Ten Things Online Daters Can Learn From Advertising Professionals
The world of advertising is fast-paced, challenging, ever-changing and sometimes harshly competitive – just like the world of dating. There's always something to be learned from the experiences of others, and you might be surprised by how much you can pick up just by listening to the wisdom of the advertisement industry. Read on to get a clearer idea of just what we mean.
1. You Have To Be In It To Win It
It's entirely true that if you try out online dating as a way to meet new people, you might fail – that is a genuine risk. It's also true, however, that you will definitely fail if you don't try at all; it's one of the risks that certainly has a higher chance of success than not braving it at all.
2. If You Don't Talk Yourself Up Nobody Will
There's no point in being self-deprecating about it when you're writing your profiles. If you don't talk yourself up and keep everything as positive as you can, nobody else is going to – so you need to make sure that you're always honest and truthful, but you also need to be positive.
3. You'll Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression
While people are looking through various dating profiles, they'll be making a decision as quickly as possible before moving on from ones that don't catch their eye right away – so you need to make sure that you look as appealing as possible to a first glance. It's pretty difficult to get someone to come back to your profile once they've disregarded it, too, meaning that you probably don't have a chance unless you catch their eye right away.
4. Knowing Your Market Is Half Of The Battle
If you want to get the best results, you need to know who you're trying to appeal to. This will obviously vary depending on who you are and what you want from a partner, but it's well worth you thinking about it in advance. That said, don't make the mistake of sticking too rigidly to your ideas; you never know what's around the corner, and you might do yourself out of something wonderful. There's definitely a balance to be struck between settling for less than you deserve and wasting opportunity by hanging on for something unlikely!
5. Understand Your USP
Everyone has something special about them – a little like what an advertising professional would call a 'unique selling point', or USP. You need to figure out what yours is, and make sure you mention it on your profile.
6. Always Use The Right Images
Visual branding is probably the single most important element of a marketer's job, and you can apply this principle to your online dating profile very simply by putting a lot of thought into the pictures you use. These images are arguably the single most important part of getting someone to notice you online – so choose ones that convey your personality well and that are going to do you a service.
7. Consider The Implications Of Everything You Do
Before changing anything on your dating profile, you need to think carefully about the effect it will have on the overall look of the profile and the impression of you that people are likely to get from reading it. Trying to think about how your profile looks to a stranger is a great exercise for anyone who would like to be getting a little more online attention.
8. Change One Thing At A Time, And Track The Results
Rather than overhauling your entire profile, you'll do better to alter one section at a time – a new photo one day, a new About Me section a couple of days later, some new interests and likes a few days after that – and seeing what difference it makes as you go along.
9. Always Work Hard To Grab Someone's Attention
You don't necessarily want to direct this hard work at individuals, but you need to remember that a good profile isn't particularly easy for everyone – it will take some work and some trial and error if you want to get it right.
10. Never Forget To Make A Call To Action
'Call to action' is advertising jargon for the bit at the end where they invite the customer to actually do something in simple, direct language – call now, book today, buy quickly. You can use this piece of marketing psychology in your dating profile simply by ensuring that you add something similar to the end of your profile; “If you'd like to chat more, send me a message now” or something similar can prompt people into taking the plunge whether they know it consciously or not.