Promoting your coworking space doesn’t have to cost a fortune. In the early days of your business, it’s worthwhile to come up with strategies to publicize your business organically. After all, word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful and cost-effective advertising methods. Moreover, social media now provides a virtual touchpoint for businesses, so it’s never been easier to promote a business all the while respecting a budget.
In this article, we will go over some proven tips for promoting your business organically, online and offline.
1. Use Google Business as a marketing tool
Google is responsible for organizing and classifying the entire world’s information. As such, your business must be visible on this powerful and ubiquitous platform.
The first step: Create a Business Profile with Google.
It’s quick, simple, and absolutely free to do, here.
Creating a Business Profile ensures your business will populate on Google Maps if users search for keywords associated with your space, such as “coworking space.”
Also, a Business Profile allows you to access valuable insights about users who are interacting with your profile.
It’s important to take charge of what people see when they search for your business. On your Google Business Profile, you can take photos of your business and start a conversation about your space in the comment section.
2. List your space on relevant coworking aggregators
Coworking is now a worldwide movement. As a result, businesses that aggregate and function as a type of search engine for coworking spaces are popping up right and left. Think of these aggregators as a type of Airbnb, but for coworking spaces. A new coworking space surely will benefit from being listed on one or several of these sites; adding visibility to your brand and potentially driving new leads.
Some popular flexible office space aggregators can be found here, here, and here.
3. Create an online and social media presence
Your space’s digital presence will oftentimes be the first contact a potential member has with your business. In other words, a website or social media page is “shop window” for your brand. As a result, it’s essential to build a basic form of digital presence as a vehicle for promoting your business organically. A great place to start is with a business page on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The best part, setting up a business profile on these platforms is totally free. Once you’ve set up your social media business profile you can begin to plan a strategy to drive sales and boost brand awareness through social media. In our image-driven consumer culture, it’s important to launch your social media presence with professional high-quality photos and content. Having a poorly presented social media page is worse than not having one at all.
4. Create a referral program
In its early days, Uber used a simple referral program which resulted in the businesses’ expansion into over 50 countries in less than 3 years. Uber cleverly created a referral program that rewarded early users with ride credits for referring a friend but also offered an incentive to new users, luring them in with ride credits as well. Word of mouth is often the most inexpensive yet effective publicity tactic.
Creating a referral program is not only affordable but also relatively simple to execute. The idea is to incentivize current members to talk about and refer the space to friends and acquaintances by providing them with a reward for bringing in new members. But also rewarding the new members for following through on the referral. Think of it as a positive feedback loop to get your business rolling.
5. Host Events
Event hosting is the backbone of publicity. Opening up your physical space to host a crowd of a like-minded people is a great way to get the word out. Throwing a party isn’t enough to make people show up, though. To motivate strangers to attend and mingle, an event must provide value beyond cocktails and refreshments.
Consider bringing in a creative professional for a fun hands-on workshop, or industry thought leader for a discussion on a topic members are passionate about. You can even host a speed networking event! The possibilities are endless. And now that you have social media pages set up, you can utilize these channels to promote your event.
6. Generate a buzz by networking
This method will involve the most leg work, literally. Your goal is to spark a local buzz. A good place to start is with the other businesses around you. In short, say hi to your neighbors. Perhaps there’s an independent coffee shop, some restaurants, and boutiques in the area. Walk around and walk in; get chatty with the staff.
If they have an event board or area designated for flyers and posters you can leave some promotional material for them to display. This type of marketing may seem archaic in our world of digital communication, but you would be surprised how effective this can be in generating organic awareness and interest, especially in tight communities.
Archie provides the world’s fastest growing coworking spaces with an all-in-one platform to automate their operations and elevate their customer experience by enabling their clients to enjoy coworking services from an elegant self-service app.
From large coworking space networks to individual flexible spaces, we believe that powerful, innovative team operations should be within reach for every workspace, no matter the size, or ambition.
Through its intuitive platform, Archie helps you cut down redundant manual work and make your member experience a breeze by providing you with the right tools that power ambition.
