Marketing and dating have a surprising amount in common. For a start, they’ve both been changed by technology, which is why marketers are using CRMs and interacting with people on Snapchat and Instagram and why today’s singles typically turn to dating apps.
People turn to dating apps because they’re more convenient and more efficient than meeting people in bars. Marketers are turning to social networking and blogging because it’s more convenient and more efficient than trying to interrupt people in the middle of what they’re doing, as was the case with old school, traditional marketing.
And of course, both daters and marketers have just a short window with which to introduce and sell themselves. In fact, the two disciplines, if we can call them that, have a lot that they can learn from each other, and it works both ways. For example, dating app users can learn from marketers by running A/B tests to see which profile pictures and bios work best for them.
Building relationships
It’s no secret that marketing is all about building relationships. For marketers to understand the audience they’re trying to reach, they need to listen like an attentive potential partner. They need to understand everything from likes and dislikes to which pop culture references they have a soft spot for and more.
Dating apps and marketing apps aren’t so dissimilar, and both are a good reminder that it’s the human connection that matters. Sure, technology might be the enabler, but there’s a real person on the other end, as you’ll soon see if you go on a date with them. For marketers, it’s easier to forget that they’re dealing with people unless they’re going out of their way to speak to real consumers, and so they need a reminder more than most.
And just like dating, marketing takes time and multiple touch points. If you don’t count love at first sight, most people take time to form connections and to build relationships with people. The same is true for marketing, which is why you need to reach people in different places and in different ways. Only creating blog content is like taking someone out to the same restaurant again and again – better than nothing, perhaps, but still not as good as a little variety.
What’s Next?
Marketing and dating have a surprising amount in common, but that doesn’t mean that if you’re good at one then you’ll be good at the other. We don’t pretend to be any good at dating, but we can help you with marketing. And even if you decide to go it alone, we hope this article helped you to wrap your head around a few of marketing’s key concepts. Good luck.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.