Want Success? Don't Make This Marketing Mistake!

Ultimately, the two basic messages you can convey in your marketing is either "avoid this" (don't get this disease, don't get arrested, don't make this mistake, etc.) or "seek that" (more money, more dates, more clients, more notoriety, etc.). Avoiding something ("fear") is a great short-term message, but studies show it doesn't convert people into long-term behavioral changes. However, getting more of something isn't a great short-term motivator. Is there a way of crafting your marketing message to span both the "avoid" and "more" messages?

This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iynzHWwJXaA) showcases an idea of how to get people to not go faster than the speed limit - using a speed camera and a lottery system. The camera takes pictures of cars that are speeding ("avoid this") and issues tickets through the normal police system. The camera also takes pictures of cars that aren't speeding ("seek this"), creating a lottery, with the winner sharing in the fines that the speeders had to pay. Whether you like the specific solution to the speeding problem or not, the message beautifully incorporates both "avoid" and "seek".

Making an avoid+seek message isn't easy. We're naturally wired for one of these responses, so it's hard to think of what motivates others.

Let's take another example - fitness. We all know we should exercise more, yet few people make the effort to make time. Why? In general, exercise is seen as "work" and it feels good only after you're done or have been doing it awhile ("a runner's high"). The seek messages "look good" or "feel better about yourself" aren't sufficient to motivate most people. The avoid message "don't get heart disease" or "don't get fat" create a lot of New Year's resolutions, but low follow-through. One way to create an avoid+seek message would be to show a group of happy/fit people surrounding a sick/unfit person and ask the question, "Who do you look like?". It allows the person to see both sides of in/action and make their own choices.

What other ways can you combine avoid+seek into your marketing message?