Dale Saran explains how courtesy and hard work trump piggyback advertising techniques.
So, you wanna be a CrossFit affiliate, eh?
I remember the salad days of being a CrossFit affiliate, circa early 2008. There were maybe a few hundred affiliates. I was the first—and only—CrossFit affiliate in Rhode Island. I didn’t have to worry about competitive advertising, Google AdWords, website metatags, being undercut by another affiliate, Globo Gyms ripping off the mark and stealing my clients ... .
Fast-forward a few years. I now work for HQ and handle (among other things) protecting CrossFit’s trademark from the ever-increasing variety of poachers, thieves and ne’er-do-wells who want a piece of the action without having to pay.
CrossFit affiliates, I feel your pain more intimately than you know. This is the first of what I hope will be a number of articles regarding our community’s need to protect our brand and trademark, how we do that, and other tips and items of interest to you, the affiliate owner or prospective affiliate owner.