White Label vs In House SEO Services

Digital marketing is a moving target when it comes to all of the services that fall under the category. When I hear a company say they are a digital marketing “guru” red flags start going up. It’s arguable that a marketing agency can start off and become insanely great at one specific aspect of digital marketing and be mediocre, at best, in other services offered. Truth be told, I started out just like that. 

Like most new agencies, we started out in the Facebook Ads space. I have a background in radio advertising and excelled in advertising sales over my previous career. It was a seemingly simple transition from the ears to the eyes as far as creating ads that created paying customers for my clients. I soon learned that my digital ads clients required some other essential services that I would need to offer in order to stay relevant as a digital marketing agency in Birmingham, AL. Some of these other services included website design, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media management.

I learned very quickly that being incredibly effective at Facebook ads did not necessarily mean I could deliver on these other needed services for my clients. I needed help and my company did not bring in enough revenue for me to hire out for these additional services. 

So… I turned to white label services to fill in the gap. After researching multiple companies, I landed on a phone call with a gentleman named Jeff from a company called Hubshout. I can certainly tell you that I had an amazing experience and Nick the Marketer would not be offering SEO services without the foundation laid by this white label service.

I do not want this to turn into a blanket endorsement but rather give you 3 pros and cons that I experienced while using white label services in the early stages of my business.

 

3 pros and cons to adding white label SEO services to your Digital Marketing Agency

 

Pro: White Label Marketing Can Scale Your Services Portfolio

The first and foremost benefit of using white label marketing services is that I was able to broaden my offerings as an agency. I didn’t need to specialize in each and every service that I offered and I could provide a much broader range of services by outsourcing them to a white label service provider.

What’s more? I could sell these services with my own branding and take full credit for the results.

 

Con: You may need more than one White Label Company

As I mentioned before, I wanted to offer additional services such as website design, search engine optimization, and social media management. While Hubshout offered exceptional SEO services, I was left looking for a vendor for website services and social media posting. This led me to my first hired team member who took on social media posts for my clients. Additionally, I needed to find a freelance website designer for our website sales. 

It can be as much of a challenge managing multiple service providers as it is managing team members. 

Note: Be caution of a White Label company that does everything. After all, you are looking for their service because your agency does not do everything. 

 

Pro: It Can Help You Get Additional Revenue Sources

Simple math equation… More services = more revenue

Each additional service that you offer to your clients can generate an incremental revenue stream for your company. And with a third-party service provider taking care of the service delivery aspect, there is no limit to how many additional services that you can provide.

The key, obviously, is to resell these services at a markup, so that you maintain healthy profit margins. And no, you are not ripping off your clients by marking up services. Your client gets your strategy, your thoughts, and your personal touch. 

 

Con:  You Lose Originality

In order for Nick the Marketer to be the best digital marketing agency in Birmingham, AL we have to bring original ideas, content, and strategies to our clients. This ultimately led to the decision of me bringing all of our service offerings in-house. 

While I was able to launch additional services using While Label service providers, I was unable to bring our own unique ideas to the outsourced services. Additionally, ideas used for our clients were likely rinsed and repeated across dozens of other similar businesses being served by other agencies.

Long-story-short, if you are participating in a white-label exchange, you could really be compromising on the originally and quality of the products you are selling.

 

Pro:  It Will Help You Improve Your Brand’s Image

By using white label marketing services early in your business, you can ensure that you deliver on your promises to your clients. While you are in the early stages of developing your marketing agency, you can focus on growing your client list instead of finding the right team members. By being able to provide a broader range of services, you can position yourself to be the go-to agency for all digital marketing services.

 

Con: Until It Doesn’t Make Sense For Your Image Anymore

It’s not my place to tell you the best way to grow and scale your agency. In the long run, it will depend on if you care about more clients or better quality service. 

At Nick the Marketer, we elected to hire in house team members to fulfill our services for our clients. For us, it was incredibly important to not only deliver results but deliver them in a way that was unique to our clients’ business model. We are breaking the cardinal rule of all gurus by NOT developing a niche but rather taking on clients we can truly serve. 

It’s at this crossroads for you to decide if white label services make sense anymore for your business model.

 

Conclusion

While we no longer utilize white label services for Nick the Marketer, I can confirm that we would not be where we are as an agency without those services early on in our startup phase. 

If you are looking to add additional services to your digital marketing agency but don’t know if you have the capabilities to deliver, I highly recommend looking into white label services. In my research, there are very well-run companies that offer these services. I’ve referenced my original service provider above. Do your research and due-diligence before landing on one. 

Finally, make a decision on your want your agency to be when it grows up. Scale and volume or high value and personal service. Develop your long term strategy around that. 

 

Have you ever tried using white label marketing services for your agency? Share your experience in the comments below!