Both marketing and online dating are undertaken with a similar goal: to form relationships. Contextualizing online marketing as though it is a romance might seem outlandish, but the fact is that the similarities between the two acts make the topic worth exploring. Take a look at the six ways online marketing is like romance, and you’ll have a better understanding of marketing and, perhaps, romance.
6 Ways Building Relationships in Online Marketing is Similar to Romance
Understand your purpose
The first way that online marketing and dating are similar comes from the basic conceptualization of one’s purpose in forming relationships. When you are just starting out with online marketing, you need to take a step back and figure out your goals. You can’t charge into dating without knowing what kind of person you want to meet and the sort of relationship that you wish to have. That same rule applies to the concept of marketing; you need to think about every facet of it in a very logical way. For starters, who do you want to reach? What kind of relationship do you want to have with them? You may want to convert immediate sales for a seasonal change, or you may want to build a long-term sales funnel that will keep bringing customers back to you throughout the lifespan of your business. Determining your purpose will assist you in making wise, measured choices in your love life as well as in your marketing campaigns.
Know local and regional aspects
The vast majority of small and medium-sized businesses work in a specific area of the world. Larger businesses that are launching online campaigns need to focus on different locales to boost their sales and get new customers to buy their products. As such, it is important for online marketing executives to both know and focus on the regional aspects of their advertising. This is very similar to how online dating websites operate, both in respect to their advertisements and operations. Anyone who wants to meet local singles will typically opt to use websites specialized for a single area in the world. That way, the users will limit their exposure to other people so that they only get involved with people who live or work in the same areas as them. When you are developing your online marketing strategy, you will want to have the chance to create a subset of data on your website that is specifically created for certain locales. That way, your business can target specific people who can help boost various aspects of your business. You can use the lessons you learn by implementing a regional marketing campaign for every other local advertising campaign you create in the future.
Do not rely on luck
Another lesson that you should learn about romance and online marketing is that you can’t afford to leave anything up to chance. Luck is not going to help you find a romantic partner, and it’s not going to help you get eyes on your commercial product. A helpful method that you can implement if you wish to get people to notice your business is optimizing your website, blog content, and app store pages. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of curating your website’s words and layout to ensure that search engines can quickly identify your site’s purpose and authority in your industry. SEO is a purposeful form of improving your website and online marketing outcomes that provides you with a higher chance of standing out from the crowd and getting noticed. This will require a fair amount of work on your part, and you might need to call in the experts to make sure your promotional materials are placed in front of people who care about them.
Demonstrate your personal touch
When you are going to get into a relationship, you need to sit back and consider what you have to offer to another person. What separates you from the rest of them in such a fashion that you will be the most attractive option available? People who are looking for romance will need to think about their personal qualities like humor, wealth, or something else that sets them apart. When you’re marketing, you need to consider the parts of your business that other services can’t provide as well as you, or you should think of something that is hard to replicate. That way, you can gain customers based on your qualities instead of trying to appeal to everyone. The end result is that your business will have a better fit into an appropriate niche, providing your services to people who need them most.
Building relationships requires time and efforts
How long do you think it should take between the onset of your marketing campaign and getting the results that you desire? You might wish that the results would start right away, but the fact of the matter is that you should look to the romance to get an idea of the appropriate amount of time to pass to get the outcomes you want. Relationships with customers as well as those with other people take time to build. You must be patient as you set the foundation and insert building blocks. When dating, you need time, successful interactions, and a willingness to apologize for negative outcomes to make your relationship flourish. The same applies to building relationships in business. You need to have many interactions, a few reminders of your interest (like ads), and a willingness to make things right when things go wrong. You are going to need some serious time to make these relationships develop, and you need to put work in to foster these relationships over time.
Never act desperate
The last thing you need to think about when you are trying to develop an online marketing plan and a relationship is how desperation will affect your outcomes. When you are looking for a relationship, you can’t afford to act desperate, or people will look at you as someone who is not worth their time. It shows that you need them when they would rather find someone who is self-sufficient and doesn’t necessarily need them to survive in life. The same concept applies to online marketing. If you constantly try to reach out to customers and beg them to buy something from your shop, it’s going to sound like your business is not doing well. In both romance and marketing, you need to play it cool. Send your dates or customers reminders that you’re around and doing well, but also that you would like to see them sometime. That way, people look at your business as something they want to partner with and utilize instead of a place that is pathetic for begging them.
Online marketing is an act that takes a rather fine touch to do right. The same can be said about romance. However, when you integrate your thoughts from dating to romance, then you will get good outcomes. Treat your customers right, treat them fairly, and do not bombard them with messages. That being said, it is up to you to create a situation in which you can encourage customers to visit your website and purchase your product or services.
