A Marketing Agency in Rochester That Audits Every Channel for Hearing

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A booking page offers one way to reach the business, a phone number, and in Rochester that quietly turns away customers before anyone at the business knows it happened. A marketing agency in Rochester has to plan for a city that has one of the largest deaf and hard-of-hearing populations per capita in the country, and that means auditing every channel for what it assumes about hearing. This page does that audit row by row, then what the work costs. Progression is based in New York, works with Rochester businesses remotely, and offers on-site sessions on request.

One phone number

A hypothetical dental practice in Rochester, New York builds a booking page with a name field, a phone field and a button that says call to book. It was designed on a Tuesday afternoon, and everyone who tested it could hear.

The page has no email, no text option, no chat and no form that says write to us. For a customer who is Deaf or hard of hearing, the only door is one that needs a voice. Add one more way to reach you, and the page works for more people.

What a marketing agency in Rochester should check on every channel

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology says Rochester, New York, is home to a large population of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents, and that many area businesses have experience serving them. A business here is likely to meet customers who communicate in different ways.

The University of Rochester Medical Center says researchers at NTID have concluded, “with some certainty,” that Rochester has the largest Deaf and hard-of-hearing per capita population in the country among people aged 18 to 64. The Medical Center’s page also lists the Rochester School for the Deaf, the Deaf Wellness Center and the National Center for Deaf Health Research among the community’s institutions.

In September 2016, according to an RIT news story, the NTID president described the Rochester area as home to one of the nation’s largest per-capita populations of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The city’s mayor announced a web page about accessing city government for the deaf community at the same event.

Who are you writing for?

Not for a single type of customer. People who are Deaf, hard of hearing, deafened or hearing differ in how they communicate, and many use more than one way. Do not assume what a customer prefers. Offer choices, and let them pick.

Why does it matter to marketing?

Because every channel makes a quiet assumption about hearing, and a customer who is shut out rarely says so. They leave. The audit finds the assumptions and replaces them with options.

• Treat the audit as a customer experience review, not a legal exercise.
• Begin with the channels that bring in the most business.
• Test each fix with real customers who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
• Ask what they would change before you decide for them.
• Write down what you learn and share it with the whole team.
• Repeat the review after any redesign.

The assumption audit

Each row below names a marketing channel, what it assumes about the customer’s hearing, who that assumption leaves out and what to change. The last row covers the cost.

Captions on everything that moves

Captions help the viewer who is Deaf or hard of hearing, the viewer on a train, and the viewer in a waiting room with the sound off. They also give a video text that search engines can read. They should be accurate: a machine caption that gets names and terms wrong is worse than none.

Read every caption file before it goes out, and fix proper names and technical words. For video on social platforms, burned-in captions travel with the file and survive reposting.

Text and video relay on the contact page

A contact page should list every way in, written out: phone, text, email, form and, if the business offers it, a video call with an interpreter. A line such as “We answer text messages during business hours” is more useful than a silent form.

If the business takes calls through relay services, say so, and make sure the people who answer know how to handle those calls.

What an audit like this costs

The fixes depend on what the audit turns up, and the simplest are usually a form, a text option and captions. Agencies quote the whole program by scope, and the bands below show published US figures for the work that follows.

Progression quotes after a written scope, and the first proposal is free. We publish no Rochester premium and no price per caption.

What the law asks of a business open to the public

Under 28 CFR 36.303, a public accommodation must furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communication with people with disabilities. The rule’s examples include qualified interpreters on site or through video remote interpreting, real-time computer-aided transcription, written materials, and open and closed captioning.

The rule adds that the aid needed varies with the method of communication the person uses, the length and complexity of the exchange and the setting. A business should consult with the person whenever possible about what is needed, though the business makes the final choice, provided the method it picks results in effective communication.

It also says a business may not require a person with a disability to bring someone else to interpret, and it limits reliance on an accompanying adult or a minor child. A business can raise the defenses the rule names, such as a fundamental alteration or an undue burden. Ask counsel how they apply to you.

What about phones?

The rule says an automated attendant, including voicemail and messaging, must provide effective real-time communication with people using auxiliary aids such as text telephones and relay systems. A business may use relay services in place of direct calls and must answer relay calls the way it answers other calls. It does not have to use a text telephone itself.

Is a website covered?

That is a question for counsel. This page does not say whether any particular business, website or video is covered, and it does not say anyone complies. It describes what the rule says, so that a marketing plan can be built with it in mind.

• Read section 36.303 once, start to finish.
• Ask counsel which parts apply to your business.
• Keep a record of the options you offer customers.
• Consult customers when you pick an aid.

Hiring Deaf talent to make the work

The best way to reach a community is to include its members in the making. Work with Deaf creators, captioners and interpreters from the start of the project, not at the end, and pay them for their expertise.

NTID is a part of RIT in Rochester, and the Medical Center page names it among the community’s institutions. That does not make it a source of talent for any one company, and this page does not claim any relationship with it. It is simply a reminder that Rochester has many Deaf professionals.

Where does ASL fit?

American Sign Language is a language, not a decoration. If a video uses it, have a qualified interpreter or a Deaf presenter in the frame, and let them shape the script. Do not add signing as an afterthought to a script written for hearing viewers.

• Hire Deaf creators and reviewers early in the project.
• Pay interpreters and captioners at professional rates.
• Give reviewers authority to change the script.
• Credit the people who made the work.
• Agree on payment and credit in writing before the work begins.

Reaching a community without borrowing its words

Plain advice: do not use Deaf culture imagery as a slogan or a visual trick. Do not feature a person without asking, and do not stage a photo that suggests an endorsement. A campaign that wants to speak to Deaf customers should say so in plain language and then deliver on it.

What should an ad promise?

Only what the business can do. If the front desk offers writing, an interpreter on request or a text line, say so. If it does not, do not promise it. Fix the service first, then advertise it.

How should a business talk about the community?

Use the terms the community and its institutions use for themselves, such as Deaf and hard of hearing, and ask people which they prefer. Avoid pity and avoid praise for ordinary activity.

• Do not borrow signs, symbols or slogans for decoration.
• Do not publish a photo of a person without written permission.
• Do not claim a partnership you do not have.
• Ask Deaf customers to review any campaign that speaks to them.

Voicemail, phones and the front desk

Walk through the business as a customer who cannot use a phone would. Check the website, the listing, the signs and the counter. Each place where a spoken exchange is the only option is a place to fix.

What belongs at the front desk?

A pen and paper, a tablet for typing, a sign that says how to ask for help, and staff who know the options. Customers should not have to explain what they need before they get a chance to use it.

Fill in your own names and times. A sheet like this one makes it clear who answers what, and it is easy to hand to a new hire.

What should staff say?

Something short that offers a choice: “Would you like to write, type or use an interpreter?” The words matter less than the habit of offering.

• Put the options on a small sign at the counter.
• Teach each shift the same short script.
• Check that the phone system works with relay calls.
• Review the setup every six months.
• Keep a small supply of paper and pens at every counter.

Rochester beyond the audit

Once the channels are fixed, the usual marketing basics apply in Rochester, New York as they do anywhere: a clear offer, a complete local listing, reviews and a site that loads quickly on a phone.

Keep a Rochester audience in mind when you plan content. Local search, a well-kept business profile and paid search for the services people ask for are the usual starting points. Our digital marketing services page lays out the wider plan, and our video production services page covers captions and accessible video.

A brief for your front desk

Copy this card into a document and fill it in before the first call. It gives a marketing agency in Rochester what it needs to fill in the audit, and it makes a quote from any agency easier to compare.

Six fixes in the order most businesses make them

The audit usually turns up some version of these.

Send the filled card with a link to your booking page and one video.

Related services and guides

Pages that sit beside this audit:

• Digital marketing services
• Video production services
• SEO services
• Local SEO services
• Rochester website design

Frequently asked questions