Press Release

March 11, 2011                       Contact:          Travis Morrow

                                                                        National Self Storage Alliance, Inc.

                                                                        (520) 577-9777 x: 223

                                                                        tmorrow@nationalselfstorage.com

For Immediate Release

National Self Storage Alliance Formed

Tucson-AZ-National Self Storage Management Inc. announces the formation of the National Self Storage Alliance and has licensed the non-profit marketing cooperative its service mark.

“The National Self Storage Alliance, Inc., (The Alliance), was conceived to bring the economies of scale of the largest self storage companies to the mid-sized and individual self storage operators at an affordable cost”, reports Travis Morrow, Alliance President and CEO.

20 years ago, the Yellow Pages were the primary advertising source available to the self storage operator.  Operators and owners with multiple facilities were able to take advantage of their economies of scale to employ larger ads and premium ad placement to their advantage.  These economies were limited to the market areas the yellow pages served. 

With the advent of the Internet and Google, a nationwide “yellow pages” now exists that can allow these same economies to be available to all operators operating under the same brand.  The goal of the Alliance is to facilitate this branding and provide this opportunity to its members.

As a matter of background, the 5 largest operators in the country, Public Storage, Extra Space Storage, U-haul, U-Store-It, & Uncle Bob’s Self Storage, account for 4,791 facilities nationwide.  According to the SSA there are approximately 46,000 primary self storage facilities in the United States.  Therefore the REIT’s make up only 10% of the industry. 

The next 45 “Top Operators” as identified by the Mini Storage Messenger, consist of 2,384 facilities or 5% of the industry.  Many of those 45 operators do not operate under one brand name.  Therefore, many storage operators are competing for the same prime Google real estate of showing up in the top 3 organic searches for their respective keywords.  By joining the Alliance, all of these competing dollars could be spent driving traffic and renters to one website and one brand instead of a multitude of sites.

As the Alliance grows, advertising expands beyond the internet to national and regional TV, Radio, and other technologies allowing Alliance members the combined marketing force of the REIT’s, who often times are a members largest competitor.

By joining the alliance the member retains full operational control of day to day activities at their facilities, while enjoying the recognition of a national brand.  In addition, they can participate in a cafeteria of other options at reduced rates available to the alliance at their option.

The Alliance is a not for profit group of like minded self storage owners and operators that understand the importance and value of name brand recognition as it will apply to the self storage industry in the future.  The members of the Alliance would agree to operate their facilities under the Shield of the National Self Storage Alliance.  As members they would initially contribute to build a nationwide web presence focused on the market areas they serve.

Branding is simple and conversion costs minimal with only the addition of the Alliance “Shield” required initially.  Full on site branding can be accomplished over time, so the fact is the self storage operator actually SAVES money converting to the Alliance brand.

The basic monthly dues include the brand license, state-of- the-art “optimized” web site www.nationalselfstorage.com, regional advertising, listings on StorageFront.com, SelfStorageVille.com, MerchantCircle.com.  Many more benefits are being added all the time.

The Alliance is NOT looking to take over member’s facilities, employees or investment.  The aim is to build a national marketing base and increase the Alliance member’s bottom line through rentals and cost savings.

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