You Wanna Do WHAT in 2012???

Oh no, not another how-to-keep-your-new-year’s-resolution article. No (phew). This article will not dispense advice about how to keep your resolutions.

Because before you can figure out how to keep your resolutions, it’s even more important to determine how to make them in the first place.

According to a Marist poll (Time Magazine, 2010), only 65% of people who make a resolution keep it for at least part of the year and 35% never even get off the ground. This is not due solely to laziness or lack of motivation. It could also be the case because most people do not create the right resolutions for them in the first place, which herein will be referred to as “goals.”

We have learned the importance of setting ourselves up for success with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Oriented, Time-Bound) goals, and that’s important but even more important is the sentiment behind them.

Before committing to a goal, ask yourself the following, and remember these are about you so there is no right answer.

Is this goal authentic to who I am? Are you pursuing the goal because you really desire the outcome or because you feel outside pressure? Maybe you want to get along better with your co-workers, always a noble cause. Ask yourself how this matches up to your core values. Are you seeking to create more harmony in the workplace, or to complete work faster through teaming? Or are you looking to advance your own career to earn a promotion or to avoid negative consequence after receiving feedback from others that you need to improve your interpersonal skills? How does this goal resonate with who you are? What does “getting along better” mean to you? Is this really what you need to accomplish or would you be better served to work on seeing others’ perspectives both inside and outside the office? Again, none of these are wrong as long as they resonate with your true self. Or maybe you want to spend more time with your children. Is the reason that you have been spending too much time doing something of lesser priority or that it isn’t about time at all but more about becoming more engaged in their lives?

What do I actually want? For example, suppose you’re debating with your significant other about what to do for the weekend. You want to got to the beach and relax with a good book and a margarita or two. S/he wants to go sightseeing. When you you look at the desired result instead of the activity, you see that you seek relaxation while s/he wants to experience a new adventure. Understanding this, you could select activities that accomplish both of your desires.

The Marist poll revealed that the #1 New Year’s goal is weight loss. And yet so many people fail at this goal year after year, or they go gangbusters at the gym, lose the weight, only to regain thereafter. Perhaps the weight loss itself shouldn't be their primary focus, but rather what they think achieving it will do--make them healthier; increase energy levels; improve mood, concentration, sexual performance, effectiveness at work, etc; make their jeans fit better, etc. If you start with the desired result, you can set your goal and a number of measurable objectives to accomplish that goal. 3x weekly cardio workouts, for example, is just one tactic. If you want your jeans to fit better, you may choose to track your progress by photographing yourself in those jeans monthly and adjusting your tactics as needed. But know what you really want to happen as a result of meeting your goal. You may decide you need to re-state the goal to align to your true desire.

What’s in it for me? As is the case when you contemplate any big purchase, new job, etc, you need to understand how you will benefit from achieving the goal. If your goal is to fit into a dress for your sister’s wedding, what will be your net gain? The feeling of confidence at the wedding? Conformity with others who will be in the photos? The start to a healthier you? Would your net benefit be greater if you maintain that size permanently? Could you get an even bigger bang-for-the-buck by combining this goal with another one? For example, if you also seek more social interaction, you could enroll in group fitness classes to accomplish both fitting into the dress size and meeting new people. Again, there are no wrong answers. Just be very clear on how you want to benefit and then ask yourself if the goal you’ve outlined will help you achieve this.

And never be afraid to iterate. Your goals and resolutions are for you so if your desires and feelings change, go with it. And be sure to write everything down, track your progress, and celebrate your success. Now that’s SMART.

Got Value?

Any marketer worth her salt is familiar with the concept of value-based selling. But where is value derived? Can customers be sub-segmented based on their core value drivers?

It depends on the customer and on the buying decision at hand. It is a pretty safe bet that some element of the experience is at play in just about every buying decision--whether that experiential element is the level of convenience in making a low touch purchase--i.e. pack of gum that is prominently placed at the grocery store checkout counter--or the amount of attention a customer receives from a service department after making a large-volume, high dollar IT purchase.

In general, the more risk that’s involved and the higher the touch in a buying decision, the larger a role an individual’s value system will play, relegating him or her to a segment of one.

And if you think about it, experiential elements stem from consumer values in all aspects of life. Recall the last time you bought a house or car, decided whether to commit to a personal relationship, or chose to take a new job. What was involved in that decision? If you’re like many people, you made a list of desirable attributes that became decision criteria.

Many of the value-driven attributes on our lists reflect our desire not only to benefit from the positive, but to avoid negative experiences we’ve had in the past. For example, a person who felt lonely in a past relationship may seek affection in the next one; the car buyer whose last vehicle broke down unexpectedly on the highway may prioritize reliability in his auto purchase; and the legal assistant who felt unappreciated in her last job may seek a new role with a firm that has a formal recognition program.

I admit to using such lists to organize my thoughts for all of those big decisions, and that they all stem from my values and desired experiences. I value safety in a vehicle over comfort; attentiveness and fidelity in a relationship over financial abundance; creative freedom in a job over title and bonus incentives. For these, I could be listed among sub-segments of people who share similar values. However, other elements I seek separate me from these segments. For example, growing up in small spaces amidst a large family, I developed an affinity for storage space. For me, sharing a closet is a stronger indicator of commitment in a relationship than a ring. When evaluating vendors and contractors for work, past experiences with a few who required extensive amounts of management time lead me to look for people who are resourceful problem-solvers.

So the next time you are considering your segmentation models for your marketing efforts, look through the wider lens of desired experiences stemming from individual values.

Oh, and stay out of my closet!


Photo Credit: Magicofteams.com

What Your Facebook Behavior Says About You

With over 500 million active users and the average user having 130 friends*, we’ve pretty much seen it all when it comes to online behavior and personas. The premise of the site makes it easy to create new impressions by showing other sides of yourself. Shy people may find confidence behind the keyboard to share aspects of their lives that they wouldn’t in a face-to-face setting, and others love having the ability to share elements of their daily lives with many people at once.

Whatever your reasons for engaging with Facebook, your online behavior can reveal certain elements of your personality, perhaps ones you didn’t intend. Here are just a few.

If You: Update several times per day with every little detail of your life
Then You: May have a circle of Facebook friends who are truly interested in what you had for breakfast or your child’s potty-training progress. There is likely a larger group who doesn’t care. Professional contacts may question your judgment.

If You: Judge people who update several times per day with every little detail of their lives
Then You: Share an opinion with many others. However, keep in mind that people have different reasons for interacting with online social communities. If it isn’t hurting anyone, why worry about it?

If You: Friend your personal and professional contacts on the same page (not a fan page) and proceed to broadcast and sell all the livelong day
Then You: Need to look up the definition of “online community,” and pay particular attention to the word “community.”

If You: Unfriend. Then refriend. Then unfriend. Then refriend.
Then You: Really need to grow up. Sadly, this doesn’t apply solely to teens. It has been the case where grown adults become irritated with others and unfriend them to make a point, only to refriend them after patching things up - a passive-aggressive move since many have several Facebook friends and don’t usually realize they’ve been unfriended (oh, the horror).

If You: Frequently stop in your tracks to update your Facebook status, i.e. while marching in a parade, while standing at the altar during your nephew’s baptism, during a first date, or right in the middle of a fitness instructor training (just sayin’)....
Then You: May have a serious problem and could be missing out on the fullness of each experience.

If You: Enjoy posting to your status cryptic updates or inside jokes that only one or two people will understand
Then You: Risk alienating everyone else. Then again, annoying as it may be, if you aren’t hurting anyone, who really cares?

*Source: Facebook.com statistics
Photo Credit: Tipdeck.com

A Not-So-Unlikely Marketer

When Liana Veda was growing up, she knew she was destined for a career that involved music. Inspired by her parents, music and dance were a given in Liana’s life, including multiple cultures and genres. To say that Liana’s professional career has variety would be an understatement. She is a dancer, choreographer, make-up artist, ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network) Jammer, international recording artist, instructor, ......and marketer.

Yes, that’s right, marketer.

And I am pretty sure that when she was a child bouncing around the house with a microphone and belting out bilingual song lyrics, Liana did not tell her parents that she aspired to become an event and product marketer, but that is exactly what happened.

Liana is a living example of the true value marketing brings to a fitness event. After all, we can create the world’s best products and services, but if nobody knows about them and, more importantly, if nobody demands them, they never see the light of day.

Liana has the shrewd business sense that makes her an artist who is also a pragmatist. She focuses on the creative elements, and pays close attention to the people who will enjoy and appreciate them, addressing their main drivers and product requirements. That’s marketing.

When she set out to spread the word about the 3rd Annual New England Master Zumba Class (which became better known as “Zumbafest”) on March 20, 2011 to benefit the Autism Speaks Organization, Liana identified her target market. starting with a group of loyal enthusiasts- on whom she could rely to make the message viral. Yours truly was in this group. That’s marketing.

She made these early adopters part of her promotional team and identified additional market requirements (in this case, requests for certain Zumba Education Specialists (ZESs) and Jammers to be included) from others in their classes and networks. That’s marketing.

Liana created informational brochures (marketing collateral) and made ample use of her own broad social networks, which included people from all professions--current and former clients, friends, colleagues, students, etc-- and kept the excitement alive through frequent interactions on fan pages. Her constituents fueled this energy by conversing among themselves through the same forums and inviting their friends, clients, etc. to participate. That’s marketing.

As producer for the event, Liana created content and an outreach plan that highlighted the ZESs and Jammers for their unique qualities (in other words, product features and benefits) and communicated with contagious enthusiasm. Liana understands that her product is not a ticket, but that she is instead selling an experience that would be tested and evaluated subjectively in the market. Her personal brand is so powerful that she is able to sell out charity events and create an affinity of followers. That’s marketing.

And finally, once the sold-out event had concluded, she sent a special note of thanks to her supporters, keeping them engaged and continuing the conversation through additional touch points after the event ended. That’s marketing.

In closing, it is also considered marketing when an independent blogger plugs your product in an opinion piece. So if you like latin rhythms, be sure to check out Liana Veda’s premiere self-titled album, Liana, on iTunes. Oh, and Zumbafest was a blast. Spread the word.



Photo credit: Liana Veda

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner - or My Client in a Box

Patrick Swayze made the line, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” famous when he stood up for his girlfriend as her parents tried to suppress her individuality in the famous coming of age film, Dirty Dancing.

And now, in a much smaller venue, I take the same stand for personal training clients everywhere. While most trainers today tend to agree about the “personal” element of personal training and that we need to customize programs to each client individually, many still subscribe to the school of thought that clients with common goals can follow the same diet and exercise regimen and that their bodies will respond the same way.

If it were that simple, I would look like a supermodel by now.

It’s not uncommon to find personal trainers becoming frustrated with their clients when their bodies don’t tighten, slim down, or achieve the desired muscle tone as a result of a trainer-prescribed diet and workout routine, especially when that diet and routine proved successful for others who had similar goals. Some even become frustrated, thinking their clients aren’t committed to the result. After all, one of our common pet peeves is realized when we are committed to clients who are not committed to themselves.

However, it can also be the case that a client is simply constructed differently from others. Differences can be seen in many places-- from metabolism to hormones to heredity. This doesn’t mean the client is precluded from achieving the desired result, however it could take more time and different programming to make it happen.

As trainers, it is part of our responsibility to check in frequently with our clients to determine level of motivation, which can fluctuate. Even clients with the best of intentions and the highest level dedication can be temporarily thwarted by that pesky thing we call life. Anything can cause a temporary negative impact on the training effect-- from a job change to difficulties in the home, the marriage, or with children, to caring for an elderly relative, a death in the family, or even pressures from unsupportive families and friends. Our personal training certification courses teach that although transactionally our relationships with clients are professional, part of our roles as trainers is to have our fingers on the pulse of what is going on in their lives so that we can tailor their diets and workouts accordingly(1).

And how do we come to find out what is going on? Simply put, we earn their trust by proving ourselves trustworthy. We check in frequently with our clients and always always always treat them with empathy and respect, realizing that like us, they are not perfect, and working to understand the root causes of anything that could be impacting their success. Since most of us are not psychologists or medical doctors, we can operate within our locus of control by treating our clients with understanding and by proactively changing their routines to help motivate around whatever is throwing them off-course.

As a new trainer, I continue to grow my own skills in this field, and am learning a great deal from each client. While they all have separate goals and objectives and distinct training plans, they share the common thread of being first and foremost human, thereby dealing with many similar human struggles. By acknowledging and working with their circumstances, and by remaining consistently--albeit realistically--positive, respectful, and understanding as well as dedicated, honest, and direct, we can reap the benefits of clients who look forward to their workouts and who stick to their workouts and diets and who enjoy the process itself. Achieving the desired result is just icing on the cake.

Thanks to Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing for reinforcing an important lesson about the human condition. Oh, and in reference to another line made famous by the mass media, I’m not only a personal trainer. I’m also a client.

(1) Note that a Nutrition Specialist or similar certification is recommended before providing nutrition advice to a healthy client while a medical degree or dietician registration is required in most states to prescribe nutrition for medical problems.

Photo credit: Hephaestus Audio
Research Credits: Thanks to my many personal training colleagues and clients who contributed their candid thoughts and insights to this article.

Yoga for the Digital Age

I recently had the pleasure of participating in yoga instructor training through Yogafit Training Systems. In addition to two days of intensive training and making new connections with fellow yogi, new instructors must complete a volunteer teaching experience. In my case, this requirement is hardly such, as it was the main draw for me to become a yoga instructor.

In my own experience, fitness has been a key contributor to personal strength, professional creativity, and clear thinking. Yoga has been front-and-center in my own development of a centered life, and as a result I include it in my aim to bring fitness, a healthy mindset, and grounded realization of limitless potential to everyone who is receptive, regardless of where they are on their own journeys.

I sought a new and different way to share yoga with people who either have not accessed it through formal classes at yoga studios and gyms or have felt apprehensive about trying yoga for the first time in front of their peers. From here, the idea of an all-online class was born. Completely new and experimental, the idea is to encourage trial among people in all locations.

With the support of the wonderful people at Cisco Systems, I will be teaching 8 yoga classes over the course of a week completely online via Cisco WebEx. Participants need only a yoga mat and a computer with an internet connection. Classes are completely free, accessible worldwide, and a couple of them will incorporate a 1980s musical theme.

While no yoga experience is necessary, participants are encouraged to become familiar with the basic poses before taking the class in order to ensure proper form and to plan for any props and modifications that may be needed.

Welcome to the digital age of fitness!

Life, Marketing, and the Power of Context

“Never believe a rumor at face value, even when the person telling you is familiar and credible and the “evidence” they present appears factual.”
-My Mother to me at age 13

We’ve all seen the power of context at play in our lives as high school students, or perhaps earlier. We’ve also seen how errors in judgment arise from misinterpretation of context, which can often result in missed opportunities, damaged reputations, and inaccurate conclusions. And it isn’t limited to teenagers or to the popular movie, Mean Girls. It’s brought to bear in many facets of adult life and runs rampant in offices and cubicles.

Would you think differently, for example, of the woman who cut you off in traffic if you came to know that her daughter had been hit by a car and she was racing to the ER to find out if she was OK? Most likely, you would. But rarely do we get a glimpse into the impetus for this type of action.

Character Plays a Role in Perception

A few years ago, I read The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, which explains how epidemics and wide-scale beliefs can result from the actions and influence of very few. Since then, I have observed the power of context and the law of the few at play in many situations, both personally and professionally.

“Character is..a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstances and context1.” How many times have you believed a story--or dismissed one--based on your historically predicated beliefs of the storyteller or the subject? While it is important to build a reputation of honest, credible, reliable character, we must be careful not to assume that past history alone will always yield consistent behavior.

Consider the high profile corporate scandals of the last 10 years. Those who were caught embezzling and committing fraud weren’t considered to be of ill character before these acts. In fact, many of their colleagues, family, and friends were shocked by their actions because they had known these people for years as honest professionals and never considered them capable of criminal activity. As a friend or relative, your loyalty may prohibit you from even considering such things about your loved ones, but as a business leader, you are called upon by your constituents to put assumptions aside and remain vigilant about the actions of your employees.

Life and the Power of Context
Consider the following scenarios:

Formed Perception:
“I’m going to beat the kids one more time and then we’ll meet you at the arena.”

Jane sends this text message to her husband, Mike, which accidentally landed in the inbox of her neighbor who bears the same first name. Neighbor Mike promptly called Child Protective Services, the action we’re all compelled to take when child abuse is suspect.

The Reality: Jane, her husband Mike, and their two children were planning to compete as a family in a video game competition at their local sports arena that evening. She was referring to a pre-game practice she was going to have with the children. Husband Mike would have had the proper context, however human error caused the message to be delivered to the wrong recipient. In this case, Mike the neighbor acted in accordance with his civic duty and would not be required to consider context before acting.

Formed Perception:
“Hey Tony- remember how I told you that I think of you like a brother? Well I was wrong. It’s much more than that. When you’re ready, I’ll fill you in.” -Steve

This was an email sent between two people with a business relationship who had become close friends, both having full contextual understanding. At a later date, Steve accidentally discovered a secret that Tony had been trying to keep hidden. Although Steve remained a loyal friend, Tony lashed out at him, using this email and portions of others as “evidence” to support the story he created that Steve was needy and had become obsessed with Tony. This was a fabrication (in fact, while Steve was visibly having a difficult time, it was really Tony who was dealing with a lot of issues which Steve had helped with behind the scenes, and the two rarely discussed Steve's struggles), however their mutual friends and colleagues believed this tale, taking the communications out of context as presented, causing damage to Steve’s reputation and career. Phone logs and other records easily cleared Steve of the accusation, proving Tony to have been slanderous, but the perception had already been formed in people’s minds.

The Reality: Steve had been studying metaphysics and came to believe that he and Tony had been brothers in a previous lifetime, which Tony found intriguing. Later, Steve stumbled upon information that caused him to believe he and Tony had known each other in many previous lives (“It’s much more than that.”). Regardless of whether or not you share their spiritual beliefs, Tony had deliberately manipulated context to further his malicious--and arguably narcissistic--intent.

In both of these rather extreme examples, context was misapplied. By sending a text to an unintended recipient, Jane made a common error that many of us have experienced and could not have prepared for misinterpretation of context. Steve forwent the need to frame context because he was communicating in response to an ongoing conversation he’d been having with his friend Tony, whom he’d trusted. We don’t know why Tony behaved inconsistently with the values his friends and colleagues had come to know as his character but there is certainly more going on with him that likely has nothing to do with Steve. When context isn’t applied, backstories are unclear, which can create further assumptive responses.

Using Context and Influence in Marketing
Unlike in life, where you often have prior personal experience with the people involved, in marketing, we rely on brand image and clever messaging to create initial impressions, designed to induce some sort of action--try, buy, tell your friends, etc. And unlike in life, we expect our customers and prospects to respond to our messages with a perception-is-reality mindset.

In acquisition marketing, we have just a few seconds to capture attention and elicit response to our messages. This is why brand building and customer community engagement through means such as social networking are such important aspects to any marketing effort. Much like our life examples, historical knowledge and multiple touch points with a brand create a foundational impression and enable us to proactively frame context.

Then, it is up to us to deliver on our promises and to keep delivering, both in terms of product quality and authentic interactions. Unlike our overly-trusting friend Steve in the example above, consumers will seek consistently positive experiences with our brand in every interaction, and although past performance may induce purchase in the present, the easy access of substitutes--particularly for low-touch purchases--can lure non-captives away following even one negative experience. A misinterpreted message counts as a negative experience.

As marketers, many of us are what Gladwell calls “connectors.” We have large, powerful networks that we leverage to bring people together and to coalesce ideas. We should feel free to use the power of context to our advantage, applying techniques such as whisper campaigns and teasers in our communications. Market testing (i.e. culture and other segmentation cuts) is an important step in ensuring that context will be understood. This is especially necessary in series communications in which campaign stories are built across multiple communications vehicles and media. Examples of successful application of series context are the California Milk Processor Board’s “Got Milk”, Mastercard’s “Priceless”, and Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaigns, to name a few.

Life and marketing come together when the power of context is applied at a human level. In both, you are dealing first and foremost with people, most of whom apply logic and rationalization to their decisions. Supportive context and frame of reference are imperative, as is the expectation that assumptions will guide some conclusions while individual experiences will guide others.

Oh, and in life as in marketing, authenticity rules. If you veer from it, you will be exposed. If you don’t believe me, just ask Tony.

Did I get that right, Mom?



1Malcolm Gladwell ,The Tipping Point, 2002.
Photo Credit misterirrelevant.com