How to Seamlessly Integrate White-Label Services into Your Agency’s Workflow

So, you’re looking at white-label services as an affordable way to grow your digital agency, but the very thought of entrusting your clients’ brands to a third party leaves you with a knot in your stomach.

How could it not?

You’ve worked hard to build up a loyal base of clients who trust you to deliver stellar work on time, every time.

• What if something goes wrong that betrays that trust?
• What if deadlines are missed?
• What if the standard of work is seriously subpar compared to your agency’s usual output?

They’re all fair concerns. Luckily, they’re also concerned with practical solutions, and that’s exactly what you’ll find in this guide.

We’ve been in this industry a long time and provided white-label support to scores of digital agencies of all sizes. As a result, we’ve learned a thing or two about what it takes to integrate a white-label service like ours into the day-to-day workflows of your average agency.

Below, you’ll find nine simple steps to establishing a profitable and hassle-free relationship with a white-label provider, including practical tips and points to consider on:

• Finding a white-label service provider you really align with 
• Establishing clear and effective means of communication to ensure client projects run smoothly 
• The small-yet-essential details you need to look at when developing a new agency workflow that incorporates outsourcing. 

Let’s get into it:

What Are White-Label Services and How Do They Work?

When we talk about white-label services, we’re talking about any kind of done-for-you support whereby a partner agency takes your client work off your hands and completes it on your behalf.

For example, say you’re an agency specializing exclusively in web development, but you have a client who also wants your help services that aren’t part of your core offer, say Search Engine Optimization or PPC marketing.

You could simply apologize, tell them that’s not in your wheelhouse, and send them to another agency, but let’s face it:

That’s just leaving money on the table. What agency owner wants to do that?

Certainly not you. So, instead, you outsource the tasks to a white-label partner who completes everything per your agency’s branding, quality standards, and workflows.

As far as the client is concerned, your agency did the work for them, meaning you get the credit and the boost to your company’s reputation as a versatile digital agency capable of meeting different customer needs.

Combine that with the additional profits you get when you add your markup to your agency’s partner’s fees, and it’s a simple yet effective way to grow your digital agency without the burdens of hiring in-house talent.

How to Integrate White-Label Services into Your Agency’s Workflow: A Step-by-Step Guide

Sure, we’ve just described white labeling as ‘simple,’ but is it really?

In theory, yes.

Your client has a need. Your agency partner fills that need on your behalf. You get the kudos. That’s it.

In practice, however, we’re essentially talking about a three-way working relationship here, and those can be tricky unless you take specific steps to integrate white-label services into your workflows as seamlessly as possible.

Having done this for a long time now, we’ve identified nine essential steps to ensure the relationship between your agency, your client, and your white-label provider is as harmonious and as fruitful as possible.

1. Determine Your Specific Needs

The key to any successful relationship is choosing the right White label partner, and that all starts by figuring out what you need from that partner.

After all, new clients don’t typically come to you with a blank canvas and a vague proposal to ‘do something together.’ They come with a specific project requirement, and they come to you specifically because they’ve identified your agency as being able to meet those requirements.

You have to do the same when finding a white-label agency to work with, and identifying exactly what you want to get from this new partnership.

To do that:

A. Think About Your Business Outcomes

There are two main reasons why digital agencies enlist white-label support:

• To meet a temporary need – For example, to help complete a larger-than-normal project when even the all-hands-on-deck approach of your in-house team isn’t enough, or to cover an employee’s long-term absence.
• As an affordable way to scale their agency – Taking advantage of white-label support presents a cost-effective opportunity to offer more services, onboard more clients, and scale your agency.

What’s your reason?

Knowing this will make a difference. It will help you tremendously when comparing pre-packaged support plans, considering an agency’s proposals, and considering what kind of commitment you’re prepared to make to a specific provider.

Think about it:

Is an agency really a good fit for you if you need some extra hands for a few weeks to meet a deadline but they only deal in monthly retainers with a three-month minimum contract?

What’s more, it will help you prioritize when shortlisting candidates.

For example, if you’re up against the clock on a major web development project that involves high-level coding, then experience and expertise will matter above all else.

On the other hand, if you’re all about scalability, then you’re looking for a white-label partner who can confidently scale with you, one you can envision yourself working well with over the long term.

B. Think About Your Clients’ Businesses

Of course, when we talk about a white-label company meeting your needs, we’re really talking about them meeting your clients’ needs.

In other words, what are the specific tasks and services you need them to provide?

Here, there’s two things to consider:

I. Skills and Service Provision

What, exactly, do you want a white-label agency to do?

Does it provide extra coding for web development projects?

To fill a gap in your service offer so that you can finally provide the SEO support your existing customers have been asking for?

Perhaps you need a seasoned specialist who can steer the ship as your company navigates the unchartered waters of Pay-per-click advertising.

It may even be that you need a partner who can do it all, a one-stop-support-shop capable of providing your clients with everything from web design to content marketing and paid search.

Naturally, this guides your shortlisting process towards agencies with the specific skills you need, but don’t stop there.

II. Industry and Target Audience

Consider the kind of industries you cater to as well.

An agency whose clients are all in the software industry may not be a good fit if you mainly work with health brands.

That said, it may be that your whole reason for considering white-labeling is to expand into new markets, in which case an agency with expertise in an area that may be unfamiliar to you could be essential.

2. Shortlist and Select a White-Label Service Provider

Armed with your list of requirements, it’s time to find a partner who can meet them.

Start by identifying a small handful of agencies that look good on paper.

• Do they provide the specific services you need?
• Do they cater to the kind of clients you typically work with or want to attract?
• Do they offer a service level that meets your needs (ie: short-term vs. long-term)?

Great. Then they’re a potential candidate.

Your next step is to select one of those candidates to become your partner and to do that, you need to talk to them.

Schedule a consultation and have a conversation about what it might be like to work together.

You know when you’re interviewing a new employee and you’re looking out for certain key things? This consultation gives you an opportunity to do the same thing with a provider.

Specifically, you’re looking out for:

• Proven Track Record – An agency can claim they’re the best in the business, but can they back it up? Can they show you case studies or testimonials from legitimate past clients that demonstrate their ability to get the job done?
• Cost-Effective Services – How much does the agency charge? Does that leave you enough room to add your markup and make a profit without overcharging clients?
• Transparency – A good white-label company knows the importance of setting realistic expectations. If three agencies tell you it will take two months to complete a web development project and another quotes you two weeks, that’s a big red flag that the project will either be rushed or won’t work at all.
• Communication – In business, as in life, the way we communicate with one another lies at the heart of a smooth relationship. Does the way your potential partner communicates vibe with your company’s culture and processes? Do you understand one another? Are there potential barriers to clear communication that may prove costly down the road?

By the time you’re done with this process, you should have a very clear idea of which agency will integrate most seamlessly into your team.

3. Define KPIs and Set Clear Expectations

Having picked your partner, it’s now time to plan how you’re going to work together.

Of course, it may be that you simply need an agency on stand-by for those ad-hoc emergencies, in which case the Service Level Agreement (SLA) you provide may be straightforward:

Be there when you need them and deliver high-quality work on time.

However, if you’re looking at long-term growth, there may be specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that need to be monitored and reviewed so that you can assess whether this partnership is generating a fruitful Return on Investment (ROI).

These KPIs may simply be about deliverables. For example, a certain amount of coding hours completed or a precise number of social media posts published.

Alternatively, or perhaps in addition, you may need to focus on desired outcomes.

We all know that the ever-shifting and multifaceted nature of digital marketing means exact-figure results can be hard to predict with absolute certainty, but setting tangible goals still helps by guiding and shaping the work your white-label partner will do for you.

If a client needs support increasing their conversion rate, for example, then targeting a percentage increase will ultimately dictate the kind of strategy put in place to meet those client needs.

No matter which KPIs are important to you, the main thing here is that you, your provider, and your client are all on the same page in terms of what’s expected and what needs to be done.

4. Establish Clear Lines of Communication

There’s more to good communication than understanding one another and having your goals, objectives, and values aligned.

You also need to consider the practical side of things, such as:

A. Who is The Designated Point of Contact?

Ever heard the old expression that too many cooks spoil the broth? The same thing applies when there are too many people responsible for coordinating communications and project updates.

Imagine outsourcing a multi-faceted job to a white-label provider and then needing to talk to different people about each aspect. One point of contact for back-end web development, another for front-end design, and a third for SEO.

Before you know it, that project is going to slow down and become more complicated than it needs to be.

You’re constantly reaching out to different people, waiting for their response, and then trying to piece all those different responses together to give a clear and concise update to your client.

A better approach is to establish a single point of contact on both sides. Whether this is a different point of contact for each client or for each service type depends on the nature of your work.

Either way, streamlining communications this way will certainly make this three-way process easier to manage.

B. When Will Conversations Happen?

Weekly -or at the very least, bi-weekly- meetings will be essential throughout the lifecycle of any project, providing an invaluable opportunity to share updates, ask questions, and address any roadblocks that may be getting in the way.

However, don’t just take it for granted that such meetings will happen. Bake them right into the SLA with your partner agency to ensure everyone knows exactly when they’re expected to get together, preventing any communication gaps from causing issues down the line.

C. What Channels Will You Use?

How will you have the conversations that need to be had to ensure projects run smoothly?

Are these weekly project meetings happening in person? Via Zoom, Teams, or a similar video conferencing platform?

What if something comes up in between meetings?

You may want to consider setting up a private Slack channel or Discord so that you and your provider can keep in touch outside the formal setting of a project review.

D. Which Project Management Tools Will You Use?

Speaking of software, this whole process will benefit immensely from using a project management tool that all parties are familiar with.

That includes members of your team working on a project, those involved in completing outsourced tasks and, where clients are expected to self-report any issues, the client themselves.

Whether you use Productive, Monday.com, or any other of the countless productivity apps out there, the key thing is to ensure everyone involved is comfortable with the platform and knows how to use it effectively.

That way, you can dive right into smooth, confusion-free project management without either side having to learn a new platform first.

5. Agree on an Efficient Workflow

If you’ve followed all our suggestions so far, you’ll now find yourself with a solid foundation on which to build a profitable, hassle-free white-label relationship.

Before you dive in any further, however, there’s one last important detail you need to clear up:

How is this process going to work?

To figure that out, you need to determine:

A. Tasks, Roles, and Responsibilities

Establish a workflow that defines the specific steps for each type of project and who is responsible for each one.

For example, it might be that your sales team is responsible for client onboarding. Meanwhile, someone else in your agency takes responsibility for gathering assets from that client and producing the project brief, and only then do responsibilities fall on the shoulders of designated professionals within your partner agency.

Speaking of which, you should also identify important handoff points.

B. Handoff Points

These are the moments where a task transitions from one team to another, such as when your agency submits initial client requirements to your white-label partner or when the partner returns the finished work for final review.

C. Managing Feedback and Revisions

Finally, consider how you’ll handle feedback loops. The best agency workflows are those that have an established process for tackling revisions and adjustments without excessive back-and-forth.

Here, you might want to assign certain team members to handle quality assurance. Essentially, their role is to check that every project is completed according to both the client’s wishes and the high standards people expect from your agency.

From there, they’ll also be responsible for handling feedback and revision requests, serving as a liaison between the client and the technical talent doing the work.

Document Your Workflow

As with all aspects of a white-label agreement, this workflow should be put into writing.

Create a document that can serve as a shared resource both your agency and your white-label partner can use to maintain consistency and reduce the risk of any details slipping through the cracks.

6. Train Your In-House Team

With everything set, it’s time to get your team on board with this new approach to client work.

At the very least, team members working directly with your white-label provider should be provided with:

• Relevant contacts at the partner agency
• Login credentials to communication, productivity, and other software
• A copy of the workflow documentation
• Hands-on training for new processes. For example, a client onboarding process that now involves getting clients’ assets directly in the hands of your outsourcing agency.

As tempting as it might be to skip this part, you do so at your peril.

Yes, you might save a bit of time without a proper training session. However, as some agencies we’ve worked with in the past have discovered to their dismay, the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, learn-as-you-go approach only results in more time being wasted down the line as miscommunications, delays, and errors begin to pile up.

7. Maintain Brand Consistency

Remember, one of the main benefits of white-label services is they come unbranded. The agency doing the work takes no credit publicly for it, keeping their name, logo, and branding
out of the picture so that you can add yours to the final deliverables.

Here, there are two things you need to be mindful of:

A. Brand Templates

Provide your partner with detailed brand guidelines outlining the fonts, colors, style choices, and other relevant details.

Naturally, they should also have a copy of logos and other assets needed to integrate your branding into:

• Project briefs
• Invoices
• Analytics reports
• Client portals.

B. Quality Checks

Quality assurance isn’t just important for delivering projects to clients, it’s just as essential for maintaining consistency with your own brand identity.

Before anything is sent over to a client, have your team complete a thorough review to ensure both branding and quality standards are on point.

8. Listen to Client Feedback

Client feedback makes a world of difference no matter who completes the actual work, but in a white-label relationship, it’s even more important.

After every project, talk to your client about both the process and the deliverables.

• Were there hiccups in the workflow?
• Was there anything about the process they really liked?
• What about the project itself? Did it meet expectations? Maybe it even surpassed them.
• Use this feedback to identify what’s working and what could be better.

By doing so, you can white-label integration process, ensuring that both your agency and your white-label partner continuously improve and perform at their best.

9. Monitor and Review

Post-project client surveys aren’t the only thing you should be looking at to keep your white-label partnership successful.

Yes, client satisfaction plays a big part, but also look at.

A. Turnaround Times

Constantly missing deadlines is a big red flag that needs to be addressed. Last-minute scrambles at the 11th hour don’t exactly inspire confidence, either.

If such things are constantly coming up as an issue, it may be time to reconsider this partnership, or at the very least look at how you and your partner can work together to ensure deadlines are kept.

B. Service Quality

Quality of deliverables matters, but so does the quality of service your white-label partner provides.

Are workflows and best practices being followed?

Are lines of communication as clear as you expected them to be at the beginning?

Moving Forward

A good digital agency will provide you with regular reports featuring hard data that will help you answer many of the questions above.

Use this data to identify any bottlenecks or opportunities to take this relationship to the next level, and be sure to present them to your white-label partner at regularly scheduled review meetings.

Integrating White-Label Support into Your Agency’s Workflow: Key Takeaways

At first glance, it may seem integrating white-label services into your agency requires an awful lot of work.

Look a little closer at the nine steps above, however, and you’ll see that it really all comes down to three things:

• Picking the right white-label partner – It’s not just about finding an agency with the right set of skills, resources, and experience to meet your clients’ needs. It’s as much about establishing a successful partnership where both parties understand each other and their expectations.
• Clear and effective communication – The way you communicate can make or break your white-label partnership. Make sure that it’s well established what conversations need to be had, who needs to have them, when, and how. This is true for both project work and reviewing whether the relationship is producing a positive ROI for your agency.
• Planning and preparation – Everything else comes down to proper planning, defining who needs to do what, how they need to do it, and when.