At BIZkoshnica, we are excitedly awaiting the opening of our second coworking location in Zagreb, on Jabukovac. It offers a unique and lively coworking environment in the heart of the city, but at the same time in nature and greenery, perfect for entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote workers and smaller companies. We called that concept an urban coworking retreat. But how to effectively present a new coworking location to the market and attract new members? In this blog, we’ll share our own experience and some helpful steps that other coworking spaces can follow when launching a new location.
Start your market research
Our main motivation for opening a new location lies in the fact that we have noticed an increased demand for flexible work spaces. The coworking industry is experiencing an increase in the world, and this (albeit to a lesser extent) spills over into Croatia, especially Zagreb, which is the urban and demographic center of our country. So now we can allocate approximately 20 coworking spaces in Zagreb. After the pandemic, people are fed up with working from home and are looking for interpersonal contact, and the fact that Zagreb has the most workers from abroad (so-called digital nomads, freelancers) certainly contributes to this increase.
Building and maintaining (online) communication
Your customer won’t know you’re offering a new service unless you tell them. We have split our members into groups of old and new. Old members are currently working or have been with us at some point. It was easier for them to communicate the opening of a new space because they already had a certain impression of what BIZkoshnica is and we already have established relationships with them through more or less intensive daily personal or digital communication. That is why, with most of them, we had the luxury of explaining in detail, over a cup of coffee, why we are opening a new space and what we offer. Many of them, encouraged by their good experience at BIZkoshnica Britanac, will go and try out the new space. On the other hand, we had to attract completely new users, that is, they will become new users, with clear and articulate advertising on our social networks and our website, where we highlighted relevant information and showed which of their problems or needs our service solves. Because they see our new space as another of many office spaces. We are all aware of the fact that online communication is an essential tool and a necessity in today’s age because the whole world is online and that is the easiest way to reach the largest number of people.
The challenge of pricing
How to determine prices is not an easy task, and they are often the thing people ask first about and based on that they decide further. Are we going to record the competition and then go with the logic “we will be cheaper compared to them” or “we will stick to their prices, but we will be different” or “we offer more, so it’s okay if it’s more expensive”?
When setting prices, it is necessary to carefully choose the approach we want to take, taking into account some psychological tendencies of the customer: for example, it is easier to set a high price than to raise a low price. Also, we have to ask ourselves what are our input costs? How much is the investment and when will we pay it off?
Potential customers can be attracted by various promotions, so it is useful to offer some promotional prices before the opening itself, such as a discount for those who book your space for the first time. In this way, you will further stimulate the interest of your new users and quickly convert them into old ones.
Advantages and unique qualities of your new service
It is very important to explicitly communicate your advantages compared to the competition. This is the essence of your service, i.e. what sets you apart from others and the answer to the question of why someone would choose you and not someone else. Our advantages are the fact that BIZkoshnica Jabukovac is located in the city center, but at the same time in nature, that it is decorated in an interesting artistic style (Art Nouveau) and that it is a mix of coworking and separate office spaces. Also, our packages offer the possibility of working in both locations, so that users can change their place of work. As we mentioned at the beginning, the coworking industry is experiencing an increase because the way of working is changing, so it is necessary to find a way to stand out from the crowd.
The opening date is a unique marketing opportunity
It is necessary to determine the opening date in time. It is important to start communicating in time when a new space will open (not at the last minute) because that way more people will be familiar with that information and potentially spread it further. The opening date is a unique event for your space, but also a perfect opportunity for marketing. A good move is to turn it into a cool event where people, with a welcome drink, snack and a relaxed atmosphere, will be able to look around the space, so you can interest them face to face in what you offer.
These are some of our lessons learned that we can share with you. As we pointed out in our last blog, good advice is worth its weight in gold and can help you avoid unforeseen situations and get off to a good start with offering a new service. Follow us to find out when the opening party will be 🎉
