What If You’re Not Actually A Coworking Space?

What if you’re not a coworking space? What if you were a place designed specifically for the people you serve? What would that look like and how would it be different from being just another coworking space?

Coworking spaces should specialize their offerings and brand themselves around the specific needs of their target demographic to stand out from generic coworking options.
Operators should focus on creating a community and environment that is exclusive to their target group, accepting that this may involve turning away those who do not align with the brand’s focus.
To attract and retain a dedicated clientele, coworking spaces need to understand their audience deeply and position their services and messaging to resonate with that group uniquely.

This was a huge takeaway from my recent conversation about brand strategy for coworking spaces with Jason Vana from SHFT Agency. Vana, a well-known brand strategist and LinkedIn thought-leader, dropped gem after gem of tips and insights for space operators about how to shift your perspective and brand positioning from running a coworking space to running a coworking space for [fill in the blank].

As Vana brilliantly explained in our episode of Coworking Out Loud, “If you can really do the branding well, you’ll have a waiting list of people who ‘want to work at that coworking space because it’s designed for people like me.’”

As an example, Vana describes a space for digital creatives that has studios, equipment, training, in-house content strategists and a community of creatives to collaborate with. A space such as this catapults out of the “just another coworking space” category and becomes a category of one—the only choice for your perfect-fit members.

But you have to own that massive differentiator. To create a space and brand like this, you have to be willing to lay down the idea of serving everyone, and—even harder—be willing to turn people away who are not a good fit for your space and community.

Easier said than done. But if you want to be “for” someone, you have to be willing to specifically serve them, in your space, your programming, your content and your storytelling. You’ll never create a strong, focused brand if you have a watered down notion of who you are for.

So how can you change the story of your space to be the only choice for a very specific group of people?

Keep in mind that the group doesn’t have to be occupation-specific, it can be hyper-focused on your neighborhood, or your in-space offerings, or your programming, or your social impact, or any number of other differentiators.

But you do have to deeply understand who you serve, to take a stand for those people, and to position your space in a way that speaks directly to them.

Get this sorted out and you’ll be on your way to building a brand community that stands the test of time.