Do you transcribe podcasts?
How much do you charge?
Can you charge more than what you’re charging now?
You may be familiar with transcription companies like Rev, TranscribeMe, and GoTranscript.
These companies provide transcription services for podcasts, and they usually charge per audio minute or per audio hour.
Now, if you’re working for any of these companies, you may be earning between $20 and $60 per audio hour transcribing podcasts.
And if you’re a freelancer with direct clients, you’re probably charging the same.
According to DemandSage.com, there are over 2.4 million podcasts with over 66 million episodes between them.
If you have just one client and charge $200 per week (podcast episodes usually run per week), then that’s $800 per month.
If you have 5 clients, then that’s $4,000 per month.
If you have 10 clients, then that’s $8,000 per month.
And so on and so forth.
Depending on how much you want to work and your target monthly income.
Out of 2.4 million podcasts, do you think it’s possible to get 20 clients?
You may be thinking…
“Everybody’s already using Rev. How can I compete with them?”
Well, the answer is…
You can’t, so DON’T.
You can’t simply say…
“I am an excellent transcriber with x years of experience.”
Because everybody else is already doing that.
If that’s how you present yourself and/or your service, then you’re competing with everyone.
And you don’t really stand out.
You have to make your offer unique so that clients won’t have to compare you with these giant transcription companies (or other freelancers for that matter).
These companies (and/or other freelancers) are just offering transcription.
How about you offer transcription + something else?
What is that something else?
An add-on.
This means you offer an extra service or services in addition to your main service, which is transcription.
What services can you offer in addition to transcription?
First, let’s ask this question.
Why do podcasters need their podcasts transcribed?
According to Athreon, one of the benefits of having transcripts is to reach a wider audience.
Another is that more content can drive more traffic.
Therefore, if you’re a transcriber, you’re solving a pain point podcasters have, and that is how to reach more audiences and get more traffic.
So how else can you help podcasters reach more people and get more traffic? And therefore, you can add this as an extra service.
Since you already have an audio and a transcript, one thing you can do is you can repurpose their content.
What is content repurposing?
Hubspot gives us this definition.
Content repurposing means reusing existing content and presenting it in a new format to expand its reach and lifespan.
Ways to repurpose the transcript
So here are a few ways you can repurpose the audio and transcript for your client:
- Extract the best quotes from the transcript and turn them into social media posts – for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
- Write SEO-optimized show notes.
- Write an email that promotes the podcast episode.
- Create an audiogram.
You don’t have to be an expert graphic designer, writer, or video editor to be able to do these things.
And don’t be afraid to try new things.
You won’t know what you can do or your hidden potential unless you give it a try.
You can always go to YouTube and learn just about anything under the sun.
Also, there are tools and applications you can use.
For example, to create social media posts, you can use Canva.
Canva is an online graphic design tool that you can use for free.
You can create a lot of things with it like Instagram posts, Instagram stories, Facebook posts, Instagram carousel, and a lot more, even if you’re not a graphic designer.
Canva has a lot of ready-made templates that you can tweak and edit to your liking.
You can do something really simple.
See how the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, repurposes his content.
He repurposes passages from his book and his newsletter to create Instagram posts.
Another thing you can use is Social Media Calendar.
You can purchase the templates, edit them with Canva, and give to your clients.
For the show notes, you can go to Google and search “how to create SEO-friendly show notes.”
You’ll get some useful information about what show notes are, how long should show notes be, things to include in the show notes, and sample templates.
Email is a powerful tool for podcasts because it builds personal connections with their followers.
As an additional service, you simply craft an email that announces the recently published podcast episode.
Their subscribers should be the first people to know about their new episodes because they are typically their biggest fans and the ones most likely to listen to their content.
Your goal with the email is to simply get their subscribers to listen to their podcast episode.
That’s it.
Wistia.com provides a couple of good examples.
Now, to turn your client’s audio into an engaging social video, you can create audiograms.
For this, you can use Headliner.
You can add images, videos, animations, and captions.
Head on over to Headliner to see examples of audiograms.
Using Fiverr
Now, if you don’t want to do everything yourself, you can hire someone on Fiverr to help you.
If your offer has all these services bundled together, you can easily sell it for $100, $200, or possibly even more.
Happy transcribing!
