By Jennifer Marley
Ok. This treads into the ‘too much information’ category…but what the heck. As a ‘first timer’ on an online dating site, I have to stop and share a marketing tip or two. BEFORE you post your profile, it’s a good idea to think about:
- Who is your Target Audience (aka who are you trying to attract and meet)?
- What would you like your Target Audience to Think, Feel and Do?
- Only then are you ready to determine your Personal Brand (i.e., The message you want to convey about yourself).
One might think that this is obvious. Of course you want to project a good personal brand on an online dating website! So I was definitely surprised to see some things…
Do you think ‘Patmygroin,’ ‘Insearchofbounty,’ ‘Nickztoy,’ ‘Speede1,’ and ‘HaveChocolateFun’ thought about who they are trying to attract and meet? What about posting 20 shots of yourself that all show you with a beer in your hand? And posting pictures of you with your last partner (half cropped out) doesn’t cut it either.
One could argue that people posting this type of content had all thought about their target audience and were quite specific in who they wanted to attract and alienate. There’s nothing wrong with niche marketing if you have high margin to cover low volume. ‘OrangeDroog’ clearly has a select target (think Alex in Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange), or maybe he is hopeful that Fifty Shades of Grey has widened his pool? I won’t be sticking around to see if he wears a codpiece on his first date.
And just to be fair, I saw some good Personal Brand examples too…at least with ‘Normal479,’ ‘nicedude4534,’ ‘RealRuralGent,’ and ‘Brainwerx,’ you have a pretty good idea of what you are going to get. Perhaps “Not_Complicated” and “BeHappyandBeKind” are marketers at heart?
PS. If any of you readers out there are actually in possession of any of these names, you’re welcome! These marketing lessons may improve your odds of success.
Ready to learn about branding in business? Learn how we helped M&M Food Market breath new life into their brand by understanding who to win with, defining a compelling, differentiated brand promise, and overhauling the customer experience. Or, learn how we helped Temptations grow their brand in a declining category by discovering emotional and functional benefits of their brand to improve the brand communications.