Digital marketing case study
Gnu World achieved significant growth for the XtraSpace Self Storage brand starting in 2012. Our marketing activities supported a substantial increase in XtraSpace’s geographical footprint, as well as the evolution of XtraSpace Flexi Offices into a new business franchise, The Workspace.
Summary
Gnu World used a variety of marketing channels to drive awareness of the XtraSpace brand, and to reach Internet users looking for storage and office space solutions. This included SEO and content marketing, social media marketing and paid advertising.
We were also actively involved in formulating marketing strategies in the face of economic changes as well as the challenges brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic. This included compiling detailed competitor reports, strategy workshops and weekly marketing meetings which were used to identify opportunities for campaign optimization and growth.
“XtraSpace, as a group, have had the privilege of a very successful and collaborative relationship with Gnuworld since 2013. As our website designers and digital marketers (and so much more), Gnuworld has had a fundamental impact on the success of our brand in the digital sphere. Gnuworld’s integrity and honest, sound advice has paved the way for a long future relationship.”
Colleen Mansour, Operations Manager, XtraSpace
Services provided
Ranked #1
in 81% of storage locations
5,110,000
annual organic search impressions
464,878
annual Google Ads impressions
4,390,000
annual Facebook users reached
5,500
website links generated
custom, fully responsive & conversion-optimized Drupal website
Partners in growth
XtraSpace first contacted Gnu World in 2012, looking for a new website and assistance with their SEO and content marketing requirements.
Approach
Gnu World redesigned the website and put XtraSpace onto one of our search engine marketing packages, combining SEO marketing, content marketing and Google Ads. The combination of a new, SEO optimized website together with a structured marketing campaign soon began to deliver results, and XtraSpace began to assert itself as an industry leader within the digital space.
Campaign growth
Campaign growth increased steadily over the next two years, and by the end of 2014 year on year growth across all channels was close to 50%. In early 2015 Gnu World compiled a detailed competitor report for XtraSpace, tracking the company’s performance relative to major industry competitors on key marketing channels, and using this to identify strategic marketing opportunities.
Paying dividends
This approach yielded excellent results, with the campaign traffic growing 62.6% over the course of 2015, which was mirrored by a proportional increase in conversions via the website. The introduction of a comprehensive social media marketing campaign ensured that XtraSpace reached a massive new audience, with hundreds thousands of South Africans exposed to the XtraSpace brand over the course of the year.
The growth in XtraSpace’s digital footprint was paralleled by a significant increase in the number of facilities operated by the company, particularly within the serviced offices sector catered to by XtraSpace Flexi Offices. Towards the end of 2016 this had developed into such a significant growth point that the decision was made to rebrand XtraSpace’s serviced offices as The Workspace, and market this separately to the XtraSpace brand.
Throughout this period of growth Gnu World continued upgrading and refining the XtraSpace website, adapting it to changes within the digital landscape, such as the increased emphasis on the mobile browsing experience. In 2017 work began on a new website for XtraSpace, with the design reflecting the brand’s ascension to industry leader status.
Lockdown marketing
The Covid 19 era generated significant operational, economic and social challenges for many businesses in South Africa. During this period Gnu World was required to formulate and implement flexible, responsive marketing strategies for XtraSpace in response to the rapid changes in the operational landscape created by lockdowns.
In the face of these challenges, Gnu World and the XtraSpace management team collaborated intensively to drive overall increases in brand visibility, traffic and website leads. This was demonstrated by the marketing results generated in 2020, when overall leads increased 25.85% year-on-year while traffic surged 152.77% compared to 2019.
