Unpacking a New Product for an On-Demand Storage Solution
Blue Crates is a closet and storage valet that offers an innovative, on-demand solution for residents. With just a few online clicks, storage crates are delivered to your door — you pack items catalog them on an app, and then they pick up and return on your schedule. The concept simply provides a better storage option, but competition was catching on and the market was becoming saturated. How could Blue Crates ignite stagnant sales and stand out among a now cluttered universe of moving, packing, storage and other housing services providers?
Since its inception, Blue Crates targeted primarily city dwellers with storage drawbacks, pursuing direct to consumer sales with various trial by fire marketing ranging from city train ads to Instagram promotions with unreliable results at high conversion costs. Branding and visual assets were strong with simple and concise messaging, but efforts weren’t hitting the mark for revenues as the business sought partnerships and integrations for a wholesale arm. No process was in place to identify and understand target audiences, or consistent and effective ways of reaching them, with an overall need to uncover efficiency and realize ROI.
Blue Crates needed an agency partner with demonstrated market knowledge and proven ability to refine both its product and audience and tap into the sphere of influence driving trends in residential real estate.
ParadigmNEXT conducted extensive market analysis, validating multiple segments across property management companies, the senior living space, and city and high-rise tenants, among others. The team activated marketing programs to support a B2B offering it created for developers and multifamily property managers; positioning storage as a value-added amenity for residents to either buy directly or with a revenue sharing model that benefits the property and drives sales for Blue Crates — from buildings, not just individual tenants.
Meanwhile, influencer programs also took shape around a new Realtor campaign aimed at helping listing agents show homes better and faster through closing. ParadigmNEXT piloted the new broker program establishing a successful collaboration with @properties that offered brokers and their clients the turnkey storage solution for decluttering during a move.
The team also kicked off branded promotions withChicago Realtor Association’s #1 agent Carrie McCormick and Sarah Parisi, Chicago’s #1 professional organizer and founder of The Clutter Curator. They tapped Parisi’s status with the National Association of Productivity & Organizing, and also ran closet clean-up campaigns with well-known lifestyle social media influencer Hele Berkun.
Newly developed B2B storage products were not only established with proof of concept, but effective positioning effectively drove sales with a strategy that could be repeated across new targets. This includes property management companies overseeing in excess of 65,000 residential units. ParadigmNEXT’s program also validated the new multifamily storage offerings and drove more brand awareness of Blue Crates from highly successful influencer campaigns. These new vertices became its fast growing business; a concierge-level storage service for real estate professionals (including a list of more than 60,0000 real estate agent prospects), and the established programs help educate the client on ways to cultivate new partnerships with more influencers in the future with both awareness and sales objectives.