Marketing Your Coworking Space: 3 Strategies That Work

Creating and sticking to a successful marketing plan isn’t always easy in a coworking space, especially if you're a lean team - with a tight budget - juggling multiple responsibilities. But the fact is, marketing has a direct impact on growth, visibility and the ability to attract and retain members. 

It’s the activity through which businesses differentiate themselves. And in a competitive market, it’s doubly important for spaces to stand out. 

Marketing is how you communicate your space’s unique features, community and services to the people who might be interested in taking on a membership. From SEO and socials to in-person events, here are three key strategies that can make your space more visible. 

1.- Fine tune your website’s SEO

SEO is one aspect of marketing that can get overlooked in coworking.

It’s often perceived as the most technical aspect, or the part of marketing that requires the most specialist knowledge. Although some of it does rely on specific skills and knowhow, there are simple things you can do to help boost your website up the search engine rankings.

Let’s take a quick look at the four key strands of SEO, and how you could improve them by making a few simple additions or changes. 

Local SEO

Local SEO is important for businesses that operate in specific locations, such as restaurants, hotels and coworking spaces. One of the best ways to optimise local SEO is by keeping your Google My Business profile completed and up-to-date. Make sure you include recent photos, details of the amenities on offer, your opening hours and reviews. 

It’s also a good idea to include location-based vocabulary in your website copy. Phrases like ‘coworking space in Madrid’ or ‘vibrant coworking community in Madrid’ will help search engines like Google to understand where your business operates. Blog posts that speak to local audiences can also help. For instance, if you’re based in Manchester, why not write about the local food or music scene in that city? 

On-page SEO 

On-page SEO is sometimes called on-site SEO, and it relates to the way you fine-tune specific pages on your website to boost visibility. One way to do this is through the implementation of targeted keywords. Think along the lines of ‘coworking space near me’ or ‘coworking in London’.

Try to think from the perspective of a search engine. Your most important pages should have more internal links pointing to them. For instance, you can link to your enquiries or viewings pages in blog posts as a call to action. Doing this highlights the pages’ importance to search engines. 

Off-page SEO 

Off-page SEO is also known as off-site SEO, and it refers to the way your business is talked about outside of its own website. When another website links to your website in one of their blog posts, for instance. Or how individuals or other businesses write about your space when they’re reviewing it (or referring to it as part of a wider topic about the area). 

Listing your coworking space on aggregator sites can help increase off-site visibility for those searching for a space. Of course, aggregators may take a commission, so be sure to read the T&Cs beforehand. 

Technical SEO 

Technical SEO is about optimising elements of your website to make it more crawlable and indexable for search engines. Simple things you can do to improve this include making URLs short, keyword rich and descriptive, e.g. www.yourbrand.com/coworking-space-new-york. The speed at which your website loads can also have an impact. 

The world of SEO is always evolving in line with developments to algorithms and ranking factors, which is why coworking operators should keep up-to-date with best practices. One way to do this is by following Google Search Central Blog - this is the official blog from Google that offers information on algorithms, SEO guidelines and new features. 

2.- Run a fun open-house event

Face-to-face events (literally) get people through the door and interacting with and in your space. An open house event is the perfect opportunity to position your brand as a value-added hive of learning and community, not just a place in which to sit at a desk and work. 

Set a schedule for regular open house events so that potential members can experience what you have to offer before committing. Invite the public in to explore and try out your facilities for themselves. Open house events can be particularly fruitful for coworking spaces in rural locations, or areas where the concept of coworking is unknown or new. 

You could start promoting your open house event through social media, your email newsletter and other local networks so that it reaches a more diverse audience. Begin anywhere from two weeks to two months beforehand, depending on your size and circumstances. Typically, a month should give people enough time to plan without forgetting. 

On the day, make sure signage is clear and staff are on hand to greet guests and conduct tours. Offering refreshments is a must, and you might even decide to partner up with a local hospitality business to do this. Your event partner can promote it on their channels too, and the ad may reach a more diverse selection of potential members.

Entice new members by providing an exclusive discount for event attendees. If the offer is time-sensitive, they might even decide to sign up immediately. Here are a few options for open-day promotions:

• Limited-time offer of a discounted membership rate
• Free trial period
• Value-added amenities and services at a discounted rate

Of course, you can leverage this new audience by adding them - with their permission - to a mailing list. Keeping in touch with attendees after the event and sharing content about your community can be the thing that transforms curious leads into fully fledged coworking members. 

3. Make social media meaningful

Sometimes social media posting can feel like an onerous task, especially if it falls as an additional job under the remit of someone who has a different role. The key is to make it enjoyable and fun: this positivity will shine through in the content and convert into meaningful engagement.

Fun content that garners likes, shares and comments can work wonders when it comes to boosting visibility through algorithms. Here are a few approaches small businesses use to create meaningful social content. (Don’t forget to ask for permission from people in the photos or videos.)

Behind-the-scenes - Capture fun and spontaneous moments from day-to-day life in your coworking space, such as footage from community events and workspace refurbs.  

Polls and quizzes - Create a fun quiz or poll on Instagram and relate it to your business, e.g. ‘What’s your favourite work gadget’; this encourages engagement and provides insight into member preferences.

Fun demos or tutorials - Share creative and humorous demos or tutorials - like ‘how to use the coffee machine to make the perfect brew’ - on video social media platforms like TikTok.

Caption contests - Why not share an interesting picture and ask your members to come up with the best caption. The winner gets a small prize, such as an hour free in the meeting room on a Friday. 

Live Q&As or AMAs (‘ask me anything’) - For a bit of real-time engagement, go live on social media and invite followers to ask questions about your coworking space, community, or even your career. 

Ultimately, your marketing activities should be a fun and engaging way for you and your team to show off the space, and grow and maintain a thriving coworking community. You don’t need to dive in alone; check in with other coworking operators and follow them on social media to see which marketing approaches might (or might not) be working for them.

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