About The Episode‍

Philip Ruffini is a former Microsoft product manager turned content mastermind. Currently, he's focused on scaling a B2B media and content empire for Rupa Health. In this episode, he joins Blaine & Ramon to break down how to build a content machine, the strategy it takes to execute, the team players involved, and the nuance across video & content formats. This is a must listen for anyone interested in the power of building your own media arm as a business.

Today, we'll cover:
- Philip Ruffini's journey from Microsoft to short form videos, to heading up media for Rupa Health
- Crafting a sophisticated content strategy that speaks directly to B2B audiences
- The pivotal role of YouTube in Philip's growth strategy and the value of authentic engagement
- The significance of detailed SOPs in managing a global content team effectively
- The long-term vision for content ROI, harnessing everything from podcasts to magazine articles for lasting impact
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2 IDEAS FROM THE PODCAST

‍Idea #1: The importance of SOPs to scale your content.

Philip and his team upload hundreds of pieces of content per month with a small team. 

Here’s a rundown of his team structure, workflows, and processes for YouTube:

His team:

• 10 doctors who record videos on medical topics.
• 6 full-time video editors.
• 2 Community Managers.

Here’s how they do it - Step by Step

1. The doctors pick a topic they like, and record a video around it.
   
   
2. Philip downloads the videos. He adds studio sound effects and uploads them to Dropbox. He then adds the Dropbox link to Notion with the Video Title and Thumbnail Idea.
   
   
3. Video editors then take the video from Notion and start editing. It will take them about 2 weeks to complete.
   
   
4. Philip then reviews every video and gives feedback on each one with a loom video. Two editors review and fix these videos to make sure they are perfect.
   
   
5. Once the content is ready, they send it to the community managers for posting. (He will never use any scheduling tool for this. It hurts engagement)
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Idea #2: Hiring your first VA

During the podcast, Ramon asked:

“What is the first thing you should delegate when you hire a VA as a content creator?

→ Focus on one task at a time.

Let’s say you have a podcast and hired your first VA. What would you want them to do?

A bunch of stuff.

Right?

Philip would suggest otherwise. (At least at the beginning)

If you throw a bunch of tasks at your VA with little to no explanation on how to do them, you'll end up frustrated.

"It's a waste of money"

"This isn't what I asked for" (We've all been there)

"How can my VA take so long to do this?"

Here's a friendly reminder: Your VA can't read your mind.

You've got to work with him at the beginning. Give your VA clear and articulate SOPs, looms and examples on how to do that task.

Take time to give feedback, and train them like you would train a full-time employee.

Your VA did something wrong?

→ Be specific on how to improve that.

Once your VA has mastered that task, give them the next one.

And repeat the process.

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1 KEY LEARNING

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Timestamps‍

Timestamps
00:00 Left agency, joined Rupa Health media team.
04:38 Tested content strategy increased average YouTube views.
06:15 Outsourcing podcast editing and social media management.
10:16 Discussing challenges and outcomes of content creation.
13:19 Frustrated by video performance, testing new topics.
19:27 Create medical content for practitioners and consumers.
22:34 Content team small, works on repurposing efforts.
24:34 Video editor selects mismatched clips, needs guidance.
29:11 Uncertainty about paid media on social platforms.
32:10 Authenticity trumps all in content creation.
34:00 Creating viral work from home setup, Twitter.

Career Fulfillment in Digital Marketing: "Just because agencies don't have a ton of fulfillment, you're not really going to build anything long term, and you don't really see compounding results."
— Philip Ruffini [00:02:22 → 00:02:29]

Growth Strategies in Digital Media: "Kobe was the one who started the podcast, which is going to be profitable by the end of this year, meaning despite all of our costs on, it's going to make more money than it."
— Philip Ruffini [00:04:03 → 00:04:12]

Growing a YouTube Channel: "And we basically had to just test and figure out what worked, because when I started, our YouTube videos average like less than 100 views, like most companies. And now they probably average like at least 2500."
— Philip Ruffini [00:04:38 → 00:04:49]

Viral Topic: Leveraging Social Media for Content Distribution

"The importance of leveraging social media for content distribution: It is a lot of effort to use your big Facebook page or Instagram page to drive traffic to podcast because people don't want to leave a platform."
— Philip Ruffini [00:05:45 → 00:05:54]

Maximizing Social Media Engagement: "I refuse to schedule anything because I think scheduling on LinkedIn actually hurts engagement."
— Philip Ruffini [00:06:19 → 00:06:24]

Viral Video Strategy: "If your video is longer than 30 seconds and you have more than 50% retention, you'll probably get 100,000 views. And it's like very clear. Just retention on watch time equals numbers of views."
— Philip Ruffini [00:13:08 → 00:13:19]

Content Creation in Medicine: "We create content for practitioners that is consumed by consumers."
— Philip Ruffini [00:19:28 → 00:19:32]

Maximizing Podcast Engagement: "I need you to pick out a clip before every new episode airs so we can post that clip to drive traffic to the new episode."
— Philip Ruffini [00:25:23 → 00:25:24]

Social Media Algorithms and Organic Reach: "But if you go through the logic, it's like, okay, if you're a brand and you start spending money to advertise your YouTube videos or Instagram posts or Facebook posts, do you really think these platforms are going to want to promote you much as organic?"
— Philip Ruffini [00:29:32 → 00:29:44]

Content Creation Authenticity: "And the one thing I really want to plug this, because this is my new learning past three months, which is like, when creating content, my biggest suggestion is just doing what is authentic."
— Philip Ruffini [00:32:10 → 00:32:18]

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