COCOMSP is a coworking & collaborative space in Lowertown St. Paul. The inspiration for this space came out of a relationship between Don Ball and Kyle Coolbroth who recognized a need for an alternate ‘third space’: a place where “independent workers and small businesses can gather to share ideas, team up on projects and get some work done. We’re an alternative to working from home or the local coffee shop.” Quite often, freelance professionals and those who work from home can start to feel disconnected from others. This isolation can detrimental to independent professionals, and this space offers a creative solution to fight that.

Founded on “connectivity, caffeine, and collaboration,” this space offers a variety of services and spaces for business professionals. You can design a membership based on your needs, ranging from part-time coworking at 10 days a month all the way to small business collocations, which is a designated space for your team allowing 24 hour access.

Why coworking? This space is an area focused on “unexpected interactions, encounters and connections,” Coolbroth says. The best way to develop creative solutions is to get people together and interacting, then see what comes of it.

Looking towards the future of collaborative work spaces, “people will want to choose their workspace,” says Coolbroth. “What we do is changing, unfolding in real time. [Business] is headed towards the work you do, not where you go.”

For more information on COCO, visit their website: COCO MSP

Co-working spaces are typically found in metropolitan locations and are designed with an open-concept, energized work environment to invite creativity and collaboration on ideas. You can find open table space, couches, or conference rooms to fit your working preferences.

Besides providing a creative space, co-working spaces benefit users through their services. Most locations offer Wi-Fi, large and small conference rooms, printers, copiers and sometimes coffee! A greater benefit can be found in the ability to connect with people from all trades. The interactions you are able to experience with other coworkers can be invaluable to your work and growth of your personal network.

Want to know more? Read this article then stop back on Friday for an in-depth look at a local company who started their own co-working space!

1. Be Found—In order for people to visit your location, you have to be listed.

2. Create a Loyalty Program—This provides an incentive for consumers to visit your location. It can be anything from a free drink every 10th visit or offering specials to people in the area at a certain time. Loyalty programs establish “regulars” for your business and can make them brand advocates for your company.

3. Share your Experience—Let others know how your experience was. Leave tips on who makes the best drinks or has the friendliest service. This will jump start positive (or negative!) word of mouth advertising for your company.

4. Listen to the Conversations Happening—By keeping your ears and eyes open to what is being said about your business, you can quickly identify and solve problematic areas within your organization, resulting in better business.

Matt McGee of Small Business Search Marketing: “Be visible offline. Write about local events before they happen, but also attend events and then blog afterwards with photos; show people what they missed, be their eyes and ears (i.e., local parades, community concerts, etc.)”

Melinda Emerson of Succeed As Your Own Boss: “Retail & professional service businesses can host “How to” workshops & events. Breakfast or lunch and learn presentations are best. Businesses can market the event using their mailing list, LinkedIn events and Twitter.”

Cathy Larkin of Web Savvy PR: “A local publicity win-win: include a client as a part of your press pitches, or even blog posts. This must be done well; not a fluff piece. They help make your story real and they gain some publicity, you gain loyalty and it catches the interest of other prospects.”

For more, check out: http://community.intuit.com/events/loco-for-local-get-fiercely-loyal-customers-close-to-you

These lack-luster results are pretty typical amongst social media initiatives that don’t have a strategic reason for issuing the content. Although the page views look impressive, there is nothing connecting the reader to the company or brand. Ultimately, there is no ROI for spending the time to distribute the content. So what does that mean for the company? If your primary focus is to raise awareness about your business, tweeting is definitely a means to an end. If your end result is to relate your brand to your consumer, you may want to look in other directions.

Overall, make sure your advertising actions stay in line with your marketing objectives, otherwise your results could be a garbled mess.

Entrepreneur.com cites five reasons why businesses move: labor and work force issues, the desire to reach new markets, the need to upgrade facilities or equipment, the desire to lower costs or increase cash flow, and considerations about quality of life. If you need a fresh start and want to strike out on a new adventure, consider taking your business with you. Do your market research and find a location that will allow your business to flourish as well as provide the change you desire.

What this post is getting at is how do we effectively use social trends in our online marketing tactics? As seen above, I’ve taken the highest trending Twitter topics and tried to put them together to make sense. The same thing can be seen with businesses new to social media. Most often, businesses trying to use the latest phrases or topics can turn their marketing campaign into a jumbled mess that doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t engage others with our brand. The goal is to provide relevant content and begin making positive connections between your brand and your clients.  Along with that, we will explore the idea of using web analytic tools to learn about how people find your site. Do they come through search, following you on Twitter or because their a friend on Facebook? Using this information can be a powerful insight into how you can, again, relate your brand to you audience.

After this post, I will be tracking the results of how many hits it receives as well as how high it scores using search engine optimization. Watch for the results to be posted next week!

A survey conducted by Deluxe in the PartnerUp community has shown that most small businesses struggle in the area of marketing. The press statement released on March 18, 2010 quotes Laura Radewald, Vice President at Deluxe, “Many say they don’t know how to choose the right marketing tools, or how to measure the effectiveness of their effort. Project Rev was specifically created to help small businesses find the marketing tools that work for them — at Deluxe’s expense.”  In light of these findings, Deluxe has decided to offer $5,000 worth of marketing services to 10 small businesses for one year.

For more information or to enter, go to http://www.projectrev.com/ and follow the application steps.

1.    Authors love hearing *constructive* feedback. Don’t abuse the comment wall by leaving vulgar statements about how wrong the author is. If you disagree that’s fine. Articulate your point of view and move on.

2.    Other readers want to see people engaging in the topic. The more people discussing, the more others will want to join in the conversation. Its that simple.

3.    It will keep you mentally sharp. One major reason to engage in an online discussion is to add relevant information. Leaving a comment will allow you to demonstrate your expertise or give you a reason to do some background research on a topic you are interested in.

Put it into practice: Leave a comment below and tell us what you thought of this post!