.

----------------------------------------------------
Derek M. Naylor is the President of Storage Marketing
Solutions (SMS). SMS has created, and proven many turn-key
marketing solutions for the self-storage industry. For a
complimentary marketing strategy session, call SMS at
800.941.4805 or visit
http://www.storagemarketingsolutions.com/resources.html to
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