A famous quote by Henry Ford says,” Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together determines success.” This is exactly the philosophy of co-working spaces. Co-working spaces are designed to get people together for work and in return guarantee success. Co-working spaces require a steady flow of inmates to tackle the heavy infra and maintenance expenses. Marketing is the key to channelize demand and getting the space active. No matter how perfect the co-working space would be, a strategic marketing approach is required to keep the place blooming with walk-ins.
To have a good marketing plan, a co-working should balance consistent messaging and effective communication with the marketing mix strategies. It all starts with an analysis of your competitors and your rivals in the same business. For a co-working space, even a coffee shop or crosswords is a rival. Then with marketing mix strategies make sure that your audience chooses to walk inside a co-working space over a coffee shop.
Marketing -Mix for Co-working spaces
- Branding
Sometimes telling the client how good you are and trying to prove that you’re the best, leads you to a complete mess. Rather than this, let the brand speak for itself. Invest in the brand name and the brand name will fetch you results. It starts with having a brand guideline document in-house. Portraying the brand with brand colors, theme, a set format of communication, and PR activities. In branding it is highly important that you do not sell your service, you just educate the masses about your services.
- Online Presence
It’s the digital world, we are connected through online mediums of communication. It is necessary to maintain an impressive image online. A user-friendly website acts as the face of your brand. Your Google reviews share the truth; make sure your clients and colleagues have a favorable response on Google. To rank high and increase the demands start regularizing your SEO. Blogs, and keyword integration in the blogs; help you appear on Google searches faster. Blogs are the most organic method of ranking on Google, they also provide you with the stability to maintain the ranking for a longer time.
- Social Media Mix
If your target audience are solopreneurs and freelancers social media platforms can prove to be magical for your growth. Streaming your platforms with visuals in the form of graphics, short snackable content or even reels will get the eyeballs of many individuals thus increasing your brand presence. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn can be used to create engagement amongst the audience.
- Cross Promotion
Make your enemy your best friend. This is the basic principle of cross-promotion. Place your tent card in a coffee shop or indulge in some scheme with a library. Cross promotions help acquire data, which can later be converted into potential clients. Target rivals with the same audience and led a partnership hand, cross promotions work magic to both the parties.
- Listing
An out-of-the-box marketing mix method. List your co-working space on search platforms. Clients come hunting for their requirements on search platforms to distinguish between the prices, location, availability, and suitability of the co-working spaces. Such platforms act as a medium to fetch leads. The listing also is an indirect way of appearing on Google searches. Platforms like Wybrid.com list several co-working spaces and generate ransom inquiries for the client.
- Pro Bono Projects
Indulge in pro bono projects. Though Pro Bono Projects do not fetch any revenue to the firm, they are a great way of building a reputation and reaping the benefits of word-of-mouth publicity. Pro Bono projects are a pat on the back for goodwill maintenance.
- Empower the Team
Your team is your biggest strength, and they are your marketing agents too. Empower your team with perks and team-building events and activities for them to feel motivated and belonged to the organization. The team in turn will become active marketing agents of the brand.
- ATL & BTL
Indulge in ATL and BTL marketing elements. Use personalized offers and campaigns to attract the audience as well as use ATL activities to spread brand awareness. Set up a marketing plan with timelines to monitor the results and accordingly action out the necessary events for sales capture.
- Create a Brand Face
To get recognized, associate the brand with a human. Assign a face to the brand. This may involve the personal branding of the forerunner of the brand. All social profiles, Google profiles, and networking responsibilities should be handled by the brand face. Marketing is all about creating a human connection. The brand face becomes an identity of the company and people can relate to it. Some big names are still recognized by their brand ambassadors more than their company names.
- Events & Sponsorships
Events are a medium of promotion. An event can be internal as an off-break to team members or can be in the form of sponsorship for branding. In both cases, events result in communicating the brand values. Events are a resourceful form of the marketing mix. As per a report, events contribute to over 55% of direct sales. On-ground events are a non-ignorable marketing mix for co-working spaces.
Conclusion
Co-working spaces share the industry of infrastructure and technology, it is therefore important to have a mix of on-ground and online marketing tools to have the best marketing mix strategies. Watch out for this space for more on co-working spaces.
