Lead generation is a marketing term that talks about deploying strategies that will help you identify potential customers that may likely be interested in your goods or services. To better put it, lead generation is the initiation of consumer interest or inquiry into the products or services of a business.
Leads can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, or sales leads. If you run a coworking space facility, your ability to generate leads regularly and then go on to convert the leads to paying clients is essential to the growth and profitability of the business.
Interestingly, there are several ways a coworking space facility can generate leads and the method of advertising is one of the major means of generating leads for your services. Other means of generating leads are via non-paid sources such as organic search engine results and of course via referrals from existing customers.
Sources of Lead Generation for a Coworking Space Business
1. Online Lead Generation
If you run a coworking space facility, one of the major platforms where you can generate leads for the business is online. Online lead generation is an Internet marketing term that refers to the generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business’s products or services through the Internet.
In online lead generation, strategies such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition, building out reward programs, loyalty programs, et al are used.
Please note that when making use of online lead generation for your coworking space business, you must be deliberate to target the demography that is likely going to subscribe to a coworking space. This is so because the internet is very vast and if you are not deliberate, your effort will hit the wrong target or audience.
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Social Media
One of the major sources of lead generation and one that a coworking space business can use is social media platforms. With the growth of social networking websites, social media is used by organizations and individuals to generate leads or gain business opportunities.
Several companies now made it mandatory to have an active presence on social networks. Some of the social media platforms that you are likely going to find clients that will pay to use your coworking facility are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
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Online Advertising
Leads can also be generated for your coworking space business via online advertising. There are three main pricing models in the online advertising market that a coworking space business can use to buy advertising and generate leads:
Cost per thousand (e.g., CPM Group, Advertising.com), also known as cost per Mille (CPM), uses pricing models that charge advertisers for impressions — i.e., the number of times people view an advertisement. Display advertising is commonly sold on a CPM pricing model.
The problem with CPM advertising is that advertisers are charged even if the target audience does not click on (or even view) the advertisement. Cost-per-click advertising (e.g., AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing) overcomes this problem by charging advertisers only when the consumer clicks on the advertisement.
However, due to increased competition, search keywords have become very expensive. A 2007 Double – click Performics Search trends report shows that there were nearly six times as many keywords with a cost per click (CPC) of more than $1 in January 2007 than the prior year.
The cost per keyword increased by 33 percent and the cost per click rose by as much as 55 percent. Cost per acquisition advertising (e.g., Talk – Local, Thumbtack) addresses the risk of CPM and CPC advertising by charging only by the lead. Like CPC, the price per lead can be bid up by demand.
Maximizing Lead Generation for Your Coworking Space Facility
It is one thing to successfully generate leads for your coworking space business, but another kettle of fish to be able to convert such leads into paying customers. Lead generation is usually paired with lead management to facilitate the movement of leads generated through the purchase funnel. The technical term for this combination of activities is referred to as pipeline marketing.
Once a lead is generated, the ultimate goal of the organization is to convert such leads to clienteles and from clienteles to cash and to do this, your organization should assign the leads to a marketer, salesperson, or a customer care officer to follow them up.
Once the staff reviews and qualifies it to have the business potential, the lead is worked upon to get them converted to an opportunity for business. The opportunity is then subjected to numerous sales stages before the deal is finally sealed.
During your one-on-one contacts with prospects, you must make sure to measure purchase intent and status of decision-makers, and you can do this through;
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Telemarketing
In telemarketing, you are expected to call the contacts you are targeting to patronize your coworking space to gauge their interest in your services.
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Database Mining
In database mining, your organization is expected to make use of different types of verification methods and computer programs to groom proprietary databases and public records to attract new leads and so also, to reactivate old contacts.
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Content Syndication
In content syndication, your organization is expected to send a business email to various organizations and individuals. If interactions with that content show potential interest, then your company can follow up with further content or sales calls.
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Email and Nurture Campaigns
In email and nurture campaigns, your organization is expected to make use of email, phone calls, content syndication, and a variety of other touches. As a co-working space owner, your organization is expected to provide services to warm existing contact lists into lists of leads that internal sales teams can then call with a higher chance of converting them to customers.
In Conclusion;
If you can use the techniques of leading generation discussed above and with a good team that knows how to convert leads to paying clients, you will be on your way to building a thriving and profitable coworking space business even if you are competing against some of the major players in the industry.