The ‘Towards’ and the ‘Away From’ Families

Yesterday in our marketing meeting we had a debate regarding our marketing messages. We are dividing people into two major groups, or should I say two big families. The “Towards People” (People who are driven towards their dreams) and the “Away From” people (People who are driven away from their fears). Understanding who your target audience is in terms of “Towards” and “Away” is extremely important, since the communication language designed accordingly in order to reach their attention and offer them a solution that meets their deepest needs is at stake. We are currently using messages in our ads that offer the opportunity to grow, achieve a happier reality, reach success and win at the workplace and in life - language that communicates mostly with the “Towards” people. Part of the team thought that in today’s world people tend to act based on their fears rather than their dreams and hopes, and that in order to “speak” their language we need to communicate with them with messages and examples like: “You either lead or fall,” “If you can’t sleep at night from stress and fears”, or “If you fear of getting fired”, or “When the world changes you need some balance.” Actually, nobody wants to lose their job or be ill or left behind, and everybody feels that a big change happens right now and that they need to act and do something about it. Basically that part of the team says that the Towards family has minimized and since then worked has changed, many people moved from it to the Away-From family…… At the same time – the other part of the world is working with a different operating system – Towards. They act via their dreams. Yesterday I saw many people standing in front of a lottery booth and I realized that this is their dream and even if it is difficult and they have fewer resources, they will not give up on their dream. Others attend self growth seminars and read more self development books. They are looking for information in order to fulfill their full and highest potential. I personally prefer the positive attitude – I am a “Towards” person, but I think that we might try to reach people with messages that they can’t really “hear”, since the noise they have in their “receptors” is the one that deals with surviving and not with growth, so they skip the ads. I ask myself, can we be relevant to more people by communicating to both “Operating systems”. When I coach an “Away From ” type of person, it will be a waste of time to talk about goals and dreams. When I will ask how they are feeling today, the response will be, “Not too bad,” if it is not bad enough then they will not act to change it. I dislike marketing activities that are based on fear, but there are so many that will act and create a change in their lives only if they are faced with fear that without change it will become worthless.rnPlease share your thoughts, Doron LibshteinrnCEO, Coaching Interactive Limited Mobile +972 52 6301220 www.mentorschannel.comrn