Episode 92: Made By HQ

If you visit the CrossFit Facebook page, you'll see this: ...not "Education Company". Not even "Fitness". "MEDIA/NEWS". Since the first days of the PDF-emailed Journal, I've learned from--and copied--CrossFit HQ's media team. More than any other organization on the planet, CrossFit educates its fans and consumers to create frenzied evangelists. They publish every day. They produce world-class video, employ full-time writers and editors, and pay above the grade for quality photos. What can we learn from CrossFit HQ's Media Team? Just about everything. There are 200 people in HQ Media. It's a multimillion-dollar operation to produce the best exercise demos, Journal articles, full-length movies, daily blog content, social media--and now, podcasts. They're among the best in the world, and they do it to help CrossFit affiliates grow. Many of us don't realize it, but HQ's media can serve as a template for our own. Content marketing bridges the gap between our service (fitness) and a client's needs (lose weight, get more energy, etc.) We can copy their methods, share their videos, and use their testimonials in OUR gyms. For this episode, I traveled to Santa Cruz, CA and visited CrossFit HQ for three days. I was interviewed for their new podcast, and then turned the tables: I asked Mike Warkentin (managing editor of the CrossFit Journal), Tyson Oldroyd (head producer) and Matt Bischel (head of social media) to answer questions about production, promotion and best practices. This interview runs over an hour, and it's FULL of useful stuff that I haven't seen or heard anywhere else. For the first time, HQ allowed me to peek under the skirt, and ask "Why?" and "How?" - and even though I've worked closely with HQ Media for years, many of the answers still surprised me. Don't listen to this podcast while driving. Wait until you have a pen and paper ready, because you're going to want to take notes!