Online dating is among the most competitive spaces on the web when it comes to search engine promotion and online advertising. Dating site operators, particularly those just getting started or looking to grow a small dating into a larger one, must understand that it can be very difficult to execute their advertising and marketing strategies, especially on a tight budget.

YNOT recently sat down with Evan Browns, who heads the marketing department for a project called HookupGeek, to get his feedback on the best ways to make dating site ads and promotional campaigns stand out from the crowd.

“Online dating platforms have a number of distinctive features,” Browns notes. “First, they have a complex structure with a large amount of information and user profiles. Second, such sites are focused on a wide target audience. On the one hand, this is a good thing, which can give a large traffic of visitors to the online resource. On the other hand, having an extensive target audience makes it difficult to identify the interests of your core users.”

To properly structure your advertising and marketing pitch, Browns says it’s “critically important to develop your advertising strategy based on a comprehensive analysis of project development and its subsequent promotion.”

Browns advises starting your analysis with what seems like a basic and fundamental question: What is your dating site concept?

“There are hundreds of online dating websites,” Browns observes. “Each of them has its loyal users, whom it is almost impossible to lure to register on any other resource. You must realize the success of your project depends on the idea that will be incorporated into the project. It does not make sense to create and copy existing analogs; you need a feature that will make the website special.”

To help shape your concept, Browns advocates starting with deciding on the target audience you wish to appeal to, right down to the demographic details of their gender, age, social status and their goals in using a dating site.

Do you want to build for users in search of long-term relationships, or is your audience going to be those in search of quick hookups? Obviously, these goals couldn’t be more different – so the marketing pitch to appeal to them will be entirely different, as well.

Browns adds that the “characteristics of the target audience help determine the choice of advertising tools and channels” as well. For example, if your target audience is an older demographic, it doesn’t make much sense to advertise on sites or apps which appeal primarily to younger consumers.

Once you have determined your site concept, the nature of your target audience and the advertising tools and channels you will use to appeal to them, Browns says it’s crucial to then closely track and analyze the performance of your campaign, right from the start – and to be relentless in your promotional approach, once you have the fundamentals in place.

“When promoting a dating site, it is very important to have a clear sequence and a non-stop advertising campaign that can constantly remind users about its existence,” Browns said. “You should constantly check the results of your advertising campaign – the traffic flow, number of visitors, their engagement level, etc. Use Google analytics and Hotjar as your main instruments for tracking.”

Once your campaign is in effect, you must then closely monitor it, constantly analyzing and adjusting, looking for tweaks you can make to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

With a project and site name like HookupGeek, it comes as no surprise Browns focuses much of his own attention on the most effective ways to appeal to male users – and men in search of casual, no-commitment-necessary encounters, in particular.

Browns notes that in all advertising, one of the biggest decisions the advertiser makes boils down to “say vs. show” – what do you describe to the user in words, as opposed to what you communicate to them through visual depictions alone.

“Men practically do not react on loud and abstract claims – they filter all the information to certain facts and practical benefits they get,” Browns says. “So instead of just saying that your online dating website is so great, explain what exactly is special about your dating site or resource and what practical advantages it gives to its users.”

That said, Browns also observes that it’s “not a good idea to write a dry text to engage your male audience” – so he recommends relying largely on the “show” aspect of the say vs. show duality. Unsurprisingly, Browns adds that the best thing to show men is “appealing images with beautiful young girls.”

“To make sure every man finds a girl he likes, display something which presents variety – blondes, brunettes, redheads,” Browns advises – but also maintain flexibility and adjust your visual presentation as you come to better understand your specific customer base.

“Don’t be afraid to test your advertising content to achieve its maximal efficiency,” Browns says.

As a simple checklist to keep things focused for each campaign, Browns gives a set of seven rules for establishing and maintaining effective dating site advertising:

• Analyze your audience and its interests
• Develop a project advertising strategy based on what your clients want to see, read, and use
• Constantly monitor user behavior and take measures to improve your advertising campaign
• Use video clips for promotion
• Use social networks as a platform for advertising of a dating site
• Involve well-established brands and enterprises for promotional purposes
• Develop and evolve your ad campaign constantly by keeping ad creatives fresh and expanding your campaign to different sites and platforms