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

Copyright (c) 2006 Derek Naylor

On November 13th, 2006 Google officially made two "Geeks" $1.65 Billion wealthier by purchasing their online video portal, YouTube.

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.

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