Inside Tri – what are you doing?!
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Let me preface my comments with the fact that I have absolutely zero experience in the magazine publishing business. However, I’m an avid triathlete and a believer that the web is changing the way how everybody does business. I believe it is pretty reasonable to assume that the print business in general as we have known it is going the way of the newspaper.
So, imagine my reaction when I recently got the latest issue of Inside Triathlon with a special notice on the cover indicating they were changing their format. The message essentially said they are no longer going to be a monthly publication but instead a bi-monthly publication that goes into more detail on each story.
What struck me about the message is they actually use the phrase “Look forward to the anti-Web site print magazine”?! While I can see the value of providing more in depth stories for readers who desire it, is Inside Tri living under a rock? Do they see some movement away from the Internet that I’m missing along with the rest of the world?
There are plenty of other magazine subscribers like me who are letting their subscriptions run out because more timely and accessible content is available. This leads to a more unattractive value proposition for advertisers for several reasons:
- Lower subscriptions = lower impressions
- Inferior tracking – advertisers are waking up to the fact that the web allows them to better track their spending and ROI. Can we really know how much business was generated from that full page color ad? Usually not. Can we find out how many prospects clicked on a well placed web ad and how many of those clicks turned into revenue? Definitely. Companies like Hubspot are making this easier for businesses to effectively track their spending
- Print ads are one way – How I view an ad is the advertiser interupting what I’m doing and telling me about what they want to sell me. But, I can’t talk back and tell them that I’m not interested. So, what happens? Now I’m conditioned to ignore all advertisements because I’m sick of being interupted and not having the opportunity to talk back. What the web allows business to do is to have a two way conversation. Whether it is in the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc, etc, etc. there are an ever growing number of tools available for businesses to have a two-way conversation with their prospects and customers.
I sincerely hope that I’m wrong about Inside Tri. Maybe there is some grand plan to incorporate their website with this new format. Maybe my extreme lack of magazine publishing experience will make this blog post pointless. Time will tell…
Dave
So, I’ve kept a blog for the past couple of years on my experiences and thoughts on the triathlon side of my life. Over the past several months I’ve found myself either writing, or wanting to write about more.
As I thought about a theme to focus the blog on there were several things that I wrestled with. My family and friends are the most important thing in my life, should that be my focus? Professionally I’ve been in some kind of sales role since I was 16. I could write a ton of content on sales. I’ve been experiencing an exponential interest in social media, to the point where I’m trying to weave it more into my professional life – that would be a great focus. I’m already writing about how triathlon impacts my life. Too many things to write about!!
My answer, write about them all in a new blog titled (for now at least) simply Dave.
Enjoy and thanks for participating in my social media experience!
Running at warp speed
This morning I went for my first run since the marathon, which was almost three weeks ago. I was a little nervous about how the tendonitis in my left foot would feel, but it turned out to be back to normal. Thank goodness.
I was up early, about 4:30, so after checking my e-mail, the weather and my twitter account, I headed out for my run by 5, armed with my reflective vest and headlamp. It’s an unusually warm morning in NH for this time of year, 57 degrees, and while it isn’t raining there is a fine mist in the air.
Well, the effect that had while I was running was a little like seeing the warp speed effect on the Star Trek (my guilty pleasure in college with my roommates was watching Picard on the Next Generation episodes).
The headlamp shines a pretty focused beam of light straight in front my eyes. With the water droplets seemingly hanging in mid-air as I ran throuh them, the effect it gave was like going at warp speed – even though I was far from it. After all, It was my first run in a while.
Another way to describe, if you’ve ever driven through a snow storm at night (something we get to do plenty here in NH). It’s like the snow flying toward toward your headlights with the snow being so heavy that you can’t see much further than a few feet in front of the car because the snowflakes are catching all the light from the headlights in a successful effort to blind your driving efforts.
Indian Head Trail
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| Indian Head Trail |
Yesterday I did a hike with Suzan and some of the athletes she coached this year. We did a relatively short hike up the Indian Head Trail in Lincoln to Mount Pemigewasset. We ended up with a perfect day that started out in the mid-30’s but climbed to the low-40’s by the time we got to the top.
Last year Suzan had a similar gathering but we did a trail run. Having just finished the Green Mountain Marathon a couple of weeks ago I was secretly glad that she wasn’t doing a run this year, but rather an easy hike. Or so I thought.
It ended up being more of a power walk than an easy hike. I don’t think Suzan could help herself – she normally either power walks the trail, or runs up it.
I knew many of the others on the hike but it was great to catch up with some other athletes and talk tri. We were treated with the pleasure of seeing Suzan’s new bike. A Guru Crono with customized purple paint job and lettering. I didn’t get a picture but here is the model.
The afternoon was topped off with lunch back at Suzan’s house before the drive back to the NH seacoast. I ended up being more beat than I thought I would and crashed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.
Seeing the bike, I got the urge to get out on mine so I’m hoping to get a ride in tomorrow even though it is supposed to be pretty chilly.
Dave Criswell 