Comparison Series: Rev vs. In-House for Marketing Professionals

When major brands need to create content promoting their products, they turn to the experts at their partner marketing agencies. From Hilton to Mars, Incorporated, and Nationwide Insurance, major companies across the US know the benefits of working with dedicated marketing support. But who do the marketing and research experts turn to while creating said winning content? And don’t forget your budget as you compare the costs of content production.

Agencies are even savvier to the challenges of partnering with a third-party provider. But once again, the benefits outweigh the risks. When deciding to use accessibility tools, agency buyers need to compare the costs. These costs include time, employee resources, and money saved, along with ensuring quality control. M&Ms wouldn’t settle for lackluster candy, let alone weak content.

Transcripts Save Time & Money

When a marketing campaign goes really well, people start writing their AMA acceptance speeches. But when a campaign fails to make the planned-for impact, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. The data may show that the impact is due to a lack of SEO focus within your content. Proper research and tools can save everyone a lot of stress and undue effort.

Within the course of planning and creating a marketing campaign, you conduct a lot of interviews and record a lot of videos. How do you then sort through all those videos and create actionable, readable content? Sure, you might have heard of transcripts, but will you be doing all the note-taking in-house? Let’s explore that thread.

When you compare the costs of creating your transcripts in-house, you will not only cost your company additional money but also valuable employee time and resources. At software company Sage Intacct their customer marketing division had big goals. The director wanted to produce 15 customer stories per quarter. By working with Rev for their transcription needs, Sage was able to save 45 hours of work per quarter. They can also repurpose each video interview’s transcripts for non-video content, gaining more bang for their stretched budget and boosting their SEO ranking. See, full circle.

Another company discovered savings and insights with Rev’s transcripts. The 6th largest independent insights company in the US, Shapiro + Raj. Since they focused on in-depth interviews, researchers were often distracted taking notes while recording. By partnering with Rev, the research team was able to integrate transcript orders without altering their workflow, redirecting valuable research focus. If you compare the costs of meaningful insights, it’s no contest.

 “A Rev transcript costs 50% less than a traditional market research transcription firm…” -Brian Koch, Shapiro + Raj’s Director of Qualitative Analytics

Captions Build Accessibility

Video may be king, but captions are the equally important queen. While 68% of people prefer watching videos to reading new content, they often have the volume off. We’ve all seen that person on the subway, or been that person in the bathroom. As well, this is barely scratching the surface on the benefits of captioning for making content accessible for audiences that are hard-of-hearing. Marketers aren’t here to shame, but rather to adapt. And doing so requires implementing captions throughout your videos. 

As mentioned above, marketing and insights teams have enough to do designing and recording videos to then add on captioning those videos. By working with a skilled third-party provider like Rev, you can keep your focus on what you know best, your business. Since you want your videos to resonate even with the sound off, Rev can apply specifics around speaker labeling, atmospherics, profanity, and more. If you’ve done your research, then you know what your audience is looking for.

Subtitles Build Global Reach

Speaking of research, market research shows that content has been going global for some time now. You need to widen the reach of your expertly produced, transcribed, and captioned work. So it’s time to move over to subtitles. 

If you compare the costs of creating your subtitles in-house it’s nearly double the cost of captions, because now you have to factor in the proper translations. We stress “proper” because you don’t want to be another Squid Game…or at least only mimicking the show’s massive ROI. Suffice to say, subtitles are a crucial step in expanding the global reach and accessibility of your content.

One of the great benefits of captions and subtitles alike is that they can be added after the fact. Once you’ve got a handle on your upcoming project schedule—bear with us—you can revitalize existing content with captions and subtitles as appropriate. Who doesn’t love giving their content a new life? We certainly do!

Broaden Your Reach, Lower Your Costs

While targeting audiences is always key for marketers, often we narrow our focus because an audience seems out of reach based on our capabilities. By working with an experienced transcription, captioning, and subtitle partner like Rev, you’ll be able to go above and beyond delivering top-notch content that’s searchable and accessible. All while managing your time and costs!