In today’s episode, we sit down with Drift’s Content Marketing Manager, Elizabeth Hilfrank, to talk about the company’s amazing execution of Drift Insider, a video podcast and article repository.

Drift is the world’s leading revenue acceleration platform, focused on transforming the way sales and marketing teams work together to drive more revenue. They had a record-breaking year in 2021 making $120 million in revenue, which is why we were so excited to chat with Elizabeth about their content strategy.

Tune in to learn more about how Drift launched their network, how they create their show concepts, how they select hosts, and how they repurpose episodes into articles, webinars, and videos.

Guest-At-A-Glance

Name: Elizabeth Hilfrank

What she does: Content Marketing Manager at Drift

Connect with Elizabeth: LinkedIn

Key Takeaways

Audio and video allow your customers to get to know the people behind your brand.

Drift is a strong believer in the human element of B2B buying and selling, which is why they add audio and video elements to their content marketing. This strategy gives customers the opportunity to connect with them on a more personal level, which in turn builds brand trust.

Measure the success of your show on the type of content you deliver.

While Drift does pay attention to the downloads and engagement rates of their shows, they also look at whether the host and listeners are getting what they want out of the content. Are the listeners learning what you set out to teach them? Does the host feel aligned to the original mission of the show?

Your host should embody the persona of your podcast listeners.

Because Drift uses internal employees as hosts, they know exactly what’s going to resonate best with their audience because they live and breathe the same problems as them. The more interconnected your host is to the listener, the better content you’ll create.

Look for guests who are passionate about the topics you cover.

When looking for guests to bring on your podcast, it’s important to find people who are not only experts in their field but are also passionate about the topics you want to cover. Look at their LinkedIn, research past interviews, watch their videos, or read any articles they’ve written to gauge whether they would want to be on your show or not and also to help you personalize your outreach to them.

Having prospects or customers as guests gives them another touchpoint with your brand.

Drift believes podcasts are a brand awareness play that allows them to build relationships with prospects and current customers. When they have the opportunity to bring them on as guests, they give them another point of contact to Drift and a better understanding of the company as a whole.

There’s a lot of planning that goes into launching a new podcast.

For Drift, launching a new show takes about 3 months. First, they ideate on the overall concept and goal of the show. Then, they figure out a title, description, and hook. Next, they move into the requirements. What’s the length? What type of guests do they want? What will the artwork, trailer, and promotions look like? And finally, they record a backlog of episodes before they officially launch.

Don’t reinvent the content wheel every time you need new content.

The power of repurposing content means you can find value in what you already have and spin it off into something new. Drift repurposes episode content from their various podcasts by turning any interesting takeaways into blog posts or even webinars. They typically pick a general theme from the episode and turn it into a listicle or a tips-style post.

SEO is the name of the game in 2022.

Don’t forget about SEO when it comes to your podcast. Make sure you optimize titles, show notes, and descriptions to align with the keywords you want to rank for. It’s also helpful to add embeddable clips or videos within the articles you write referencing your podcast to boost organic traffic.

Use your blog to promote the launch of a new show.

Whenever a new show launches in the Drift network, the content team teases the launch with a blog post focused on some of the biggest takeaways from the show so the audience knows what to expect over the course of the season. Think of it like a written trailer for your podcast.

Don’t underestimate the amount of collaboration needed to start a podcast.

Content marketers often forget how much cross-team collaboration is needed to launch a podcast. Think about the coordination of content, guests, host schedules, social calendars, blog writing, video editing, etc., and make sure you have a strong team in place who can execute a successful podcast program. If you find there are certain pieces of the puzzle that require too much internal bandwidth, like audio or video editing, look into how you can outsource those tasks.

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