Helpful Resources for Portable Storage Companies
As a shipping container business owner, it’s helpful and even critical to your success that you gain access to the resources, community networks, news and events that will keep you in-the-know when it comes to industry trends and staying ahead of the curve. We have our finger on the pulse of marketing services for local portable storage companies. It’s our specialty and, as such, we’re dedicated to helping portable storage companies grow and expand.
We hope this guide helps you navigate the shipping container business so you can continue to grow your brand. Here at Risely, we have worked with many shipping container companies over the years, which puts us in a strong position to advise local shipping container business owners like you in implementing the most effective online marketing strategies for your particular industry. Here we will outline the must-have components of your online presence, networking associations to belong to, blogs to read and software to try.
Components of Your Online Presence
The strategy you take with your online marketing plan must incorporate a good blend of web design, paid advertising, SEO and social media if you have any chance of gaining exposure, branding, trust and credibility. Here the four main elements you’ll want to touch on. We can help; it’s what we specialize in:
- Web design: First impressions are everything. When you present a professional web design for your business, you start to build trust with potential customers. Why? First, they will know you’re serious about your business. Second, they will know you put a lot of time and effort into looking as professional as possible. And third, it shows you care about your users enough to give them an enjoyable, easy-to-navigate experience through your website.
- Social media: Being seen and heard on a wide variety of social media platforms helps make connections with your audience, building their trust in your shipping container business along the way. Shipping containers options are becoming more and more prevalent – individuals really want to know that you will provide the best options. You have to foster trust and build it slowly. Take the time to grow your social following, and it will pay off big time in terms of support for your local business. You can do this through regular posts, comments and interactions with followers, ensuring you remain visible to the community and expand your reach on an organic level. Not only does social media exposure help you connect with other shipping container business owners, it also gives you front-row access to member-only industry events and news platforms. Sustaining growth and staying up-to-date on industry trends starts with a strong social media presence.
- Paid advertising: PPC, or pay-per-click, enhances your brand awareness with specific targeting and helps you snag more qualified leads. We achieve this mainly through Google Ads. This approach garners fast results but you have to pay for it, unlike SEO.
- SEO: Compared with PPC, SEO garners slower, more organic results that start off slow and build over time. It’s more cost effective than PPC because it’s free, helping you rank higher in search results pages. It does take longer to see results though. In the end, when done right, you can generate more clicks and traffic to your site with a well-orchestrated SEO strategy and approach.
Staying Connected
As a portable storage business owner, it’s of crucial importance that you maintain your networking capabilities, which achieves three things: it expands your reach, it helps you meet new people in your line of work, and it paves the way for long-lasting beneficial business relationships. Associations like the Container Alliance, Container Owners Association, and National Portable Storage Association are all good to have in your corner.
Let’s take a look at some of those beneficial associations and what they offer you.
Container Alliance
The Container Alliance is an exclusive network of portable storage and shipping container providers that have the experience and knowledge combined with geographic advantages to serve container needs. It is their goal as an alliance to insure that the partner representative is the best match for an individual’s container needs.
Container Owners Association
The Container Owners Association aim to provide a service to its members, including the following:
- Development of industry standards – with the aim of promoting industry efficiency
- Dissemination of information through conferences, training and education
- Lobbying relevant regulatory authorities and co-operation with industry groups
- Promotion of safe operation of containers
- Promoting environmental awareness
National Portable Storage Association
The National Portable Storage Association is the leading trade association (over 500 member companies) for companies offering secure, portable storage containers, portable or mobile storage containers, portable or mobile offices, portable or mobile storage units and the industry that surrounds us. Joining NPSA will give you access to information and resources to help you remain competitive and strong in a volatile business climate. NPSA provides tools that you can apply to your operations – strengthening the ties to your customers and the community you serve.
Software to Help You Manage, Grow & Thrive
The software you use as a local shipping container business owner fuels your productivity. That’s why it’s so important to have powerful moving software to streamline your operations, while ensuring a greater customer experience and a higher return on investment (ROI).
There are many advantages of shipping container sales and rental software, such as:
- Higher Levels of Productivity
- Eco-Friendly Paperless Options
- Better Lead Capture
- Cost Savings
- Electronic Billing
- On-Site Estimate Capability
Check out these shipping container industry software resources that we have found work best for our clients:
CAVU ERP is a Universal Container and Trailer Software is specifically designed to handle container & trailer rental, sales, leasing and container modification activities in one totally-integrated system… one solution that totally eliminates the need for separate accounting software, cumbersome external spreadsheets or manual documents. It puts you in control with the Unit Availability Dashboard providing an instant view of units available, sold, on rent, on move and more, with immediate access to photos and document attachments.
DHS WORLDWIDE provides customer management, client web access, inventory, route planning & dispatching, billing, chain of custody, reporting & metrics, and more for portable shipping container companies.
Customers can create a live interactive quote online and then accept quotes to book order / pay online. All customer information along with quote / order details transfer into Total Recall. Customer can quickly view containers on rent and request services (e.g., pickup, drop-off, relocate, etc.). They can also easily accept terms and conditions of rental contracts online, including the capture of their electronic signature. Signed contracts are automatically attached to their account with in Total Recall, making it simple to stay organized and protected.
As the operations, you can efficiently keep track of your containers with fully integrated wireless scanning. With Total Recall’s Enterprise Smartphone App, you can provide your drivers with the power of Total Recall in the palm of their hand. Effortlessly scan containers from location to location, update the physical location and capture pictures of containers.
ARM is software for portable building and storage rental companies that manages all of your customers, contracts and reservations—in one single application suite that unifies your back-office financial, accounting and inventory management processes.ARM’s storage container rental software is based on the experience and best practices of a host of rental organizations, complemented with a proven professional services implementation methodology and configuration services
Advantage 365 provides the following features:
- Bill all containers associated with one customer using a single invoice that includes interim billings for new units leased during the billing period. ADVANTAGE 365 allows you to automate billing and send rental picking tickets from the office to the yard or a rental invoice to a customer following a drop-off using your mobile device or tablet, mitigating lost or illegible paperwork.
- Powerful inventory management tools ensure real-time oversight of your containers while on rent such as stock keeping units and cycle counts. With ADVANTAGE 365 your bill of materials, list of item substitutions, non-stock items, and management reports are all conveniently accessed through your custom dashboard on desktop or mobile device.
- Rely on ADVANATGE 365 to prevent over-booking, check available assets each day, when on-rent items are due back, and who is renting which equipment. Information about how you have been utilizing your assets and the revenue percentage they are producing are readily available in ADVANTAGE 365 with powerful management reports that display ROI, depreciation, maintenance costs, acquisition price and more!
As you can see, there are many helpful resources that can benefit you as a portable storage business owner. We hope this guide has been helpful as you look for new and innovative ways to connect, thrive and grow with your audience and stay on top of your craft.
If you would like to learn more about how to market your portable container business successfully online, contact Risely for a free quote on your shipping container company website. We have a lot of experience with this particular industry and know how to ensure your online success.
