Marketing tips
Marketing Is Like Dating: A Marketing Love Story
By Jantien Vanderbeke. Updated 27 October 2026
Marketing works a lot like dating. You show your best side, hope for a match, keep the conversation going, prove you're the right fit, and then wait for a yes. Every marketer knows that last part. You can do everything right and still have to wait.
Why love explains marketing
Everybody understands love, in every language. Good marketing works the same way: it speaks the customer's language.
Marketing as a date, in 5 steps
1. Put yourself out there
Your dating profile shows your best side. Your marketing does the same for a brand: the website, the social profiles, the ads. People decide in seconds whether they want to know more.
2. Get a match
A like, a follow, a click, a sign-up. That's your match: someone liked what they saw. In marketing terms, someone entered your customer journey.
3. Keep the conversation going
A match without a conversation goes nowhere. Learn what they care about and look for common ground. In marketing, that's your email flow, your content and your social posts, each one fitting the stage the customer is in.
4. Show you're the right match
Every post, email and ad says: I understand you, and I can solve your problem. Use their words. Show proof, like cases, results and reviews.
5. Wait for a yes
Then you wait for a reply, a sale or an approval. That part takes patience.
One condition: be real
The metaphor only works when the brand is sincere. People feel it when a brand pretends. The same goes for the content you write: when it sounds like everyone else, nobody falls for it.
A love letter to marketers
Dear marketer,
You do a lot of dating on behalf of someone else. You write the profile, start the conversations and hope for the match, often for several brands at once.
You don't have to do it all from scratch every time. Map the customer journey, plan the content per stage, let AI help with the first drafts, and keep your own voice in it.
You already know how to start the conversation.
Love, Jantien
FAQ
Why is marketing like dating?
Both follow the same steps: show your best side, get a match, keep the conversation going, prove you're the right fit and wait for a yes. In marketing, that's the customer journey.
What is the "match" in marketing?
The first sign of interest: a like, a follow, a click or a sign-up. It's the moment someone enters your customer journey.
Want to plan the whole conversation?
Read how to build a content marketing plan that keeps working, or plan it with AI in the Upskill workshop Content.