If you put a group of marketing agency owners together in one room, they would probably all try to convince each other that their agency was doing better than anyone else’s. But putting the bravado to one side, you’re more likely to find a group of stressed-out entrepreneurs. They love what they do, and they do it well enough to make a living, but at times it can be really tough going.
As part of the leadership team of a small to medium-sized agency, you know that the slightest change in the status quo could spell trouble for the continuity of the business, like two employees leaving, two clients leaving, or even two clients joining. It could even be more than two at a time! Your cash flow goes off-track, your capacity to service clients drops, or you have too many people and not enough work.
Small businesses often come up against challenges associated with growth and change. The good news is, many of these business problems can be fixed. Many times, you’ll find you need to take a step back, assess your pain points, and rethink your strategy.
At times of sudden growth and contraction, it can be helpful to look outside your business for the support you need until you find a way to boost your in-house production capacity sustainably.
What does the term “white label” mean?
White label is simply a way of saying that you outsource some of your work to a third party. This party will do the work, and can even communicate with your client under your brand name, without your client knowing that this has happened.
A white label digital marketing agency can help you to add a new product to your service offering without the immediate overhead cost of hiring new staff and the tools to support the service. In a nutshell, white label marketing allows you to scale your business without taking a huge financial risk.
Any agency can benefit from a white label agency supporting them in the background, from small startups to large established marketing agencies. The point where they will be most useful is when your agency goes through a period of growth that you cannot support using the current resources on your payroll. It takes time to hire good people, and it can also happen that good people leave their jobs, have to take long term sick leave, or go on parental leave. Sometimes, these things can happen all at once, leaving you under a lot of pressure trying to meet your obligations and deliver the service levels expected by your clients.
What are the benefits of outsourcing to a white label agency?
The main benefit of outsourcing Digital Marketing services is that you can cut costs while increasing quality. Rather than hiring one full-time digital marketing expert for your agency, you can use an entire group of experts whenever you need them. This means that with a white label digital marketing agency you have the benefit of only paying for the services you need and having an expert team of professionals behind you. This can also help you offer services to more clients and build your portfolio, as you are not limited by the lack of specialized staff or resources.
Here’s a summary of the benefits you should get from working with a white label content marketing agency:
- Sell more: free up time to pitch for new business opportunities and grow your existing client accounts
- Retain your clients: give your existing staff the time and headspace to service their accounts well and be more creative
- No unreliable freelancers: no more having to manage different freelancers and process multiple supplier invoices
- Value for money: package deals allow you to still add a good markup and make a straightforward profit on top
- Leverage specialist expertise: benefit from an experienced content team at your disposal
- Tailor made to your needs: customisable processes that can match your own way of working
What are the potential drawbacks?
There may be some situations where using a white label marketing agency is not the right solution for you. Or it may be the right solution for a short period of time, but not for the long term.
For many agencies, it may be useful only to use a white label marketing agency to solve a short-term resourcing issue, or to get through a period where there is more work than you can fulfill with the resources you have on your payroll. Once the big chunk of work has been done, things can return to normal. This is understandable, and most white label agencies will not expect you to contract them on a long-term basis if the need is not there. However, if you are working with a white label agency on a short-term basis, the prices you will pay for their services may be higher compared to a longer-term agreement.
Finding the right white label agency for you
It’s also really important to make sure the white label agency you are working with is a good fit for you. Here are some of the areas where a good match makes a difference:
- Quality and detail of briefs - when working with a white label agency, it’s important to find a way to brief them about what is expected from them on every project. These briefs should be written, and as detailed as possible, to protect both parties from misunderstandings about what should be delivered.
- Quality of work - the white label agency should provide you with finished work that is satisfactory to you and your client. If there are issues or concerns, these should be communicated clearly and constructively to the white label agency, and they should learn from this feedback for future projects.
- Style of writing content - writing style can vary a lot from one writer to another, and reviewing writing style can also be very subjective from one person to another. It’s important to give open feedback that is actionable and clear to find a way around any content style or tone of voice issues.
- Company cultures - some agencies can be quite laid back and fun, while others can be more demanding and serious. It’s really important to have a good rapport between the two parties so you can feel comfortable working with each other.
- Transparency and honesty - most of all, it’s important to build trust in the working relationship between the two agencies. After all, if you are entrusting a white label agency to do your client work, you want to be confident that they can deliver with the minimum of back and forth review rounds. You also want to be sure that they are not overcharging you, and that they can be counted on to deliver on time. On their part, they also want to feel they are being treated fairly and that their time and expertise is valued.
If there is a mismatch between expectation and reality, chances are you will not want to work with each other again. It’s advisable to talk through all your expectations upfront, and make sure you’re really clear about the standard of work you expect.
Having expertise in content marketing takes time and dedication. When you choose NMC, you can trust in our knowledge and expertise. You will have a specialized team working on your behalf to provide you and your client with all the content, strategy and other digital marketing services you need.
Want to find out more about our white label services? You can read more about our approach to content creation here.