You want to keep your digital marketing agency agile, but you also want to deliver clients the full range of services they need and want. Fortunately, you have already discovered the optimal solution: white labeling. Many freelancers and smaller firms are happy to offer their services under your own branding, partnering with your company to ensure that your clients have every digital marketing service under the sun. It’s a win-win-win situation, where your company can expand without assuming radically higher expenses, your clients can achieve their digital marketing goals and your white label partners can practice their craft without the headache of chasing leads and converting customers.
There’s just one final concern: Do you tell your clients that you are using white label SEO or another white label service, or do you try to make it seem that you are managing all their services in house? Many business leaders will opt to disclose their use of white label services, but many other firms choose to keep white label services under wraps — and there are advantages to each strategy. Here are a few pros and cons to telling your clients about your decision to outsource some services to white labels:
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Con: Confusion
Outsourcing has become something of a dirty word in some business contexts, so some business leaders do not want anything to do with agencies that are involved in any type of outsourcing — even if that outsourcing promises a higher quality of service delivered to them. Revealing to such a client that you utilize white label services might cause them confusion, as they might misunderstand the nature of this type of outsourcing.
Even among business leaders that do not have an outsourcing prejudice, the concept of white labeling is not always clear. They may have concerns about whom they should communicate with when they have questions about the service; they may wonder whether and how the service will be integrated with the rest of their digital marketing strategy. Generally, confusion is not a pleasant experience for a client, and if it is left unaddressed, it could lead to serious problems.
Pro: Transparency
Transparency forms a firm foundation on which trust can be built. The more trust a client has in their service provider, the more likely they are to remain a loyal client for many years to come. Revealing a firm’s use of white label services provides a sense of transparency that allows clients to develop deeper trust in an agency’s practices, even if some of those practices are outsourced to another firm. You can help that trust flourish by clearly explaining which services are managed in house and which services come from trusted white label partners — and how you selected those partners, how much success you have enjoyed with them in the past and how your clients will interact (or not) with the white label agency during your relationship.
Pro: Accountability
Ultimately, you are responsible for the services your clients receive, even if those services come from a third-party provider like a white label firm. However, by being upfront about your use of a white label partner from the beginning of your relationship with your clients, you may be able to win some leniency from your clients if your partner falls short of client expectations in some way.
For example, if your white label begins missing deadlines, your client might have slightly more patience than they would if your in-house team were not delivering on your promises. Though you will need to take accountability for your white label provider’s serious mistakes, you can shield your company’s reputation from some amount of client ire if clients are not blindsided by information about your use of outsourced services.
Con: Disloyalty
There is some fear, which is not totally unfounded, that a client who is satisfied by the services of a white label provider will opt not to renew contracts with your firm but instead go straight to the source and work directly with the white label agency. This kind of disloyalty is rare, not least because most white label companies are not equipped to manage clients in the traditional way. However, some digital marketing firms will white label some services while striving to grow as traditional, independent agencies, which means they will welcome new clients with open arms. If you want to avoid this kind of defection, you should look for a white label partner that is entirely devoted to white labeling — and you might write some kind of non-compete clause into your contracts.
You have many reasons for utilizing white label services. However, before you begin providing white label services to your clients, you need to make a plan for how you will leverage the power of your white label partnership.
