Tracking how tenants find us

GlenMark

We have a billboard. We have a social media presence. We're on Yelp! and keep it fairly active. We have decided to do Google advertisements again. With the economy in Northern California taking a bit of a dive, we are getting ourselves out there a bit more. However, we also want to have an idea of what our most effective advertising tool is.

So my question is this. Is there somewhere on SiteLink where you can track how tenants have come to find you? I know via Lead to Lease it gives the options for phone, web, walk-in, other. However, what we would like to know is if there is some kind of spreadsheet-like set up that would track how many people found us through Google, Yelp!, word of mouth, billboard, social media, etc.?

Does that make any sense?

MamaDuke7

In Setup there is a Marketing button.  Set up your options there for your sources.

Then in Program Defaults, under move in, click the box to require marketing data.

Then use the Marketing Reports.

tbaginski

That is exactly what we do.  Marketing information is programmed as a required field at move in.  At the end of each week, the owner receives the Marketing Reports which break out how the tenant found us.

storable_support

@MamaDuke7 and @tbaginski are correct! We'd also add that using the Lead Funnel report to review the marketing information is something that we often suggest too. Marketing reports tend to lean towards tenants who rent, and the Lead Funnel will give you a conversion % by the Marketing Category. 

GlenMark

So we set up the Marketing info on SiteLink... and its not exactly what we had in mind. We are interested in finding out how people found us; whether it be via Yelp!, Google, word of mouth, billboard, etc. We don't necessarily care if they have rented storage before. We don't particularly car about the distance between home and facility. We certainly do not care what they plan on storing in their unit (almost feels like an invasion of privacy to even ask). Basically, about 90% of the marketing info is irrelevant to us.

My advice would be to make a marketing tab that is super simple:

How old are you? (18-25, 26-30, 31-40, etc.)
Gender? (Male, Female, Decline)
How did you find us? (Google, Yelp! Drive By, Referral). 
Why did you choose us? (Access times, cleanliness, security, ease of renting, etc.)

Seems to me that would make more sense. But that's just me.

storable_support

I'll be sure to pass along your feedback, @GlenMark! ~Amy C.

ESS

GlenMark said:

So we set up the Marketing info on SiteLink... and its not exactly what we had in mind. We are interested in finding out how people found us; whether it be via Yelp!, Google, word of mouth, billboard, etc. We don't necessarily care if they have rented storage before. We don't particularly car about the distance between home and facility. We certainly do not care what they plan on storing in their unit (almost feels like an invasion of privacy to even ask). Basically, about 90% of the marketing info is irrelevant to us.

My advice would be to make a marketing tab that is super simple:

How old are you? (18-25, 26-30, 31-40, etc.)
Gender? (Male, Female, Decline)
How did you find us? (Google, Yelp! Drive By, Referral). 
Why did you choose us? (Access times, cleanliness, security, ease of renting, etc.)

Seems to me that would make more sense. But that's just me.

We have this question (about how they found out about us) on our tenant info packet when they sign up, but nowhere to store the info given. This would be an amazing idea! Especially since it speaks volumes when tenants are repeat and referral! 

MamaDuke7

ESS said:

We have this question (about how they found out about us) on our tenant info packet when they sign up, but nowhere to store the info given. This would be an amazing idea! Especially since it speaks volumes when tenants are repeat and referral! 

In Setup there is a Marketing button.  Set up your options there for your sources.

Then in Program Defaults, under move in, click the box to require marketing data.

Then use the Marketing Reports.

ESS

MamaDuke7 said:

ESS said:

We have this question (about how they found out about us) on our tenant info packet when they sign up, but nowhere to store the info given. This would be an amazing idea! Especially since it speaks volumes when tenants are repeat and referral! 

In Setup there is a Marketing button.  Set up your options there for your sources.

Then in Program Defaults, under move in, click the box to require marketing data.

Then use the Marketing Reports.

I would want it to be more simplified, though, like GlenMark suggested. We don't require it right now so it gets looked over for most tenants when we enter in info. I would also like a "comment" box if it's other, instead of the standard selections, that would register on the reports.

helenatim

Since most if not all of our leads come thru Google searches, we have focused most of our attention on SEO and Google adwords.  We are currently spending $200 per month on Adwords and the tenant I rented to today said we were top of the list of paid Ads and the organic search.
Storable does our website and I am very happy with that.  I can edit it at will including text, photos and news. And I adjust prices thru SL whenever I like.
I have decided to hire a separate SEO and Marketing expert.  She tracks my Google Analytics, sends me monthly updates on how we are performing.  I did this because several of my competitors have Storable websites and I want to do it better than they do.
When a tenant rents, I note in Marketing that they are an internet lead. 50% of our tenants are internet, 17% drive-by and 16% referrals. Funnily enough, 7% are Yellow Pages, which means they have been tenants since before 2009.