Simon Says

How Long Should Your Product Videos Be?

Simon Says — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:27:36 GMT

Every day, I speak with retailers who are planning to launch and/or scale their product video program and they have questions about best practices. They want to know how to set up their studio, which products to include in their first flight of videos and what style seems to work the best. The most common question I hear pertains to video length: everybody wants to know if there is a perfect duration for a product video.

Thankfully, Liveclicker has the most expansive warehouse of video commerce data in the world. We are equipped to answer product video length questions better than anyone because we track more than a billion video impressions every year. As an organization that was founded by guys who previously led a web analytics company, Liveclicker is passionate about helping retailers prove the effectiveness of their video programs. We were the first company to offer in-depth video engagement tracking, content analysis, search engine optimization reporting, side-by-side video comparisons and video-to-conversion analysis.

Today, Liveclicker proudly released a series of next-generation video commerce analytics called "Custom Insight" which allow ecommerce professionals to perform in-depth ad hoc drill-downs. Let's say our customer OnlineShoes.com wants to compare the conversion rate of 45-60 second videos hosted by female presenters with 45-60 second videos hosted by male presenters. They will be able to do that within seconds. If our customer Petco wants to compare the dollars-per-video-view of their dog videos with their cat videos, that will be easy to do. When our customer Advance Auto Parts wants to analyze the average order size generated by their educational videos on Facebook as opposed to the ones shown on advanceautoparts.com, they will be able to include data from any historical period of time. Liveclicker customers will have access to unparalleled ad hoc reporting not offered by any other video solution on the market. Additionally, Liveclicker has always partnered with leading web analytics companies like Omniture, Coremetrics and Google Analytics to allow its customers to integrate our data with their measurement of other online marketing initiatives.

With data like this, it is also possible for Liveclicker to draw macromarketing conclusions by aggregating and benchmarking multiple retailers together. As an example, I did some initial analysis which incorporated the data from more than 50,000,000 views of 6,694 product videos for 25 well-known retailers during the past 90 days. I then drilled down on four segments within the mountain of data:

Videos where more than 75% of the viewers watched until completion
Videos where less than 5% of the viewers watched until completion
Videos where a purchase was made after they were viewed
Videos where a purchase was not made after they were viewed

There were some obvious confirmations that arose. For example, we would all suspect that the low-engagement videos would be longer than the high-engagement videos. That goes without saying. However, there are dozens of more specific questions that can be answered with this type of analysis:

Exactly how much longer were the low engagement videos? 85 seconds - 1:54 as opposed to 0:29.
Were people less likely to even click the play button on longer videos than on shorter ones? Yes, people were more than four times as likely to play a video which is 30 seconds or less than one that is more than 90 seconds long.
Did viewers abandon these videos right away, once they noticed how long they were? No, actually more of them watched at least 10 seconds of the video than their high completion counterparts.
Did the abandoned videos drive lower conversion rates than the full completion ones? Yes, the completed videos were 22% more likely to lead to a conversion than the abandoned ones, but the conversion rate for the abandoned videos was still surprisingly high. In many cases, a viewer stops watching a video because he/she is ready to make a purchase.

I also broke down the videos into time ranges and analyzed the conversion rates and dollars-per-play of each group. While the 30-second videos were excellent for engagement (often retaining viewers for full completion), it was the 60-90 second videos which yielded the highest conversion rates and revenue numbers. Amongst the videos that did not lead to a conversion, most of them were less than 60 seconds long. Thus, engagement and conversion rate are not always related, which proves that retailers need to have both types of reporting at their fingertips.

Obviously, the type, cost and complexity of a product are all determining factors in the ideal length of its explanatory video. Also, educational videos can be much longer than product demonstration videos, and branding videos can differ from those found on product pages. I also firmly believe that viewers' attention spans during 2008-2011 will be longer and more patient than in 2012-2015, when their tolerance for uninformative content will decrease. Simply put, that high performing 1:24 video might need to be trimmed to 0:40 a year or two from now.

In the coming weeks, I will reveal some more detailed and actionable findings from Liveclicker's Custom Insight reports. As the hosts of the annual Video Commerce Summit and the leaders in video commerce, we have always been excited about sharing our subject matter expertise with retailers who appreciate the value of video.

Five Essential Video Commerce Reports

Simon Says — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:05:43 GMT

Five Essential Video Commerce Reports

Five Essential Video Commerce Reports

It seems clear that 2012 will be the year of video commerce. Every day, we meet with retailers who are planning to launch or develop their product video program next year. In many cases, they have anecdotal evidence that videos will improve user experience and conversion rates, but they want to make a case to their senior leadership team to prove their theory.

At Liveclicker, we have been surrounded by convincing data for the past four years. We know, without a doubt, that a video program will catalyze increases in site traffic, elevated conversion rates, improvements in average order size and boosts in revenue for a wide spectrum of retailers. We have found that video is, hands-down, one of the most powerful developments in ecommerce history. Unfortunately, most retailers don't have the necessary tracking capabilities to prove what is working or to hone the things that aren't working. They measure their program by the number of video views they accumulate or by conducting a rudimentary before-and-after A/B test of their website's productivity. Although both of those metrics are interesting, they provide indirect evidence, at best. Below are five reports that every retailer needs to properly track and optimize their video program over time.

1) Video-to-Conversion Analysis

With the exception of branding videos, educational videos and others, the lion's share of a retailer's video library will be about the products they sell. Thus, the best way to measure the effectiveness of these types of videos would be to track the impact that they have on revenue acquisition. It seems like a simple concept to conduct an A/B test where the control group is a static image (or nothing at all) and the variable is a product video. Then, performance indicators like conversion rate, units per order, cross sells or average order size can be used to ascertain the value of the video program.

Liveclicker provides revenue tracking on each video as well as integration with Omniture, Coremetrics and Google Analytics. This type of reporting provides valuable context to the measurement of the video program as well as justification for the expansion of video production and distribution. The report below shows actual data from a Liveclicker customer (with video titles blurred for anonymity). If you knew you could product a video that would generate more than $1,000,000 in three months, would that become your highest ecommere priority?

2) Video Distribution Report

One of the biggest benefits that can be derived from a video program is the uptick in site traffic that results from distributing videos across the Internet. Of course, as with any acquisition initiative, it is important to measure which distribution channel is driving the most traffic. Furthermore, it is helpful to understand the differences in behavior (visit duration, visit frequency, conversion rate, average order size) which can be predicted based on the referring site. For example, do you know if YouTube is actually driving traffic or conversions on your website? Do you know if your Facebook referrals behave any differently from your Commission Junction referrals? These nuances which affect the future strategy of your program are found in the Video Distribution Report:

3) Video Engagement and Fallout Analysis

Video production, no matter how efficient, can be both time and resource intensive. However, nothing is more costly than producing videos that don't work. How are you measuring the engagement of your viewers? Do you know when they are dropping off? More importantly, do you know why they are dropping off? Simply knowing how many seconds into a video viewers progress doesn't tell the whole story. Are they leaving because of disinterest or are they proceeding to place an item in their shopping cart?

Also, context is important when it comes to engagement analysis. The results of one particular video's performance might be interesting, but it needs to be compared against other videos before a conclusion can be made about its effectiveness.

Overall, engagement analysis produces valuable metrics which can be used in the optimization of existing videos and the development of new ones.

4) Video SEO Reporting

Do you know which search engines and phrases are driving traffic to your videos? Are you optimizing your videos for search engines like Google and YouTube? Are your video thumbnails showing up in Google's blended search results?

Video can be a powerful tool in your SEO arsenal, but you have to be able to measure its effectiveness. Reports that show the number of visitors driven to your video library from each search engine and keyword/keyphrase are extremely helpful. Being able to follow the clickstream of those visits to prove the impact of video SEO on revenue is also an important measure of your program's effectiveness.

5) Content Detail Reporting

The fifth video commerce report which will help you dissect the performance of your program involves multi-dimensional content detail. What does that mean? It is the ability to pivot your analysis by any customizable dimension. For example, would you like to know which brand's videos are the most effective? What about the videos hosted by men versus women? Longer videos versus shorter videos? Educational videos versus product demonstrations? Children's apparel versus toys?

Having the ability to pivot your content detail reporting by any parameter is a crucial part of your web analytics solution. Shouldn't your video commerce metrics be just as easy to use?

Take your video commerce reports seriously

The rudimentary metrics which are found in free solutions (like YouTube) or basic video hosting solutions are interesting, but not actionable. In order to truly gauge the effectiveness of your program and to make changes that translate into conversions, keep your eye on reports like the ones described above.

Soliciting Feedback For Your Video Program Launch

Simon Says — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:50:33 GMT

Soliciting Feedback For Your Video Program Launch

During my dozen years of working with online retailers, I have always been perplexed by one thing: Why is there so little direct feedback being solicited from each company’s customer base? A simple source code investigation of any Internet Retailer Top 500 organization will uncover dozens of tracking tags to measure clickstream behavior. Any vendor evaluation eventually focuses on the analytics which are offered, and most online marketing studies rely on data gathered by inference.

How often are you directly asking your customers what they think? Crowdsourcing of ideas is certainly not a new concept. Dell launched Ideastorm.com in February of 2007 in order to provide their customers with the ability to provide direct feedback and to augment or diminish the popularity of their peers’ submitted ideas. Starbucks did something similar in 2008 with MyStarbucksIdea.com, which generated 70,000 ideas during its first year. Both are great case studies in the solicitation of feedback from consumers in an organized format.

As you build your video program, are you doing the same thing? You don’t have to have millions of customers and a beautiful website to get some feedback, though. Today, it’s as easy as leveraging your social media. Consider this simple poll which Utrecht Art Supplies posted for their 15,000+ Facebook fans in May:

Then, a few days later, they followed up with this Facebook post:

Beautiful execution. Simple feedback solicitation which engages customers in the development of the video program without adding a penny to Utrecht’s costs. Of course, a small investment can be made to inspire your customers to continue responding to questions. For example, on Performance Bike’s Facebook page, Freebie Friday is celebrated every week. There, they ask their 14,000+ fans a question and respondents are entered into a weekly drawing for a $20 gift card to Performance Bike. Freebie Friday can be more easily accessed via a tab on their Facebook page. If a free survey doesn’t yield the traction you were hoping for, an inexpensive gift card certainly will.

Of course, any analytics expert will tell you that you need a combination of aggregate data compilation/analysis and direct feedback via surveys. I would certainly suggest the same. However, for projects like a video program launch where you would like some quick, anecdotal evidence while building some excitement amongst your customer base, your social media channels could be the perfect way to jumpstart your project.

Why graduate from YouTube to a video commerce solution?

Simon Says — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:42:50 GMT

On July 8th, I posted the details of a study I conducted on the YouTube practices of Internet Retailer Top 500 companies. Then, on July 14th, I posted a follow-up article explaining where YouTube fits in a video commerce program. Both posts make one point clear: YouTube is a valuable resource which should be leveraged by all retailers. The way in which the world's biggest video site should be used, though, will evolve as an eCommerce organization becomes more sophisticated over time. In both Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series, I mentioned that each retailer will eventually need to graduate to a third generation of YouTube usage, one where YouTube is just one of many video tools being leveraged. In this third generation, various video strategies are employed, including social media integration, affiliate network integration, ecommerce player interactivity, automated distribution, search engine optimization, in-depth analytics, etc. Within a comprehensive video program, YouTube is one of many important components that combine for maximum results. YouTube is an excellent solution for the hosting and serving of videos, and it offers some basic video player functionality like annotations, comments, sharing and multi-platform compatibility. However, it is not a solution tailored for retailers, and there are many missing features which can boost site traffic, conversion rates and average order size. Let's delve into some of the areas where a video commerce solution like Liveclicker can be an important upgrade from a YouTube-centric approach:

"Shoppable" Video Player

The YouTube video player provides some basic functionality which allows users to overlay annotations on a video, but it lacks many ecommerce-specific capabilities such as Buy Now buttons which direct viewers to product pages, integrated product ratings/reviews, pricing integration with the ecommerce platform, integrated cross-selling suggestions, integrated Facebook commenting, static/moving hotspots, and interactive product thumbnails. By bringing the entire shopping experience into the video player itself, conversion rates, average order size and total revenues are boosted. By stepping up to a video commerce solution like Liveclicker, retailers can integrate their video program with their ecommerce efforts.

Video Distribution

As explained in Part One of this series, YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, which makes it a very important place to distribute video. However, by leveraging multiple distribution channels, an ecommerce organization is able to draw more traffic back to its product pages. These additional channels include video sites (like Vimeo, Viddler and Google Video), affiliate networks (like Commission Junction and Linkshare), social media (like Facebook, Twitter, Google +, MySpace, Digg and StumbleUpon), comparison shopping engines, mobile and QR destinations, additional websites/blogs, video libraries, etc. With a comprehensive approach to video distribution, site traffic should rise by 2-5%. Liveclicker's Video Commerce Suite distributes videos to all of the aforementioned destinations, including YouTube.

Search Engine Optimization

Simply posting videos on YouTube is not enough to maintain an effective video SEO strategy. Search engines like Google require an indexible video library, optimized titles/keywords/metatags, video players embedded on web pages and the submission of a video sitemap. In a recent study, Forrester Research reported that less than 20% of retailers are aware of best practices for video SEO, which makes it an area where significant returns can be made (the report found that video SEO can yield 53 times as much traction as traditional SEO). A video commerce solution like Liveclicker will automate and manage the process of optimizing each video for search engines like Google and YouTube. A good illustration of an optimized search phrase can be seen by typing "Saucony Kinvara" (the popular running shoe) into the Google search box and then typing in "Kinvara video." The first search phrase returns zero video results and the second one returns many.

Video-embedded emails

YouTube's sister-company relationship with Google's Gmail allows the two services to integrate with each other to embed YouTube videos inside of Gmail inboxes. This is a very powerful strategy which has been known to improve click-through rates by 50%+, but Gmail users represent less than 10% of possible email recipients. By leveraging Liveclicker's Video Email Express solution, retailers gain the ability to embed videos into almost any email client or mobile phone, such as iPad, Hotmail, Yahoo, Blackberry, Android and Gmail.

Video analytics

YouTube provides some basic analytics on video view counts, geotargeting, viewer demographics and viewer engagement which are interesting to marketers. However, retailers need to be able to drill down on ecommerce-specific metrics which allow them to assess the value of their video program. Liveclicker's Video Commerce Suite displays actionable analytics such as:

Conversion rate after a video is viewed
Lifetime value of a particular video in dollars earned upon viewing
Point during the video at which viewers become distracted and move their cursor
Search engine phrases which drive visitors to a particular video
A/B testing of video thumbnails to determine which one drives the most plays
Video views by distribution channel (Facebook vs. YouTube vs. QR codes, etc)
Diagnostics on the video's sound quality, play/pause button usage, etc
Rate at which a video is shared via email or social media
Clicks on interactive links, hotspots, "Buy Now" buttons, etc
Custom charting, time ranges, export to Excel/PDF
Direct integration with Omniture, Coremetrics and Google Analytics

Video sourcing/production

YouTube is the world's most popular video site, but it offers no assistance with the production or sourcing of video content. Liveclicker's Video Commerce solution allows retailers to exchange videos directly with product manufacturers, leverage a database of hundreds of thousands of user-generated videos, search for pre-produced videos, create their own videos with the "Liveclicker Studio" software, or outsource the video production completely. YouTube is certainly a useful tool once a video library has been assembled, but it takes a comprehensive video commerce solution to help a retailer accumulate and create video content in the first place. I don't want to make any Second Generation retailers feel inadequate for having chosen YouTube as their sole video solution. It is definitely a big step in the right direction as compared to the unrepresented retailers I pointed out in Part 1 of this series. By leveraging YouTube, an ecommerce organization is making the choice to at least try to provide its customers with a valuable experience. However, YouTube should be a transitory step in the development of a retailer's video program. Eventually, all serious marketers need to look ahead to a third generation program which employs a video commerce solution like Liveclicker while still leveraging the power of YouTube as a part of that strategy. While the cost of a video commerce solution might seem like a big step from a YouTube-centric program, it is very easy to calculate and justify the return on investment. There is no shortage of case studies showing revenue improvements of 10-15% when a video program comprehensively includes interactivity, distribution, search optimization, email, analytics and sourcing/production. Still, each retailer is a bit different. Thus, Liveclicker has built an ROI calculator which will help an organization anticipate the exact increase in conversions, revenue and profit they can anticipate when moving from a Second Generation program to a Third Generation one. Please feel free to contact us to learn more.

Where does YouTube fit into a video commerce program?

Simon Says — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:41:25 GMT

In Part One of this three-part series, I explored the current YouTube practices of Internet Retailer's Top 500 companies. In that analysis, I found that very few top retailers are leveraging YouTube as best as they can. Most ecommerce organizations lack video content and they are not marketing those videos or driving viewers back to their product pages. Of course, it is not helpful to point out shortcomings without also exploring strategies for success. In this post, I will explain a retailer's three phases of development and where YouTube should fit into the mix.

First Generation - Denial

As I mentioned in Part One of this post, there are 76 Internet Retailer Top 500 companies who do not have a YouTube channel and another 84 which have posted less than 10 videos on the site. These retailers are focused on other marketing initiatives or simply have not yet embraced video for their organizations. Simply put, they are missing the boat by not at least leveraging YouTube. With 3 billion views per day and no hosting/marketing costs, YouTube is a no-brainer first step for every retailer.

Second Generation - YouTube-centric video program

In the second generation, a retailer has been able to source some content from its vendors and customers or it has taken the initiative to produce a few product videos. These companies might have just 10-20 videos and they simply want to be able to distribute them to YouTube while embedding a free video player on their website. This is the perfect occasion to sign up for a YouTube account, build some interactive annotations/links, and leverage free technology to lauch a product video program. There is no reason why every retailer, large and small, can't at least be in this second generation. By sourcing/creating a handful of videos and deploying them in their conversion funnel, retailers give themselves a chance to lift their site traffic, conversion rate and average order size while gathering valuable analytics. By giving Generation Two a chance, ecommerce organizations can build a healthy case for investing further in the video production and monetization that comes with Generation Three.

Third Generation - YouTube as a part of the marketing mix

Once a retailer builds the case proving that video is improving site traffic, conversions and/or revenue, it is time to invest more heavily in this medium. With that investment comes the sourcing and production of more video content and the distribution of video to more channels. A YouTube-centric second generation approach with 15 videos means that there are only 30 implementations (15 times on the ecommerce site and 15 times on YouTube) to manage. This can be done manually, even with limited resources. However, a comprehensive third generation approach might mean distributing those same 15 videos to affiliate networks (like Linkshare or Commission Junction), email campaigns, video libraries, additional video sites (like Vimeo or Viddler), ad channels, social media (like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace) and mobile phones (via QR codes or Microsoft Tags). Suddenly, 15 videos might have 150+ implementations, complex testing/optimization and a lot of associated analytics. It is time to invest in a video commerce platform. With a video commerce platform, the retailer is able to leverage technology to manage a more complex program, which can yield exponentially greater results. At Liveclicker, we serve tens of millions of video views each month, and we have built some compelling case studies for investing in a Generation Three program. Revenue on products with videos usually increases by 10-15%, site traffic rises 2-5%, conversion rates are boosted by at least 30% and average order size increases by 10-20%. Taking a methodical approach to video and working with a knowledgeable partner who can guide an ecommerce organization through this growth will pay off in dividends. Still, even with a more sophisticated third generation video program, YouTube is a critical marketing channel. Liveclicker makes sure to post its customers' videos on YouTube and to optimize titles/keywords/descriptions accordingly. Using YouTube's Promoted Videos solution and submitting sitemaps to Google are essential parts of the video marketing mix. Whether a retailer has 10 videos or boasts a library of 1,000, YouTube is an important component of a healthy video program. In Part Three, I will list the benefits which a retailer gains by graduating from a second generation YouTube-centric program to a comprehensive third generation program.

How the IR Top 500 Uses YouTube

Simon Says — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:40:17 GMT

This post is the first in a three-part series about the usage of YouTube regarding video commerce. First, we will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Internet Retailer Top 500 companies and the way in which they are currently leveraging YouTube. Next, we will delve into YouTube’s optimal place within a video commerce program. Last, we will explain the advantages of graduating from YouTube to a video commerce solution like Liveclicker.

Part One – Usage of YouTube by Internet Retailer Top 500 companies

Since August of 2008, when it surpassed Yahoo’s traffic numbers, YouTube has been the 2^nd most popular search engine in the world. By May of 2011, the site was tallying 3 billion video views per day and its Promoted Videos program was developing into a formidable advertising strategy. In the days when Yahoo was the #2 search engine, online retailers routinely devoted significant search engine optimization and pay-per-click management resources toward ensuring their products were easily found on both Google and Yahoo. Now, in this next generation of search, many retailers seem to be dropping the ball completely when it comes to leveraging the second most popular search engine to drive traffic back to their product pages. A 2009 Forrester Research study found that “less than 20% of marketers were inserting keywords in the filenames of the videos on their site,” but Liveclicker’s 2011 study of YouTube usage by the Internet Retailer Top 500 found three additional systemic issues for ecommerce organizations to improve. (We will make the full study available on Liveclicker.com next month.)

1. Lack of video content

There are certainly some anomalies among the Internet Retailer Top 500, with media-rich organizations like the National Football League, Public Broadcasting Service, the National Basketball League, Home Shopping Network, QVC and World Wrestling Entertainment on the list. However, even after we filter out those companies, we find that the average member of the Internet Retailer Top 500 has posted 96 videos on YouTube. Yet, more than half of the IR Top 500 companies have a product catalog consisting of over 10,000 SKU’s. Clearly, product videos have not been as big a priority for these retail giants as expected. The chart below breaks the Internet Retailer Top 500 companies into ranges based on the number of videos posted on their YouTube channels. 160 of them (32%) are sharing less than 10 videos, 76 of which have no YouTube channel at all. Of the retailers without a YouTube channel, a few are ranked among the top 100 and they have well-developed and well-funded search optimization programs for Google. We found that a couple of these companies actually had video content posted on their Facebook pages, meaning that they had not taken the mere 30 minutes needed to set up a YouTube account and post those same videos in order to earn some traction on the world's #2 search engine.

2. Lack of promotion

Our analysis also found that many Internet Retailer Top 500 companies have done a poor job of optimizing and promoting their videos. For example, 17 of the top 100 retailers on the Internet have 20 or fewer YouTube subscribers and 32 of the IR Top 500 have accumulated less than 1,000 views since their channel was created. Compare that to YouTube superstars like Tiger Direct (more than 86,000,000 views), ThinkGeek (more than 35,000,000 views), Apple Computer (more than 29,000,000 views) and Lowes (almost 16,000,000 views), and the lack of video marketing is highlighted. Another way to analyze the data is to look at average views per video. It is in this category where 25 IR Top 500 companies have tallied less than 100 views per video while retailers like Tiffany & Company (more than 207,000 views per video), Folica (more than 192,000 views per video), Forever21 (more than 178,000 views per video) and LEGO (more than 119,000 views per video) have excelled.

What makes the difference between these retailers? Video content needs to be optimized for search, a tactic which can yield results 53 times more effective than traditional search engine optimization. Retailers with a handful of videos can easily manage this process manually, whereas companies with more developed video programs will need to leverage a video commerce partner to automate their optimization. Retailers also need to directly promote their video library (whether it is hosted on YouTube or elsewhere) from their website, on their Facebook page, in their email newsletter, etc. They can also leverage YouTube’s Promoted Videos program, which works exactly like Google’s AdWords, but with much lower bid amounts. Consider the search phrase “Rolex watch,” which has 10 expensive pay-per-click ads on Google, but only 8 less expensive Promoted Videos on YouTube. Allocating a percentage of the search engine management budget for YouTube testing could pay off in dividends. Engaging consumers to subscribe, view and share video content is not as simple as merely posting it online. The basic principles of marketing apply to video as much as for other types of content.

3. Not enough calls to action

Aside from brand awareness and educational programs, the primary purpose of a retail video program is to drive consumers to product pages. Unfortunately, most retailers are missing the mark in this area. Of the companies with the most widely-developed YouTube channels, very few are leveraging YouTube’s interactive features to point viewers back to their store. Even a simple watermark can prevent a competitor from repurposing video content which has been produced. More importantly, there is a severe shortage of product-specific video content being leveraged by top retailers. Of course, many product videos are created and hosted by the product manufacturers rather than their retail partners, but too many of the videos being produced by retailers do not effectively drive conversions. Consider the DC Shoes Gymkhana Two infomercial: The Gymkhana brand awareness video accrued more than 26,000,000 views due to its cool-factor, but it offers only brand awareness and no product information about the shoes that are shown (except for just a few seconds). In contrast, look at Kiddicare’s Baby Weavers Shuffle video: The Baby Weavers Shuffle product video consistently earns an industry-leading conversion rate and it took far fewer resources to produce. With most retailers working with limited 2011 video budgets, are highly produced brand awareness videos where they should be focusing their dollars? Or should focused, product-explanation videos be the foundation of their program? We recommend the latter.

Camarillo Marathon

Simon Says — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:53:00 GMT

After running the inaugural Santa Barbara International Marathon which I blogged about last December, I felt like I still had some room for improvement on my personal record of 3:03:24. Santa Barbara's hilly 24th mile, combined with my tight IT band and lack of training left me feeling like I could shave off a couple of minutes someday. So, I searched for a target race for the Fall of 2010, hoping my 9th marathon would be my best. I wanted an October race, because I had some friends who had not yet qualified for Boston 2011, and we knew it would fill up by November this year. I also don't enjoy training on cold, dark Winter mornings and I wanted to be able to enjoy the holiday season this year without having an impending race looming over my head. So, a group of us took a chance on the inaugural Camarillo Marathon scheduled for October 3, 2010.

Camarillo is in the West Valley area of Southern California, north of Malibu and east of Ventura. The course drawn up by the race director looked like it had very little elevation change, and the climate during early October in Ventura County is usually temperate. Still, rallying friends for such a small race in a quaint location was a challenge, but I had 28 people who originally wanted to join me. Due to various injuries and changes, our final roster ended up at 12, which still accounted for a large percentage of the 280 total pre-registrants.

Elite Sports of Ventura County is a well-known and experienced race production company in the area, but this was their first foray into organizing a full marathon. Simply put, I hope their second year is better executed than their first. The course was exceptionally barren; we were venturing through foggy farm land with absolutely no scenery throughout the 26.2 miles. There were no sports drinks served (although an obscure brand called Gleukos was advertised), no music (I don't really care about bands on race courses, but they were promoted in the marketing literature), and almost no spectators (even our spouses weren't excited about this location). The marathon course also merged with the half marathon course, which always makes it difficult for someone holding 7:00/mi pace to weave around people running 12:00/mi pace (neither party enjoys that dynamic). However, the most glaring oversight presented itself at Mile #12, where I encountered an aid station with an adequate number of water jugs but no cups which the volunteers could use. Thus, only runners who were carrying their own bottles were able to fill up on water. Everybody else had to continue running, hoping the next aid station would have cups. It didn't. Nor did the next one. Or the next one. Or the next one. The next water I was able to drink was at Mile #20, which turned out to be an anomaly because the following aid station was back to the formerly-arranged jugs of water with no cups (nor volunteers this time).

On a day where the temperature was 70 degrees (not hot, but warmer than most Fall marathons) with 85% humidity (it rained the day before and the location is near the coast), water is an essential part of running a marathon. Even in the 1960's when people ran marathons without all of the comforts that today's high-maintenance participants enjoy, they drank water. I noticed by Mile #2 that my sweat rate was exceptionally higher than normal and I was still eating GU's, which are especially "yummy" without any water to wash them down. So, many of us were disappointed in the lack of planning shown by Elite Sports, but realize that this will be a simple issue to repair in future years. When I pay $75 (for a small-town race) - $180 (for a big race like the New York Marathon) to register for a marathon, I expect more than simple road closures and timing chips. I would gladly pay another $5 for some water and visible mile markers. In jest, a friend of ours designed a tee shirt for Elite Sports to wear for the next year.

Overall, my training seemed to peak in July, when I ran a 6-mile race in 35:56 (which would have predicted a marathon around 2:57-2:59), but I seemed to slow down in August and September (my career picked up and my mileage decreased). Thus, I was just focusing on trying to set a personal record (a 3:03:23 would have been a victory, in my opinion). The first 11 miles were right on my target of 6:50-7:00/mi pace, but I started to slow down unexpectedly by Mile #12 (this usually doesn't happen to me until much later). I took a chance with my footwear, trying the lightweight Avia Avi Lite II's which I would normally wear for a 5K instead of my trusty, beloved Saucony Guides which have taken me through thousands of miles of running and racing. By the latter third of the marathon, I was having trouble holding a 7:30/mi pace, and after Mile #23, that fell to 8:00-8:30/mi pace. I finally rallied at the end, realizing that I was nowhere near a personal record, but could still qualify for the 2012 Boston Marathon. I needed a 3:15:59 to do that (I will be 35 years old by that time), and I finished in 3:10:34.

It was certainly fun to head down to Southern California with a group of friends, many of which accomplished their mission of qualifying for the 2011 Boston Marathon. We now have more than 20 members of my race club who are qualified for that race, so we are looking forward to taking over Boston again next April. I don't know how many times I will want to run that race throughout my life (it will be my second Boston and my first time running the same marathon course twice), but even on this fifth time running a Boston qualifier, the novelty surely hasn't worn off yet.

Ironman Louisville

Simon Says — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:37:00 GMT

During the past week, I had the opportunity to take a bittersweet trip to Kentucky for Ironman Louisville. The journey left me with a mixture of pride and sadness because it marked the end of my stint as a coach for Team in Training’s Ironteam group. I was extremely proud of our athletes at Vineman 140.6, Ironman Canada and Ironman Louisville, and it was difficult to step away from my role as one of their leaders.

I have now attended four 140.6-mile triathlons, twice as a participant (once completing the full distance and once as a member of a relay) and twice as a coach. Seeing these events from every angle brings an interesting perspective to the accomplishment of becoming an Ironman. Each race is unique, and it is almost impossible to compare one with another. A person’s finishing time at Ironman Florida is, in no way, a predictor of how he/she might perform at Ironman St. George. The courses, logistics and weather conditions make each long course triathlon its own adventure.

Although Ironman Louisville is the most popular event of its kind (there were more than 2,900 registrants this year), I was unimpressed with its logistics. Registration for 2011 opened this morning, and I’m sure it will sell out soon, but I would not recommend IM Louisville to any triathletes looking for an A-race. Here were some issues I noticed:

Many of the Ironman courses have unpredictable weather conditions, but Kentucky in late August (except for an anomaly year in 2009) is fairly consistently hot and humid. The heat index took its toll, not just on the amateur athletes hoping to complete the race, but on most of the professional triathletes as well. This year, the high temperature was 96 degrees and the humidity peaked at 65% . There were thousands of people doing long, unplanned walks on the marathon course and 388 people (15% of those who began the swim) had to drop out. If I’m going to do 140.6 miles, I’d rather do it when I’m not in danger of heat stroke.
The time-trial swim start is problematic for various reasons. First, there are people haphazardly jumping off of docks into the Ohio River , practically on top of each other. Second, the clock starts at 7:00am, and only those athletes who are toward the front of the mile-long swim line are able to begin their swim at that time. This means that everybody else gets less than the full 17 hours to complete the race before the 12:00am cutoff, and the people at the front of the line have to get down to the swim start around 3:00am to reserve their spot.
The bathroom situation before the race was problematic. In a non-wetsuit swim that begins on shore, almost every athlete will have the need to make a pitstop before 7:00am. Add 2,500 people, a long wait in line, and lots of hydration, and the 15-20 port-a-potties near the beginning of the line were too meager for the demand. With gross revenues from this race in the millions, it would seem like a simple gesture for the race director to alleviate this problem with more port-a-potty rentals.
The swim course itself has issues. The cleanliness of the Ohio River is certainly questionable (as one local person said to us this morning: “Um, we don’t swim in the Ohio River, you know…) and, with water temperatures in the mid-80’s, the heat can be an issue for some people. The course also converges through a narrow channel where more than 2,500 people are trying to pass each other, which can make the non-wetsuit swim more brutal than a mass start through that section. Furthermore, the swim start is three-quarters of a mile from the transition area, which means that everybody has to walk down there after tending to their bikes at 5:00am.
The bike course begins with a short, 200-foot stretch of path from the mount line to a sharp left turn onto River Road. The turn is well-marked, but not necessarily wide, and there is a significant lip between the path and the road. What this means is there are packs of people all trying to negotiate the turn at the same time, and when they encounter the lip, many seat-mounted bottle cages were launching water bottles onto the road. Although the volunteers were doing their best to pick up these projectiles as they rolled onto the street, I watched at least 30 bottles cause near-collisions during the 45 minutes in which I was there. It would seem like something could be done about the lip, if not the width of the turn.
This year, there were mishaps on the bike course. A large truck blocked a narrow road in which cyclists were riding in both directions. There was a shortage of water, leading to a complete outage at some aid stations. There is also automobile traffic in both directions on a lot of the course, causing a potentially scary situation for the participants.
The run course is heralded as being historic and scenic because it passes by Churchill Downs, but really it cuts through a sketchy part of town which requires an army of police officers to ensure the safety of the racers. I appreciated the fact that it didn’t have the elevation gains I faced at St. George and I thought the sections on the bridge and through Fourth Street Live were remarkable, but the overall impression of the run course that I got was anything but scenic.
The finish line is roughly a mile away from the transition area , and there is a stipulation that bikes must be picked up by 12:30am. This prohibits a 16-17 hour participant from reaching his/her bike in time without having a friend or family member to help him/her. That last thing someone wants to do after finishing an Ironman is walking to take care of his/her bike, but when the journey is more than a mile each way (including a few flights of stairs), that is simply tortuous.
We had a few people on our team who needed medical support, and those that arrived after 12:15am were turned away. I had two participants that were unable to receive the IV’s that they needed (they were told to find a local hospital). I am not a race director and I don’t have any statistics to support this statement, but I would assume that there were a lot of people who finished later at night who needed more medical attention than their faster counterparts. Wouldn’t it make sense to stay open later to ensure the safety of the participants?

Overall, I appreciated the event and I believe that the Ironman brand stands for a high-quality experience, but I was unimpressed with Ironman Louisville as compared to the other races I have experienced and heard about. Perhaps it would make sense to move the race to a nearby lake where a cleaner swim, closer transition area, and safer run course could be laid out? As long as people still fly into Louisville and stay in Louisville hotels, I’m sure the race could retain its name and the city’s tourism bureau could still benefit. That said, I certainly don’t plan to sign up for Ironman Louisville and I will advise my friends to avoid it as well.

iDroid

Simon Says — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:13:25 GMT

As I write this, thousands of idiots across the country are standing in line, waiting to buy the newly-released iPhone 4. I think one of my friends put it best when he asked rhetorically: "Standing in line for two days to get the new iPhone? How about spending that time volunteering at a homeless shelter instead?" He makes a great point. After all, the same phone will still be available in a week or two when the lines are shorter and less time can be wasted. Trust me...no matter how early you get your phone, someone will beat you to it, and nobody will care about his/her timely purchase either.

The lack of time management exemplified by these iPhone zealots is overshadowed by their blind faith in Apple's brand. People who have donated thousands of dollars to Apple and AT&T during the past few years by upgrading their phone three times have only the preachings of their lord and savior Steve Jobs to drive them to the store. Until recently, almost all of the software upgrades available for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS were also available for the iPhone 2G. The differences in hardware between the generations were few, and I could easily debate that spending hundreds of dollars per year for a crisper camera, an upgraded GPS or slightly faster networking is a questionable investment. Still, these early adopters are happy to elbow their way to the Apple Store once again to pay another $300 for a camera on the front of their phone. Seth Godin would be so proud of the "tribe" of unwavering followers that Apple has built.

At this point, my mobile phone ownership has reached a crossroad. When the original 2G iPhone was released, I owned a Blackberry Pearl (which I reluctantly upgraded after more than two years on a Treo 650). There was a significant leap between my incumbent phone and Apple's new release, so I was happy when my company bought me an iPhone. I am still using that original "silverback" version today. Since that purchase, I have considered other options, such as the 3G, 3GS and Android fleet, but I have not been swayed until now. At this point, my antiquated camera, slow networking, and discontinued software upgrade potential (version 4.0 of the iPhone firmware is not available for first generation phones) are causing me to start shopping.

So, as a current iPhone owner, will I simply upgrade to their fourth generation product without considering alternatives? As with any purchase, I think there are several factors to weigh, and each one is valued differently by each consumer. For me, the main difference between Droids and iPhones is the quality of the network. That's it, the rest is clever marketing (except, maybe, for Facetime, but since it only works on WiFi connections amongst iPhone 4 users, Droid will have ample time to catch up soon). Need a good camera, a plethora of apps, the ability to manage messages and an integrated MP3 player? Both products are within an arm's reach of each other in all of those areas, especially after Google Music is launched in September. However, it doesn't matter how cool your phone is if you can't get online, and the AT&T network in the San Francisco Bay Area has become so oversubscribed that it is now a deterrent from marrying oneself to the carrier for another two years. So, in my personal evaluation of the mobile phone market, the network is the most important differentiator, and Apple's inability to partner with more carriers might be the impetus for me to join the growing marketshare of Droid users.

Overall, my antiquated 2G iPhone is still serving most of my needs (albeit slowly and with spotty AT&T coverage), and I certainly don't feel additional urgency simply because a new version is now available. I'd rather spend some time volunteering this weekend than standing in line at the mall with the huddled masses of Steve Jobs worshippers.

Perspective

Simon Says — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 22:36:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of the teachings of the late Jim Rohn, who talked about the "seasons" which we encounter in life and how we can anticipate and prepare for them. In his speeches, he exemplified the busy nature of ants during the Summer as they prepare for the upcoming Winter and he talked about the need that farmers have for shifting the balance of their lives during the Fall in order to maximize the short duration of the harvest. Simply put, he tried to help people understand that we shouldn't be surprised by the cyclical nature of the world and our priorities can be aligned with some of the environmental factors which we know we will face in the future. He also talked about balancing one's family life with their personal, professional, civic and other priorities, and how it is okay to borrow from a particular role if that shift is temporary and reparations are made later. For example, a focused entrepreneur might need to tell his/her children that he/she will be less available during the launch of his/her business, but he/she needs to let his/her family know when that time and care will be repaid afterward.

Throughout my life, I have encountered a lot of uber-focused people, whether they are business executives, civic leaders, athletes or students. I find that it is very easy for a driven, "Type A" person to immerse him/herself in one facet of his/her life without considering the opportunity cost that it plays in other areas. Obsessing over a particular set of goals will lead people to justify their oversight of their other responsibilities, and I have always been intrigued by the life balance that is struck by people who maintain a healthy perspective between the multiple hats that they wear. Someday, I'd love to write a book about exemplary parents who are CEO's, students who are athletes, or business executives who are dutifully involved with civic organizations. It is these types of people who I think serve as the best role models for others. Immersing oneself in one activity or another while sacrificing everything else is almost impossible for others to emulate (let alone respect, in many cases).

I think this lack of balance is very apparent in the world of triathlon. This is a group of people who devote a lot of time and resources to maintaining proficiency in not one, but three different sports. Although I enjoyed my journey to becoming an Ironman, part of the reason I did it at this point in life is because my career was temporarily less demanding and my wife and I have not yet started a family. I had the opportunity to "pour it on" for a number of months, so I did it while I could. I am surrounded by examples of people who do not have the same mindset. They devote an inordinate amount of money, time, energy, resources and stress toward an activity which is supposed to be a hobby. However, they continue to let these obsessions take over their lives without striking a healthy balance. Like anything in life, very, very few people are successful enough to reap many sustained rewards from triathlon. Sure, they might enjoy the sport and they might be locally competitive, but even the top professionals aren't earning many monetary rewards. Given the choice between an extra swim, ride or run or some quality time spent with family, honing a professional skill or serving their community, I often see people making the wrong choices. Sure, that extra two hours per week of training might help you gain a two minute advantage in your next race. Is it worth it, considering your other responsibilities?

I also see a lot of misaligned financial choices in the athletic community, especially among cyclists. The shiny new bike widget that weighs four ounces less than its counterpart might be $200 more expensive. That meaningless triathlon in between the two races which you actually enjoy might be $150. That trendy dietary product might be $100 yet totally ineffective. The sum of these seemingly insignificant decisions tallies up to a sizable total. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air studies the commercialization of Mt. Everest and the fact that anybody with enough money can attempt to climb it these days (although many of them fail while doing so). I felt the same way about Ironman when I was preparing for it. Almost any decently athletic and healthy person who wants to shell out enough money can make a respectable attempt at besting the 17-hour time limit for a 140.6 mile triathlon. The question is: how many things did they bypass along the way to that goal?

I am really enjoying life after Ironman. I'm still swimming, cycling and running a decent amount (logging another 128 miles this week), but I'm only doing the workouts which I enjoy. No longer am I getting up at 4am three times a week to make it to the pool at the detriment of my attention span later in the day. No longer am I spending hours on long weekend bike rides while abandoning my wife at home. No longer am I stressing about every nuance of an upcoming race while neglecting my other hobbies and ambitions. I'm swimming, cycling, running and racing when I feel like it. I'm a former music major who is practicing the piano for the first time in years. I'm seeing my family, visiting my friends and volunteering more. Although there was a "season" when Ironman was a big focus, I'm happy to put that goal behind me in lieu of balancing my priorities differently.

Throughout my life, there have been seasons when my academic, musical, career, athletic or civic pursuits trumped their competitors at one point or another. I think that's perfectly acceptable, as long as it is a temporary shift. I just think it's important to eventually return to a healthy "homeostasis" with regard to the various hats we wear. If you're able to do that while succeeding in each area, you undoubtedly have my respect in doing so.

The Calorie Equation

Simon Says — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:52:51 GMT

As an endurance athlete, I am often asked for nutrition advice. My knee-jerk reaction is to remind people that fitness awareness and dietary knowledge are two different things, and I am more of a novice on the latter subject than the former one. My sources of nutrition information would be the same as anyone else's, and I think we should leave the subject matter expertise in that field to the registered dietitians who earned the right to guide us. (One of my favorite quotes is from a friend who has a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry who sarcastically says she is "so glad that there are so many chiropractors out there these days giving nutritional advice.") Still, although I am not an expert, I am someone who let his fitness spiral out of control (from a sub-5:00 miler weighing 140 lbs in high school to a tired-after-5-minutes walker who tipped the scales at 218 lbs by the time I was 21 years old) before learning to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I think my perspective on this subject places me in the minority, but I will try to explain my position.

There are two sides to the calorie equation: what you consume and what you burn. While 99% of Americans seem fixated on their intake, there is a small group of people who focus more on their fitness goals. It is no surprise that our country is split along those lines. The diet industry is worth billions of dollars to thousands of companies, and most consumers are under the impression that caloric reductions and magic shakes are an easier solution than catalyzing an exercise routine. In my experience of losing 50 pounds, it took a mixture of both strategies, with the fitness side of the equation trumping the nutrition side.

Let's do some simple math. Imagine your body composition, metabolism and activity level dictate that it would take 1,500 calories per day for you to maintain your current weight. Let's say that your goal is to lose one pound (3,500 calories) per week. In order to do that without increasing your activity level, you would have to find a way to reduce your caloric intake by 1/3 to 1,000 calories per day. Take a look at the labels and serving sizes on your favorite (or even your most despised and tasteless) foods. Do you really think it is feasible to maintain those numbers month after month? If you are replacing meals with shakes, your suppressed satiety will make it even more difficult to keep your food calories in the triple digits, especially if you have coworkers, friends or family members who invite you for lunch, dinner and cocktails. Leading a 1,000/day lifestyle might work for a few days, but it generally fizzles to a short-term "fad diet" rather than a lifelong path.

Now, let's look at the other side of the equation. I burn approximately 110 calories per mile when I run. In a light week of running, I log 20-25 miles and in a peak week, I put in 60-70 miles. Cycling, swimming and other aerobic activities also have high rates of caloric burn. Thus, in order for me to cut 3,500 calories per week from my equation without altering the way I eat, I would need to run 32 miles. At a pace of 7:30/mile, we're talking about a mere investment of four hours per week doing something that I already love to do. If I run more than that or supplement with other activities (or if I would rather not lose a pound a week), I can actually raise my caloric intake while maintaining my body weight. Those 32 miles per week would allow me to add 500 calories per day to my diet. As long as I am injury-free, I don't feel the same pressure of denial that I would with a reduced-calorie diet; I actually look forward to continuing my running every week. This lends itself to being more of a long-term lifestyle change than a short-term crash diet.

Thus, the missing ingredient for most people in the calorie equation is fun. Body weight = calories consumed - (calories burned + fun). While the enjoyment of the exercise doesn't have a number attached to it, if you remove it from the formula, the body weight tends to eventually increase. How do we increase the fun in our calorie equation? I'm a big believer in what I call "(s)miles" (or social miles). Working out with friends provides an encouraging social aspect to your routine while also inserting some latent accountability. Even if you simply start the workout with a friend and don't see or talk to each other until you are both finished, knowing that someone else is out there is often enough to keep your effort level where it needs to be. For me, joining a local race club provided the inspiration, friendships and training partners to prod me along from race to race. Even online fitness networks like DailyMile can provide an amateur athlete with the social component and accountability that they need to keep going.

Aside from (s)miles, the other way to ensure you have fun is to choose the right activity in the first place. If you don't enjoy running, why run? There are dozens of other activities that can help you balance your calorie equation. Pick one that you actually like! Keep in mind, though, that fitness becomes more fun as you improve. Even a runner like me hates the first 30-40 miles of every training cycle because I feel slow, lethargic and out of breath. That goes away as your fitness comes along. I used to absolutely hate swimming because I was horrible at it. Now, I look forward to heading down to the pool to log some yards, whether I have people to swim with or not. I actually enjoy swimming more than cycling these days, which is saying a lot, considering how much I have detested the water since I was a child.

So, I'm not saying that I lost 50 pounds by eating everything in sight and simply working out more. I certainly had to balance every part of the equation to make a change. What I am saying is that more Americans should take a look at logging (s)miles instead of hopping from fad diet to fad diet. In a country where 67% of our citizens are overweight or obese, obviously something isn't working. Since the vast majority of them are mostly sedentary, it doesn't take much research to pinpoint the problem. If every American burned just 1,000 more calories per week, I bet our health care costs would plummet and Congress would be able to debate something less controversial.

My Twixperiment

Simon Says — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:22:55 GMT

Over the years, I have been a public naysayer of the value of Twitter. It was approximately one year ago that I called the messaging platform "creepy" on this blog. I felt like Twitter needed more privacy and features, more loyal members to build a critical mass of usage, and less saturation of valueless content. Relative to social media vehicles like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace, I thought Twitter would be best used by major brands or celebrities to find an unfiltered alternative to the outdated and costly model of offering periodic newsletter subscriptions.

In December, I decided I would give Twitter another shot. I realized that my own personal use of the service was not very exemplary. On @simonmutlu, I muse about a variety of subjects and regretfully contribute to the online "noise" of self-centered content. I was using that handle for shouting into a vacuum rather than gathering an audience and facilitating discussions. Thus, I thought I should create a second Twitter account to experiment with best practices to see what would transpire. On December 5th, 2009 (as I was checking in for the Santa Barbara Marathon), @we_run was born. Here are some things that I have learned during the past six months:

Pick a short handle - Why did I call it @we_run? The idea was to pick a handle short enough to be retweeted easily. If your amazingly viral message takes up 115 out of the allotted 140 characters and your Twitter name is @NorthernCaliforniaWindsurfingExtraordinaire, trust me, you won't be credited in any retweets.

Stick to one subject - On my @simonmutlu account, I follow a lot of worst practices when it comes to this point. One day, I might talk about Salesforce.com and a customer relationship management consultant will start following me, hoping I will have something valuable to say about CRM in the future. The next day, I might talk about my power numbers on my bike and the following day, I'll repost a link to an eMarketer article that I found interesting. To be honest, I don't know why anybody follows @simonmutlu. I would have unsubscribed from myself a long time ago out of frustration or boredom!

Say something valuable - Whether you are on Twitter, writing a blog post or simply talking to your spouse, there is a big difference between conversing and emoting. Does the whole world need to know that you are tired, hungry, or wearing your favorite scarf? Surely, not even your friends truly care about those things, but strangers will divorce you altogether after a rogue post like that. Before you announce something to the twitterverse, first use the acronym HEART: Is your post going to be humorous, educational, affirmative, retweetable and/or timely? The majority of your followers want to be entertained or they are looking for advice, news and encouragement. Stop your tweets that are lacking HEART before they happen.

It's not a numbers game - I started my Twitter adventure with the notion that I had to amass as many followers as possible. I thought that numbers equated to influence or success, which is the same trap that many direct marketers fall into with their newspaper distribution or email subscribers. Followers are easy to count and they look good in marketing reports, but they are an indirect success metric. If you simply want numbers on Twitter, I have a magic formula for you: for every 100 potentially interested people you follow (for example, for @we_run, the potentially interested people are runners), 60 of them will follow you back. @we_run has 1,200 followers right now. If I wanted to build that number to 2,000, I'd simply need to go to @runnersworld's subscriber list (posted publicly) and follow another 1,300 of their readers. Why would I do that, though? If everybody blindly follows everybody else, it's like a bunch of ships rising with the tide. The boats are still at the same level relative to each other, but the additional water (in this analogy, content) simply creates "noise." You don't need 1,000,000 followers...you just need a manageable number of truly engaged ones.

Stop namedropping - There are a lot of people on Twitter who are name-droppers and hashtag whores. They think that adding a lot of high-follower account names and trending hashtags will help new people find them. They're probably right. However, how would you feel if, in casual conversation, your friends continually referred to a cousin's former roommate who was remotely famous ten years ago? I do believe that hashtags can be a great way for people to find each other (at a trade show, or following a particular topic, for example). It's just excessive or disingenuous use that turns me off.

Consolidation is a service - There is much more information on the Internet than any of us have time to read, and the summarization of headlines and truncation of content is always valuable. Twitter is no different. I am a happy follower of @retailretweets, an account that simply summarizes the top news in the retail sector. I also enjoy @runningtimes, where Rodale Press (parent company of Runner's World and Running Times, among other magazines) publishes unique headlines for serious runners. Along those lines, more than half of my tweets for @we_run are retweets of accounts that I follow. Why don't my followers simply subscribe to all of the sources from which I gather my information? The simple answer is that they don't want to. Having me consolidate, summarize and (in many cases) repair grammar errors makes it easier to follow @we_run than to befriend every runner on Twitter.

Still, have something original to say - You can retweet interesting headlines and posts, but you still need to offer a perspective and some expertise to your followers to keep them interested. As a runner and a running coach, it's easy for me to find topics and tips to deliver to my audience. It all goes back to the HEART acronym...if you are being humorous, educational, affirmative, retweetable and timely, your jokes, tips, encouragement and news will be well received.

Dialogs, not monologues - Sure, tweeting doesn't provide the same kind of instant feedback that speaking to a live person does. That doesn't mean that there aren't opportunities to interact. A couple of weeks ago, a friend was considering running skirts, a subject which I know nothing about. I asked my female followers for their reviews of different ones. The other day, a friend asked me about ultramarathons (running races between 31 miles and 100 miles long). Again, I was not an expert, but at least 50 of my followers are, so I asked them for guidance. Try to ask your audience questions, and be sure to respond when they talk to you. The same rules that applied in kindergarten are pertinent on Twitter: acknowledge people, be congenial, thank them and help them.

Tweeps are people, too - Twitter is simply a platform by which people can converse in short phrases. The technology doesn't change the fact that they have families, careers, hobbies and homes. By tweeting about a particular subject, you will find a lot of people with whom you have something important in common, but ask them about their perspective on other topics as well. I have had the opportunity to meet a few followers in person, and they are exceptional people who happen to enjoy running, too. Many of them are also excellent writers, which makes their blogs, articles and books just as interesting as their tweets. This is one area where getting to know a few great people is better than building an army of disengaged followers.

So, do I still think Twitter is creepy? It certainly has its moments. However, after conducting a more thorough test, I will admit that it doesn't just have benefits for businesses, non-profits and celebrities. The average person who is passionate about a particular topic can certainly build a cohesive network by simply signing up for an account and following some of the aforementioned best practices which I have learned during the past six months.

Do I plan to continue tweeting on @we_run? I'll answer with a tentative "yes." I'll probably slow the frequency of my posts at some point, but I really do enjoy interacting with runners from around the world, many of which I hope to meet on the road or at a race in the near future.

IMSG by the Numbers

Simon Says — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:43:00 GMT

People who are pure swimmers, cyclists or runners often affectionately refer to triathletes as "tri geeks." (Don't believe me? Check out this super-geeky race analytics website.) That term isn't far from the truth for any endurance athlete, because the analysis of data becomes a big part of one's training and racing strategy. (In that respect, my career in data-driven marketing is analogous to my endurance sport hobby.) If I asked you to go out and run at 4-minute-per-mile pace right now, you would likely be able to do it. The question is: how long could you keep that up? Thirty seconds? One minute? Two full miles, like an Olympian? There are tests and calculators that we can use to estimate the answers to those types of questions, and the complexity of those calculations will multiply as we add swimming, cycling and duration to the equation. Thus, it's important to measure our success in more ways than just our final finishing time.

I'm a big fan of the Endurance Nation training methodology. This triathlon program, created many years ago by two exceptional Ironman athletes and coaches (Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann), is the world's most expansive study on long course triathlon training and results. Thousands of athletes have collected millions of data points to determine the best practices for training and racing. If you want to know how to become a more efficient swimmer, how hard you should go on the bike, how to get faster on the run or how many calories to consume, there are strong guidelines and, in some cases, definitive answers. So, aside from the information provided by the official race clock, here is how I would grade my performance at Ironman St. George based on the other metrics which should be monitored:

Training volume (C+) This is an area where I really did not excel. I can't share my training plan with you because it is a proprietary Endurance Nation document, but I can say that it looks nothing like my training log. There are a few logical explanations why I missed so many bike intervals, swim drills and tempo runs: My commute to/from the office took three hours from my day, I lost a lot of weekend days to my coaching responsibilities, and my need to learn to swim trumped some of my other workouts. Still, I definitely went into my race undertrained on the bike and the run, and my lack of brick workouts was very apparent.

T1 (A- ) My first transition was a deplorable 12 minutes, but with my hands being frozen from the swim, it would not have been easy to try to put on arm warmers, gloves, shoes, etc any faster. Either way, I'm sure I could practice and cut that time down by a couple of minutes. I do find it ironic that many triathletes will go to great lengths to cut 30 seconds from their transition time, but through incorrect pacing, they will lose 30 minutes later in the day.

T-Pace (A) This is the pace per hundred yards at which someone swims an all-out 1000 yard test. Mine was roughly 1:50/100 and, considering that I spent a full minute of my 1:17:02 swim split clinging to kayaks, I ended up slightly beating my anticipated swim time. I had never been in a triathlon, sighted buoys in open water, or dealt with crowds before, so I'm sure I did my share of zig-zagging along the way. Swimming, like golf, has a lot more to do with technique than might, and I think I can probably learn to shave off a few more minutes by continuing to work at it.

IF (B+) A person's Intensity Factor (IF) is the percentage of their Functional Threshold Power (FTP, or average wattage during an hour all-out effort) at which they ride. The Endurance Nation program encourages people to ride a full Ironman at 70% IF and a half Ironman at 80% IF in order to save their legs for the upcoming run segment. I use a device that measures wattage on each pedal stroke (called a PowerTap) and I was happy when I downloaded and analyzed my numbers after the race. My IF at Ironman St. George was 69.9%. I have to thank Coach Patrick, who analyzed one of my training rides a few weeks earlier which was done at 78% IF and he helped me learn to be more patient. However, I did fail at staying consistent throughout the ride. On the first 22 miles of the course, I was at 182 watts (or 72% IF). On the next 45 mile loop, I was at 185 watts (or 73% IF). On the last 45 mile loop, I was at 166 watts (65.7%). The drop-off in intensity shows that I was becoming fatigued as the bike portion transpired, which didn't bode well for my marathon.

VI (C+) The Variable Index (VI) shows the disparity between the highest wattage numbers and the lowest wattage numbers on a particular ride. The ideal scenario is to have a VI score of 1.0 (or close to it), showing that there were no peaks or valleys to the intensity throughout the ride. My VI score was 1.11, which is somewhat reflective of the hilly course, but I have training partners who rode at 1.07 VI. This means that I need to get smarter about backing off on the uphills and pedaling harder on the downhills. Being more disciplined about staying in my aero bars would also help.

FTP (C-) Due to my undertraining (mostly on the bike), my functional threshold power remained virtually unchanged between August of 2009 (255) and March of 2010 (252). Most members of my team were seeing gains of 10-15% power during the months preceding the race. I think, through a concerted effort, I should be able to improve upon that number by 10%, which will raise my watts/kilogram (the true test of a cyclist's strength).

Nutrition/Hydration (D+) I did a very poor job of hydrating and eating during the race. I had a bagel, a banana and some water before the race. I ate and drank nothing at T1. I spent almost seven hours on the bike and had only four bottles of water (the goal is a bottle per hour) and approximately 900 calories (the goal is 250 calories per hour). I spent almost five hours on the marathon and had one gel, a few snacks (orange slices, a cookie and a banana slice) and some drinks (probably the equivalent of two bottles). There is really no excuse for this error...it's an ongoing challenge for me in all of my races and it's something I need to work on. I don't know if my legs would have felt any better if I had doubled my nutrition and hydration, but I'm sure I would have had more energy and more grit.

VDOT (A-) In my run training, we use legendary coach Jack Daniels' velocity at VO2 Max (VDOT) method to determine pacing. My VDOT score leading up to the race was 56, which meant that I should be able to run a standalone marathon in just under three hours and an Ironman marathon in approximately three hours and forty minutes. In February, I ran my fastest 5K since high school and a couple of weeks before the race, I ran a 10-mile course within a minute of my personal record. So, although I was lacking tempo runs, mileage volume and brick runs, my run fitness was improving well.

Run pacing (B+) Given the hilly course and the fact that this was my first triathlon, I would have been happy with any time faster than four hours. In looking at my Garmin data, including my walks through the aid stations to force myself to hydrate, I was averaging roughly 8:30-9:00/mile. Thus, I don't think I made a tactical error on the run...I did exactly what I set out to do. I probably could have done more downhill training to prepare my muscles more for the pounding of the course, but I still think I picked the right pace.

Fun (B+) More important than any metrics or times is the fact that we do these things in our spare time, so we need to enjoy them. Overall, my experience in St. George was a very positive one. I signed up to challenge myself and I rose to the challenge. Being able to share the week with some good friends and training partners was icing on the cake.

All of this analysis has one common theme: there were a lot of places where some time could have been shaved off. A flatter course, a more efficient swim stroke, a higher FTP on the bike, more nutrition and hydration, better execution, etc would all have led to a better time. I mentioned in a previous post that I had no desire to do another full Ironman. I still want to focus on other life priorities right now, but I can't say I never, ever want to give it another shot. I'd love to go shave off a couple of hours someday, and I reserve the right to do so, regardless of my talk of retirement a couple of weeks ago = )

Hire Learning

Simon Says — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:59:00 GMT

I have a friend who has been very successful in business, founding multiple companies and building one of them to multi-billion dollar annual revenues. He once taught me a simple three-pronged leadership lesson:

Hire the best people - The contributions of a great hire can be exponentially more than someone who is just "good."
Get out of their way - Nobody needs to be micromanaged, but talented people are particularly turned off by it.
Build in accountability mechanisms - Periodic reports can be inefficient, but perpetual transparency lends itself to higher quality and better teamwork.

Thus, the whole three-step process begins with making great hires. Given the economic status and unemployment rate of most countries these days, finding great talent would seem foolproof. However, I think a lot of companies don't have good processes for vetting candidates for open positions.

Over the years, I have been lucky to build some high performing teams. The single biggest lesson I have learned is to look for intangibles. Think about your best teammates over the years. What made them so great? Was it the big project or strategic sale they closed ten years ago? Was it that college degree and Cisco certification they earned fifteen years ago? Or was it their untiring self-discipline, their disarming communication style with customers, their team-building and peer mentoring skills, their ability to quickly understand new concepts, or the contagious positive attitude they spread around the office? I suspect that their intangible traits were the most valuable for your organization, but how do we detect them during the interview process? Here are some things I have learned:

No method is foolproof - Calm down. There is no way to ensure, without a doubt, that you are choosing the right person. You won't know how effective someone is until after they join your team. However, by the time you open up a requisition, your company already needs someone in that role. So, make a speedy decision. Hemming and hawing for weeks and months will hurt your team in immeasurable ways.
Signs of perseverance - I might not be able to tell how resilient you are in your professional life, but I will know if you have that same mindset by looking for clues in your personal life. For example, I once hired a sales engineer who completed an Ironman triathlon. There is nothing that I would require of him that would be tougher than swimming, cycling and running 140.6 miles. His grit proved true in his loyalty to the company when the economy slowed and his responsibilities grew.
Ability to learn - A couple of years ago, I was looking for a marketing intern and one candidate was light on experience but graduated Magna Cum Laude while playing Division One volleyball at an academically challenging university. That set her apart. Someone like that, if a good cultural fit and genuinely interested in marketing, will easily be able to learn the necessary skills to outperform someone with more experience and less of an ability to learn. She certainly met and exceeded our expectations since then.
Teamwork skills - Joining a company is all about working with a team, and it's very difficult to know what kind of teammate someone is by simply reading a resume and talking to them a few times. I once had the opportunity to hire a stellar guy who played collegiate soccer, became a leadership consultant, performed well in his sales career and obtained master's degrees in ethics and business administration. All of those cohort-related ingredients were the perfect recipe for a great team player, and he has now been provided with the opportunity to be the leader of his own team.
Philanthropic inclinations - I have found that people who are active in the community often bring those same good intentions to their professional life. The same people who serve the people and organizations in their personal life are usually rock stars in their career as well. Those qualities and priorities make for great employees who your team can work with and respect.
Family life - If you want to know more about a person's values and they volunteer information about being a parent, ask them about their children. Some of the most responsible, ethical, influential people I have worked with have had outstanding families.
Raison d'etre - It's important to understand someone's longterm career goals to determine whether your available position would be a good mutual fit. We have all taken the wrong job at one point, and it's important for us to ensure that we are not aiding someone in making a similar mistake. Generally, if the person seeks your company (rather than simply responding to a posted description), there is a higher propensity for their interest to be sincere. It's also important to understand someone's motivations. My best salespeople are often those who are not driven by financial goals, but are more inclined toward healthy competition, pride in one's work or sharing a company vision which resonates with their interests.
Okay to be overqualified - There have been multiple times when I have had the chance to bring on someone who has decided to take a step back from management or otherwise seems much more experienced than the position requires. I once hired a marketing intern who had already co-founded a couple of successful ecommerce companies. Why are these people interested in positions that might seem junior for them? It goes back to the previous point. They enjoy your company, your industry and your role. If their reasons are on-point, bring them aboard and then worry about exactly which role they will play. Intuition is okay, but suspicion can be unhealthy.

Overall, I think that leadership and recruiting are closely intertwined. When the right people are on a team, a leader can look like a genius. There are certainly Super Bowl, World Series and Stanley Cup champion teams who were led by lower caliber coaches than some of their competitors, but almost no world champion team consists of sub-par athletes. By evaluating the intangible traits of our candidates to attract the right ones to join our organization, we can allow employees to flourish. After all, a great company is simply a great collection of people aligned toward a compelling vision, and their leader is just helping them get there.

I'm Finally an Ironman

Simon Says — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:58:00 GMT

This week, I had the opportunity to take some time to pursue a longterm goal of mine: to complete an Ironman triathlon. The process of training to swim 2.4 miles followed by a 112 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile marathon takes several months. Thus, amidst the nerves that arrive on race day is the feeling of relief that there is only another 140.6 miles to go.

I drove to St. George, Utah with some friends who have been mentors for me ever since I took up endurance sports. We arrived on Monday and had the chance to spend the week swimming, riding and running on the course which we would be tackling on Saturday. We wanted to believe that the bike course and run course were not as challenging as people reported, but we were proven wrong. The bike course is the toughest Ironman route in North America (I believe only Ironman Lanzerote is more aggressive) and the run course is the toughest Ironman route in the world. Combined with the frightening winds (we had gusts up to 55mph this week), chip-seal roads (which make for a very bumpy ride) and temperature ranges (the lake where we would be swimming could be as cold as 54 degrees while the air temperature on the run could be as warm as 90 degrees), we were dreading the arrival of this race.

Ironman provides an incredible experience for athletes, though. The check-in process was smooth, their gift shop was buzzing with thousands of people looking for apparel symbolizing this inaugural race, their pre-race banquet featured Dave Orlowski (one of the original 12 Ironmen from 1978), and the logistics of setting up transitions at various locations were perfectly smooth. The company thinks of everything when it comes to putting on an event, from proactive body marking days before the race to assigning a "catcher" who is responsible for your well-being at the finish line. Although there are many 140.6-mile triathlons that people can enter, there is something about the Ironman brand which provides a unique experience for participants.

My race day alarm buzzed at 3:00am in order to allow me to leave at 4:00am to catch the shuttle to the swim-to-bike transition area (T1). The weather was unseasonably cool, with a projected high temperature of less than 70 degrees, which was perfect for me. I was lucky to have more than a dozen friends from my race club also registered for Ironman St. George, almost all of which have done many long course triathlons before (three of which were here for their 10th, 13th and 21st Ironman races). They did a great job of taking me under their wing to show me how to train and how to prepare for the event. We jumped on the shuttle and I realized that I was still holding on to both of my concentrated solution water bottles (one of which I was supposed to leave in a "special needs bag" in order to pick it up at Mile #52 of the bike segment). I decided to improvise and pour the contents of one of those bottles in my aero bottle while putting the other one in the bottle cage on my bike. This meant that I would be starting off my day with more calories and electrolytes than originally planned, but I figured I could refill it with water after the first hour or two and it wouldn't affect me very much. As for nutrition, I had some Cliff bars that I broke up into little pieces in my bento box and I had some GUs in my jersey pocket (as well as Carbo Pro in my concentrated bottle). My plan was to try to take in 200+ calories per hour on the bike and I failed miserably. However, I did eat and drink much more than I usually do on my training rides.

T1 was an amazing sight, with almost 2,000 bikes, people and transition bags set up. The air temperature was in the low 40's, and people were putting on their wetsuits a full hour before the 7:00am start time in an attempt to stay warm. Finally, at 6:40am, we made our way over to the boat ramp. Reports on the water temperature varied quite a bit...we swam at Sand Hollow on Wednesday when it was 57 degrees and the high winds churned the colder water up, cooling off the warmer layer on top. Still, some people were reporting a 58-59 degree temperature. When we jumped in, we certainly didn't believe it. For me, anything 59 or above is somewhat tolerable, while temperatures under 57 will take my breath away for a few minutes until I become numb. We later learned that the temperatures were closer to 54 degrees, as one of our friends was pulled out of the water 400 yards from shore due to hypothermia symptoms. I certainly couldn't breathe when I jumped in and submerged my face. I was anxious to get started in an attempt to burn enough calories to be able to move.

This was my first mass swim start and I was very nervous. Anybody who has ever been in a triathlon knows that the swim can be a huge underwater wrestling match, as people are constantly running into each other, allowing their swim stroke to push other people around (or down into the water) and their feet to kick people in the face (therefore knocking goggles loose). As soon as the cannon fired, I was pummeled by dozens of people trying to sprint ahead to find some open water. I was completely scared. Six months ago, I couldn't swim 25 yards across a pool, and here I was trying not to drown while people were knocking me around and pulling me down. I immediately made a beeline for a nearby support kayak and clung on to its edge for a moment while I gathered my thoughts. I spotted another kayak 100 yards away and I told myself I'd make it there and reassess the situation. As I hung on to the second kayak, I decided I had no choice but to jump into the crowd and try to find a spot where I could swim. Luckily, I did. I planned to try to swing to the far right side of each buoy in order to avoid some of the congestion, but learned that my swim stroke is a bit lopsided and kept veering to the left where the competition was tougher. The plus side is that there is more of a draft on that side, so it is possible for people to swim faster if they are aggressive about getting around (or over) people who swim more slowly. I calmed myself by making a game of it, seeing how many people I could pass, and I kept telling myself that I was swimming really well. In all honesty, I had no idea how fast or slow I was going...the clock could have said 1:05 or 1:45 when I got out and I wouldn't have been surprised either way. Thankfully, it said 1:17:02, which was three minutes faster than my expectation.

My transition time was an incredibly slow 12 minutes, mostly because my hands were too cold to move. I put on arm warmers, two jerseys, gloves, socks, shoes and a helmet and found my bike in the racks. The air temperature was still in the mid 40's (and we expected it to be in the low 40's at the top of the climb), so I was shivering quite a bit. I told the team I coach that I was expecting to spend 6 hours and 45 minutes on the bike. Normally, that would be a very slow bike split for me, but considering the rigor of the course and the fact that I was trying to ride at 70% of my functional threshold (the amount of power which I can produce in one hour of all-out cycling), I thought it was a reasonable expectation. I started at the same exact time as a good friend and training partner and I was passed by another teammate at Mile #6. We rode 22 miles to St. George and then started two 45-mile loops through the hills climbing up to Gunlock and Veyo. The course was congested with cyclists, and it was hard to abide by the drafting, blocking and passing rules that Ironman sets forth, but I did my best to ride an honest race without getting in anyone's draft. I was having some stomach issues, so I stopped at a port-a-potty to try to resolve them, but that didn't work. I was disappointed to lose the 5-6 minutes to no avail, but my back was happy to be able to stretch a little. During the climb up the "Veyo Wall," I heard a familiar voice yell my name...it was my good friend coming up behind me and absolutely crushing her bike time (she finished 4th in her age group). At the 56-mile mark, I looked at my clock and I was astonished to see how slowly I was riding. I was on pace for a 7-hour bike split...I'm pretty sure I can do a 5:30 on a flat course, so I was really disheartened. However, the descent into St. George was pretty fast...at one point I was doing 39mph in my aero bars and having a ton of fun. At Mile #67, I saw some spectators I knew and at Mile #70 I saw my friend and training partner who was doing Ironman St. George for his 40th birthday. He and I rode near each other for 15 miles before I proceeded toward the bike-to-run transition (T2) on my own. There was a second port-a-potty break during that loop which was also unhelpful, and I was accruing a lot of pain (left calf was seizing up, right foot was extremely sore where it was pressing against the pedal, lower back and neck were killing me), so I was wondering how I was going to run a marathon. However, seeing some friends running as I rode into T2 got me excited about joining them out there. The friend whom I rode with got into transition a couple of minutes after me, so I waited up for him and we headed out on the run together.

I was really doubting my run strength during Mile #1, but my calf and foot numbed a bit and I was able to start moving. I was trying to feel for my heart rate and determined that I could comfortably run 8:30/mi pace without bonking or getting sore. I was wrong. The course was very hilly and, although I maintained that pace for the first 14-15 miles, I eventually moved to a walk/jog and then a walk at Mile #17. I was very disappointed to be 9 miles from the finish line and totally unable to run anymore, but my legs and joints simply couldn't support my body weight anymore. I did my best to pace myself, but my inexperience showed. So, I decided to make the most of it and start walking to the best of my capability. I saw quite a few friends on the run course, five of which finished in less than 12 hours (two of them qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii) and a couple of which were walking about as fast as I was. At Mile #20, I was so fatigued that I actually went into a port-a-potty just to be able to sit down for a minute. By Mile #24, I was wondering if I could walk the next two miles. I was feeling faint and trying to take in calories and hydration, but the fear of fainting a couple of miles short of becoming an Ironman was welling up inside of me. At Mile #25, I looked at my watch and realized I was going to "run" a marathon slower than 5 hours if I didn't start moving. I threw caution to the wind and figured if I fainted, it would be better to do it while fighting than while walking. Somehow, my adrenaline allowed me to run a mile to the finish line without falling. I stopped a foot short, dropped to the ground and did a Blazeman Roll in honor of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis victim Jon Blais, who has been a big inspiration to me. As I rose, I was greeted by Bob and Mary Ann Blais, Jon's parents, and being congratulated by them was the best feeling I had all day.

So, although I don't really feel any different and I'm a bit embarrassed about my super-slow marathon, I woke up today an Ironman. I have absolutely no desire to do another 140.6 mile triathlon; for me, it was just a "bucket list" goal to accomplish someday. I'm sure there will come a day when I want to find a flatter course to try to do what I think is possible for me (sub-11 hours), but I will have the memories of my painful 13:31 day to sober me from that inclination. Regardless of my retirement from that distance, I am eternally thankful for the friends who encouraged me to ride a bike, taught me how to swim, and guided me to this goal. Now, it's time to work on the next item on my bucket list, which I will blog about soon.

The Rarity of Hedgehogs

Simon Says — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:48:01 GMT

I have found most business books to contain some good theories and a few employable practices, but they require a healthy dose of reality checking on the part of the reader. In my experience, Jim Collins' Good to Great has been the anomaly. I have been able to apply virtually every concept in that book to almost any organization in my professional life and my civic life. After all, it would be hard to try to refute the universal need for authentic leadership, great people and a focused strategic plan, right?

The one lesson that I see technology companies continually struggle with is the Hedgehog Concept. Simply put, this is the concept that businesses who emulate a hedgehog (an animal that focuses on one activity rather than many, like a fox) have a greater chance of success.How do you figure out your business' "one direction?" Use the Venn Diagram below to determine the overlap between your company's deepest passions, the activities which drive your economic engine, and the offering(s) in which you are the best in the world.

Over the years, I have watched many technology companies place their passions as their highest priority. Naturally, technology startups are passionate about innovation, which often leads them in the direction of the fox. They start projects without analyzing the market to determine if their new invention will drive their economic engine. Then, they release half-coded products/features/services and move on to the next thing without ensuring quality and competitive protection.

I have worked for companies that have this mentality, and it becomes very difficult to market or sell their offerings. Prospective customers don't usually have the budget or the interest in selecting more than one vendor. They simply want to figure out which partner is the best fit for their needs, and they will enter into a contract with that provider. Thus, it is the duty of the sales and marketing organization to find businesses that have those specific needs and to establish the credibility that their products and services are truly the best in the world for those businesses. All too often, I see technology companies that wonder why their sales team isn't more successful. Certainly, it could be a question of ineffective marketing, time management, sales cycle management, partner management, or dozens of other factors. However, how many executive teams earnestly consider the fact that they just might not be the best option for their target market? It doesn't take a lot of cold calls or lost opportunities for the sales team to figure it out. Is it a question of pride or is there a lack of analytics that allow many management teams to overlook their competitive weaknesses?

The good news is that your business does not need to be the best in the world at everything. You just need to excel at something. Not just according to your website and your marketing collateral. Really, truly the best at some aspect of your industry. If you carve out your niche and dominate it, your customers will be the first to evangelize it for you. In this age of information availability, a customer testimonial in a well-measured case study is worth 1,000 claims by your sales and marketing messaging.

So, in which area of your industry are you the best? When I was in the web analytics industry, we watched a little-known company with almost no marketing prowess called Visual Sciences make a name for itself in complex modeling with large data sets. We saw Coremetrics gain market share with their focus on sophisticated retailers. Neither company was as big as WebTrends or Omniture, but they were the best at something. In the email marketing world, CheetahMail was known for the impenetrable relationship its Account Managers had with their customers and Strongmail made a name for itself in the email infrastructure appliance market while ExactTarget tried to be the easiest solution to use. In such a crowded industry, there was no clear favorite, but it wasn't impossible to be the #1 choice for a subgroup of decision makers. Notice that I didn't mention price in my examples. If your strategy is to be #2 or #3 at everything but to offer a lower price, I would urge you to reconsider that notion. You're better off charging enough to be able to offer a higher quality solution than skimping and attracting the fickle bargain hunting crowd.

If you work for a service provider and you can't truthfully explain why your company is the best at the world at something, it is time for an emergency meeting. Don't let your marketing and sales organization fight with plastic spoons...give them something compelling to say. Stop trying to be something to everyone and be the best in the world for someone. Your customers will be more loyal, your support team will be more happy and your sales team will be more successful.

Napa Valley Marathon

Simon Says — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:21:00 GMT

Last Sunday marked the two-year anniversary of my first full marathon. Without much knowledge of training, nutrition, equipment or strategy, I haphazardly signed up for the 2008 Napa Valley Marathon. A friend from Colorado and I had a phone conversation about running and we both decided we would do our first marathon together in Big Sur at the end of April. For some reason, I thought I’d try running Napa a few weeks beforehand to see if I could do it. At that point, with only one half-marathon under my belt, registering for two marathons in a seven week span seemed totally logical to a novice like me.

I did most of my training on the treadmill on my garage, including a 15-miler, 16-miler, 18-miler and 20-miler. I think I might have brought some nutrition down there for the 20-miler, but otherwise, I would place one Gatorade bottle in the cup holder and I’d do 7:08 miles while holding a PlayStation controller and playing Tiger Woods Golf or NCAA Football (it was a funny sight, to say the least). Every mile was an adventure on which I had not yet embarked, and every long run was a new personal record which I was achieving for the first time. When race day came, I headed up to Napa with a little trepidation, but surely had no idea what I was getting into. That day, there were some elite women on the starting line looking to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials at Boston the following month, and they must have wondered who the weird guy was doing wind sprints on the Silverado Trail to warm up for a marathon.

My first marathon story was the classic tale of elation and agony, with a speedy first 18-19 miles and a lot of walking toward the end. Did I have a good time? That depends on how you look at it. The clock showed three hours and 27 minutes from start to finish, which is still my worst finish in a marathon (except for one where I paced a friend). However, my sentiment is certainly with Napa. It was a memorable experience which I will always cherish, and the gorgeous scenery, perfect weather and uniquely amazing race. At other marathons, you get a plastic throwaway bag for your sweats. At Napa, you get a large, high quality duffel bag (I still use mine regularly). At other marathons, only the elites get a special needs drop-off at a latter mile marker. At Napa, every participant is granted that option. At other marathons, you might end up running through industrial neighborhoods over ridiculous hills sandwiched between tens of thousands of people. At Napa, a capped list of 2800 runners traverse the gorgeous Silverado Trail while checking out some of the world’s most popular wineries.

It is my affinity for the Napa Valley Marathon that had led me to make my pilgrimage back there every year. Last year, I ran in their associated 5K and then hurried to the marathon course to cheer on a few friends. This year, I had the opportunity to join a talented friend who was making Napa her first marathon, just as I had done two years earlier. Of course, she was much smarter about her training and pacing and her finishing time of 3 hours and 10 minutes are certain proof.

I don’t know how long I’ll carry on the tradition of making the trip up to Napa every year, but I hope to make it again in 2011. If you are considering a marathon around that time of year, I would highly recommend joining us here in Northern California.

Marathon #7

Simon Says — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:48:00 GMT

In April and in August, I blogged about my experiences with the Boston Marathon and the Vineman Marathon. On Sunday, I had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Santa Barbara International Marathon from Goleta to Santa Barbara, California. Generally, there is a perennial gravitation amongst members of my race club to register for the California International Marathon in the Sacramento area, but after a cold and dreary experience with that race last year, I didn't feel like returning to that particular one. A friend and training partner posted the link to SBIM on my Facebook wall, and within a couple of days we had a group of more than twenty people signed up to make the road trip to Santa Barbara. Our gamble paid off, as there was a significant temperature and wind chill difference between the two locations on race day.

There once was a Santa Barbara Marathon during the 1970's and 80's but, during the past couple of years, a board member of the Santa Barbara Athletic Association named Rusty Snow worked to create a new race. The course was certainly scenic, with very mild rolling hills during the first 16 miles and a couple of significant ones later on (including a fairly challenging grade during Mile #24). It was smoothly organized, except for a half hour delay to the start time which was blamed on a traffic accident, but skeptics who saw the long bathroom lines thought that was a convenient excuse. Either way, all was forgotten by 7:00am.

Had you asked me four weeks ago about my expectations for this race, I would have predicted a personal record. After a lackluster training season interrupted by a career change accompanied by long commute hours, I surprised myself by posting a 2:12:59 20-mile time at the Clarksburg Country Run. Based on that time, I felt like I was in shape to easily break three hours in Santa Barbara. However, during the week leading up to the race, I developed a nagging upper hamstring and IT band injury on my right leg and both legs felt relatively dead during the weekend. I didn't know if it was due to racing too hard at Clarksburg or mismanaging my taper, but my sub-3 intention seemed a bit more far-fetched by Sunday morning.

Still, I decided to run a very disciplined 6:52/mile pace for as long as I could before deciding how I felt in the latter, hillier miles. That plan went well for most of the race, and this was one marathon where I could honestly say I picked the right pace and didn't make any mental mistakes. Still, the pounding of the downhill sections during the last eight miles took its toll on my legs and I had a lot of cramping issues by Mile #23. It wasn't too difficult for me to hold a 7:00/mile pace, but anything faster would cause a calf, hamstring or quad to immediately cramp. Though I could see my friend and training partner a minute or two ahead of me throughout the race, there was nothing I could do about it towards the end. Even the overall winner who was trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials experienced the same phenomenon on that course. So, I ran conservatively and cruised into the finishing chute in 3:03:24.

The addictive thing about endurance sports is the drive to improve. The sane side of me says that I should be proud of my race execution, which was much smarter than my blow-up at Vineman. However, the perfectionist in me knows that I'm capable of improving by a few minutes and I'm already itching to prove it to myself. Luckily, there is a humbling and cathartic feeling in one's post-marathon legs that counteracts the ambition in his/her head and heart. That feeling can only be described by this commercial from the 2007 Flora London Marathon.

Overall, my own performance was secondary to those of many of my teammates. I am proud and amazed by the personal records and Boston qualifiers that were run by some of my friends, and I can't wait to join them on Heartbreak Hill again in 2011.