Can You Read Me Now? Closed-Captioning Matters

In this episode of The Briefcase from Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications, audiovisual specialist Paul Chadwick shares how turning on closed captioning for his television viewing sparked a deeper appreciation for the practical power of subtitles in marketing and communication. 

He explains that closed captioning isn’t just for accessibility; it’s a strategic tool that boosts engagement, reaches silent viewers, and improves SEO by making video content readable by search engines. Paul emphasizes how easy it is to add captions using built-in platform tools. He encourages marketers to invest a little effort for a significant impact—enhancing viewer experience, increasing reach, and serving audiences with hearing impairments.

You'll learn:

• Why Accessibility and Inclusion in Video Content is Crucial

• How Closed Captions Can Boost Engagement and Improve SEO

• Some Simple Tools and Best Practices for Captioning

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Closed captioning catches more eyes, keeps them there
longer, and is a service to those who
are hearing impaired.
This is The Briefcase from Sutherland Weston Marketing
Communications.
Quick conversations from everyday observations delivering practical marketing
ideas you can carry with you.
I'm Paul Chadwick, audiovisual specialist at Sutherland Weston.

(00:23):
My New Year's resolution was to read more,
so I've turned the closed captioning on on
television.
I feel like made some great strides, Paul.
Why do people close caption anyway?
Closed captioning is important for lots of reasons.
If you're using video, you keep in mind
that not everybody listens to videos when they
watch them.
They turn the audio off if they're in
a group setting or if they're in somewhere

(00:45):
where they can't disturb others, so they don't
always play sound.
So adding subtitles to your video is going
to get the viewer who's not necessarily listening
the opportunity to understand the message without having
to turn the volume up.
It doubles your chances of viewer engagement.
You know who can't read videos?
Who?
Search engines.
So by simply adding those closed captions to

(01:05):
your videos, search engines will be able to
read your video content and increase your outreach.
I really thought that closed captioning was just
for someone who might be deaf or might
have a hearing impairment.
Yeah, there's nearly 11 million people that fall
into those categories, so closed captioning is also
for them.
So closed captioning can do your video a
whole lot of good.
Yeah, closed captioning catches more eyes, keeps them

(01:27):
there longer, and is a service to those
who are hearing impaired.
How difficult is it to get closed captioning
on my videos?
Most every major platform that you're uploading to
has an opportunity to click a button that
adds closed captioning for you.
Just be sure to review them, and if
it's not there, there's a host of other
options online.
They're right there.
You just gotta find them.
You have been listening to The Briefcase from

(01:51):
Sutherland Weston Marketing Communications.
Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team?
Email us at sutherlandweston.com.