For independent escorts advertising can make the difference between a successful business and just getting by. With the right post you can attract up-market, repeat, clients. With the right post you can ask for and get premium rates and great tips.
So what's the right post?
Location, location, location
Posts exist in context. Your post is going to be competing with other girls' posts whether it is in print or online. Where you put your post may make a huge difference to how many clients respond and what sort of clients those are.
Picking the venue for your advertising is all about positioning your services in the market. A high traffic website will put your services out in front of plenty of potential clients but it will also mean you are answering texts, email and the phone a lot more often than if you go a more selective route.
Two things which you to bear in mind in choosing where to advertise – first, escorting is a very location-driven business. Your clients want to know that you are nearby. Second, you are judged by the company you keep. Posts are like neighborhoods – having the nicest house on a street full of crack shacks wastes your time.
At the same time, upmarket clients often travel on business and want to be able to find a girl at their destination. Which is why advertising at a national site like Skipthegames.com makes a lot of sense. When a client is looking for an escort in your city he'll see your post.
Selling the sizzle
Let's go back to Marketing 101. Customers want to know about benefits not features. What will your services do for them?
The temptation writing an escort post is to provide something of a Chinese dinner menu of services all with their own acronyms – GFE, DATY, BBBJ. It can end up looking more like a stock ticker than an invitation to delight. Make sure you list what you love to do and make it very clear what you will not do. (To make it easy, SkipTheGames.com has a list of escort abbreviations.)
So what are you really selling?
Are you advertising sex for sale? Think for a second. There is next to nothing to give you a competitive advantage if sex is all you are selling. As the expression goes, "all cats are black at night."
In advertising staying focused on your customers desires and how you will meet them is key. A good way to illustrate this idea is to show you a post which is exactly wrong,
Overweight woman offers rushed experience on dirty sheets in a terry cloth housecoat. Waste some time with me.
Might be honest but not very appealing. Get me rewrite!
Curvy lady provides perfect service in her designer sheets and pretty peignoir. A gentleman's time well spent.
Part of what distinguishes an escort from a hooker is atmosphere and how she presents herself. While sex is certainly implied it is not the only attraction.
The Market
All sorts of men hire escorts. But a smart escort does not want all sorts of men, she wants the sort of men who will pay well, be respectful and, ideally, become regulars. Your advertising sorts the sheep from the goats.
Who is your preferred customer? "Over 50 please", "established gentleman", "only the affluent", "a dinner companion", "Asians only", "champagne and roses" – will all help to screen out the quickies, the cashless and the coarse.
In any market there are preferred customers. If you gear your advertising toward the segment of the market you prefer that segment will respond. Of course the more narrowly you focus your advertising the more you reduce your potential pool of clients. But that may actually make you more money for less work.
Headlines: Busses versus limos
"Hot 38 DD's" tells a client he's climbing onto a public convenience. He'll expect a low price, not much style and a quick trip from A to B. If that is what you are offering as an escort experience fair enough, but don't be surprised if you have to haul a lot of passengers to make a living.
"Pretty Stockings, Discreet Loft, Elegant Encounters" promises luxury, sophistication and nothing terrifically explicit. It is a dog whistle for men who "have never paid for it in their lives". It is also pretty intimidating for all those men who have never had it unless they paid for it.
Writing headlines is an art, but you can't go far wrong by being direct. You need the right bait. But you also need to stand out.
Rule #1 – Don't be obvious – you are advertising on an escort page… People generally know what you are selling. But you can be specific – "BEST GFE in DENVER"
Rule #2 – Don't lie – if you are a brunette don't say you're a blonde (unless you have a wig and are prepared to use it)
Rule #3 – Set the mood then set the hook – the headline is about getting his attention. You want him to click for the full story.
Rule #4 – Leave the cute ascii characters to the ★Čћᶓαρ★ girls.
Rule #5 – Test your headlines. Run two identical posts with different headlines and different email/text numbers. See which brings you the business you want. Rinse, repeat.
Here are a few more examples:
- "Experience the Perfection of Pleasure"
- "The Womanly Art of Pleasing a Man"
- "What the Courtesan Knows"
- "Creative Sensuality for the Discerning Gentleman"
There are no perfect headlines – just headlines which are perfect for you.
The Pitch
He's read your headline and he wants to know more. Now what?
At this stage a man will want to have some idea of the experience he might have. Who are you, where are you, what do you offer – getting all that in a few lines means thinking carefully about what you are really in business to do and why a client should pay you top dollar to do it.
If you think about an hour or two hour date, unless a man is sexually insatiable, a great deal of you time will not be expressly sexual at all. In fact, much of your time will be about conversation, flirting, teasing and, eventually, sex.
The setting: a good post will give a client a sense of security right from the go. Clients, even men who have been using escorts for years, are naturally suspicious and more than a little wary. You may not have a high end apartment but there are plenty of other mood setters you can mention. Here are a few – clean, discreet, private, cosy, calm, peaceful. So setting the mood can be as simple as "Join me in my calm, private apartment for time to relax, unwind and play."
The second part of that line, "time to relax, unwind and play." sets the stage for a bit of description. First, what do you look like? Remember, being honest avoids issues down the road.
Great words are just a little vague: attractive, curvy, pretty eyes, athletic, waif, sweet lips set the stage without making unrealistic promises – of course if you actually are a Playmate you'll want to mention that. But here, less is, very definitely, more.
What about "relax and unwind"? Here's where you can set the stage. Give the potential client a sense of what you'll do for him long before the main event. A couple of examples: "Would you enjoy a beautiful woman in a pretty dress undressing slowly as she strokes and massages you. No hurry. We're just beginning." or "Meeting for a drink or a cup of coffee around the corner from my discreet apartment, you'll have the opportunity to unwind before I take you home."
Of course, some girls like to be a bit more explicit and nothing wrong with that, "I love it when a man relaxes and watches me pleasure myself before I pleasure him."
The point of the pitch is to make your service sound deeply appealing to your target market. Which means locking on to the particular fantasy life of that market.
Now, the further up market you aim the less explicit your advertising needs to be. "Curvey Double-D's. Can suck chrome off trailer hitch, drug and disease free. Outcalls only." may attract lots of responses but rarely an affluent, respectful man who actually does want to pamper you.
A few things which will bring the older, wealthy, clients to your door are words like "discreet, discerning, intelligent, educated, clever, funny, adventurous". As well it does not hurt to drop a few brand names – not too pricey though, not yet – "Me? I am at home in a pretty Tahari cocktail dress or a perfectly fitted pair of Ralph Lauren jeans, Louboutin pumps (with that arch red sole) or old Frye boots – (Name of luxe restaurant) or (name of great sports bar)."
Reading about the brands that their daughters might buy interests the affluent and it will subtly tell the rest they are out of your league.
Call to action
No, really. It is astonishing the number of escort posts which lamely end with a phone number. A little wit helps a lot:
- "Call me 555-5555…you know you want to."
- "For a Grand Time call 555-5555"
- "Let me pamper you"
- "Step into my world of pleasure"
Every variant has a call to do something: to call, to step, to let, to act. Try to sound friendly, inviting and just a little funny. This is a bit like calling a girl for a date and that is a high stress thing for a lot of men.
Pictures
Of course you can use a selfie… but not the first one you take and not in your bathroom so we can all see your messy sink.
Men are absolutely visual and they will check out the picture before they read word one
A picture in a post is a minefield.
You need to think really carefully about what you want your picture to say about you and your environment. A few basics:
- No clutter – check the background. Book bag on the floor, sweatpants hanging off a chair? Even an outlet or a cord can be distracting.
- No naughty bits – leave that to downmarket girls.
- Pretty things – whether it is a dress or lingerie or your bed if it is in your picture make sure it is pretty
- Clean hair – even if you are not showing your face you'll want to have washed and styled your hair
- Make up – Lipstick, a little mascara, light eye shadow and perhaps a bit of eyeliner. Start there, you can do an evening shot later.
- In focus! Even a phone camera can be in focus. A blurry picture of even the prettiest girl looks cheesy.
- Light! Think about how you are lighted. Ideally you want the main light to come from slightly above and slightly to one side. One great technique for showing off your body but concealing your face is to stand slightly sideways at a window and shoot toward the bright daylight.
- Look on CL for professional or near professional photographers wanting to shoot lingerie. They probably won't charge you anything and will give you pro quality shots for your posts and website
- Fresh! Change your pictures frequently. Take lots and save the best.
- Risque on location – A full skirted dress, a pair of stockings and a well recognized location in your city can make a great shot. Suggest it to the pro who took those lingerie shots
- Props – a riding crop tells a story, so does a discreet vibrator or a row of candles. Used sparingly props can hint at all sorts of things.
Beyond the posts
For independent escorts advertising is just one piece of a larger marketing effort – a website, social media and Google all play a part. Which I'll be covering in another article.
Critically, all your marketing needs to have the same target, the same style and the same message. Understanding your preferred market segment and tailoring your message, look, style and story to that segment will mean you are working smart rather than hard.
Great advertising is part of a great marketing campaign. Do the marketing right and you'll be busy with well-paying, respectful, regular clients who are grateful for your time.