From 32 to 600: How SAM Grew With Marketing at the Core with Melissa Stiles

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Students of Storage

Cubby

9 episodes

1 week ago

Welcome to Students of Storage — the podcast that pulls back the curtain on the self-storage industry. This isn’t your typical business banter — it’s raw, real, and packed with insights from the movers and shakers who’ve built empires behind the roll-up doors. Join us as we sit down with CEOs, owners, and top third-party operators to dive deep into the wins, losses, and lessons that come with building lasting success in storage. From solving industry puzzles to revealing the strategies that move the needle, Students of Storage delivers inspiring stories, perspectives that challenge, and takeaways you can use immediately.

All content for Students of Storage is the property of Cubby and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Technology

Business,

Management

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From 32 to 600: How SAM Grew With Marketing at the Core with Melissa Stiles

Students of Storage

31 minutes 10 seconds

1 month ago

From 32 to 600: How SAM Grew With Marketing at the Core with Melissa Stiles

Melissa Stiles, Chief Marketing Officer of Storage Asset Management (SAM), shares her journey from answering a blind ad to leading one of the largest third-party management companies in self-storage. Overseeing marketing, revenue management, business development, and communications, Melissa has helped SAM grow from 32 stores to nearly 600.

In this conversation, she explains how her team evolved into a full-service, agency-style structure with specialists in SEO, paid ads, social, and local marketing. Melissa dives into strategies that drive lease-ups, from influencer partnerships and community events to data-driven revenue management models. She also discusses how AI is reshaping SEO, what makes local marketing still matter, and why reputation and relationships remain central to SAM’s success.

Key Takeaways:

(2:47) Melissa’s Journey to become CMO and the growth of SAM

(6:11) Developing the marketing team

(9:45) Key questions to making a great hire

(11:42) Case study for building a marketing strategy for a self storage facility

(14:28) Strategies for a successful for lease up

(17:24) When should you expect stabilization

(18:27) Getting found with AI in the lease up process

(21:32) The advantages of scaling up for a brand

(23:50) Using data to impact operations

(26:18) Revenue management tactics

(27:53) The pride of making a real world impact