People often use dating analogies when they’re talking about getting clients and when you think about it, a ton of similarities exist.

So here are some marketing lessons from an online dating site…

1. Whether it’s an online profile or your website, visitors usually don’t know a single thing about you–and they’re pretty skeptical. After all, everyone’s been burned by reality that didn’t end up matching the hype.

Double-Duty Tip: Being authentic and real will go a long way in winning them over.

2. Identifying a specific target audience is a smart way to focus your efforts and avoid wasting so much time with people who are a bad potential fit.

And no, you’re not limiting yourself because regardless of what you say you’re looking for, some people who don’t fit that but are truly interested will contact you anyway. Even if they’re old enough to be your grandfather.

Double-Duty Tip: Being specific will get you more of what you DO want, and people who are still really interested in working with you will contact you anyway. So it’s basically a win, win situation all around.

3. You get four types of messages from other members of a dating website:

• All about me–a recital of the many reasons why the sender is so great
• Mass mailings–the generic “let’s chat and see if we’re a good fit” copy where they don’t show any knowledge of you
• Personalized–sender specifically references something you’ve said or they know you’ll be interested in

And of course, you see the same types of email messages from businesses.

Double-Duty Tip: The more your message feels as if it were written just for the recipient, the more response you’re going to get.

4. Unless you have a super talented photographer, it’s hard to get a good sense of what someone (or something) will really be like from a picture.

That’s why you need copy that reflects your personality to establishes a connection with the reader.

Double-Duty Tip: Pictures are a great addition, but copy taps into logic and emotion to seal the deal.

However…

5. Copy can NOT make up for a flawed “product.” The best copy in the world can’t overcome a product no one wants or one that comes with much too high a “price.”

Double-Duty Tip: A creep is still a creep. A product no one has a use for is still useless. And anything that seems to have a cost far exceeding its perceived value isn’t going to sell. There’s little copy can do to overcome all that!

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