When a marketing firm grows weary of chasing down leads and maintaining client relations, they may opt to white label their services. This involves eliminating their sales and customer service departments. Instead, they focus on specific services like social media or SEO. To generate income, these white label firms partner with other digital marketing companies. In turn. these companies assume the responsibility of client management. They benefit by expanding their services portfolio with much lower in-house expenses.
If you want to cut costs while maintaining growth of your digital marketing agency, using white label services is a good choice. What’s more, you can use the following tips and tricks for maximizing your white label partnership to ensure mutual success.
Your white label partner has downsized its own sales divisions in the interest of focusing on the delivery of high-quality services. This means that you can only rely on your own agency’s lead generation and account management staff to bring in and maintain clients. If you are striving to keep your agency as lean and agile as possible, you might consider eliminating almost all in-house services aside from a robust sales team capable of drumming up enough business to keep all your white label partners in work.
Almost every marketing service your firm might offer is available from a white label provider. However, that doesn’t mean you need to seek out relationships with every type of white label marketing firm. Instead, you should consider which services will add the most value to your current menu of services. Consider what will appeal most to current and prospective clients. Often, digital marketing firms opt for a white label SEO service, as SEO is such an essential component of any digital marketing strategy. However, SEO remains exceedingly difficult for anyone other than expertly trained specialists to practice. You might also want to partner with a web design firm, an email marketing firm or some other specialty marketing agencies. This all depends on the gaps in your current offerings and the demands of your clientele.
Not all white label service providers are created equal. Just because a firm has eliminated its sales department and resolved to focus on delivering specific services does not mean that those services are high in quality or offer true value to your clients. You need to thoroughly vet any potential partners before you allow them access to your clients. This may involve reviewing their portfolios, testing their communications, interviewing their past clients, comparing their pricing structures, and more.
No two digital marketing agencies have the exact same expectations for the white label service providers with whom they work. Therefore, it's essential that you use clear language to communicate what you want your relationship to look like. For example, you may filter all communications to and from clients through their own staff. Or, you may give your service provider a company email address through which they can reach clients themselves. You should definitely send your service provider a style guide for any content and reports they may generate. This will ensure some degree of cohesivity in service for your clients.
Some digital marketing agencies strive to hide their association with white label providers. You may be tempted to do this to make your firm seem larger or more robust than it is. However, misleading clients in any way about your firm and its services is simply bad business. You will gain more trust from your clients if you are transparent about your utilization of white labels. More trust will result in better relationships and more client loyalty. Plus, telling the truth can give your brand reputation a bit of protection in the event your white label partner lets you and your clients down.
White label partners can offer significant advantages to any digital marketing firm. But, only when that firm has done its best to ensure that white label services fit well into its business model.
