See Jane Run
See Jane Run
Athletic retail and event management company uses online marketing to increase participation and exposure
Who is Jane?
See Jane Run is much more than a running store. As a woman-owned and operated company, See Jane Run reaches out to individuals of all shapes, ages and fitness levels. The product, training and events are selected and designed to reflect the diversity of the customers. The first store was opened in San Francisco in 2000. Since then, See Jane Run has opened three more locations, launched an online store and was selected as one of the 50 Best Running Stores in America in 2006, 2007 and 2009 by Footwear Intelligence and The Running Network. See Jane Run puts on a women’s national race series and a triathlon event and offers training teams to help prepare athletes of all levels.
What did Jane want?
Since 2002, See Jane Run (Jane) has been offering participants convenient access to online registration using Active Network’s running software. Jane wanted to reach out to new markets and knew that Active offered comprehensive race marketing services in key demographics, in addition to registration technology. Active’s audience of on-the-go, female consumers was a perfect ft with Jane’s manifesto. Jane could make a low risk, high return investment by leveraging Active’s reach in the endurance sports market to grow participation for the See Jane Run Women’s Half Marathon & 5K Race Series & See Jane Run Women’s Triathlon. Jane’s brand would be exposed to a wider audience using various race marketing vehicles, including placement in Active’s monthly newsletters and access to Active’s list of opt-in subscribers. Jane could also utilize Active’s e-marketing tools to increase the number of return participants through targeted communication to past registrants. By focusing their marketing efforts to online channels, the success of the programs would be easy to track with measurable ROI’s. “Active will definitely work with your budget and help you build a targeted marketing campaign,” noted Deb DeFanti, marketing director for See Jane Run. “The marketing services are a great add-on to the product offering.”
How did Jane perform?
Jane used Active’s racing marketing services for both 2008 and 2009 and saw dramatic results for both years. Advertorials for the See Jane Run Women’s National Race Series as well as the See Jane Run Women’s Triathlon averaged an open rate of 16% and the Feature Event listings averaged 21%. The dedicated special offer emails, which promoted either 20% off running shoes or $10 off entry fees, averaged an open rate of 18.5% and reached approximately 36,000 female runners and 9,000 female triathletes. All marketing was targeted to relevant subscribers in key locations.
Jane was also recently added as a partner on ActiveAdvantage, which provides members with discounts on event entries, shoes, gear, and more. By offering discounts on merchandise through ActiveAdvantage, Jane was able to reach out to thousands of new consumers. Between Jane’s event listings on Active.com and the ActiveAdvantage website, Jane receives about 1000 visits per month from Active members, accounting for approximately 4% of all leads. This is Jane’s second highest referral lead source (Facebook is the highest) and member time spent on the website averages about four minutes. “Active provided us with free ways to get the word out about our events,” explained DeFanti. “Consumers saw a consistent message through a comprehensive marketing campaign.”
Jane’s race marketing efforts have had a big impact and have helped increase exposure and participation. Overall, online registration has grown by about 200% year-over-year. The national race series in Alameda, CA had over 3000 participants in 2009 and is expected to sell out this year with 5,000 registrants. This year’s Boise race expects to at least double their entries from last year with almost 1500 participants and the women’s triathlon in Pleasanton, CA will sell out with 1,000 entrants. Due to the success all the events have experienced, Jane will be expanding the race series to include different locations.
What’s next for Jane?
Jane plans to continue using Active’s marketing services throughout 2010, promoting the events through advertorials and featured listings. The special offer email discounts will be expanded to include offers for the See Jane Run retail store. Jane will also test banner advertorials in key markets and potentially experiment with focused advertising via social media channels. The overall goal for the next year will be to do more frequent messaging through a variety of methods to the target demographic of active female consumers in the Bay Area, Idaho and extending into Southern California. After a decade in business, the See Jane Run brand has become a recognized name to women across the country.
Jane’s Manifesto
Here’s to you.
The broad-shouldered, the knock-kneed, the pigeon-toed, the small-breasted, the wide-hipped, the long-waisted, the short-legged, the stocky, and the skinny. And yes even the perfectly proportioned.
May you live long, enjoy dessert and never stop laughing.
Blisters heal. Muscles recover. Friendship lasts a lifetime. High heels have their place in the very back of the closet. If you can run a mile, you can run a marathon. There comes a time when you really need to replace your sports bra. No, really. Consider this. Only one person wins. Everyone else should have a rockin’ good time. Yes, you can talk and run at the same time. Chewing gum is the hard part. A little chocolate goes a long way
Be yourself. There’s a little bit of Jane in all of us.