Tag Archives: White Label Services

Do Not Wish to Work with Freelancers The Best 5 Alternatives to Freelancers!

The Best 5 Alternatives to Freelancers

Quick Summary: This article begins with discussing the popularity of freelancing model and why businesses prefer to hire freelancers. As you read more it unveils the reasons to find better alternatives to freelancers and lists the Top 5 Alternatives. The article helps you make an informed choice by offering you the pros & cons of each suggested alternative and concludes with a recommended solution. 

Almost 30% of Fortune 500 companies are hiring freelancers through Upwork. Moreover, the number of freelancers grew by 7%, from 53 million to 56.7 million in just 5 years. Freelancing is one of the most popular business models and meets a major part of outsourced requirements. But, one of the biggest drawbacks of freelancing for businesses is lack of reliability.

 Do you think, lack of reliability is the only drawback of working with Freelancers? Let’s read more!

Why do businesses work with freelancers?

  • Lower Cost: Cost of hiring in-house resources in tier 1 countries is way high and therefore, businesses opt for hiring freelancers in tier 2 and tier 3 countries. This helps them save a huge amount of investment in resources.
  • Wide and Diverse Pool of Resources: Freelancing helps businesses explore resource options across the globe. This helps them meet diverse potential and find the right resource at a cost-effective price.
  • Ability to Scale Quickly: Unlike, in-house resources where businesses have to plan long-term payroll budgets and overhead cost budgets, freelancing gives businesses the opportunity to hire part-time resources. Businesses can scale quickly and meet urgent requirements easily.

What is the need to find alternatives to freelancers?

disadvantages of freelancers

  • Lack of Reliability: Freelancers are self-employed individuals specializing in various technical skills. These individuals work on remote jobs from clients and are not bound to the payroll of any service provider. This makes their reliability and commitment a concern for businesses.
  • Juggling Among Multiple Projects: 76% of freelancers work as part-time freelancers to be able to earn extra money. This creates a question on their accountability towards a project or client. And as a fact, 70% of freelancers juggle between two to four projects simultaneously.
  • Security Concerns: There are no standard security parameters and contracts when working with a freelancer. Outsourcing through well-trusted sources is less likely to breach a company’s intellectual property.
  • No Long-term Commitment: Businesses and agencies generally hire freelancers to leverage the cost-cutting benefits of outsourcing for temporary short-term projects. There is always a need for a more reliable alternative to freelancers.

Top 5 Alternatives to Freelancers

1. Build an In-house Team

The most popular hiring model is the in-house team model. This model offers maximum trust and can be adapted by almost all business types. However, it lacks the benefits of outsourcing.

Pros of In-house Team Model

  • Maximum Trust and Security: Each business has its set of custom processes, intellectual property and private client data, which is prone to leaks if outsourced to freelancers. Therefore, the in-house team offers maximum data security and privacy.
  • Long-term Solution: In-house team model offers long-term solutions as the resources are less likely to switch jobs frequently. Furthermore, having an in-house team allows businesses to create standard skills and practices which are easily transferable across the company.
  • One-to-one Management: Any other communication channel like chat messenger, calls, or video conferences can replace the efficiency of face-to-face communication. In-house team model helps businesses employ one-to-one management and skill training.
  • Focus on Quality and Culture: PayPal depends on its in-house team for delivering the best quality solutions to businesses worldwide. The in-house team model help managers focus on the quality of the solutions as the team is well-aligned towards the company’s goals and values.

benefits of outsourcing over problems with inhouse team

Source

Cons of In-house Team Model

  • Scarcity of Talent: The in-house team model doesn’t allow recruiters to look for talents offshore and therefore they need to look for the right talent within a limited radius.
  • High Resource Hiring Cost: Cost of hiring the right talent in tier 1 countries like the US, UK, and Europe is far higher than in tier 2 and tier 3 countries. This impacts the growth of businesses with lower investment potential, especially startups.
  • Higher CAPEX Cost: Hiring a team in-house means added infrastructure cost, electricity cost, and office-level internet costs. Additionally, the employer is liable for overhead cost benefits like employees’ health insurance and meal expenses, etc.
  • Recruitment Takes More Time and Effort: Hiring resources in-house means long-term budget planning and therefore it takes efforts in finalizing the right resource for your business. 83% recruiters believe hiring resources in-house is tough.

2. Outsource to A White Label Agency

White-label service is a model of outsourcing in which a service is sold under the name of the client’s brand but are executed by the white-label service provider. Like other types of outsourcing, this is a popular model for agencies who wish to reduce their operational cost (increase their profit margins) while steadily increasing their client base. The model is counted among the best alternatives to freelancers for B2B clients.

Pros of White Label Service Model

  • Reduction In Operational Cost: 59% of businesses utilize outsourcing as a cost-cutting tool. Agencies look for white label partners in tier 2 and tier 3 countries, to cut down on the operational costs.
  • High Scalability: Outsourcing services to a white label partner can be the right bet when aiming at urgent scalability goals. Outsourcing to countries like India and Philippines gives access to a wide and skilled resource pool, which makes scaling easy.
  • Focus on Business Development: Following the footsteps of outsourcing, white label services give you a wide room to focus on your core business activities. When you outsource projects to a white label partner, it is accountable to meet your project requirements. Meanwhile, you can focus on your business development goals.
  • Secure and Reliable: White label agencies follow strict NDA norms and make sure the shared data is secure. Unlike the disadvantages of freelancing, the client here deals with a trusted business entity and therefore there is a very low risk of a security breach, abrupt project abandonment, or project failure.

Cons of White Label Services

  • Scope of Misunderstanding: As you pass your project vision to a white label agency, this vision travels a long loop of individuals including the sales executive, the project manager, and finally to the execution team. And the project information is likely to distort at some point in this loop. This creates a room for misunderstanding and repeated feedback.
  • Low-level Control: Antonymous to in-house team model, a white label agency works with its own standard processes and team structure. You as a client have low-level control over the processes followed and can only take a look at the reports and deliverable. Based on these you can give your feedback for a desirable outcome. You need to overcome some disadvantages of outsourcing to crack the white label outsourcing model.

3. Hire A Dedicated Team

The ‘dedicated team model’ is a type of outsourcing structured such to help businesses build their offshore dedicated teams at a white label agency. Businesses having well-defined goals or long-term projects can hire a dedicated team from their outsourcing provider. This team is on the payroll of their parent company (outsourcing provider) but works dedicatedly on the projects of the client company. This model basically combines the values of in-house team model with the top benefits of outsourcing. Read its pros & cons to understand better:

Michael-Dell alternatives of freelancing dedicated team model

Source

Pros of Dedicated Team

  • High-level Project Control: The client can manage the team-structure, the process followed and even the time-zone for the dedicated team. A project manager can be hired to better manage the execution process.
  • Long-term Commitment: A dedicated team is generally signed under long-term contracts and the same team can work for you on all your ongoing projects. This saves the efforts on skill training and avoids issues related to resource transition. The reliability makes it one of the best alternatives to freelancers.
  • Decrease In Overhead Costs: You build a team without investing in the infrastructure cost, electricity and office-level internet cost. Further, you as a client are not liable to pay overhead costs for your dedicated team.
  • Lower Operational Costs: The most common reason why businesses adopt the offshore team approach is to reduce operational costs. Building dedicated teams in tier 2 and tier 3 countries earn businesses a huge profit in the resource cost.
  • On-demand Scalability: A client gets total control over the offshore team structure and can add members to its dedicated team on-demand. Choosing an outsourcing provider with a large resource strength will be a smart move here.

Cons of Dedicated Team

  • Not Beneficial for Short-term Projects: Unlike freelancers, a dedicated team is hired under long-term contracts. The model offers access to resources with long-term commitment and the resources are not allowed to juggle between multiple projects but are committed to working for a dedicated client.
  • Scope of Coordination Gap: Offshore development comes with an attribute of cross-culture gap and it may take some time to completely set the seal on this gap. However, some outsourcing service providers allow dedicated clients to visit and provide on-site training to their dedicated teams.

 

Hire Offshore Dedicated Team

4. Hire A Shared Team

The shared team model is similar to the dedicated team model but with less control. In this model, clients have part-time access to shared resources. Here the shared team works on two to four projects from different clients simultaneously.

Pros of Shared Team Model

  • Lower Resource Cost: Hiring offshore resources gives businesses access to a wide talent pool at a cost-effective price, especially if the shared team is hired from tier 2 or tier 3 countries.
  • Managed Project Flow: The client can manage his shared team and the project flow authoritatively. He has control over the team structure and team productivity.
  • No Overhead Cost: When hiring a shared team, the client is not liable to pay for the health insurance, travel expense or meal benefits for the members as they remain on the payroll of their parent company.
  • Main Team Members Can’t Be Replaced: The shared team model comes as a combination of a dedicated team and shared team. Therefore, the dedicated or the main members of the team are under a long-term contract and cannot be replaced.

Cons of Shared Team Model

  • Limited Resource Availability: Resources under a shared team offer part-time services to a client and juggle between 2 to 4 clients at the same time. This model doesn’t offer clients the same flexibility as the dedicated team model.
  • Loss In Productivity: Having a part-time resource team under your management has some challenges with the management and there is a scope for loss in productivity.

5. Build A Remote Team

As another popular subset of the outsourcing model, a remote team model is where businesses hire remote resources to set up their dedicated remote team. The remote resources specialize at their work and offer great productivity at affordable costs. It offers all the benefits of outsourcing and can be ranked just below the white label and dedicated team model.

dedicated-team-to-aremote-team-comparison-alternative-to-freelancers

Pros of Remote Team Model

  • Access to a Large Talent Pool: The Gartner survey states 22% of CIOs find trouble in finding the right talent in-house. The remote team model helps businesses connect and hire the right talent from across the globe.
  • Lower Resource and Overhead Costs: Remote team model is advisable when looking for offshore experts at lower costs. One can hire remote developers and marketers for as low as $15 – $20 per hour in India. The overhead cost per remote employee is almost negligible as compared to an in-house employee.
  • Superior Control Over Project and Team-structure: The remote team works on your payroll and you can manage the remote team structure and project-flow authoritatively.

Cons of Remote Team Model

  • Credibility Issues: Some remote workers can be self-employed individuals who are not answerable to a resource provider. However, the remote model is far more credible than the freelancing model.
  • Communication & Cross-culture Gap: A remote team with resources from different diversities and culture may display a cross-culture gap. Communication gap is evident in this model.

Conclusion

No denying that outsourcing to freelancers helps save cost, meet urgent requirements and meet the right expertise, but the model still lacks credibility. A majority of freelancers juggle between multiple projects and aren’t committed to a single client. This establishes a crucial need for more credible alternatives.

The dedicated team model and white label services top the list as the most efficient and credible options. On the other end, no hiring model matches the credibility of the in-house team model. Cost-saving, credibility, management, communication and security are the top factors to consider while a business explores the possible alternatives to freelancers.

Inhouse Team Vs White Label Team: Which Serves Better?

Over the years, white label services have evolved to grow as an important part of the expansion strategy for many businesses. However, there are many businesses who still tend to rely on their inhouse team and invest in the same.

So, what do you think which serves you better – Inhouse team or white label company? Let us find out here!

1. Adding New Offerings To Your Service Portfolio

When it comes to expanding your business offerings or adding new offerings to your service portfolio, you need to expand your inhouse team. However, hiring new resources for a particular expertise can come heavy on your investments. On the other end, you might be increasing your risk factor, in the case if the expansion plan doesn’t work that well.

On the other end, companies that use outsourcing can readily broaden their service offerings without increasing the overhead cost of setting up a new team. With no extra investment or a new inhouse team, you can expand your business and service offerings at a lower risk factor.

2. Cost of Operations

If we trust the statistics, 59% of businesses switch to outsourcing to cut down on cost. Choosing outsourcing services can help you cut down on some operational costs like-

  • Allowance and ideal time salary benefits to employees
  • Investment in training the in-house resources

On the other end, if the productivity of the outsourcing team is considered with the inhouse team it is generally higher. Companies choose to outsource to places with a lower currency, allowing them to hire skilled resources at a lower investment cost.

3. Meeting Urgent Demands from The Clients

Be it a product-based or service-based business, urgent deliverables and bulk orders is an unavoidable part of every business journey. Here you need to be backed-up well by a dedicated team of resources. An inhouse team can surely provide you support up to some extent, but with the time limitations and limited number of resources your inhouse team might fail to fill the bucket full every time. That is where you need a white label company that can work round the clock to meet your urgent commitments.

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams

4. Finding The Right Expertise

There might be cases when the expertise required for a particular project or client requirement might exceed the capabilities of your in-house team and here is where outsourcing services come into the picture.

To incorporate the required expertise for your in-house team you might have to invest in new resources or might have to invest in training programs. While, when choosing a white label services partner, you can evaluate the expertise it offers and make your decision accordingly. Outsourcing can help you find the right expertise at no to minimum investment.

5. Coordinated Work Management

One of the main factors why companies show resistance to outsourcing is the inability to work under the same roof, which leads to the fear of faded coordination. While, if you have a well-managed inhouse team, you can easily establish a coordinated project management with a seamless communication channel.

On the other hand, if you go for outsourcing services, you need to be highly particular about the white label company you choose. A professional white label agency partner generally promises you a single point of contact and coordinated project management.

6. Trust Factor and Accountability

Trust and accountability are important factors that make inhouse team the first choice over a white label team. An inhouse team is more accountable towards your projects then an outsourcing company. With this, inhouse team portrays a higher trust factor. While, if you consider outsourcing to a white label company, you need to ask them certain questions like –

  • Will you meet the decided timelines?
  • How sure I can be about the data security?
  • Would we sign the NDA?
  • Do you take the complete accountability of a project submitted to you?

These questions being related to trust and security can help you choose the right outsourcing service provider.

Hiring a white label team is an extension to your in-house team and there are certain tasks that cannot be outsourced, that is where inhouse team is also required. Further, outsourcing adds up as an extra revenue stream to your business and helps you with business expansion and client retention.

What would you choose between an inhouse team and an outsourcing team?

5 Types of White Label Agency You Shouldn’t Hire

5 Types of White Label Agency You Shouldn’t Hire

The white-label market opens several doors of opportunities and unparalleled services that can take your business to the next level. Choose the right partner for white labelling and you can build brand awareness, expand your business, gain more clients and lots more. Choose the wrong one, and you may experience major setbacks.

This is why you need to put in a lot of thought and deliberation when you seek the agency. Remember, it is not about getting the best services, but getting consistent services that deliver the results for your brand or business.

So, what are the key pointers that you need to take into consideration when you want to work with these agencies or rather, what are the red flags that you need to watch out for?

We’re here to make the task easy for you with the following pointers:

1. Agencies That Are Not Transparent

One of the hallmarks of top white-label service agencies is that they are transparent with their clients. Ergo, they have nothing to hide be it the process they follow, the resources assigned to the projects, their expertise in different domains and most importantly, their physical addresses.

Without knowing the processes, you will be at sea as there will be no clarity about how the agency will work on your project. Similarly, when you are not clear about which team has been assigned and what their expertise is, you will not be able to measure how good they are for a project and will they be able to handle other projects of the same scale or not.

Not having a physical address is a different issue and a serious one at that. How will you find out whether the firm is not any other random business that can shut shop? It is a tell-tale sign of a lack of authenticity.

Reputable white-label service agencies have nothing to hide. They brief the clients about everything early on and even take them through a walk through of their entire processes. They also have web/social media presence and their addresses are updated and verified. This adds to their credibility and they are the ones you need to hire for your business.

2. Agencies Who Don’t Have Set Processes

When agencies don’t have any inkling about the processes they are going to follow for the projects, the steps to execute them, the roles team members will play, etc., the project management is only going to become messy and frustrating with time.

The thing is, delivering great solutions may be the core of the agency, but when their productivity is affected, the results are not delivered within the stipulated time frame. This leads to loss of time and money for the clients. And this is something that keeps happening with agencies, who want to rush into client acquisition and dive straight in without any proper strategy or methods in place.

What they don’t know is that implementing processes will ensure that the agency’s productivity remains stable and the output is provided without compromising on the deadline. This creates an impression on the clients as well. To cut a long story short, white label agencies should implement a set of processes, which will make it easy for them to come up with quality solutions.

When you are about to hire an agency, ask them about the processes they follow. If there is none, move on to the next one!

Read more about- Top Reasons to Start-with White Label Services

3. Agencies Without the Right/Enough Certifications

When you are all set to hire a white label agency, make it a point to check their certifications. This will help you learn how knowledgeable the firm is. Some of the top certifications that are universally recognized include but are not limited to – Google Partners, Facebook Marketing Partners, HubSpot Marketing Partner, SalesForce, Google Ad Words, etc. These certifications will make you feel that your project is assigned to the safest and secure people.

Firms that don’t have a single certification to their credit, may lack the quality standards, which are required to earn the coveted partnership labels. Also, it shows that they are doing enough or making the effort to achieve certifications. This is a sure-shot red flag and you need to skip these agencies when it comes to white labelling.

4. Agencies That Are Not One-Stop-Solution Providers

Agencies thrive on getting business from their clients. If they are serious about it, they will provide all possible solutions under the same roof. This makes it possible for you to avail of a wide range of services without running from pillar to post to recruit employees, freelancers or knocking on the door of another agency and spending a fortune in the process.

A professional full-service white label agency will keep up with the latest tools, techniques, and trends. Because of their updated knowledge in technology, they can help your brand or business save time, money and provide value. Their team will consist of skilled individuals who specialize in different areas of services and broad skill sets. This will enable them to provide solutions that are tailor-made for your business.

5. Agencies That Won’t Fulfill Your Scalable Requirements

Are you aiming at scalable growth by white label services? Do you want to expand your portfolio and would like a white label agency to help you expand? If your answer is affirmative, you will need to sign up with an agency that can streamline their internal operations and take scalability as a priority and not an afterthought. If the agency resists scaling, consider it a strict No.

Expert white label agencies will help scale your efforts up or down based on various factors including avant-garde products or seasonal trends.

To understand whether the agency has a capacity to fulfill your scalable requirements or not, discuss with them at length about the work you will have, the scope of work in the future, the rising demand of your customers and the availability of the resources. These are a handful of criteria that will help you make an informed decision. But you can always come up with your own list of factors to come to a conclusion about an agency.

These are some of the points you need to consider at the time of hiring white label agencies to meet your business needs and choose the best one. We have been at the helm of outstanding white labelling for several years and are confident about providing you the state-of-the-art solution.

Also Read: The 7-step process that’ll help businesses find the right white label partner

Why Hiring White Label Marketing Agency Is Far Better Than Hiring Freelancers

Leave a reply

Your client demands are growing, and your small team is not able to fulfil them, what will be your next step? Hiring new resources inhouse or opting for outsourcing services?

Well, going for outsourcing would be the right choice! It doesn’t make sense to hire a permanent inhouse resource for continuously variable client requirements and pay them for ideal time as well. With this, the hiring process takes time and it may take a long time before you actually start reaping benefits from them. What makes sense is opting for white label services, where you pay according to the productivity you receive.

But what would be the best choice between a white label marketing agency partner and a freelancer?

Freelancing is one of the most common choice made by small businesses, but it might not be the best one.

So, let us keep Freelancing and White Label Services side-by-side to compare which promises a better growth:

1. Hiring the Right Resources

There is a lot of difference in the way you recruit a white label marketing agency and a freelancer.

In the case you wish to hire a freelancer, you need to switch to the various freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Freelancer, etc. These platforms have their set of defined policies and processes, which you have to follow for hiring a resource through them.

If you wish to connect with the freelancer (listed on these platforms) for any further query outside the freelancing platform, you would be breaching the platform’s policies. This may jeopardise your future recruitment opportunities. However, professional freelancing platforms display the reviews & ratings of each of their resources along with their portfolio to help you judge your decision. But again, you need to go smart on the risks associated with hiring a freelancer.

On the other end, hiring a white label digital marketing agency is more of a one-time effort, where you have many recruitment channel options. You have the flexibility to carry out your own recruitment procedure. It does take a good amount of initial research where you need to go through the websites of various white label marketing agencies and screen the best options for your business. But, you get a good look at their portfolio, expertise, experience, resources and services through their website. You can check if the white label agency you hire is a Premier Google partner or not and discuss all your queries with ease.

2. Credibility Each Option Promises

When it comes to reliability or credibility as a resource, things can get tricky! A freelancer doesn’t offer you a cover up plan. With this, he has his own vacation leaves, and unavailability phases (due to health or family issues) which may hinder your work productivity. There are chances that he may go missing for a few days, and here is where your liability on him is questioned.

While, a white label agency promises you a dependable credibility. There is always a cover up plan, in case of the resources working on your project is unavailable due to some reason you work isn’t hindered.

3. Scalability and Add-on Support

Generally, businesses switch to outsourcing to scale their business in terms of revenue and services offered. But, if you hire a freelancer, he has his own limitations when it comes to the quantity of work he can offer. The scalability he offers also depends on the projects he is serving and his time availability.

On the other end, a well-established white label digital marketing agency is generally served by a good resource strength. In the case, your requirement grows, or you have to meet urgent deliverables, a white label agency can extend its team of dedicated resources for your project.  

A white label partner can help you with ongoing sales support, and if you hire a Google Premier Partner, you would have the access to the right tools and software as well. You cannot expect this add-on support from a freelancer.

4. Results You Can Expect

Many marketers feel hiring a freelancer would be a good choice as it appears to be a more economical option as compared to hiring a white label digital marketing agency. With this, a freelancer can help you earn significantly high profit margins for each of your projects. But, does it promise the same results as an outsourcing services company?

You may find a highly-experienced freelancer, but he fails to guarantee you the consistent quality and accountability you need. You need to invest more time in the management tasks, as freelancers have their focus on earning more instead of brand building.

On the other hand, a white label marketing agency has their focus on brand building along with generating revenue. So, they take complete accountability of your project and maintain a consistency in the quality of services they offer. A white label partner can arrange a single point of contact for you and help you decrease the management part significantly, so you can focus on your priority business development goals.

5. Communication Procedure Followed

Communication remains one of the most important factors to consider while opting for outsourcing. Generally, there are no written guidelines for the communication procedure to be followed while outsourcing. Therefore, each freelancer has his own communication procedure, according to his convenience. This depends on his focus on client retention and his commitment to the timelines. Generally, freelancers follow an irregular communication sync, where clients need to constantly chase them for updates, thus increasing the managerial efforts.

With your white label partner, you can expect a consistent communication channel. Generally, professional white label marketing agencies follow a standard reporting and communication procedure, that is discussed initially with the client. With this, they are willing to report and communicate according to your time zone. So, to deliver the expertise and grow their brand value as a service provider.

Though freelancing seems a cost-effective option at the initial stages of outsourcing, it fails to support when you wish to scale further. On the other end, choosing the right white label digital marketing agency can help you scale consistently. 

Insourcing Or Outsourcing Services: What Your Digital Marketing Agency Needs?

Leave a reply

Once incepted as a concept, outsourcing services have come up as a popular approach in the IT sector. Today, many businesses employ outsourcing to grow their business revenue without increasing their investment cost. Another practice that competes with outsourcing is insourcing services, which is actually created to help businesses who have previously tried outsourcing and were unsatisfied with the approach. The insourcing concept comes as an alternative to outsourcing services, where a business can hire resources in-house on a temporary basis to serve their requirements.

However, one of the biggest topics of discussion for entrepreneurs and agencies is – Insourcing or Outsourcing: What one should opt for?

So, before we start with analyzing the pros and cons of insourcing Vs outsourcing, let’s understand why a business or agency opts for outsourcing or insourcing:

Why Agencies Choose Outsourcing?

Outsourcing being a popular business growth strategy across the globe, is chosen by digital marketing agencies to cut down the operation costs, find the right expertise for their work, or to expand their business offerings. This actually helps many businesses focus on their core competencies while they offload other tasks to their outsourcing partners at low cost.

Why Agencies Choose Insourcing?

Insourcing can be defined as the concept of filling up the gap when a company wishes to fulfill a requirement on a temporary basis. Insourcing is more popular among manufacturing companies who hire labour to meet urgent requirements at low costs. Insourcing is also chosen by agencies or businesses who have previously tried outsourcing services but have had a bad experience and were not able to find the expected results.

Now, the question is what should you opt for as a digital marketing agency yourself?

To understand this, we will deep dive into the perks and limitations of insourcing Vs outsourcing:

Perks of Insourcing

Ability To Work In Close Coordination: Insourcing services give you an ability to hire resources who will work side by side your in-house team and you can train them according to your specific working procedures to get the best out from them. Working in close coordination also builds a great work environment and enhances work productivity, which may not be the case with outsourced white label services.

Seamless Communication and Task Understanding: Insourcing allows agencies to leverage the perk of seamless communication with their hired resources as they can be met in person, which would help you as a manager to explain the requirements to the insourced team in a better way.

Cons of Insourcing

Expensive In Terms of Cost: One of the major reasons why businesses switch to outsourcing services is to get cost-effective solutions from countries with lower economy rates. This may not be the case with insourcing as the resources are generally from the same region working at the same wages as your digital marketing agency.

Finding The Right Expertise Is Hard: Looking for the best service provider in the proximity can be hard as you might fail to receive the expertise you expect. With this, even if you find the right expertise, there are chances that the cost of hiring them is far greater than the outsourcing options available.

Increased Operational Costs: When you are hiring a team or resources in-house, you need to pay for the operational costs including the additional hardware, system setup, electricity, etc. And sometimes other employee benefits like ideal time costs, insurance costs, retaining costs, need to be paid.

Reduced Ownership for The Service Provider: Generally, insourcing service providers mainly focus on availing you temporary staff or resources for your business. It is your liability to train them for your work and get the best out of them. On the other hand, if you hire the right white label digital marketing agency, they take complete ownership for your projects, allowing you to offload the management hassle and focus just on expanding your business.

Now we consider the various perks and cons of hiring a white label marketing agency for outsourcing as compared to insourcing:

Perks of Outsourcing

Cost-effective Solution: Statistics says, the most common reasons to outsource for 59% of businesses are getting a cost-effective solution. Many leading digital marketing from around the world gain great profits by outsourcing their projects to a cost-effective white label marketing agency partner.

Getting The Right Expertise: Outsourcing offers you a global platform when it comes to searching for the right outsourcing service provider for your business. With this, a professional white label marketing agency is expected to take complete accountability for every project, therefore pays strict attention to the expertise it delivers to your clients.

Business Growth Without Increase In Investment: One of the main areas where outsourcing overshadows insourcing is ‘reduced operational costs’. Outsourcing allows you to increase your service offerings and deliver more monthly projects, thus increasing your monthly revenue. And that too without any significant increase in your investment! Unlike insourcing, outsourcing helps you save on extra hardware & system setup cost, hire employees in-house or pay for their insurance and ideal time.

Meeting Urgent Deliverables With Ease: As a major perk of outsourcing, you get an extension of your in-house team which is ready to work for you even at odd hours and meet your urgent delivery commitments. In case, your timelines are close, a committed white label services partner is always ready to work for you on weekends as well as round the clock, so you could seamlessly meet your committed timelines.

Highly Scalable: Outsourcing offers you a higher level of scalability as compared to insourcing. In the case of high scalability requirements, a white label digital marketing agency with a huge team can dedicate more resources to your project in lesser time as compared to an insourcing partner.

Cons of Outsourcing

High Potential of Miscommunication: One limitation of outsourcing is that the resources working for you cannot work alongside your team and there is a potential of miscommunication. However, you can resolve this limitation by employing more transparency in your communication channel.

Risk of Unsynchronised Management: Some businesses face the issue of unsynchronised management with their outsourcing partner. This may be due to different time zones or lack of understanding of the technical part. Here, as an outsourcing sponsor, you can ask your white label service provider to assign you a single point of contact and regular work progress reports. You can also hire a project coordinator or manager on your end, but that would only be feasible if you have regular outsourcing requirements.

Trust Factor: Credibility and trust matter a lot when it comes to choosing an outsourcing services partner. Outsourcing demands more attention to the trust factor as compared to insourcing as you are dealing with an offshore partner. However, if you put more research in the initial phase while choosing the right white label partner, trust factor wouldn’t be an issue.

Insourcing or Outsourcing?

Insourcing surely has benefits like seamless management and better coordination, but it fails to take away the sheen from outsourcing, which offers perks like cost-effective solutions, better ROIs, greater expertise and higher accountability. Start outsourcing and boost your business revenue today!

8 Ways To Get Work Done Efficiently From Your White Label Marketing Agency

Leave a reply

Often referred to as a ‘necessary evil’ for businesses, the concept of outsourcing is the most common in the IT industry. It may look a little challenging on the management part but has helped thousands of businesses scale up really quick.

So, as an agency owner yourself, what can be the best way to get your work done efficiently from your white label marketing agency partner?

Here are some tips from our experts:

1. Share Client Feedback

One of the main things to work on when you are getting work done from a White Label Agency is keeping them updated with the client feedback. Bad feedbacks bring attentiveness and concern which can be precepted as mistakes to learn from and positively up-bring a sense of ownership. While, positive feedbacks bring motivation in the outsourcing team, inspiring them to work with the same passion and a greater commitment. This is reflected in your following projects and tasks.

‘Real-time feedback resolution’ is another aspect that you as an agency owner needs to keep in mind to make sure bugs are fixed in real time and the project productivity isn’t hindered. You can maintain transparent communication with the project coordinator/manager on the outsourcing end that keeps the development team updated with the feedback and work over them in real time. This can be an essential practice when you have to meet some close deadlines.

2. Discuss ETA In Detail

Being the only node between the client and the outsourcing services company, the way you handle the transparency of processes and requirements is highly critical. Clearly, ETAs (Estimated Time of Arrivals) need to be discussed in detail and finalized based on transparent communication. You need to document down the client requirements in detail and ask your white label services partner to assess them for the feasibility and give the most practical ETA for the project. Based on this ETA you need to add your assessment buffer time and bug resolution time (in the case if your outsourcing partner fails to convert the project well). Then you give your side of ETA to the client which includes the time estimates from your white label partner in addition with the overall buffer time you require.

3. Assign Single Point Of Contact

Ever tried to work on too many browser tabs at once? Or tried to pick a phone from one hand, open a jar from another as you slip your feet into your shoe? It seems too complicated and tangled, same is the case with outsourcing project management when you have many nodes to connect. So, one of the best practice that smart agency owners follow is asking their outsourcing agency partner to assign him a single point of contact.

This single point of contact needs to make sure that he coordinates with the project manager on the development end and keeps you updated with all the progress in your project. If you want to communicate over any requirement aspect, or provide any feedback, or make urgent conversations, or ask for a progress report, etc. the person assigned to you should be your single point of contact and this could help you streamline the project management process.

This further helps you gain in productivity.

4. Detailed Monthly Reporting or Milestone Reports

The right white label marketing agency partner makes sure that it keeps you reported about the overall project at each point of time. Many smart agency owners follow the process of monthly reporting or milestone reporting, where the outsourcing partner has to submit monthly work progress reports in detail to the agency owner, for his review and feedback.

WIP (Work In Progress) sheets are one of the latest practice followed by some truly credible white label agencies where they follow a habit of maintaining a daily WIP sheet that can be reviewed by the agency owner and if he wishes to share it with his client he can share it further. These WIP sheets keep you update with the direction and progress of the project and increase work productivity along with improving work quality.

5. Communicating Technical Aspects Transparently

Starting from the initial planning when you screen your outsourcing partners you need to make sure that you discuss all your expectations transparently. Smart marketers generally prefer a one-stop white label marketing agency which has expertise in delivering end-to-end digital outsourcing services. It saves them from the hassle of finding a new outsourcing partner for every different requirement.

With this, you can ask your white label partner if he has worked on various industry domains, just to make sure the professionals working for your client are familiar with the client’s industry. This reflects in the quality of the work you receive and add to your client’s delight.

Another important aspect is to discuss the client requirements well in advance with your white label service partner. Keeping your outsourcing service provider in the loop while you discuss the client requirements can help you fix on the factors like project feasibility, the time required for the execution, expectation bar, etc. This practice streamlines project management and increases work productivity.

6. Integrate A Scope For Scalability and Flexibility

There will be cases when the project scope may scale at the final point, or it might require some modifications from the client side. In this case, your white label services partner should be willing to entertain the modifications in a flexible manner and meet the scalability requirements. Therefore, you need to discuss with the outsourcing company for their willingness to entertain end moment changes and scalability requirements.

7. Transparent Billing Is A Must

When it comes to working with a white label marketing agency, the most crucial aspect of management comes with billing management. Based on the engagement model you choose to connect with your outsourcing partner you need to make certain documented billing process discussions and approve them.

If you choose a ‘fixed price model’, you should discuss the number of feedbacks the outsourcing partner is willing to entertain.

In the case of a ‘rate per hour’ model, a detailed billing sheet should be shared transparently between you and the white label company.

You can also go for the ‘payment wallet’ engagement model if you are working with a trusted partner. This will help you speed up the development part in the initial phase, as this model involves quick payment approval and the outsourcing company can kick-start the project as soon as possible, keeping you in priority.

8. Don’t Just Deal, Make A Partner

Often ignored, but ‘partnering approach’ is an important factor that decides the way your white label partner serves you. You as an agency owner shouldn’t just focus on getting the work done from your outsourcing team, but actually, partner with them. You should involve them in some decision-making tasks like cross-selling and up-selling strategy discussions, project feasibility discussion, and share feedback with them. With this, the communication channel you maintain should be transparent and, its tone should have a partnership touch.

Outsourcing surely brings you a long list of perks, but only if managed efficiently! So, is your present white label agency partner helping you meet your growth goals?

8 White Label Digital Marketing Services for Agencies to Earn More

Leave a reply

As a digital marketing agency owner, you will have already heard about ‘white label digital marketing services’ but have you really thought about how it could help your business?

White label digital marketing services enable you to scale your business, boost your client offerings and increase your business revenue without any overhead costs. By outsourcing tasks and services to a third party, you can grow your business and expand your client portfolio without increasing the work-pressure on your team or yourself.

Benefits of Deploying White Label Digital Marketing Services:

Digital Marketing is a broad and fast-growing field. Whether your team lacks the specific expertise for certain tasks or simply don’t have the time to take on more work, white label agency partner can help boost your agency’s profit.

So let’s have a look at the various tasks you can outsource by using white label marketing services.

1. Facebook Ads

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. With over 2.2 billion users as of 2018, you simply cannot ignore its huge customer reach. The paid Facebook ad network is enormous and has helped many businesses to multiply their revenue figures. Ecommerce and restaurant businesses are among the many large industries that find their major customer-base on Facebook. The service is in demand and you can make good money by adding it to your list of offerings to your clients.

2. Website Speed Optimisation

‘Slow website loading speed’ is one of the main issues fading the growth rate of many businesses in the digital world. Reports reveal that 53% of visitors will abandon a mobile page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. A bounce rate of more than 50% can significantly impact the growth of a business and website speed is, therefore, a vital concern for every business.

Website Speed Optimisation should be at the top of your list of client offerings as a digital marketing agency. And if you don’t have the expertise in-house, why not outsource to a company offering white label digital marketing services?

3. Website Audit

One of the most common modes of lead conversion is a business website. All companies want to generate high conversions from their websites and will, therefore, pay top dollar for quality website audits. A website audit helps a business to analyze their website’s performance and understand the factors that aren’t working or are decreasing its conversion potential.

Website audit requires specialist knowledge and explore website speed & performance, content issues, keyword analysis, SEO audit, page errors, broken links, backlink analysis and website structure analysis.

4. Content Outreach

Content Outreach remains one of the most important factors when it comes to search engine rankings. It is how you get your website mentioned on other popular platforms and draw backlinks from there. Content Outreach is practiced by almost every business that wants to lead with organic search. It is a long-term service that pays off after a certain period.

Offering link building services can help you generate good long-term revenue.

5. HTML5 Banner Ads Creation

The first phase of lead acquisition is creating ads and attracting your target customers to click on them. For your SEM services to succeed, it is crucial for your creatives to be engaging and influential. HTML 5 Banner Ads are an important part of your display ad campaigns. You can include the HTML5 banner ads creation services to your list of white label digital marketing services and generate good instant profits. Static banner ad design is also an important service that needs to be added to your list of offerings.

6. Google Ads

One of the most important service to add to your array of digital marketing services is Google Ads. Whether it is about generating leads or promoting your business, Google advertising is a must. Google Ads offers businesses an opportunity and a platform to find their target customer base and reach out to them directly on Google. It helps businesses build a direct lead acquisition funnel.

Types of Google ads include:

  • Display Advertisement
  • Search Only Ads
  • Search, Display and Gmail Ads
  • Remarketing Ads

Google Ads marketing is a wide field requiring specific expertise and a lot of work including analytics, ad creation, ad optimization, creating lead acquisition funnel, etc.

Google Ads or SEM is a must-have in your arsenal of digital marketing services.

7. Emailers Development

Emailers Development remains one of the most effective business promotion and customer acquisition strategies in digital marketing. It offers businesses a direct reach to their target audience and has a high conversion rate too. The average open rate for emails as of 2018 is 24.88% and its click-through rate is 4.06%.  Email development and Email marketing services should definitely be included in your list of client offerings.

8. Lead Generation Page Creation

An important part of a lead generation campaign is your lead generation or landing page. Each business requires a lead generation page to help capture leads. From an agency perspective, the service includes creating the perfect landing page design, adding content to the page and optimizing it for conversion using lead acquisition forms and other best practices. This is an important offering to include in your array of digital marketing services.

There are various other services like Google My Business page optimization, social media marketing, Facebook paid marketing, influencer marketing, etc. which can be achieved through white label digital marketing services. Ultimately, it enables you to broaden your offerings and give clients a wider expertise and boost your profits whilst keeping your costs down.