Marketing: Creating the Perfect Online Dating Profile

- Guest Post by D.S. White

Merriam-Webster.com defines marketing as
“the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.”

To have any degree of success in the online dating arena takes a certain amount of savvy but most times it seems to be just trial and error. So what if we understand and employ the techniques of marketing within our online search?

For instance, if we see enrollment on a dating Web site as the process, our introduction and/or description as our sales pitch, the man or woman we aim to attract as the market, and ourselves as the product–we’ve identified the key factors in our marketing plan and we are then ready to begin.

PROMOTING OUR PRODUCT

As with any marketing plan in order to promote our product, we must know our product and to whom it appeals. Now marketing ourselves differs from marketing other products in that, due to survey results or consumer reaction we can’t overtly be recalled, discontinued or revamped; however, if we are not true to ourselves the results will be adversely affected and our profile may not be recalled like an object but ignored and still end up in need of a revamp.

The solution? Knowing ourselves, our style of communication, our dating/relationship do’s and don’ts and staying within those parameters--the honesty of being true to ourselves will ring true loud and clear. That being said, how does that translate into a plan of action?

Here are some questions we must ask ourselves before setting up a profile:

1. Why am I using the online arena? Lack of time, shy, overweight, last resort, no prospects in my immediate vicinity? Why?
2. Which dating site should I choose? Have I done the necessary research to choose the one(s) that suit(s) me?
3. Do I have realistic expectations of what enrollment means?
4. Do I have a targeted deadline or am I in it for the long haul? Am I just dating or relationship minded?
5. What are my deal breakers? Kids, pets, smoking, religion, weight, ethnicity, location, relocation, financial income, education? What?

Once you’ve answered those questions (honestly) you’re ready to begin your enrollment. Whichever site you choose the following tips work across the board as ingredients for the “perfect” profile:

SELLING OUR PRODUCT

• Upload clear, concise, recent picture (no cutoff arms or hands, no blurry resolution, within a year, three months preferable)
• Make sure it represents the you, you would like to meet (no photo shopping)
• Use your mental attributes (sense of humor, proper spelling/grammar)
• Hobbies (create a meeting ground by mentioning your hobbies)
• Be positive, reinforce likes not the dislikes
• Practice honesty but not info dumping (unless you’re a contestant on the TV Show Baggage, a bullet list of your virtues/flaws should be nowhere in sight.)

Right about now, someone is probably thinking, now she’s really taking this thing way too seriously. To which I say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire or Evan Marc Katz of e-Cyrano.com, Dr. Phil of Match.com and Star Jones of AOL would all be out of jobs.

DISTRIBUTING OUR PRODUCT

We’ve answered all the questions, Chosen site(s), Uploaded fabulous photos and made witty engaging statements in our profile.  Now we just sit back and wait for the emails to roll in….right?

NOT!

Our distribution of our product to the customer stage is crucial, especially if you’re a female. We outnumber males horribly on most online dating sites.  Ergo, if you are not logged on, you will most likely not get much email. Now there are a few discerning folk who will email anyway, however the majority work with who are visible.

Log in once or twice a day. Check out the forums, groups and chat rooms. You want to ease into it, observe the lay of the land, make a few witty comments and then leave. That way you are able to suss out if it is a desirable thread, group or chat room before it gets associated with you. There are liars online as well as in the real world, so despite whatever attraction you may feel, please use common sense and caution. If it quacks like a duck, it’s usually…a duck.

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