Coworking marketing needs to accurately reflect your space, community, and values.
We know it can be tempting to sidestep the details a bit when it comes to marketing, especially when you're just starting out. Whether your space is fresh or historic, communicating consistently will help bring the right people to your coworking space and ensure you meet your member's expectations right from the start.
We are all probably aware that advertising and marketing have a bad reputation. Being a marketing enthusiast myself, I am aware of it! Community managers sometimes make inaccurate or misleading claims to get an extra sale. In order not to make this mistake, it is necessary to have a team of professionals or a strong Brand behind it that helps the community manager to offer correct and effective communication.
The following are some indications that we tend to confuse when it comes to marketing for coworking. I also offer some insights that will keep your marketing accurate and likely make potential members of your Brand fall in love with it.
"We have a super fast Wi-Fi connection"
If you have it, that's great! However, it is more effective to tell people what your internet speed actually is .
Let potential customers know your download and upload speeds. It will be a differentiator for all prospective members who keep reading about "super fast wifi" on other workspaces in the area.
Alternatively, if your wifi speed isn't that big, maybe you could take a look to see if you can make service contracts more in line with your members' needs! Of course, if internet speed isn't important to your coworkers because you're more of an art space, maybe not talking about it is even better.
But one thing definitely holds true, if you advertise "super fast wifi" and only have a 25 Mbps connection for 30 people, those potential members most likely won't sign up. And if they do, their expectations will not be met, which is not a great start and the contract is unlikely to become long-term.
"We have known partners"
Having a well-known partner, such as your municipality or region, a startup accelerator, an investment company, or a large brand is excellent added value for potential members. It can be the key to helping you get larger companies to choose your coworking.
The only problem is when that's not quite the way things are. These claims tend to fall into the category of exaggeration, not outright fake news.
For example, some spaces claim that Google is a partner because they signed up for an affiliate program that allows members to get free advertising credits or other benefits. The problem with these kinds of claims is that it appears that Google is actually involved in your space, which it most likely isn't (unless it is, which is great!).
Another example is to say that your municipality is a partner in the space because it used the meeting room for a single event. Unfortunately, that's not quite true. The partnership was just for that event, not forever.
The best way is to get real partners involved. They don't have to be big. It could be the bakery around the corner that takes care of the member's lunches. THE true partners talk about you to other people, which further expands your advertising reach.
If you'd like to develop partnerships within your workspace, check out Mike LaRosa's speech here . Christoph Fahle of Betahaus best illustrated how to create a partnership program. Here you are the slides he uses to present the Betahaus approach.
"You will be more productive"
There are still no reliable data regarding the impact of coworking on productivity. From my experience, productivity in coworking spaces is highly variable. It can depend on space, community, atmosphere, or an individual's tolerance for distractions. Some days I am very productive in my space of coworking. Other days they are not.
But one thing is certain at 100%. Visual and auditory distractions are very present in most coworking spaces, especially in open spaces. And all distractions affect productivity.
The best approach is: “We don't know if you will be productive here. It depends on you. But we believe you will feel more responsible working in our community and responsibility is always good for productivity ”.
"You will be more creative"
The claim about creativity is not unlike the previous point about productivity. Distracting environments can also be terrible for creativity. Creatives tend to request periods of silence with no visual distractions. Obviously not always, but at least occasionally. This means that if your space does not have flexible semi-private spaces, your proposal for increased creativity is unlikely to live up to the expectations of your members.
In this case, the most accurate approach would be to say “get inspired by other creatives who share this coworking experience”. Assuming you have a community of creatives, this is a big plus. Connect with other creative people is a great source of creativity!
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Giorgio Cappelli