In my last post I talked a little about our supply/demand society. It works well for many things. It allows people to make a living as they are capable of providing goods and services to people for a price. You sell your goods and people can buy them. The process is a simple one at first glance. However in between the supplier and the customer there is something called marketing. Businesses do most of their marketing via advertising and public relations. There are people out there who earn millions of dollars by knowing all the ins and outs of this field. Most people do a great job but I feel that many of these experts just care about the bottom line and their tactics and repercussions are questionable. We at MarkAllenOnline concentrate on advertising our results. We feel that that is the main goal so we like to tell people about that and stay above the fray. Triathletes for the most part just want to get better and go faster. One of the things we want to change about our advertising is how we concentrate too much on exposing our top athletes and their great results. But for every one of those we have twice as many stories of others who reach their potential and exceed their expectations. They may not get on any podium but they reach their dreams. They may lose 30 pounds, set a personal best, finish their first triathlon or just beat their cocky cross town rival. My goal is to one day have another home page with this type of athlete in mind. There is a lot more to triathlon than qualifying for Kona.
So what was my point? One of the problems I have with advertising and the methods of many is that it plays to people’s fears or insecurities. In addition our society in the US generally does not want to give up anything but do it all. We want things now, fast and easy. We all have to work like dogs, pick up the kids, make dinner, watch the news and do it all over again. There is no time for much else. So if you are a coach and have an Ironman program that can be squeezed in there people will buy it. 13 weeks to an Ironman. Lose 10 pound on 10 minutes a day. Make millions working from home. Live longer on one pill a day. I can go on and on with these. I am not sure who buys these things but they must work because I see them every day and it costs money to advertise. All I know is that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. Anything worth a while will have a price associated with it. Whether it is time or money there will be a price. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
So often I get an email from people that tell me that they need a coach and program for a triathlon. Then they tell me that they are married with two kids and wants to spent time with them. They also have to work 60 hours a week and oh by the way they do not have a lot of money to spend. I am sure I have pissed off a few of these people because I just tell them the truth. But I just do no have it in me to pitch a bunch of crap. Sometimes I just tell them to train for a 10K and spend more time with their kids. Honestly. The problem is that for every one of these people with outrageous needs there is someone to sell them something for just that.
Take for example the diet industry. Holly cow! It is an industry worth millions if not billions. We are so freaking heavy it is incredible. Since many of us (myself included) can not stay away from the cookies and the ice cream we are very easy targets to all the weight loss gimmicks out there. Diet pills, fat free food, sugar substitutes, Adkins diet, South Beach diet and so on. How many of these work. I would say none work. The only thing that works is exercise and eating less food. That is the real bottom line. The irony is that the same advertising and PR machine created our weight problem. Coke, McDonalds, Burger King, Snicker bars, Kentucky fried chicken and all their campaigns. Some of these companies make deals with our public schools to provide our kids with their junk food. Then they give the school a kick back and call it a grant to education. But their only goal is to hook our kids early. They could care less about education.
Proof that our society is actually working against us and causes our obesity is found in a study of the Mexican Pima Indians. Over hundreds of year this tribe has split. Some ended up living in the US and adapted to our sedentary and unhealthy life style. But the others are still in Mexico living a more active lifestyle and living off the land. Genetically both groups are identical as they have the same ancestors. Yet the US group is obese and has the highest rate of diabetes in America. The ones living in Mexico are thin and have no diabetes problems. Is not the water I can guarantee you that. It is our way of life. Look at me. All I do is sit in front of the computer and type away. I do not even have to go to the bike store to buy my tires. I just go online or call Val with my credit card. Right Val? Good thing I like triathlon, it is the only exercise I get besides chasing Camilo around.
It is up to each one of us to be able to tell and discern the good products and services from the bad ones. But I know I am singing to the choir here. Most of you reading my blog likely know this. I just had to get it off my chest.