"I have had enough!"
Of the negative news that the papers, websites and various other media channels have been flooding us with over the past number of months. Now don't get me wrong, ignorance regarding the situation facing the finance, housing and automotive industries is not bliss. However, the constant, daily and unremitting negative reminders every is not going to magically get people to become positive.
I am NOT going to read newspapers!
Actually I will continue to read the paper each day. Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/) that is delivered by 7 am each morning and the on-line version of the Globe & Mail (.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/) Horoscopes, entertainment, sports (go Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles!( http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/index2.html). I will not read the Business section: all the news is negative and all those 'negative vibes" are getting me down. And I am tired of being down.
Forget TV news!
Haven't watched one in years. Don't plan to start any time soon. The 'pretty faces' and endless talking heads do nothing for me in terms of giving me information I can actually use. And if I have to witness one more perfectly coiffed head trying to be sincere...
Local Radio News...NOT!
True confession here: I do actually listen to news on a couple of local stations. 97.7 The Beach ( http://www.977thebeach.ca/) in Wasaga Beach and Rock 95 in Barrie (http://www.rock95.com/). Need the local weather and traffic. Don't need the latest story about local politics or the minor sports teams.
What I am looking for is information and stories about people and companies who while having to deal with the realities of the economy are trying to grow their businesses. By launching new products, by talking up the benefits of their current products, by being realistic and staying positive. I need my new sources to do that for me.
A good example of a media outlet doing that for me is MacLeans Magazine (http://blog.macleans.ca/). This blog provides the information and thoughtful analysis that allows me to stay informed without being negative.
Any other media outlet or company who does that will grab my attention and make it more likely that I will want to do business with them.
It's time for a new drink...!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Beach
14 kilometres.
Warm water of the southern shores of Georgian Bay lap gently most mornings. Stiff offshore wind stirred up whitecaps occasionally. OK, more often than not.
Wasaga Beach. Billed as the longest stretch of sandy beach in Ontario has been the location for some of my most favourite runs over the past couple of years.
Most people think of Wasaga Beach as the noisy, crowed, loud hot stretch along the Main Beach area. Situated near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River beside a Provincial Park, this area is what you would expect : lovely soft white sand leading out to gently sloping water.
This is not my beach.
Further west the sand reverts to a flat, hard pack surface. Stretches for nearly 14 kilometres west of the main beach area past numerous provincial park areas. Stunning beachfront mansions dot the shoreline.
The peaks of Blue Mountain are clearly visible to the west. Spectacular!
Down to the beach past the numerous cottages that line the small streets north of the main road. In the summer, lots of cottagers enjoy their early morning coffee on their porches. In the winter mostly deserted.
I hit the Beach and usually head west to enjoy the rising sun illuminate the slopes of Blue Mountain in the distance.
Because it is flat and crescent shaped, distance and perspective is deceiving. Shoreline cottages that appear close take longer than you think to get to them.
Running on the hard packed sand is a treat to the knees. And increases the workout.
Most mornings I run alone.
My beach!
Warm water of the southern shores of Georgian Bay lap gently most mornings. Stiff offshore wind stirred up whitecaps occasionally. OK, more often than not.
Wasaga Beach. Billed as the longest stretch of sandy beach in Ontario has been the location for some of my most favourite runs over the past couple of years.
Most people think of Wasaga Beach as the noisy, crowed, loud hot stretch along the Main Beach area. Situated near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River beside a Provincial Park, this area is what you would expect : lovely soft white sand leading out to gently sloping water.
This is not my beach.
Further west the sand reverts to a flat, hard pack surface. Stretches for nearly 14 kilometres west of the main beach area past numerous provincial park areas. Stunning beachfront mansions dot the shoreline.
The peaks of Blue Mountain are clearly visible to the west. Spectacular!
Down to the beach past the numerous cottages that line the small streets north of the main road. In the summer, lots of cottagers enjoy their early morning coffee on their porches. In the winter mostly deserted.
I hit the Beach and usually head west to enjoy the rising sun illuminate the slopes of Blue Mountain in the distance.
Because it is flat and crescent shaped, distance and perspective is deceiving. Shoreline cottages that appear close take longer than you think to get to them.
Running on the hard packed sand is a treat to the knees. And increases the workout.
Most mornings I run alone.
My beach!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Blogging Experience, January 12, 2009 Update
I began blogging in October 2008 as a way to publish material I had written over the past 5 years or so about buzzwords in business. I was also at a point in my life when I needed to express thoughts and feelings that were buzzing inside me that I needed an outlet for. The blog seemed like the perfect place to start.
I consider my experience as a newbie blogger no different from other newbies: I went to blogger.com and signed up. Started my first blog, http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/ to post the chapters of the book I was dying to publish. Did everything wrong of course. Sent emails to unsolicited contacts, didn’t promote it effectively. Kept pushing material out and getting limited feedback.
But feeling excited, I started another blog, http://myfavouriteruns.blogspot.com/. This one to post stories about places I have. Seemed like a good idea. But now I had to write two posts each week.
Whew, this was turning into work. Thankfully I was out of work.
Had another idea for another blog. This one about my car driving experiences, http://carsihavedriven.blogspot.com/. Now three blogs to manage each week.
This progressed merrily along for a couple of months. I had a lot of material I had previously written so even though I was posting only three articles once each week, it seemed as if I had a lot of material. Quickly found out that this was not the case as the older material depleted.
Also of course signed up with Adsence https://www.google.com/adsense/login/en_US/. Making money seemed like a really good idea.
The week looked something like this:
Write articles over the weekend or early in the week
Revise mid-week
Post Friday: send email to 30 or so friends, update Facebook page, Twitter, Zimbio
Results: 70 – 80 page visits within 24 hours. 20 – 30 cents in earned revenue from the few folks who clicked on the ads.
Whew, a lot of work for a little money. Not going to pay the mortgage at this rate
Then took the next step: condense the three blogs into one. So in late December I exported all the stories from http://myfavouriteruns.blogspot.com/ and http://carsihavedriven.blogspot.com/. Used labels to identify the story categories. Seemed to consolidate nicely all my efforts. Also decided to post earlier in the week. Still sent out the emails and did the other promotion.
Flat. No increase in visits or click-through. Frustrated.
Got feedback separately though that the writing style was good. Some people enjoyed the stories. No interaction on the blogs though.
Now at the point where I need to understand what I need to write to get people to respond…
I consider my experience as a newbie blogger no different from other newbies: I went to blogger.com and signed up. Started my first blog, http://mykalsreport.blogspot.com/ to post the chapters of the book I was dying to publish. Did everything wrong of course. Sent emails to unsolicited contacts, didn’t promote it effectively. Kept pushing material out and getting limited feedback.
But feeling excited, I started another blog, http://myfavouriteruns.blogspot.com/. This one to post stories about places I have. Seemed like a good idea. But now I had to write two posts each week.
Whew, this was turning into work. Thankfully I was out of work.
Had another idea for another blog. This one about my car driving experiences, http://carsihavedriven.blogspot.com/. Now three blogs to manage each week.
This progressed merrily along for a couple of months. I had a lot of material I had previously written so even though I was posting only three articles once each week, it seemed as if I had a lot of material. Quickly found out that this was not the case as the older material depleted.
Also of course signed up with Adsence https://www.google.com/adsense/login/en_US/. Making money seemed like a really good idea.
The week looked something like this:
Write articles over the weekend or early in the week
Revise mid-week
Post Friday: send email to 30 or so friends, update Facebook page, Twitter, Zimbio
Results: 70 – 80 page visits within 24 hours. 20 – 30 cents in earned revenue from the few folks who clicked on the ads.
Whew, a lot of work for a little money. Not going to pay the mortgage at this rate
Then took the next step: condense the three blogs into one. So in late December I exported all the stories from http://myfavouriteruns.blogspot.com/ and http://carsihavedriven.blogspot.com/. Used labels to identify the story categories. Seemed to consolidate nicely all my efforts. Also decided to post earlier in the week. Still sent out the emails and did the other promotion.
Flat. No increase in visits or click-through. Frustrated.
Got feedback separately though that the writing style was good. Some people enjoyed the stories. No interaction on the blogs though.
Now at the point where I need to understand what I need to write to get people to respond…
Friday, January 9, 2009
Marketing a Running/Cruise Vacation idea
This is an idea that has been percolating for a number of years. It involves two of my loves: running and travelling. At its core, the idea is to appeal to runners who want to take a cruise vacation and give them something extra: escorted runs on each island stop. I called it the 'Caribbean Marathon': 4 stops, approximately 10 km at each stop = Marathon.
Pitched the original idea the 'old school' way to The Running Room. Not interested at the time. I let it slide. As the economy has become more challenging over the past few months, the idea came back to me as a way to generate business for not only the cruise lines but for sponsors who want to target runners.
This time I am experimenting with 'new school' marketing: exclusively using social media. And the response after day 1 has been interesting.
Here is what I have done so far:
Pitched the original idea the 'old school' way to The Running Room. Not interested at the time. I let it slide. As the economy has become more challenging over the past few months, the idea came back to me as a way to generate business for not only the cruise lines but for sponsors who want to target runners.
This time I am experimenting with 'new school' marketing: exclusively using social media. And the response after day 1 has been interesting.
Here is what I have done so far:
- Set up a group on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=42928009310 as a place to promote the idea and get feedback
- Posted in Linkedin group, 'Running in Business': http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=89768
- Posted in other Facebook running groups
- Posted in Tribal Running group: http://www.tribalrunning.net/group/ontariorunners
- Updated Twitter
The message in all of these postings was to ask for advice on how to execute this idea. Did not try to sell anything.
First response:
- What a great idea. Here are my comments:
-Will you have an attraction on each run? Maybe a little tour or information when you get to each attraction.
-Make a scavenge hunt and have the runners take a picture of the item.
-Arrange strength workouts for runners in the gym when not on an island.
-Get the runners to be able to dine together at the meals on the cruise ship.
-Don’t run laps on the cruise ship as a group. BORING!
-What about a contest of some sort. Guys vs gals…number of miles run during the cruise.
-A raffle for running stuff. Or an auction of running stuff and proceeds go to a running organization like Girls on the Run, or some organization that helps kids, people get into running.
Second response:
- I have seen your note prosted on Linkedin.
I really like the idea on running a caribean marathon. In Europe there is a concept like this, see http://www.cypruschallenge.com/, maybe you can take a look at this website (this is a four day run on 1 island, most people combine this with their holiday or even honeymoon!!!).
I would add some extras to the trip like while you are on the ship some presentations about running you could invite some experts who do a presentation about topics that are related to running.
For me, this is excellent. Targeted message, asked for something specific, got response that I can use.
My next steps are to post the above responses on the Facebook group, continue to monitor feedback, refine the concept, identify sponsors and think about how to promote and sell the trips.
Stay tuned...
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