23 Coworking Day marketing ideas for workspace operators

Updated 7/26/23

Heads up, friends: Coworking Day is right around the corner.

This international holiday tends to sneak up on space operators. But we’re working with what we’ve got and, what we’ve got is Coworking Day coming into view. 

If you’re new to Coworking Day, here’s the brief:

• International Coworking Day is on August 9 every year.
• Coworking Day stretches back to the early days of the coworking movement.
• Read all about the Roots of Coworking Day in an interview I did with my friend (and coworking pioneer) Susan Dorsch, cofounder of Office Nomads in Seattle.
• The most popular Coworking Day hashtags are #coworkingday and #internationalcoworkingday

What’s the Deal with Coworking Day?

Coworking Day is a wonderful time to educate your extended community about coworking and celebrate your members. 

There will be a lot of buzz about coworking on August 9. You can harness that buzz to shine a light on your space and help your members understand that they are part of something much bigger than themselves. They’re part of a global community of freelancers, entrepreneurs, remote workers, startups and business owners who would rather work together than alone.

Over the years, I’ve seen amazing initiatives and marketing campaigns pop up around Coworking Day. Some can be pulled together in an afternoon and others require weeks of planning. But every space owner can (and should) be part of this global celebration.

Whatever you plan to do, it’s go time.

Coworking Day Marketing Ideas

Here are 23 Coworking Day marketing ideas you can use for your space.

Feel free to steal, remix and make them your own.

1. Free day of coworking

Open the doors and let people come cowork with you. Actually coworking is the best way for people to see themselves in your space and entertain all the possibilities that are baked in to a shared workspace.

2. Open letter to your community

When was the last time you told your community how much they mean to you? An open letter is a great way to do some brand storytelling, share your values and vision, and tighten up your community.

3. Local Coworking Day

Declare it Coworking Day in your town: Enlist some stakeholders, friends and partners to make a day of it across local coworking spaces and aligned space, places and people. 

4. Mayoral Proclamation

This is a thing. Building on the above, you can get your mayor to declare a Coworking Day in your town. With a certificate and everything. Bonus, it’s fantastic for PR and buzz.

5. Create a coworking alliance

If there’s not a coworking alliance (a group of space operators who connect and collaborate regularly to level-up the local coworking scene) in your town, Coworking Day is a great time to start. Connect with other local space operators and brainstorm how you can start collaborating, sharing ideas and resources, and supporting one another. 

6. Community Happy Hour

Invite your extended community into your space for an informal happy hour. Take advantage of the buzz and traffic to give tours, share your vision and show off your community.

7. Open House

Open the doors for a week, a day, or a few hours. A happy hour can be as easy as putting out some snacks and drinks and letting your community do its thing.

8. Invite a band to play in your space

A little music, some bites and beverages, what’s not to like?

9. Round table discussion

What are some hot, business-related topics in your town right now? Invite a few leaders to come share their perspectives.

10. Fireside chat

Invite a small group of people to dive into a particular topic. Think strategy, purpose, productivity, entrepreneurialism or similar topics with the potential to dig deep.

11. Worksprints

Reserve a meeting room, invite people in, and do some heads-down work for 25 minutes at a time. You’ll be surprised at how much people will accomplish. Pro tip: you can do virtual worksprints using tools such as pomofocus, which is what we use in the weekly worksprints in The Lab, the club for indie coworking space operators.

12. Coffee and donuts

Easy, familiar, inexpensive. No muss, no fuss.

13. Group tours of your space

Some people don’t want a 1:1 tour—they’d rather be part of a group. Schedule a handful of tour times throughout the day and invite people in to see your space and community in action.

14. Giveaways

Meeting room hours, coworking days, maybe even a membership. Giveaways are a great way to get people to engage with you.

15. Outdoor coworking

Do you have a patio? A parklet outside of your space? A parking lot that can be temporarily reimagined as a coworking space? Outdoor coworking is a fun way to shake things up for your community and draw attention to your space.

16. Neighborhood Crawl

Don’t limit the Coworking Day fun to your coworking space. Make it a celebration of your entire neighborhood with a local crawl that includes food, coffee, art, activity and drinks.

17. Coworking Crawl

If you have a few coworking spaces around you, work collaboratively to create a coworking crawl. It’s a great way to meet your collaborators and friendly competitors, as well as help potential members find the best space for them.

18. Coworking Passport

Several years ago, Craig Baute of Denver Coworks, spearheaded the creation of a Coworking Passport. It is a stunningly-designed and produced booklet that inspired and delighted space operators all over the world and inspired at least one (that I know of) remix by Katharine Chestnut, founder of Alkaloid Networks and the Atlanta Coworking Alliance. Get creative, help people find the best space for them and educate your extended community about coworking and all their options.

19. Workshops or a lunch and learn

Invite your members or other local experts to teach workshops on coworking-friendly topics, including marketing, branding, business accounting, funding, social media strategy etc. etc. etc. 

20. Member BBQ

Tis the season for barbecues and outdoor get togethers. Grab some burgers, dogs, veggie options, drinks and a grillmaster who knows what’s up and you’re golden. Your parking lot, sidewalk or local park all make great BBQ locations.

21. ​​Entrepreneur Expo

Shine the light on your members and local scene with a small expo for entrepreneurs. A few tables, bites, beverages and marketing is enough to attract your community and entrepreneurial-adjacent people into your space. This is a great use of leverage, as each entrepreneur invites their network and connections in. Once they’re in your space, you have the opportunity to connect with them and show them all you can do to help and support them.

22. Talent show

Give your members the opportunity to show off their non-work-related talents with a coworking talent show. Plan for music, juggling, poetry, dance and more. Encourage your members to invite their friends and family to help educate people about coworking and your space.

23. Speed networking

You’ve heard of speed dating, but have you tried speed networking? Put up tables, create some guidelines, write a script, set a timer and away people will go. It’s a fun twist on networking that allows people to connect with a lot of people in a short period of time and a great way to get the local business community into your space.

Bonus: Celebrate your community managers

Treat your community managers to something nice for all that they do. Without community managers, coworking would just be a boring office rental industry. I have the absolute utmost respect for CMs. They are tasked with so much and asked to do it all with a welcoming and friendly attitude. If you need inspiration or insights, read my Open Letter to Community Managers.

Celebrating Coworking Day

So here are a bunch of Coworking Day marketing ideas for you. What have I missed? What are you doing to celebrate Coworking Day in your space and community? Hit me up on LinkedIn and let me know.

For an endless stream of workspace marketing ideas, support and community, join us in The Lab.