Let's start by defining what a brand actually is.
A brand goes far beyond a memorable name, a fancy logo, and a cool tagline. It is the way an organization (or individual) is perceived by the audience.
Or as said by Jeff Bezos, "Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room."
A brand differentiates your product/service from a commodity.
What about brand building?
Brand-building encompasses all the processes and actions that generate awareness and promote a brand's value proposition. So, put it simply, every step you take to put your company closer to people is brand-building.
As some readers may already know, a few years ago, I opened STUDIO Coworking, my own coworking space in Salta, a beautiful small city located in northern Argentina. As a brand strategist, I put the focus on the brand aspects since day 1, this really helped us to build strong bonds with our -at the moment very few- clients, really hard job for a new space in a small market with a highly conservative view of the "proper way to work".
Well, we'll keep the details for a future case study.
Now, even if we are doing a really great job in positioning Studio as the best alternative for productivity-seeking entrepreneurs and startups in the region, there are many lessons we learned in the journey.
1- Be clear with your value proposition
According to Neil Patel “Your value proposition is an answer to the question: Why should I buy from you and not your competitor?"
Your value proposition statement should be concise, clear, and most importantly, specific.
So, in order to develop a solid V.P. first think, which is that one main factor that makes my space unique?
Once you have it clear (It should come to your mind immediately), try to phrase it in a concise and compelling way.
Let's see some solid value proposition examples:
Dropbox: Work Better, Safer, Together.
Shopify: Build your business.
Skype: Skype makes it easy to stay in touch.
Trello: Work more collaboratively and get more done.
Evernote: Feel organized without the effort.
Intuit: Take control of your prosperity.
Stripe: The new standard in online payments.
Square: Square helps you build and grow your business.
Got it? Keep it short, keep it clear!
2- Don't be afraid of going narrow
Who is your ideal client?
If your space operates in a medium or large city, don't be afraid to be really specific with your target client definition. During the last years, the niche coworking space market started to grow rapidly.
Need some inspiration? Take a look at these spaces:
Of course, if your space is located in a small town or a highly conservative market, you should pay attention to how narrow can you go with your target market definition, but this should not be a limitation to niche down your offer. Just start by doing some research and validating your ideas.
3- In most cases, pricing is not a top priority for your customers
During the first years of running STUDIO Coworking, a new player appeared in our market. This space positioned itself as the cheapest alternative in the city, and it was. But even if the space was fine, services were "good enough" it wasn't local entrepreneurs' first choice, just a two/three days stop for deals-seeking digital nomads -until the pandemic hit-. They learned the hard way that being the cheapest was not the proper strategy for this market. Sadly, they also discovered how hard it is to change strategies when you position yourself as a price leader, but it was too late for them.
4- Collaborate with your "competitors"
After the first year of operations, there were only 4 spaces in the city (remember 500.000 habitants), we were sharing the top spot with SL, the first space in the city. Until a new, investors-funded, We-work model-based player appeared. Backed by an impressive marketing and PR budget, they started strong, their name was everywhere in the city, but they were lacking something, a collaborative spirit.
I'm not saying that you should go and open your playbook to the other brands, just don't forget the CO in coworking. Go out there, visit other spaces, have a coffee with their managers, and you may find some strategic allies.
And that is what we did, after a few meetings with SL's team, we started some interesting collaborations that really skyrocketed the education stage of our sales funnels, and gave both brands a really positive impression.
5- Consistency is key (brand audit)
Brand consistency is a key aspect you need to keep in mind if you want to tell a solid brand story.
Studies show that when a business delivers the same essence and style from one touchpoint to the next, that brand is up to four times more likely to improve its visibility, both on and offline.
The best way to check if your brand is actually a consistent one is by running a brand audit. Through this process, you will be able to analyze your brand (as deep as you want), and not only measure its consistency, but also find many valuable insights, weak points, and improvement opportunities.
In a previous post, we explained how to conduct a simple brand audit. As I mentioned before, a brand audit can go as deep as you need, and for a detailed analysis, it's usually recommended to outsource the service to a specialized agency.
But, how often should I run an audit?
Of course, it depends on the market, the brand, and the resources you can allocate to this process, but to give you an idea, for our coworking brand we run a brand audit every year, just before our annual strategy meeting, where we check our past performance and plan the objectives for the next year. This way we make sure we make use of the insights collected during the process, making brand building part of every year's strategic plan.
Hope this post helped you consider the importance of brand building for your coworking brand!
Bonus!
If you made it to the end, we have a gift for you!
(Brand promise: we will not try to sell you anything, and you will leave the session with clear and actionable insights that will help you boost your coworking)
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