Online Dating: The Business of People Marketing
Published on January 27, 2010
I found myself reading an article recently about professional profile writing and it discussed how Kate Houston, the owner of TrySweetTalk.com, is helping singles find success with well written dating profiles. I’ve worked with Kate some in the past and I think the examples on her site show exactly how good she is at what she does. Plus, at $80 (last I heard anyway – her prices may change) it’s a pretty good deal.
However, the article got me thinking about how dating profiles really are mostly marketing. Your job when writing your profile is to make sure you stick out more than your competition. The goal is to get more “customers”, in this case other singles interested in dating you. From my own experience I can say that poor personal marketing is a great way to receive few “customers”.
As an example of how marketing plays such an important role, Kate’s background is not in relationship advice but rather marketing for large drug companies. Yet when she applies her skill to the online dating arena she’s able to create some of the most interesting profiles around, turning the mundane into the interesting.
Still, not all of us can afford to spend money to spruce up our dating profile. Many of us can’t even afford to pay for a dating service and find ourselves settling for the free ones. For the people who find themselves in this situation, I’m going to recommend trying something unconventional: if you have a friend or acquaintance that you trusts who works in marketing try asking them to rewrite your profile. Whether they help market websites or soft drinks, chances are they’re going to have the skill-set to help you better “sell” yourself. When you ask them, be specific: tell them that you want them to approach your profile from the perspective of a marketing professional, not from the perspective of your friend. These friends have a particular skill-set and your friendship shouldn’t get in the way of them helping you create the best profile possible.
For those who do have friends in marketing don’t blow this off as ridiculous advice – it is my opinion that you’re very lucky to be in such a position. Check out the example profiles and then consider this: Kate wrote those profiles without even knowing the person. If she can accomplish that after a few conversations what could a close friend accomplish? I think more than you might think.
For those out there who can’t afford (or don’t want to pay for) a professionally written profile and who also don’t have any friends in marketing, I think the next best option is asking a close friend to review your profile. I was willing to do this when I was dating online and not only were my friends able to help but it showed how much they cared for me with the interest they took in my dating success.
Be sure to read the entire article mentioned above: Kate gives some great general tips for writing a good profile on the second page of the article.
Author: Brad
Brad initially struggled with online dating but over time became quite successful using it. He met his wife using online dating and has been giving advice and helping people improve their results since 2007. He has written a Free Online Dating Guide to help others find success with online dating. You can learn more about his personal experience using online dating and running this website here.
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