Why You Shouldn’t White Label

That’s right. Our business is built on being a white label provider, however, I’m going to share some interesting thoughts, insights, data, and overall perspective on why you actually shouldn’t white label.

I mean we’re called That Company after all because we are so many different companies! While I am writing this article, we are currently providing white label services for 350+ agencies across the US, Canada, UK, Mexico, etc.

So why shouldn’t you white label? Not everyone’s scenario is the same, but I’m going to give you several items to think about, and at the end you’ll be able to come to your own conclusion as to if white label is the best approach or not.

The Startup:

In this first scenario, I’m going to assume you’re looking at starting up a marketing agency with the intent of finding a fulfillment partner to take care of your customers.

If you’re a start up let me first say: Welcome to the world of owning a digital marketing agency. It’s quite a competitive industry, however, it’s fun, exciting, and you will learn quite a lot as time progresses. What I love about this industry is that it is constantly filled with change and opportunity is created as a result of the constant change.

Now, let’s get to business.

Let me ask you – What do you think is the #1 problem most startups have?

If you said “Lead Generation” you are absolutely correct. The hardest part is generating new business. Since most startups are beginning with limited capital this is quite an important hurdle for them to get over quickly.

I generally can expect that most startup agency owners have approximately 3 months to get their business off the ground, otherwise they’re going to have to go out and get a job to take care of their bills, and the goal of launching their own business is put on the backburner again.

I don’t want you to FAIL!

That Company is so dedicated to making agency owners successful that we’d rather tell you the cold hard truth that most startup agencies fail, and I can share how you can avoid that fate.

So how do you avoid failure?

You do the tough stuff first!

YOU BUILD A SUCCESSFUL LEAD GENERATION MODEL!

Well duh.

However, most startup agency owners get sucked into busy work because they feel productive. Meanwhile, the timer is ticking on how long they can be out of work, without income, and they ultimately run out of time.

What if I could remove the distractions and you could focus 100% of your time/energy on lead generation and not on any other business item? Think you could make it happen? I do.

See when you white label, you have to go out and build up your credibility and look good enough to even have a chance to close a business. That takes precious time. Instead, it often makes more sense for a startup to work with us as a Strategic Partner before becoming a white label.

What’s a Strategic Partner?

A strategic partner is a partner who brings opportunities to the table and we close that business under the That Company brand.

Wait.

But I was interested in white label!

Why would I want to help you build up the That Company brand and not build up my own?

Well….

Because you end up making more money.

I’ll break it down for you as to why in a moment.

But this is the crucial moment you ask yourself – Do you care more about pride or profits?

If you’re like me. I care more about making money than I do about pride (I mean that’s why we entered the white label space in the first place. We’ve worked on some amazing high-profile clients that I don’t get to claim, and you know what… that’s okay! We got paid!)

I only take the time to tell you that a strategic partnership makes more sense, because you actually make more money this way.

So, let’s dig into why that is.

Strategic partners get to focus 100% of their time on what we call “revenue generating activities” and 0% of their time on having to build up their personal credibility since they get to lean on That Company’s credibility when it comes to closing a new client.

There have been too many times for me to count that we’ll have a new startup, who is white labeling our marketing services, pitch a client and the client wants proof that their agency is good at the service. For example, if we’re selling SEO services the customer will say “I tried to look you up, but I couldn’t find you ranking for anything” and the partner loses the opportunity because they don’t rank.

Whereas a strategic partner ends up with a client that we close and incoming revenue because we get to show prospects that thatcompany.com ranks for tons of different keywords in the marketing space, and are very good at what we do.

Strategic partners will continually monetize more opportunities than white label partners ever do.

Fact: Our strategic partners make more money and succeed at a higher rate than those that white label.

Why do Strategic Partners Succeed More than White Label Partners?

1. They get to focus all their effort/attention on lead generation and not on any other activity that is nonrevenue producing (Examples of nonrevenue producing activities: handling client communications, billing clients, account collection for those that don’t pay their bills, sending proposals to prospects, sending contracts to prospects, answering prospect questions, etc.) All that time is instead invested in creating revenue.
2. Most startups don’t have the credibility to close the deal. Whereas That Company does have the reputation and results to close the deal. The closing rates for a strategic partner is substantially higher than closing rates for those that white label that don’t have the credibility behind their brand.
3. The dream changes from building an agency to building a lead generation business so it’s literally the most scalable business type in the world, where they keep working on expanding their marketing/lead generation from anywhere in the world without any of the headaches of owning an agency, and we keep closing clients on their behalf.
4. They get to specifically hone their skillset/afford to educate themselves as a marketer (both financially as well as with their free time) which just means they get better and better at the above.

The Established:

Now, the story does change quite a bit for agencies/digital marketing companies that are already established and have credibility. For a variety of reasons, it may make sense to proceed with That Company’s white label solution where every interaction happens under your brand name.

For example:

1. We may only be a portion of the client’s total business with you.
2. You may have sold the customer already and need to change fulfillment partners.
3. You may need a temporary overflow resource as sales have outpaced internal fulfillment capabilities.

However, even for established organizations structuring the relationship as a Strategic Partnership may make more sense.

Examples of when that may be the case:

1. If it’s a new service offering you don’t dilute your brand as another “we do everything” agency.
2. You can still lean on our credibility to close the client if this isn’t a service area you’ve completed much work in.
3. You can focus on your core business and have a clear line in the sand as to what you’re responsible for and what we’re responsible for while still monetizing the opportunity.

Whether strategic partnership or white label makes more sense for you, no matter what you do – don’t let go of an opportunity to monetize opportunities you may not be prepared to service internally.

Benefits of monetizing every opportunity:

1. You get money! (YAY!)
2. You protect yourself from another agency pitching the service you don’t provide and encroaching on your territory (services you do provide) by having a friendly partner involved like That Company who won’t sell services you provide, but instead refer those needs back to you.
3. Do you need more reasons than that?
4. Happy customers. At the end of the day, your customers’ needs are fulfilled.

We would love to talk about all of the pros/cons of building a strategic partnership and/or white label relationship together. We love partnering with digital agency owners and helping you grow your agency. Let’s chat!

1-800-255-0396

Authorship: Michael K.