Month: June 2019

When you think of marketing practice, honesty probably isn’t the first thing that comes into mind. As we talk about marketing, we become excited if it shares about effective strategies and tips that can help the business gain profit and customers. However, honesty in marketing? Being honest about your business’ strengths is the easy part. What can be difficult is acknowledging your shortcomings and weakness. Even though it is hard but you can still display transparency in your business about what you are and what you aren’t. At the end of it all, without honesty, there can be no trust. Here are the key benefits of the importance of honesty in marketing.

It builds a good reputation in your industry and in your community as well

One of the best ways to market your space is not overtly trying to sell it to people. Because in doing so, it can be tempting to fudge the details a bit especially when you’re just starting out. In marketing, it generally engages to audiences because it considers what a customer wants from a business, rather than forcing to customers what the business wants to say. 

One example is advertising it to the public, “We have Super-fast Wifi”. If you have, then it’s good. But if your wifi is nothing to shout about, then maybe you want to take a look at upgrading it so that you can confidently market this. It will be better to let your prospects know your download and upload speed on your website. Rather than failing their expectations. A reputation for honesty is a kind of thing that can have a real ripple effect. 

It builds a sense of trust

Like any good relationship, trust is very important in this exchange. If the members trust you, they are confident that you can deliver what they’re looking for. Being honest with your potential members can be scary, but if you are able to overcome that hurdle, then it can be rewarding. 

An example of tampering honesty is telling people that you have partnered with a well-known partner such as local government official since the two of you once did an event together. Unfortunately, that’s not really true but it’s just an exaggeration. This can tamper your reputation when members ultimately find the truth. The better way to do this is to secure real partners by doing difficult work. They don’t have to be big as long as they are real partners who will talk about you to other people, which further expands your business. 

It attracts ideal members to your space

Since your business has built a sense of trust around its members, potential members as well can definitely trust what your space offers to them. Acknowledging your faults makes customers trust the legitimacy of your strengths. And once they find out the areas of your strengths, they will definitely choose your service. Positive word-of-mouth from a satisfied customer is more effective in influencing a customer. 

Your coworking space will stand out

You don’t only build a good reputation, but you will also stand out from the rest. Honesty in marketing is difficult, and when people acknowledge the transparency you have shown to them, then they will definitely trust you. Showing honesty here is also exemplifying what you say. Being honest will separate your business from the pack in a manner customers find endearing. Here’s to more tips on how to make your coworking space stand out.

Lastly, it improves your mental health

When you are determined, to be honest, you’ll find that you experience a great sense of relief. There’s no need to cover up lies, whether they are big or small, and you can be relaxed to yourself as the owner of the space. Your confidence in what you say will shine to the coworking community around you which has a positive impact on them. 

Conclusion

Whether your space is brand new, or you’ve been around for a long time, being 100% real and authentic will help bring the right people to your coworking space and ensure you will meet your members’ expectations. When you let go of the need to bend the truth, you let around you see its positive effect, and your business will flourish as well as a result. 

If you’re interested in starting your own business, the task ahead can be intimidating. From raising the capital to determining the business model then to figuring out how to stand amidst the competition, there is no limit on the challenges. As the real estate prices continue to rise, more and more companies realize the need for having a more cost-efficient office and thinking of joining or starting their own coworking space. It’s evident that the future of coworking has never been brighter. Many groups of individuals are using co-working space nowadays, such as full-time freelancers, startups, professionals who work after hours on side projects, and remote employees. It’s undeniable that the coworking industry is booming nowadays. So, are you planning to start your own coworking space business? Here are some essential tips on what you need to know:

Gather interests from people

Do your research and be sure that there is a demand for a coworking space. Don’t assume that if you build one, eventually they will come. Instead, you can host preliminary interest meetings to get a sense out there and what their needs are. You can create a Facebook Group, and invite as many colleagues and friends to join.

If you do not have a significant demand for a coworking space yet, you can still pursue the idea to start on a smaller scale. It might require finding a convenient place to meet a few times per month. From informal gatherings to formal interest meetings and regular pop-up coworking events and beyond. Remove the pressure from yourself by taking the time to entice people who will become members after you open.

Plan a sustainable business model

There are a number of proven sustainable business models for coworking space. Feel free to mix and match from the following.

Coworking + offices

This is the most popular option for many coworking space owners. Offering a space to people that is also home to a vibrant community of coworkers makes it much more enticing.

Coworking + events

Planning to host a calendar of events can give you double benefits. As you host events, it gives you a source of revenue and at the same time, providing a natural pipeline of new potential members coming into your space. Doing events is one of the creative ways to do marketing. You can produce your own programs or work with external content providers. You can either charge them or find sponsors to cover the costs. You can have events that enhance skills since many people are looking for ways for personal development. You can focus on evenings and weekends, or have continuous programming throughout a week.

Focus on Location

You will want a space that is convenient, safe and easy to find. Look for a location where people want to go and that is not far from amenities. It is important to be in the ecosystem of the market you are targeting. Or, you can target a location where demand is high but supply is very less. Be located in areas where public transportation is readily available.

Utilities to Use

Having a creative and comfortable work environment is very important for people who will work in your space. However, it is more important to consider providing the right utilities especially a high-speed internet connection for the users. Start looking into utility companies and work with them to make specific arrangements.

Start doing Marketing

It’s never too early to start marketing your space. As you start gathering interests from people, it is recommended to do some marketing research as well as a competitive analysis of other shared spaces within your region. This way, you can find areas where demands aren’t being met and transform it into a new opportunity as you start to plan for your coworking space.

Furthermore, establishing an online presence is another key component that you might want to start already. You can start your online presence with online content in the form of blogs, newsletters, and social media to make a difference.

Build a Team

Don’t try to do everything by yourself! If you have other people that can contribute well in your plan, empower and encourage them to help you tackle the countless things you’ll need to do. These people might be an expert in creating events and doing marketing-related activities. Allow them to provide feedback on your brand, floor plans, furniture, and choice of location. Doing this will not only make your life easier, but also inviting them to get emotionally, mentally, and physically invested in the project.

Final Words

If you are still unsure to proceed, consider contacting other coworking spaces from other cities that serve similar targets and ask for advice. One of the greatest resources an entrepreneur can have is quality mentorship. Having a support network during tough times is a major factor of success for new business owners. Hope this has given you knowledge on starting up a coworking space. 

 

Everyone who is working in a coworking space must work efficiently and creatively. Some roles include managing the operations, helping the community to flourish, and establishing the name of the business. The employees play a vital role in the overall management of a workspace.

The size of how many employees to hire varies upon the size and the level of activity within a workspace. If there are more members, it requires more attention and demands. Hiring the right team can make all the difference and take your business to the next level.

Things to Consider in Hiring your Staff

Attitude Over Experience

Coworking is an industry that generally chooses attitude over experiences in terms of hiring and building staff. It is because understanding customer services, community and providing members involves a personal degree of service. This isn’t just about the employer-employee relationship, but it’s all about building a lasting and thriving relationship with members.

Build a Team

To build a good quality team, it must be well-decided since its a factor that affects the overall productivity of a workspace. In large companies, employee turnover has little impact on their profit margin and overall sustainability. Unlike with coworking space, cost-efficiency has a role to play, but it’s more important to make a smart hire than a decision that is based on financial limitations.

Budget Allocation

There are two ways to allocate budget for staffing. First, it will be better if you have an idea into what other spaces are willing to pay to fill the position you’re seeking. Second, as a rule of thumb, a good Coworking space should dedicate 25%-30% of its expenses toward human capital. In understanding the demand of members and the available resources, informed decisions can be made as to when it’s time to hire new workers.

Best Practices for Hiring

Hiring can be done in these ways:

1. Posting Online
   This can bring quick results depending on which avenue you use, such as LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Facebook and other platforms Indeed as they have an emphasis on highlighting the skillsets of an applicant.
2. Outsourcing to a Staffing Agency
   This is not highly recommended since it needs to pay extra for the company to manage the employee and at the same time making critical decisions to the group that is not suited for your brand in mind.
3. Existing Employees
   Reaching out to existing employees will help you know someone with a similar work ethic and skillset who can represent the culture of the workspace.

Managing Your Staff

If you have a highly motivated staff that is geared toward growing your coworking space, the best strategy is to improve their efficiency and productivity. Through a workspace management platform, a lesser trained staff member can handle tasks at the same quality as a more-qualified, higher-paid employee can. This saves time while empowering your staff to be resourceful with their time and resources.

With the help of a trusted Coworking Management Software you can optimize your staff’s time through the following services:

1. Automated Billing
   It saves on hours instead of doing transactions manually.
2. Automated Member Management Features
   It saves your staff from manually assigning access to certain areas, generating PINS and confirmations, manually creating and filing terms and conditions, and manually follow up on renewing members.
3. Integration with One Platform
   The workspace management platform will automatically sync your membership information and perks with all other aspects of the workspace. Using this method, you can add new members through a process in just a few minutes.To have the best performance, setting up automation through workspace management platform is advisable because it helps you to save time and money specifically on able to serve your community better.

Maximizing your Staff’s time

The space owner must find ways to make most of the time of the staff. An initial step on this is to observe of how much time your staff is spending on busy work, so you may know which of the task can be automated. It is instrumental for growth to work with the staff in knowing the sources of revenue, so you will know where to make necessary changes in the operations.

Two practical ways to maximize the time of your staff:

Keep Your Staff Happy and Engaged

A coworking space that is geared towards building community, the staff must be part of the community as well. Collaboration and connectivity are shared equally among the staff and with the community as well. Your staff must embrace the brand philosophy so that they can be well- engaged with the community.

Geared towards Growth

Business owners must aspire to maximize productivity, and in doing this, there must be a balance between focusing efforts towards maintaining the space and attracting new members. You need to make sure you’re not working on just one aspect and not the other. An example of this, if your marketing is on point, but your internet isn’t connected well, then surely the members won’t last a month. Therefore, it’s critical to maintain a balance between sales, marketing, and service.

Also, train the staff to have more room in expanding service revenue. A coworking space may have other demands such as food, coffee, office supplies, and leisure activities. For a member, instead of going somewhere else, you can meet these demands by preparing the staff knows how to handle such situations.

Conclusion

Coworking spaces across the country are applying unique and original ideas to maximize their service revenue. Your staff can be highly involved in all the activities to uphold the brand philosophy of the coworking space. Through a Workspace Management Platform, your staff can easily upsell services to the members. You can entrust your staff not just with the survival of the space, but the livelihood of the community as well.

 

The use of online marketing is very helpful to boost your presence in the flexible workspace arena. But, what makes you different from other shared workspaces is by using content marketing. But you may wonder why content marketing is important? Using content will help you provide valuable resources, tell stories of your space, staff, members, and neighborhood, and sharing your purpose and mission to your target market. As a result, content marketing will help you boost your visibility and it can help you build stronger relationships with your leads and customers.

A content marketing strategy involves using different types of content to build awareness of your space. It can take many forms, such as offers, regular blogs, email newsletters, infographics, social media, and any other method that engages with your target audience. The question is, where do you start? Here are content tips to market a coworking space and differentiate it from other coworking spaces in your local area.

Know your Audience

Defining your target audience will help you focus on creating effective content based on the needs of your target market, establish you as a leader in your industry, and ultimately increase sales. Ask these questions to yourselves: Who are you creating content for? Who do you want to reach? Existing members? Local entrepreneurs? Freelancers? Local leaders? University students and Professors?

Once you define your audience, you can create content tailored to their needs and interests. You can check reviews, comments, and other forms of customer feedback so that you will know about what your potential customers like and dislike.

Create a Blog Site

Every piece of content you create should reside on a domain you control. If you don’t have a blog yet, then you can use platforms such as WordPress to help you get started. There are plenty of blog platforms to choose from, you just have to find one that fits with your business.

Write Good Content

From a content marketing perspective, you should create content that adds real value to your target audience. Don’t use it as a way to sell. Rather use it to address the wider trends and news, tell the stories of your community, and provide your own unique insights to build your reputation as an industry expert in your chosen field. The more you position yourself as the go-to source for information and answers, the more valuable you become.

When generating content ideas, think about how people will search on things when they have a question. In response, you will have ideas on how to add value to your content.

As a start, you can tell the stories of your community, showcase the cool things you’re doing in your space, and feature highlight events you have. You may feature your staff and how the coworking community impacts you, or you can post resource or amenities updates of your coworking space.  

Use Social Media and SEO

In order to maintain and build a strong presence on social media, you need to regularly share information, ideas, links, videos, and photos. The content that sets you apart is the content you create yourself. Social media enables you to share and promote your content. It is one of the easiest ways to market your coworking space online. Here is a guide to know how.

If you want to educate your local community about coworking or if you’re in a competitive market, creating an SEO strategy should be on your priority list. Focus on being found for specific keyword phrases. If you create a consistent, keyword-rich content that your target market is searching for, then you can boost your SEO results.

It is important to know your audience and ask yourself on what your target market wants to know, then you’ll be able to share a unique perspective that makes you different from other coworking spaces.

Conclusion

If you really want to see content marketing in action, it’s time to get started. It can be difficult to get started, but it’s a highly cost-effective strategy to get more people to your space.

Cool, trendy and flexible—the first things to come into someone’s mind when thinking of coworking spaces. However, once you set up your space openly and stylishly, you also need to secure it. Securing your business against unauthorized access should be one of your priorities before you proceed on starting to operate.

Here are some tips that you should embrace to enhance security in your coworking space:

Physical Security System

First, Front desk people plays an important role in making a good impression. Coworking spaces are well-served by having someone at the front desk who manages the entire visitor experiences, including security. Second, You can also hire a security guard on duty. Having a security guard on duty eases coworkers’ minds and make them feel secure within the space. Third, you might want to install a CCTV system that will help you easily monitor all that is going around the office. It is a good security feature that allows you to know how something happened and who could have done any crime that is discovered.

Strong Data and Security

Establishing a strong and secure network for your members to use is the key to keeping all digital information in your space safe. It’s crucial to protect your customers’ devices and data from being hacked. For WiFi connections, allocate unique credentials and a password to each user. You can also go one step further: Individualised private WiFi networks are becoming the way to go for optimal digital security. You could also purchase an electric timer, which basically would shut off WiFi access overnight.

Access Control System

Install an access control system so that only those who are authorized can access to some parts of the coworking space. With a tap of a phone or swipe of a card, authorized users will gain access to any room you designate. You can also control the access of the users with different memberships. An example, your regular members can have full access while weekend members can have their access blocked to any given room or at any given time. You can regulate the entry of the members through an access control system like KISI.  Check our latest integration with KISI.

Additionally, get intruder alarms so you can know when someone not allowed to enter in some areas.

Password Protection

Access to your network with hard-to-crack logins, or require users to authenticate using their own unique credentials. If your users access the network through one password, change it up regularly, and create a separate network for non-members and members.

Protect Network Systems and Printers

Many businesses store vital files in clouds using networks. If the networks are not secured well, then it can be easily hacked. To prevent this from happening, ensure that your business uses an encryption technology that is up to date. Also, your computers should have an active antivirus and antimalware software.

Fire Safety

Lastly, you want to protect your coworking space against the risk of fire. Installing a fire alarm system will help you to report immediately any slight sign of fire. 

Conclusion

It can be quite difficult to create a sense of liveliness while also getting serious about security. But, this shouldn’t be taken for granted. This is not only for you but also for your coworkers and visitors. Hope this article has helped you a lot. Share your experience with us on how you secure your coworking space.