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Feb 16, 2023 When we first forecasted connected TV advertising to explode in 2022 , we were right. In 2022, over 48% of the U.S. population alone used ad-supported video streaming services to consume their favorite programming. This number is only expected to increase in 2023; as premium, ad-supported content evolves into a household alternative to traditional cable television. More than 60% of Hulu users alone use an ad-supported version of the platform. If your agency does not currently offer OTT advertising, today is the best time to start preparing for the rise in demand. Here are some reasons why: Top 3 Reasons Agencies Need to Pay Attention to OTT/CTV Advertising: 1. OTT Content is Only Becoming More Premium In its earliest stages, many OTT platforms served primarily as ways to watch older films and television shows. If you recall, Netflix first began as a mail-delivery rental service for DVDs. Thankfully, these platforms have become wholly digital, device-agnostic, and scalable in their pricing models to reach more viewers. As many cut the cable cord, major media brands are taking notice. For example, major cultural events like the 2023 Super Bowl LVII will be streamed live on Hulu, YouTube TV, FuboTV, and Sling TV . As more major media entities invest in their OTT content with original programming and premium broadcasts, more audience members will join the trend. This creates an opportunity for agencies to position their clients’ ads directly in the middle of highly viewed, personalized content where viewers are most engaged. 2. Agencies Have Already Taken Notice With the above in mind, agencies have already started to prepare for the increased demand for OTT/CTV advertising. In a December 2022 survey conducted by Pixability, 75% of agencies reported plans to increase their ad spend on OTT platforms in 2023. As we often say at Conduit, if a client asks for a service your agency does not provide, there exists a high chance that they will instead look for another agency that can and will fulfill their needs. If you do not have the holistic capabilities to offer a full ad operations suite, you could miss opportunities to land new accounts and expand existing ones to drive more scalable revenue. 3. OTT Content is the New Social Media Boom of the 2020s When social media first emerged as a major digital marketing channel in the mid-2000s, many traditional agencies balked at the trend to their own dismay. Now, organic and paid social are essential capabilities for any modern agency. As younger generations migrate away from linear television and increasingly adopt more on-demand digital streaming, they will be experiencing most of their advertisements on OTT platforms. Their audience data will exist here, their purchasing decisions will be influenced here, and the programmatic ads that generate the most return on ad spend for clients will also be found here. Simply put: OTT/CTV advertising is an essential service offering that agencies must have in their product suites to ensure their long-term health as a business entity. As younger generations mature into the professionals that control marketing and advertising budgets, they will want to serve ads on these platforms where they know their peers are most engaged with long-form video content. How Can Agencies Prep for the Rise in OTT Demand? Vet OTT Platforms for Quality As ad agencies plan for an increase in demand for OTT advertising services, vetting OTT platforms for quality is essential. This includes researching viewership levels across different platforms, ad inventory and pricing, potential reach and specific audience targeting capabilities. Agencies should also look into whether platforms have third-party verification systems in place to guarantee accurate campaign measurement. Finally, research any issues around privacy or data security related to each platform. Familiarize Yourself with OTT/CTV Advertising Best Practices In order to prepare for the rise in demand for OTT campaigns, ad agencies should familiarize themselves with best practices for successful campaigns. This includes determining the right duration of ads (between 15 seconds and 1 minute) that will encourage viewers to remain engaged instead of shifting their attention elsewhere. Because OTT is a highly visual channel, some creative best practices to also consider include: Feature the brand’s logo at the beginning and end of the ad Provide multiple ad lengths to serve across a platform’s full inventory Include the website or phone number of the client’s business within the ad Establish clear, easily digestible messaging to promote the product or service Offer real value and create an emotional connection with viewers Determine the Type(s) of Targeting You Want to Leverage OTT combines the appeal of traditional television with the advanced targeting capabilities of digital. One, some, or all of these tactics can be leveraged during a campaign, depending on the budget and scope, to help you reach the right audience. Consider a mix of targeting strategies that could incorporate nay of the following: Site retargeting: Cross-device retargeting to households with a member who visited your client’s website within a specific period of time. Keyword targeting: align your ads with users who search terms or engage with online content on their desktop, tablet, or mobile devices that contain keywords related to the list your campaign is targeting. Addressable geo-fencing: Target your ideal audience at the household level based on data sourced from a variety of touchpoints, including credit bureau, plat line, and GPS data Geo-Fencing/event targeting: Deliver adds to people who have visited a specific geographic location or event in the past 30 days. Demographic and interest targeting: Align your ads with household members that match your client’s ideal demographic or interest-based audience group. Application whitelisting: Determine the exact applications you want to serve your client’s ads on. Dayparting: Choosing the times of day you want to serve ads. Depending on the nature of the client’s business, targeting strategies will vary. For example, if the business only sells products online and doesn’t have a storefront, tracking foot traffic via geo-fencing wouldn’t be a fit. However, an addressable geo-fencing strategy honing on users at the household level who are a demographic and psychographic match for the same client would prove an ideal strategy. Identify KPAs that Indicate a Successful OTT Campaign When preparing for an increase in demand from clients in 2023, agencies should identify key performance actions (KPAs) associated with successful OTT campaigns that can be used to track progress throughout a campaign’s lifecycle. Agencies should analyze metrics such as ad completions, video completion rate (VCR), and view-through conversions. Additionally, QR codes in OTT ads, which famously captured the attention of Whopper lovers during peak pandemic times, enticing them to hit the drive-thru for a free burger, are a new way to generate deeper insights since users can scan the code to visit a landing page with their mobile devices. Users who take the time to scan an OTT QR code already are showing an invested level of interest. After the scan, advertisers can see what actions were taken once the user visited the website via Google Analytics data, which hasn’t been a capability in the past. Being able to monitor relevant KPAs will allow agencies to quickly identify areas where improvements need to be made or where strategies may need adjusting based on market conditions or consumer behavior changes over time. Create Infrastructure for Increased Bandwidth Lastly, as part of preparing for an increase in demand from clients in 2023, ad agencies need to create a strong infrastructure designed specifically for large-scale OTT campaigns so they can handle increased bandwidth requirements without any hiccups during peak times of activity. This involves auditing existing technology solutions across departments like media buying/planning and creative development teams to ensure enough available capacity when needed. Partner with the Right White Label Ad Operations Team Extending your in-house service offering requires time that you may not have when a client is ready to press “go” on a new OTT campaign immediately. That’s where a white label ad operations team comes in. Essentially, a white label ad operations team acts as an extension of your in-house team to provide services beyond your core offering at an expert level. Instead of having to find the right programmatic analyst for your team, training them, and hoping for the best, you can tap your partner’s team of programmatic experts and resell their services under your own brand. In turn, this allows for faster campaign launches with greater control over branding, scalability, and performance. Here’s how the process would typically work if you were to onboard a campaign with a white label partner: 1. Submit an insertion order (IO) to your partner to notify them you want to launch a new OTT campaign 2. Confirm specific details with your partner during a kickoff call, such as overall campaign goals and budget as well as any access credentials they may need 3. Let your partner’s team get to work while you track performance through their re-brandable reports 4. Mark up their services to your client and increase profitability for your agency! 5. Unlike platforms and vendors, a white label partner also enables greater flexibility for your agency. If you need to adjust specific details over time, such as budget or creative assets, you do not have to wait for the current campaign to end. You can continue to leverage them as your resource to continuously drive greater performance for your client. Get White Label OTT/CTV Advertising Support for Your Agency At Conduit Digital, we provide elite white label ad operations solutions to established and successful agencies throughout North America, powered by our own team of platform-certified expert analysts from our headquarters in New Jersey. Along with the rest of our product suite, infrastructure, and reporting capabilities, our team enables you to say “yes” to bigger and better opportunities. If you’re ready to launch an OTT/CTV advertising campaign for your client, schedule a 20-minute call with us today to start your path to partnership.

Apr 24, 2020 With a plethora of digital marketing solutions available on the market, it is becoming harder and harder to know what solution is right for you and your clients. In recent years, white label digital marketing solutions have become some of the leaders in the industry, enabling agencies across the country to offer strategic white label products under their own brand. However, as the landscape continues to evolve, it is becoming more and more valuable to have a strategic white label digital media agency on your side. Both white label marketing solutions and strategic white label digital marketing solutions have their merits. As you research the merits behind each solution, the same question will appear over and over; which digital marketing solution is right for your agency? White labeling has been a growing trend in the digital marketing industry for some time. Many agencies offer white labeled services to their clients. If you have seen the terms “white label” or “white label marketing” appear over and over when doing your research on choosing a digital partner you may be asking yourself, “What is white label marketing?” What Are White Label Digital Solutions? White labeling is the practice of offering rebranded products or services and passing them off as your own. Through this process, the company white labeling a product can provide their audience with a new product or service without needing to reinvent the wheel or develop a complete in-house team. For example, say you have several clients who wish to run a pay per click (PPC) or paid search campaign. Not having much experience in this space, you decide to white label a PPC solution . By working with a reseller company to offer white label PPC marketing solutions, you can rebrand or repackage their services as your own. Therefore while your customers are receiving the services from your company, Agency A, the solutions are provided by the White Label Company, unbeknownst to your clients. How White Labeling Works White-label products or services are produced by a provider, or reseller company, and are rebranded and resold to consumers by another company, for example, Agency A. White labeling gives the provider access to a large distribution network or additional revenue streams while their reseller partners such as Agency A can expand their product or service offerings to their own customers. The key to white labeling is anonymity; consumers who buy the end product are completely unaware it was originally produced by a white label provider. Many products or brands are white-labeled and resold without the consumer even realizing it. What White Labeling Can Do For Your Agency Now that you understand the concepts behind white labeling products and services, you are probably wondering, “What can White Labeling do for me?” Access to Industry Innovations If you wanted to offer solutions without white labeling, it could mean lots of time spent building your own internal team. That means finding the right employees, having the right systems in place, and giving your team room to innovate and shine. Unfortunately, this process can take years and in the end, your internal team might not be able to outperform your competition. When you white-label your products, you gain access to the latest industry innovations since you are working with an experienced team. Great Results on a Budget Without having to recruit, hire, and train an entire team, you will be saving time, money, and lots of headaches by going with a white label solution. As more and more agencies look for expanded marketing solutions, you need to be offering a solution that is more affordable and better performing than your competitors. White labeling enables you to get results while saving a ton of money in employee expenses. Create New Revenue Streams Perhaps the most important aspect of choosing to work with a white label digital company is your ability to create new revenue streams. When working with a top-tier or strategic white label company, you will be able to offer all of their services as your own. This enables you to offer more services to your customers, as well as create new revenue streams for your agency. Learn More: Why Offering A Complete Digital Solution Will Grow Your Agency The Easiest Way To Grow Your Agency’s Revenue White Label VS Private Label Generally, the terms “white label” and “private label” are used interchangeably and are often the same thing when referring to services. The difference is that “private label” is commonly used when referring to tangible products. For example, when a cereal company like Kellog’s “private labels” their cereal to a retailer so that the retailer can offer the same cereal under their own brand or a generic brand. In the digital marketing space, the term “private label” is not often used when referring to a reseller company. No matter how you look at it, a product or service is being sold and is made to be re-brandable so that the seller can sell it to the consumer under their own name. White Label VS Co-Branding While white-label and private label are the same thing, a co-branded product cannot be white-labeled. Co-branding is when the original supplier’s brand is added to the product as well as the branding of the co-seller. This method effectively leverages the brand power of the better-known brand to assist in the sales of the lesser-known brand. An example of co-branding is when Red Bull and Go Pro joined forces to sponsor the “Stratos” event, where performer Felix Baumgartner jumped from a space pod with a GoPro strapped to his body. This event proved to be extremely popular and boosted both Red Bull and GoPro’s brands, especially as GoPro was just starting to make a name for themselves. Co-branding enables you to leverage a vendor’s brand and expertise to boost your own products or services. It allows you to reduce resources and perform faster on-boards since your co-branded vendor already has the infrastructure to quickly onboard clients. There are also some negatives when it comes to co-branding. When you resell a vendor’s brand you may actually be strengthening their branding. You also generate less profit since the vendor’s margins and pricing is controlled. It is also important to keep in mind that a co-branded vendor may end up taking your own customers from you in the long run. White Label VS Co-Branding WhiteLabel Ability to resell services under own brand Set your own margins Don’t have to build an in-house team Offer more services Requires end-customer support Can be challenging to build a personal brand Co-Branding Partner with top brand Leverage the top brand’s existing background and expertise Reduce resources Fast onboarding Controlled margins Dealing with competition Generates less profit White Label VS Outsourcing Outsourcing is when you pay someone else to perform a function of your business, whether it is a one-time thing or a continuous service. A product that is outsourced may or may not be white-labeled. An outsourced product only becomes white-labeled when you buy a product or service and then sell it to others with your brand on it. If you are looking to outsource a function of your digital agency, you are simply re-selling the services under the original company’s brand. If you are outsourcing and white labeling, then you are re-selling services from the original company under your own brand. It is possible to outsource without white-labeling but it is impossible to white-label without outsourcing. You could even consider white-labeling a form of outsourcing. Frequently Asked Questions About White Labeling You aren’t the only agency owner looking for white label digital solutions. Here are just a few of the most frequently asked questions from people just like you looking to offer white label solutions to their clients: What support is offered by the vendor? Just like any business partner you deal with, you want to ensure your white-label partner is there when you need them. Every white-label company offers differing levels of support. It is important to do your research before you choose a white-label solution. How do I pay for services? Every white-label company is unique and offers its services at different rates. Some like to take a percentage of the sales of the white-labeled service, others charge monthly or hourly fees, and others may have a unique pricing strategy. Study your pricing options to ensure your agency has the support and deliverables your clients need at a price that won’t break the bank. What services can I white-label? Some agencies are product specific and don’t offer a complete digital marketing solution. While it may be tempting to think that a service-specific white-label provider may be the right partner, it is actually better to work with a partner who has a holistic view of the digital marketing landscape and can provide insights on more than just one core product. Reasons Why Your Agency Should White Label White-labeling services with a trusted partner can have numerous benefits for your agency and your clients. If you are looking to expand your offerings, white-labeling enables your agency to attract new customers by increasing the scope of your current offerings. For example, if you are a creative agency looking to offer SEO services to your existing clients, then white-labeling SEO services may be right for your company. Being able to offer an expanded list of services will help you to attract bigger clients as you go from a specialized agency to a full-service agency. White-labeling also enables you to enhance your company’s brand. Since you are offering an expanded product list without having to hire and train entire in-house teams, you are able to focus more on building and selling your brand. Delivering exceptional results with your white-labeled services will also help you to build your brand as a trusted player in the industry. By white-labeling digital services, you can focus more on your core competencies, with the peace of mind that the services you are white-labeling will perform. Adding a proven service to your offering saves you risk, capital, and time. You will be able to gain a team of trusted experts with the knowledge and experience needed to build successful multi-product digital marketing campaigns. You get all the benefits of a dedicated team without the costs such as taxes, payroll, insurance, or other overhead. Save yourself the headaches of recruiting, hiring, training, and professional development on employees outside your area of expertise. Pros and Cons of White-Labeling Pros Diversify your service offerings Increase your client’s dependability on your services Expand into new revenue streams Differentiate yourself from your competition Faster to market More cost-effective Integrate with existing brand Bypass steps required to build an internal team Enhance overall brand Time to focus on core competencies Proof of performance Partner with industry leader Cons Consumers will associate mistakes or underperformance with your brand Limited pricing flexibility Need for close continuous support from white label partner Need internal support for customer concerns Harder for lesser-known brands to leverage themselves as leaders Possible branding restrictions White label supplier may be a competitor What To Look For in a White Label Partner If you have decided that white-labeling your digital marketing services are right for your company, it is important to understand what to look for in a white label partner. Here are a few important things to look for when you are looking for a white label partner: Partner with Similar Goals It is important to find a white label partner that has similar goals and vision with your business. Your white-label provider will be a strategic business partner, so you need to be sure that your ideals align with any potential white label partner. They Provide a Service that is Right for Your Business Obviously, you want to offer the best to your clients. Therefore, if you are planning on offering services through a white-label provider, you need to be sure that the quality of the service is excellent. Is your white-label provider consistently making improvements and innovations? Are they user-friendly and accessible? They Have a Solid Reputation A good reputation speaks for itself. Being able to be known as a reliable and trustworthy partner is something that many people strive for, but only a few actually achieve. It is important to do your research on a company’s background, reviews, and track record before re-selling their services under your brand. They are Experienced There is nothing more important when choosing a white-label partner than them having previous experience as a white-label provider. White-labeling services are a lot more complex than simply passing on your customers to an existing product. White-label partners must have extensive processes in place for performance and communication. Well-thought-out strategies and proven results are a must for any potential white-label partner. They Offer Exceptional Service and Support Does your potential white-label partner have organized methods of onboarding and deliverables? Having an iron-tight process for delivery and execution is a must for any potential partner. Your partner must have enough resources to support your company’s growth as well as clear communication with you and your team Transparent Reporting In today’s fast-paced modern world, data is king. It is more important than ever before to have clear and transparent reporting and analytics so that you can improve performance and deliver the best results to your clients. Without being able to show how the product is helping their business, clients will have little reason to stick around. Clear Contract Terms When a potential partner’s contract terms are vague and confusing, it is usually a good indicator that they are not a good partner to work with. As long as the terms and conditions of the contract are clear, both parties can know exactly what to expect out of the partnership. Don’t get stuck with a shady business partner. What To Avoid In a White Label Partner If you have decided that white-labeling your digital marketing services are right for your company, it is important to understand what to avoid in a white label partner. Here are a few important things to avoid when you are looking for a white label partner: Competitors Given the nature of the digital marketing landscape, it may be hard to find a digital partner that you DON’T compete against. The important thing to look for when choosing an agency is to work with a partner that won’t attempt to compete directly with you. Look for market exclusive agencies who only work with one partner per market rather than a company that works with everyone. You don’t want to be paying your own competitor! Too Good to Be True You already know the classic saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” The same applies when choosing a digital partner. If the services they are offering are priced incredibly low or they are promising unusually high results, chances are they are not a truthful or trustworthy partner. Poor Communication Communication is key in any successful business venture. If your potential white-label partner is an unreliable communicator, it can be a sign of things to come. Look for an agency that places a strategic white on clear communication. Inconsistent Branding Make sure your service provider understands your brand and knows how to represent you. A track record of previous brand consistency is important when considering any partner. If you have specific standards or procedures, you should expect your white-label partner to adhere to these guidelines. The services you white-label need to be a consistent extension of your brand. Looking For a White Label Partner? What to Look For Similar Goals Provide a Service that is Right for Your Business Have a Solid Reputation Experience Offer Exceptional Service and Support Transparent Reporting Clear Contract Terms What to Avoid Competitors Too Good to Be True Poor Communication Inconsistent Branding Who Should I Choose as My White Label Provider? Ultimately, the agency you choose to provide you with white-label digital services has to align with your vision and goals for your company. With a vast sea of potential partners on the market, which white-label provider is right for you? Perhaps you should consider working with a strategic white label company instead of just a run of the mill agency. Strategic White Label Just like your clients know that you are the best partner for their marketing needs, you need to be sure your white-label partner is the best partner for your needs. That is why you might want to consider working with a strategic white label digital provider instead of a white-label solution. You may be asking yourself, “what is a strategic white label company? What Is a Strategic White Label Company? A strategic white label company is an experienced, white label provider that offers superior white label services. Strategic White label is far more than just white label. A strategic white label company has extensive experience creating data-driven results for comprehensive digital marketing campaigns. While some white-label companies are product-specific or are smaller in scope, a strategic white label provider is a holistic digital marketing solution. For example, Conduit Digital is a strategic white label digital company that offers comprehensive digital marketing solutions. We offer far more than just single product solutions. The extensive data we have acquired through running thousands of campaigns enables us to provide holistic digital marketing solutions that are far more effective than simple single product campaigns. With a trusted reputation throughout the industry, you can rely on Conduit Digital to provide services above and beyond a typical white-label provider. How Strategic White Label Works Strategic white-label products or services provide services in the same manner as white-label providers. Services are produced by a strategic white provider and are rebranded and resold to consumers by another company, for example, Agency A. Strategic White labeling enables resellers to offer services beyond that of a typical white label provider while still retaining all of the benefits of working with a white label provider. What Strategic White Labeling Can Do For Your Agency Now that you understand the concepts behind strategic white labeling products and services, you are probably wondering, “What can Strategic White Labeling do for me?” Accessibility Regardless of if you are choosing a white-label company or are leaning toward a strategic white label company, it is important to have a partner that is accessible. Strategic White label partners have proven methods of success; open communication and accessibility to the people working on your campaigns are a must-have feature for any potential service provider. Comprehensive Digital Solutions Many white-label providers are product-specific. A strategic white label provider is experienced in an entire suite of digital marketing services and can provide assistance and expertise in every aspect of the campaign. They are more than just single-product solutions; strategic white label providers offer a complete and comprehensive digital marketing solution for your agency and your clients. Proven Results By offering complete digital solutions, strategic white label agencies are able to collect vast amounts of data to assist in digital campaigns. A strategic white label provider has proven multi-product results and can provide the necessary guidance to help you both offer new services and improve your existing offerings. White-label providers simply don’t have the track record that strategic white label providers do. Transparent Reporting Strategic White label providers know that they are better than other white-label providers and they have the data to prove it! Your strategic white label partner must have clear and transparent reporting practices. If you don’t understand your clients’ data, you will never be able to help them. Look for a partner who not only clearly represents their reporting, but takes the time to help you and your clients understand it. STRATEGIC LABEL VS WHITE LABEL The major difference between strategic white label providers and white label providers is the quality of work and the desire to grow the agency they work with. Strategic White label providers are just that; strategic! That means their methods are more effective, communication is clearer, and they create consistent and proven results for you and your clients. If you have already decided to go with a white-label provider, you might as well go with the best and choose a strategic white label provider. Strategic White Label VS White Label Strategic White Label All the abilities of a white label provider Clearer and more transparent reporting Multi-product digital solutions Holistic view of digital marketing Have name and brand recognition/reliability Constant and direct communication Ability to skyrocket growth for agency partners White Label Partner with top brand Ability to resell services under own brand Set your own margins Don’t have to build an in-house team Offer more services Requires end-customer support Can be challenging to build a personal brand Frequently Asked Questions About Strategic White Labeling You aren’t the only agency owner looking for strategic white label digital solutions. Here are just a few of the most frequently asked questions from people just like you looking to offer strategic white label solutions to their clients: What is The Difference Between Strategic White Label and White Label? White label providers re-sell their goods and services to agencies just like yours, enabling you to offer expanded services under your own brand. Strategic White label providers are white-label providers that give you superior results and accessibility. What Digital Services Do Strategic White Label Agencies Provide? Strategic White label digital providers offer a complete suite of digital services. You won’t have to go to one company for one product/service and another company for a different product/service. With a strategic white label provider, you can get all of the services your agency needs with just one dedicated partner. Are strategic White Label providers easily accessible? Despite being larger, more experienced, and offering more services, strategic white label providers are often more accessible than a typical white label provider. They have existing processes that enable them to provide clear and constant communication and data reporting. What To Look For In a Strategic White Label Partner? When choosing a strategic white label partner, look for all of the signs of a good partner like transparent reporting, fair and affordable pricing, clear communication, and most importantly, proven results. Obviously, only you will know which strategic white-label or white label partner is right for your agency and your clients. Developing a trusting and fruitful partnership begins with choosing the right digital partner. What To Avoid In a Strategic White Label Partner? You should be careful to avoid agencies that claim to offer strategic white label services without the background to prove it. As strategic white label providers grow throughout the industry, watch out for the phonies! If an agency claims to be strategic white-label, be sure they have the data, results, and transparent communication to prove it. Who Should I Choose As My Strategic White-Label Provider? As a division of the #21 fastest-growing agency in the world and one of the leaders in the digital marketing industry, Conduit Digital is proud to be one of the first and only strategic white label providers on the market. The agency that you choose to work with has to be reliable, data-driven, accessible, and results-proven. Conduit provides a complete digital marketing solution with proven results that you can see in real-time. We have developed a modern, unique, and customizable Live Report that is completely interactive for both our agency partners and their clients and enables you to see your data in real-time 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Experience a higher level of strategic white label products and services with Conduit Digital. Learn How White Label Partnership With Conduit Digital Can Grow Your Agency Revenue!

Updated 12/6/2023 White Label Digital Marketing Products Can Supercharge Your Agency’s Ability to Scale In our previous post, we covered how white label digital marketing can play an instrumental role in scaling your agency. Today, we are going to shift gears and focus on specific white label products that you should know about for 2023 and beyond. Here are some of the key topics we’ll be covering: What is a white label product? Why add white label digital marketing products to your agency?  Can you white label services that you already provide to your clients?  White-hot white label products you should know about Digital marketing products that never go out of style  How to start a white label reseller program at your agency  What is a White Label Digital Product? The definition for “white label product” varies by industry. For example, a cosmetic company can purchase formulas from a manufacturer and place their own label on them. In the context of digital marketing, white labeling refers to purchasing another agency’s services (or products), marking them up, and reselling them to your client under your own brand. Providers can range from platform-driven software solutions to limited-scope vendors or a complete team of partners. Why Add White Label Digital Marketing Products to Your Agency? The digital marketing ecosystem can experience seismic shifts in a short span of time. As platforms innovate and discover new ways to deliver a better user experience, marketers need to quickly adapt alongside. In our hundreds of conversations with agency leaders each year, some popular reasons for adding white label products that we’ve heard include: You want to offer a more complete suite of services for your clients You want to drive elite performance for your accounts Your account base has grown beyond your internal capacity You want to scale with a predictable cost structure You have landed an incredible opportunity that you just can’t pass up Simply put, white label products give you the ability to say “yes” to quality opportunities. You can prepare for any new business development with the confidence that you have the support system behind you to chase even the largest and most demanding accounts.  Interested in Learning More About White Label Products for Your Agency? Can You “White Label” Services You Already Provide In-House? Absolutely! Your agency can augment your in-house team’s capabilities with another team that specializes in the exact same core competencies. For example, if your agency specializes in SEO and your team is working over-capacity, you can launch an SEO-focused partnership to help manage the high volume of analyst work and deliverables more efficiently. White-Hot White Label Products You Should Know About While digital marketing won’t be going out of style anytime soon, trends do often emerge that are worth noting. As your client’s go-to digital expert, familiarizing yourself with these trends can provide immense value and give your agency the ability to land new accounts and expand existing ones. When your client asks about these popular services (and there’s a good chance that they will), positioning yourself ahead of the curve will enhance your credibility and authority. Here are some of the most white-hot digital marketing products you should be paying attention to: TikTok Advertising TikTok has emerged as one of the most popular paid social media advertising channels to date. In fact, it is the one we are most asked about when talking with agency leaders. Its short-form videos are driving unparalleled engagement among 1 billion global users monthly. Developing a high-performing TikTok campaign requires a combination of killer creatives and advanced targeting knowledge. This ensures that your client’s ads are served to the most qualified audience members to support the most desired key performance actions. OTT Advertising OTT advertising , also known as connected TV, is primed to continue exploding in 2022 . As audience experiences become more personalized and viewers grow more accustomed to streaming on-demand content in the comfort of their homes, these platforms are cementing themselves as both the perfect extension and true rival to traditional cable programming. OTT campaigns target audiences on the biggest screen in the house during points where they are highly engaged. With a white label partner, you can leverage their expertise to target viewers on multiple levels, such as geographic region, platform-specific audiences, demographic characteristics, time of day, and much more. Social Content Saying that the iOS 14.5.1 update fundamentally transformed digital marketing forever would be an understatement. Though we first mentioned it nearly a year ago, it remains one of the most-discussed paradigm shifts for marketers. The update allowed iPhone users to opt out of cross-platform tracking. This both placed an emphasis on first-party platform data and stressed the value of combining paid and organic channels to deliver performance for your client’s campaigns. Social content is the perfect pairing for your client’s paid social campaigns. Engaging, organic posts keep your client’s brand at the top of mind and can continue to foster strong relationships with existing customers. Spotify Advertising Spotify advertising is a smart choice for agencies because it connects clients with a large and diverse audience. The ads, whether they're streaming or in podcasts, are part of the listening experience, so they feel less intrusive. This means listeners are more likely to pay attention. Ad targeting on Spotify works by using a combination of user data and behavior patterns to deliver relevant ads to specific audiences. Spotify collects information about its users' listening habits, like the genres they prefer, playlists they listen to, and podcasts they subscribe to. This data, along with demographic information like age, gender, and location, enables advertisers to target their ads more precisely. Digital Marketing Products That Never Go Out of Style Like a well-tailored suit, there is a broad range of white label digital marketing products that continue to remain relevant, withstanding time and trends. These include, but are by no means limited to: Paid Social (Other than TikTok) Though TikTok is the sharp-dressed new kid on the social block, many other platforms still retain plenty of relevance for paid social campaigns. Channels like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn, and Twitter continue to boast hundreds of millions of regular users. Unlike TikTok, these platforms allow for a greater content variety than just video as campaign drivers. For example, Instagram allows advertisers to run static images, videos, and shopping campaigns all from a single source. Paid Search (PPC) Google remains the go-to search engine for most internet users. The platform’s sophisticated algorithm delivers quality results in a manner of seconds. With an optimized budget and intelligent keyword strategy in place, you can position your client’s business in front of audiences that are looking for solutions. Apply some clever copywriting and attention to detail, and their unique value will cut through the digital noise to inspire further action. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Unlike paid channels, white label SEO emphasizes generating high-quality organic traffic content to your client’s website without an active ad expenditure. Leveraging a combination of strategic content, prime-opportunity keywords, and technical optimizations, the site becomes the central hub for all organic searches on Google. Quality organic content on your client’s website helps build brand authority and reliability. In fact, more clicks and eCommerce traffic are generated from organic listings than paid. Programmatic Display Advertising Display advertising blends eye-catching creatives with tried-and-true targeting strategies across a variety of programmatic channels. Unlike text-based ads, display campaigns can add further context through imagery to showcase the unique value of your client’s products and/or services to the most-desired audiences. YouTube Advertising YouTube is not only the leading video content titan on the internet, but it is also a massive search engine itself. When people are searching for information in video format, they are most likely on the platform. If you hear someone say “I fixed my dryer after watching a video online,” they probably discovered that tutorial on YouTube. YouTube offers multiple ad formats, with video being the most prominent creative option. Because so many users are visiting the platform for information, this positions your client to be a true solution for their needs with the aid of a well-crafted campaign. How to Start Your Own White Label Reseller Program at Your Agency Find the Right Partner The first step to launching your own reseller program is to identify the right white label partner for your agency. Look for features and offerings, such as: Early adopters of emerging platforms In-house teams of certified analysts No offshoring or outsourcing your client’s campaigns A holistic product suite that continues evolving Performance-proving reporting practices Sales support resources for effective reselling Proactive and unified communication When you identify the right white label partner for your business, you can then start aligning with their team to implement new campaigns. The partner should also have airtight onboarding and campaign launch processes to start driving performance as soon as possible. Add Your Partner’s Products to Your Offering Include your partner’s products in your agency’s digital offering. Because you are white labeling these services, you can brand them under your own business without ever having to disclose your partnership. This helps to position your agency with a complete suite of solutions for your clients. Use Your Partner’s Resources to Resell with Confidence When launching your white label product reseller program, your partner will provide you with sales support materials, such as: Product-specific playbooks A detailed rate card for wholesale pricing Case studies to prove past performance A partner portal to effectively manage your new partnership Use these resources to equip your sales team with the knowledge and authority they need to sell with greater confidence. This will allow you to provide effective answers to any questions that your client may have when discussing new campaign opportunities for their business. Press “Play” and Let Your Partner Get to Work! Once you’ve landed on a new campaign strategy for your client, submit an insertion order to your partner and let their team handle the rest! Their established processes will ensure that the campaign is built in compliance with industry best practices so that you can spend more time focusing on sales and the core operations that you love most about running your agency. Add Elite White Label Products to Your Agency Today At Conduit, we serve as the elite white label digital marketing partner for successful agencies around the globe. With a completely US-based team of expert analysts, proven processes, and 24/7 live reporting, we equip your agency with the means to confidently scale. If you are looking to add white label products to your current offering, visit our Agency Partnership page for more information or schedule a 20-minute call to tell us more about your business.

Jul 9, 2020 Most people know or have heard about search engine optimization (SEO) and there are several blogs and articles from seo experts on the subject. Similarly, white labelling digital products is on the rise and white label seo is one of the most popular of them all. With that said, there are still agencies out there that are either not familiar with whitelabel seo services and the many benefits that come with it. If you are a digital, PR or creative agency that does not currently offer SEO as a service or you just started, this toolkit is just for you. So let’s jump right into it… By the end of this article, you should (hopefully) be familiar with and have answered the following questions: What Is White Label SEO? How Does White Label SEO Work? What Is A SEO Reseller vs A White Label SEO Partner? What are the benefits of White Labelling SEO? What Should I Expect From A White Label SEO Partner? How To Choose A White Label SEO Provider What Is White Label SEO? White label SEO is a combination of two concepts – white label or private labelling and SEO. White labelling simply means offering services under your brand that another company produces. This detailed blog about white label marketing services and strategic partnerships , expands on the definition. SEO, is the sum of changes you make to your website and content in order to grow organic search traffic. So white label seo (also referred to as SEO reselling or private label seo) simply means your agency sells or offers SEO services to your clients under your brand, however, all the work is done by another seo agency. So lets say your agency specializes in creative design or public relations or email marketing, however, one of your clients is really interested in running SEO campaigns and wants you to handle that part of their digital portfolio too. Now this is great news and you immediately sign them on! But, slight issue… SEO isn’t your agency’s jam. So instead of trying to learn SEO from scratch, you partner with a white label SEO firm. With several years of experience, your white label or private label seo partner will deliver excellent SEO services to your clients. In turn, you will be able to gain more business and as a bonus, you look like a rockstar to your clients. How Does A White label SEO Partnership Work? Basically, who handles what? Right? Well, the way your agency and a white label seo provider work together depends on who you choose as your provider, the type of partnership you strike and the types of seo services you need fulfilled. We will touch on choosing a white label seo provider a little later. For now, let’s look at partnerships and how they could work for your agency… Account Management & Client Relationships In some cases, when the decision is made to partner with a white label agency, all account management and client facing work is handled by your agency. Your white label provider will then handle all the seo campaign optimizations and deliverables. In other cases, account management and client relationships can be white labelled, which means your white label partner will interact with your clients on your behalf. They become an extension of your agency for SEO. This is extremely beneficial because not only does your agency look like an expert in SEO, you also eliminate the high cost of paying an expert. Sales Enablement Your clients may have mentioned that they’d like to explore SEO as a marketing channel, however, you may not have the collateral to prove your expertise and sell SEO services to them. This is where your white label seo partner comes in. Your provider should supply you with case studies, pitch decks, market research – all branded in your name – that enable you to pitch and close sales. In fact, if that’s the arrangement, they will get on the phone to close the sale on your behalf. Partnership or just services? This is a very important distinction to make. A white label seo company may only be able to provide you with specific services like link building or content management but not both. Others could offer you a full suite of seo services, including strategy, monthly reporting and campaign insights. Figure out which route is beneficial to your agency and your clients before you choose a service or partner. White Label SEO Partner vs. SEO Reseller The term “SEO Reseller” is usually used interchangeably with white label seo programs. However, there are a few differences that separate the two. If your agency decides to simply resell SEO services, then this involves delivering the specific services your clients need from an SEO reseller. There is usually no strategy or reporting involved with this arrangement. Your agency might handle all those technical details including account management, client relationship and sales process. For example, if your client needs blog content and link building services, you can purchase these services from another company and deliver them to your clients. Your agency will then decide how to strategically leverage these services for your client’s SEO efforts and report on monthly progress. A white label seo partnership, however, goes a step further to provide support if you need it. While SEO reseller packages are cheaper, agency partners make a higher margin from joining a white label program than SEO Resellers. Benefits of White Labelling SEO We know what white label seo is now and how a partnership could work. So what’s in it for your agency? Why should you stop using your independent contractors (ICs), freelancers or SEO consultants? How is white labelling SEO going to affect your margin positively? Read on… Make no mistake, if you have a proven process, can handle the workload, and produce high quality campaigns, then an in-house solution makes perfect sense for you. If not, the benefits of joining a white label program are abundant. New source of revenue with no overhead If your agency isn’t currently offering SEO as a service to your clients, then the day you partner with a reputable white label seo company is the day you increase your agency revenue. Since there is no employee training or customer acquisition involved, your overhead is little to nothing. Industry Experience & Expertise Partnering with an seo provider means you do not have to build a process and infrastructure from scratch. It also means you can take advantage of your provider’s experience and credibility immediately. Land & Expand One of the important parts of an seo partnership is the fact that your agency’s success is the white label provider’s success as well. The more clients your agency onboards, the happier your white label partner is with you. This mutually beneficial relationship means your provider will supply you with all of the collateral you need to pitch and win SEO clients. Cost Effective Agency Growth It’s all about the margin! Depending on your markup (as recommended by your white label provider), you can scale your client acquisition, make more money and not have to worry about hiring new seo experts. What You Should Expect From Your White Label SEO Provider Different white label seo companies will have different SEO philosophies. Nothing wrong with that. However, your agency has to decide what works for you and your clients. For example, do you maintain a book of local clients only or ecommerce clients? Then the conversations with your potential provider should be focused around proof that they have done SEO for those types of businesses. Reporting Dashboard Your agency should have access to a seo reporting dashboard that is updated 24/7. We all know how important it is to provide a client with updates on their campaign when they need it. This makes a reporting dashboard a must have for your agency. SEO Campaign Roadmap Especially if you’re choosing to white label seo (as opposed to reselling seo services), your white label seo provider needs to provide you with an SEO roadmap. This roadmap should spell out the proposed SEO strategy, why it was chosen and how it is going to be executed. Additionally, you should expect a benchmark report showcasing results from your client’s current SEO efforts. On-site (On-page) Optimization Title tags, H1s, crawlability optimization and many more form the foundation of your clients SEO success. Off-site (off-page) Optimization At its core, off-site SEO consists of content marketing and promotion and this means being able to leverage the value of your content to get featured or mentioned in other reputable web resources or blogs. One big component of content promotion is link building (also referred to as link acquisition). Content Creation Website content isn’t just blogs. It also infographics, custom graphics, video, slideshows, e-books, polls, quizzes, white papers and many more. Additionally, you should expect that your white label company can add additional content to your pages if that can help improve search visibility. Each white label seo company is going to differ in their content deliverables, but make sure they offer a wide range of options. White Label SEO Pricing Here’s the juicy scoop… SEO isn’t a one size fits all and pricing needs to reflect that. When it comes to SEO services, you really do get what you pay for. There are a host of standard seo pricing models: Monthly SEO Packages Hourly SEO Packages Project-based SEO Pricing Custom Pricing Monthly SEO Packages This is by far the most popular seo pricing model offered by seo agencies. You’re probably familiar with this model, which works on a month-to-month basis. A month-to-month model means you could be locked into a 6-month or 1-year contract with monthly retainers between $500 and $5,000 . Hourly SEO Packages Hourly pricing is very popular among freelancers and consultants. If you’re currently using independent contractors and freelancers, then you know that pricing could range from $75 -$150/hr. Sometimes it exceeds $150, but rarely. Especially if you are building your SEO department, freelancers and consultants can be a great resource. However, managing freelancers and independent contractors can be cumbersome and over time (for long term commitments), the cost skyrockets. Project-based SEO Pricing Similar to hourly based seo pricing, however, this is usually a one-off deal and can be very expensive. Project pricing could range from $1000 to $50,000 depending on the deliverables and timeline. Custom Pricing Remember the juicy scoop above? Well it’s true. The pricing estimates for all of the packages mentioned above do not take setup fees into account. Meaning, your startup cost alone may eat into your margin. So at Conduit Digital, what we did was eliminate SEO packages and setup fees. Instead, all our SEO campaigns and pricing are custom. We conduct a one-time audit for each of your clients and determine exactly what each website needs in order to improve organic traffic. This in-depth SEO roadmap includes a benchmark report, competitor analysis, pricing recommendations and a recommended strategy. How To Choose A White label SEO Agency Communication & Transparency Just like any other campaign, your white label partner should communicate expectations and be transparent about their services, reporting, pricing and campaigns. It really is that simple. If your agency partner is not able to be transparent about any of the above mentioned… RUN. Experience & Credibility Make sure the SEO team you’re going to work with has experience. Request to talk to some of the members of the SEO team and ask for success stories and case studies. Ask about Deliverables & Processes During your discovery or demo call, make sure to ask about how campaigns are executed and what is involved. Use the expectations mentioned above as a guide to ensure your potential partner knows what they’re talking about. Finally, ask about their deliverables – what should your clients expect to see? Always look out for the mention of the end goal here – organic traffic growth. The sum of their efforts, including reporting should be to improve organic traffic to your clients’ website. Wrap Up Search engine optimization takes a lot of time, research and tracking. As a creative, PR or digital agency, your goal is to focus on your core competencies. White label SEO companies are usually experts in their field and a partnership with a good one gives you an edge over competitors in your market. Join The #1 White Label SEO Program Today At Conduit Digital, we believe partnership is proven. For over 7 years, we’ve been amassing experience in SEO and other digital marketing channels in over 95 markets in the US. We provide a seamless onboarding and account transfer experience for agencies looking to switch to a new white label partner. Similarly, we work with your agency to not only execute campaigns but grow both your client accounts and agency. If you would like to know more about what your agency should expect from your white label seo partner, head to our contact page and let’s have a chat .

How White Label Partnership Helps Digital Marketing Agencies Scale  If you are looking for opportunities to scale your digital agency, you might have considered joining forces with a white label partner. One Google search later, and here we are. Today, we’re going to provide a comprehensive overview of what exactly a white label partner is and how you can benefit from leveraging this partnership at your agency. First, let’s compare the different tiers of white label providers. White Label Partnership vs. Platforms and Vendors White Label Platform The majority of white label platforms are packaged as software applications to assist your team in automating particular processes. These provide the most value for teams looking for little more than a stopgap solution that can help with doing some or most of the fulfillment. With platforms, though, there are a few key factors to account for. Because they are mostly software-based, personalization features are often limited, and they require a human user with some knowledge of the digital channel to operate. As a result, the user is left with limited resources and cannot always guarantee a desirable level of quality. In short, platforms are best leveraged as a supplement rather than a substitute. White Label Vendor Vendors are transactional providers that offer one or a limited scope of services. These might be specialist agencies or a freelancer on a website like Upwork. When using vendors, forecasting quality becomes a difficult challenge. The vendor completes their contractual obligation, hands off a deliverable to your team, and disappears until they are needed again. Without the right in-house team to utilize these deliverables effectively, are they providing any tangible value to your agency? White Label Partner Unlike vendors and platforms, a partner operates as if they were part of your in-house team. Their team of analysts completely fulfills your client’s digital needs for your agency. How do you know if a white label provider is a true partner? Consider the extent to which they involve themselves with your client’s campaigns. Are they rolling up their sleeves and tackling ad operations head-on or just sending your team spreadsheets with fancy color schemes? Benefits of Working with a White Label Partner Built-in, Scalable Profitability Because a white label partner shares equal investment in your agency’s success as you do, products are priced to help your business scale profitably. You can forecast your margins with greater certainty and create a pricing structure that allows you to scale without taking a financial step backward. An Expert Extension to Your Ad Operations Team A white label partner acts as an extension of your agency’s in-house ad operations team. Instead of offshoring your work to a faceless conglomerate and hoping for the best, your partner provides tangible benefits, such as: Round Out Your Product Suite Unlike vendors and platforms, a partner offers a complete product suite to help your agency focus on its core competencies and offer clients more services. If you are crushing it on social and display campaigns but are struggling to find the right in-house fit for a qualified PPC analyst, a white label partner closes that skill gap for you. Say “Yes” to Better Opportunities As your agency leverages its partnership to scale, more ideal potential clients take notice. This growth can generate larger business development opportunities with greater expectations that require a more expansive scope. When these opportunities present themselves, the support from your partner enables you to say “yes” to them with confidence. Onboard New Campaigns Efficiently Business gurus like to say “time is money,” and that’s true when your client trusts you with their marketing budget. A premium white label partner will already have the communication, process, and implementation infrastructure in place to allow you to activate your new campaign in a true turnkey fashion. Have a Secret Weapon to Dominate Your Local Market As we say, if you cannot provide the services your client desires, there’s another agency in your market that can and will. This places a greater strain on agencies with a limited in-house scope that needs a secret weapon to remain competitive in their local market. Alleviate Hiring Woes Hiring the right people has never posed a greater challenge for digital agencies than it does right now. When you are ready to scale, you need to have a team in place that can handle the volume that comes with growing your business. Depending on your local market and gaps in your product suite, finding the right person for your digital needs can prove more difficult than others. Finding a qualified OTT advertising analyst to join an agency in a midwestern suburb will require greater use of time and resources than one in Midtown Manhattan. Because a partner’s team becomes your own, you can hire an entire agency’s worth of expert analysts at once. Gone are the long evenings of scouring Indeed and LinkedIn listings and sifting through piles of resumes to find someone that only might be qualified enough for what you need at a critical moment. What to Look for in the Right White Label Partner Aligned Values Do your potential partner’s values align with the ones you set for your agency? If so, this ensures that both your in-house team and your partner’s team will be more closely aligned from day one. For example, at Conduit, we base our values on our “5 P’s”: 1. Building a team of the right people 2. Managing high-impact campaigns at scale through airtight processes 3. Offering a competitive suite of products 4.Driving performance through people, processes, and products 5.Providing a superior partnership experience as a result If you want to add a 6th “P”, we strive to offer our products at a competitive rate that allows your agency to maintain profitability as you scale. When you partner with our team, you’re provided a rate card to help you better forecast your revenue and price services more effectively. Active Communication Communication is the central driver for providing an excellent client experience. When your partner and your in-house team remain in lockstep on campaigns, the client benefits. Campaigns are managed with greater efficiency, turnaround times are streamlined, and each person involved knows their exact roles for driving performance. Expert-Level Implementation The right people are essential to implementing campaigns that generate results. When your partner has a team of certified product experts serving your clients, this allows you confidently anticipate quality deliverables that you can be proud to brand under your agency’s name. At Conduit, none of our campaigns are ever offshored or outsourced. Instead, our team of certified product experts manages every aspect of your client’s campaign in our 25,000 sq. ft. office right here at the Jersey Shore. We have to admit, few things compare to ending a productive summer day at the office with some of the world’s most famous beaches right down the road. A Complete Product Suite When you’re looking over options for a performance partnership, ask yourself, “can this partner provide me what I need to proactively serve my clients?”. Can you launch a new campaign for the products that you want now or will want in the future? As the digital marketing industry continues evolving, having a full range of solutions allows you to also anticipate your client’s upcoming campaign needs before they do. When a client says, “I want to reach new audiences,” you can reach into your partner’s product suite and offer a comprehensive menu of solutions. Measurable Performance How do you know your partnership is delivering results and justifying your investment? The answer: measuring performance. Partnership is built on transparency and the trust that stems from it. When you’re vetting potential partners, ask them how they report their performance. If they cannot provide an answer, you will not be able to gauge how their services are helping you scale. At the time we launched Conduit, this was a major gap in the industry that we sought to correct. As a result, we developed a 24/7 live reporting system that offers your agency objective campaign metrics, real insights from our analysts to put them in context, and a complete track record of the optimizations we perform on a monthly basis. When a client asks, “what have you done for me lately?”, you can leverage your report to tell the complete story. Start Scaling Your Agency by Saying “Yes” to Better Opportunities Since 2017, the Conduit Digital team has been serving as the premier digital performance partner for successful agencies worldwide. With our constantly expanding product suite, team of certified in-house analysts, and our commitment to communication and world-class performance at profitable prices, we position your agency to say “yes” to those can’t-miss opportunities. Are you ready for partnership ? To learn more about how doing white label digital marketing the way it’s meant to be done, visit our Agency Partnership page or book an agency scale call with us below to learn more.

Jan 26, 2022 Deliver a Next-Level TikTok Ad Campaign for Your Clients At Conduit Digital, we have hundreds of conversations with agency owners each year. In recent months, TikTok advertising has become a ubiquitous topic that many agencies want to learn more about. Well, you asked and we’re here to deliver. Here’s our guide for creating killer ads on TikTok. If you are interested in launching TikTok campaigns for your client, schedule a quick 20-minute discovery call with us today: Why TikTok is a Can’t-Miss Opportunity for Agencies in 2022 TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in the digital ecosphere today. According to a report from SocialMediaToday, TikTok is projected to surpass 1.5 billion users this year. The largest age groups that use the platform are 10-19, 20-29, and 30-39 . Each of these age groups has an average household disposable income ranging from 30,000$ to 89,000$ USD. This presents an incredible opportunity for agencies that serve B2C clients that are seeking to drive conversions such as online sales and app installs. However, this does not mean that opportunities are nonexistent for B2B clients. Approximately 37% of United States business owners are within the 20-40 years of age. This figure aligns directly with the second and third-largest age groups on TikTok. How to Get Started with Creating Ads on TikTok Similar to other paid social channels, TikTok features an Ads Manager platform for advertisers. Your client’s ads are then sorted into three categories in descending order: Campaigns, ad groups, and ads. Define Your TikTok Campaign Goals and Budget The campaign is the stated objective of your advertising efforts and budget. It is the broadest category for organizing your TikTok ads. Think of campaigns as the “big picture” umbrella for your ad groups and ads to live under. For example, a campaign for a fashion company might be “Spring 2022 Collection” with the intention to promote the brand’s newest releases across the entire line. On a technical level, TikTok provides specific campaign goals for advertisers to select from. These are broken down into three categories: Awareness, consideration, and conversions. From there, you can choose which subcategories you want to build your campaign around. These might include maximizing reach (awareness), increased site traffic or app installs (consideration), product sales (conversions), and a variety of other objectives. After choosing your objectives, you may also opt to control the budget at the ad group or campaign level and have TikTok optimize the spend towards what it views as the top-performing ad groups within your campaign. During the campaign setup phase, you can also determine your client’s budget. You can choose to set a specific dollar amount or proceed without a budget limit. TikTok operates on a bid model for their ad placements, and advertisers can select one of three bidding strategies: Bid Cap (maximum amount per user action), Cost Cap (average amount), or Lowest Cost. Set Up Your Ad Groups Ad groups refer to specific sub-campaigns that all contribute to the larger initiative. These are campaign-related messages targeted to specific audiences. If you have separate creatives for a fashion company’s “Spring 2022 Women’s Collection” and another for “Spring 2022 Men’s Collection,” you can divide these into different ad groups with their own targeting parameters. Currently, TikTok allows advertisers to target users based on the following four criteria: 1. Audience: Lookalike audience, custom audiences, and excluded audiences 2. Demographics: Age, gender, location, etc. 3. Interests and behaviors: personal interests, in-app behavior, and engagements 4. Video interactions: Specific user actions on videos (likes, comments, clicks, etc.) 5. Creator interactions: Behaviors when interacting with other creators on TikTok 6. Hashtag interactions: Behaviors when interacting with specific hashtags 7. Device: connection, model, carrier, price, etc. To further optimize your campaign, TikTok allows advertisers to create scheduling parameters for their ads. This ensures that your ads are delivered at specific times of the day or at a consistent rate to prevent creatives from serving at moments of typically low engagement. Upload or Create Ads Ads are the actual creatives that are served to users’ devices via impressions. Currently, ad groups can house up to 20 ads each. TikTok allows advertisers to create video ads directly on the platform or upload ones that were developed off-app. Another option that advertisers can select is Spark ads. Similar to boosted posts on Facebook or Instagram, you can create a Spark ad by allocating a portion of your budget to extending the reach of your organic posts to more users. TikTok also offers additional formats to managed brands, which are companies that work directly with the platform’s sales team. These other options include: Topview ads – full-screen ads that play at the moment the app is opened Branded hashtags – short-term, engagement-focused content that displays on the hashtag challenge feed Branded effects – creative elements that users can use in their own videos At Conduit, we work directly with a dedicated Tiktok representative and have access to an agency-level business center that allows us to access managed brands formats. This creates new opportunities for your client to add dynamic new campaign creatives to best meet their advertising goals. In fact, we just finished running both the branded hashtag and branded effects campaigns right before we posted this! Creative Best Practices Though there are multiple ad formats, TikTok divides them into two main categories: image and video. Keeping this in mind, here are some general creative guidelines for a high-performing campaign: Align Your Ads with Your Target Audience Develop creatives that appeal directly to the ideal users that receive your ads. Use your ad group’s targeting parameters to influence the messaging, visuals, and features that you will be including in your content. Keep Your Messages Short and Sweet TikTok built its entire platform on high-engagement, short-form content. Though you can create a video up to 60 seconds in length, try to keep your creatives under 35 seconds when able. This will help avoid the dreaded ad fatigue and prevent users from scrolling onward. Think “Mobile-First” When creating a new video for your TikTok campaign, do so with a mobile display experience in mind. Record videos vertically so that your ads can fill up the entire screen without any lost or unused screen space! Place Creative Elements Near the Center TikTok recommends placing your ad creatives near the center of the image or video whenever possible. This will prevent these assets from potentially being cut off by the screen dimensions of a user’s device. Variety is Key TikTok boasts over 50 million users daily in the United States alone. Social score and frequency are important, but serving the same creatives on a neverending loop can also contribute to ad fatigue among your client’s target audience and reduce a campaign’s performance potential. Treat your TikTok campaign as a living, breathing, evolving entity. Plan to update your ads with new creatives to keep your content fresh and relevant on the user’s feed. Prioritize the User Experience Utilize the wide variety of creative features that TikTok provides to advertisers. For example, include audio in your creatives along with text so that the user has a fuller understanding of your campaign messaging and can easily take the next action after experiencing your ad. Keep on the Lookout for New Trends Keep your ears close to the digital ground to identify new creative trends on the platform. Don’t be shy to integrate them into your ad creatives! This will aid in creating more “natural” feeling ads that will better complement the organic content your target audience is already consuming. Satisfy Technical Specifications Like all social platforms that offer video advertising, TikTok provides technical guidelines to ensure that your creatives can be served to as many devices as possible. When preparing your assets, make sure they satisfy these requirements: Aspect ratio: 1:1, 16:9, or 9:16 (recommended) User feed resolution: greater than or equal to 540×960 px, 640×640 px, or 960×540 px News feed resolution: No restrictions, but greater than or equal to 720×1280 px, 640×640 px, or 1280×720 px is recommended. Accepted file types : .mp4, .mov, .mpeg, .3gp, .avi (user feed only), or .gif (news feed only). Duration: 5-60s Bitrate: Minimum of 516 kbps File size: limited to 500 MB Ad description: 100 character limit Brand name: 40 character limit Supercharge Your Agency’s TikTok Advertising with a White Label Partnership As the premier white label digital performance solution for successful agencies, our Paid Social Team at Conduit digital drives billions of impressions for our partners’ clients each year. With a direct business representative at TikTok along with our agency-level business center, we provide your agency with a secret weapon to confidently say “yes” to can’t-miss opportunities. The best part? We make it simple to get started. Just send us an Insertion Order with your client’s campaign goals, budget information, and creative assets and you’ll see your campaign data come to life with our custom 24/7 Live Reports! Make a resolution to scale your agency with the power of TikTok advertising this year. To get started, schedule a quick 20-minute discovery call with us to learn more about the power of partnership!

Oct 27, 2022 On August 25, Google began implementing the Helpful Content Update, which is designed to prioritize content online that prioritizes the user’s benefit rather than promoting products and services or ranking for specific keywords. For many SEO veterans, this presents a drastic paradigm shift in the way that content strategies are developed and implemented. Adding blogs or pages to a website can no longer be treated like a checklist activity. Instead, digging deep for real value is the new name of the game. If you’re wondering how your agency team can best adapt to this new update, then you’ve arrived at the right place. Today, we’re going to provide you with a thorough overview of the Google Helpful Content Update so that you can offer your client the best deliverables possible in this new era of SEO content marketing. First, let’s dive deep and explore what “people-first” content actually means.  Need Help with Content Now? What is People-First Content? The new people-first content model considers the content portfolio across an entire website; not just specific blog posts or product/service pages. It uses a machine-learning model that involves a new signal that Google can use to determine its rankings for content on the web. As explained by Google, “people-first” content refers to content that: Satisfies a user’s need for information or provides a high-quality answer to a question they have Demonstrates authority and deep knowledge in a particular product category, industry, or profession Complements your website’s primary purpose for existing Educates the visitor on a specific topic Thankfully, this new people-first approach to content does not throw all SEO copywriting best practices out the window. Factors like the technical health of the website, high-opportunity keywords, and proper logical content flow all still do play an instrumental role in competing for desirable organic rankings. However, these principles are now riding shotgun to the content’s usefulness and authority to a user. For example, if someone is searching how to repair their dishwasher, the website with the best information will be considered more worthy of higher rankings by Google’s algorithms than a website that optimizes for the keyword with very little information about how to actually fix your appliance. Prior to the Helpful Content Update, the traditional approach involved writing what appealed most to search engine algorithms. This often involved completing a checklist that satisfied specific elements like keywords, H1 headings, word counts, and links taking the focus over the substance of the text on the page. Now with the roles reversed, Google does still care about these technical aspects, but the algorithm is now more aware of the tactics many SEO pros have used to capture its interests over time. A central concept behind the Helpful Content Update is that if your content is considered genuinely helpful to users searching for terms relevant to your client’s business, Google will take notice of that. The algorithm has sophisticated enough discernment to separate a genuine “how-to” article from one that has a brief tutorial nestled into a blog post that largely promotes a business’s own products and services. So, Can I Not Promote My Client on Their Own Website? The Helpful Content Update did not erase self-promotion completely. After all, you need to be able to speak to your client’s unique value in their market or industry to drive leads and other key performance actions (KPAs) for their campaigns. This paradigm shift toward helpful information places further emphasis on the need for a greater balance between helpful and promotional content. Of all the content on your client’s website, more than half of it should focus on providing helpful information with little-to-no promotional interest while the lesser percentage can directly highlight products and services they offer. Let’s return to the appliance example for a minute. Your client owns an appliance sales and repair business in your area. They want to increase the number of calls and contact form fills that they receive for their repair services. You decide to write a blog post about repairing upper spray arms in dishwashers. This is something that an appliance repair professional can perform for you, but it is also something that someone could do on their own if they have the right parts. Prior to the helpful content update, you may have often seen articles that have a paragraph like this: “Attach the new spray arm into position and twist it to lock it in place. Or, if you are having difficulty with this, you can call us at XYZ Appliance Repair in Bayville, NJ to do it for you.” Now, Google’s algorithm can determine that this traditional bait-and-switch tactic is a blatant attempt to convert leads in the middle of a piece of content that gives off an initial impression that it will provide a helpful answer to a question for the user. Instead, here is a Helpful Content Update-friendly alternative to the example paragraph above: “Attach the new spray arm into position and twist it counterclockwise to lock it in place. If you are having difficulty with this, start by double-checking your parts number to ensure you have the right replacement spray arm for your appliance. You may also need to try attaching it multiple times before it clicks.” In that paragraph above, you are providing more valuable content to the user without shoehorning a promotion into the copy. If someone in your local market does not want to fix the appliance themselves, they have already decided on calling a business like the one your client owns to repair their dishwasher. Alternatively, if your client’s business offers a solution along with the answer to the question, these can be combined for a more subtler and helpful middle ground. Here’s a third option that combines the two approaches: “Attach the new spray arm into position and twist it counterclockwise to lock it in place. If you are having difficulty with this, start by double-checking your parts number to ensure you have the right replacement spray arm for your appliance. If you need a different replacement spray arm, you can browse the ones we have in stock here.” How is this different from the other two? This third version of the paragraph starts with real, useful information that the user can use independently of the business hosting the content. However, if they determine that they do need a new spray arm for their dishwasher, they can click a convenient link to another page on the same website that lists products that can be purchased from your client. For those that decide they do want guidance for their own DIY dishwasher repair, they are still driving quality traffic to your client’s website because they have searched for terms that align with the website’s keyword strategy. This indicates to Google that their website is about appliances and appliance repair because people who are searching for these types of terms are clicking. Obviously, though, your client would still probably like to add some level of promotion in the content they are hosting on their website. That is understandable, but it should be saved for moments where it will be most impactful. For example, here are some tasteful ways to include self-promotion in a helpful article: Mention your client’s business name, location, and services at the end of the conclusion section of the blog with a link to contact them. Include an easy click-to-call or contact us button in the navigation menu of the website List your client’s business information like address, email, phone number, and hours in the footer Post your helpful content to your client’s Google Business Profile, which already contains most of their relevant business information Share your client’s content on industry relevant forums and social media communities online to answer other users’ questions Include a clickable button in the blog post with a CTA to contact the client’s business Revisit old content and update it to be more people-friendly in its tone and scope Merging Traditional SEO Content Strategy with Helpful Content As we mentioned above, Google’s Helpful Content Update does not mean that you should throw away all other SEO best practices. Keywords, formatting, and backend technical health all still play important roles. Though Google does not actually abide by preferred word counts when determining rankings for content, a general rule of thumb is often that blogs and service pages that are at least approximately 500 words or longer will offer a richer depth of information to the user.  When conducting an SEO campaign for your client, merging technical and content-driven strategies can equip their website to remain viable and competitive within their industry or local market. A two-pronged approach will ensure that every aspect of the content’s performance is considered when preparing it to go live on the website.  Start Creating Helpful SEO Content for Your Client Today We saved a mention of us for the end. See what we did here? At Conduit Digital, we equip your ad agency with a complete suite of white label digital marketing products and services to help you scale your operations, provide a more comprehensive offering to your clients, manage capacity, and ultimately say “yes” to better opportunities with an elite performance team supporting you. Like the rest of our solutions, all of our white label SEO campaigns are 100% US-based and human-implemented from our office in New Jersey. To learn more about how you can position your agency for better opportunities, contact us today to schedule a 20-minute call.

Mar 3, 2022 Scale Your Agency with a Digital Ad Operations Partnership As our friend Marcus Murphy says: “Agencies are the backbone of the backbone of the economy.” Without expert marketers connecting their clients’ products and services to the right audiences, many businesses would not experience the success they have achieved over their lifespan. High-performing agencies are in demand more than ever. While this is undoubtedly exciting, it does raise an important question: Is your agency equipped with the means to scale alongside these new opportunities? To scale predictably and profitably in a 2020s economy, many agencies are turning to a variety of external solutions to fill any perceived gaps in performance. However, few are as involved in your success as a white label digital performance partner. Whether you are new to white label digital marketing, have been researching the topic for some time, or are an agency leader in-the-know, this guide will provide you with a complete overview. We’re going to cover: What is white label digital marketing and why does your agency need it? The three types of white label solutions What you get from a white label partnership A quickstart guide for a high-performance partnership What to look for in the right white label partner What is White Label Digital Marketing and Why Does Your Agency Need It? “White label” refers to a business arrangement where Company A purchases products and or/services from Company B at a wholesale rate, marks up the price, and then resells it under Company A’s own brand. In the context of digital marketing, one agency would purchase a solution like SEO or Paid Social from a partner and resell it at a profitable rate to their clients. During our hundreds of conversations with agency leaders each year, we’ve noticed quite a few common reasons behind why they’re seeking a white label partner. Do any of these scenarios speak to your agency’s needs? You’re landing more clients than you can keep up with. You’re looking to extend your in-house offering and still haven’t found the right solution. You’ve landed a can’t-miss client and need to deliver elite performance quickly. You’re looking to stabilize your internal capacity and costs. You need to hire new team members but are struggling to find the right ones. You’d rather lean on someone else’s digital expertise than take a crash course on new products and platforms. You’ve tried other white label solutions but have yet to find the right partner. These are just some of the situations that many agency leaders find themselves in before seeking a solution like white labeling. That being said, each agency is unique unto itself and there really is no “right” or “wrong” reason to seek help if you are looking to drive true scale. Three Types of White Label Digital Marketing Solutions As you research white label solutions, you will likely encounter a variety of providers that seem to offer a similar service at a glance. When you dig in deeper, however, you’ll see that they tend to fall into one of these three categories: Platform A typical white label platform relies heavily on a suite of software solutions to help you automate certain aspects of a digital marketing campaign. While this can ease your operational burdens, they often require an existing level of product knowledge to use in an efficient manner. Because platforms leverage more software than a vendor or partner, this can also result in some other potential drawbacks for your agency. With a platform, you will likely experience limited communication with the provider and customizability might be restricted, for example. Vendor Vendors are white label providers that produce a deliverable for your agency for a fee. Their obligations end once the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed on their service agreement. These white label providers often specialize in one or a small handful of competencies, such as copywriting or graphic design. While they can deliver these services at a high level, they usually lack a complete product suite. With vendors, it can also become difficult to gauge the quality of a deliverable. If you are not satisfied with the work you receive from a vendor, but they have fulfilled their contractual obligations, options may be limited. Partner White label partners are fully invested in the account relationship with your agency, acting as a true extension of your in-house team. With a partner, you gain access to a team of other skilled marketers that: Treats your clients as their own Offers a holistic suite of products and services Provides sales support materials to help you resell effectively Does not offshore or outsource your client’s work Essentially, combining efforts with a partner is like hiring an entire team of expert analysts to manage your client’s campaigns directly. This allows for more unified communication, elevated performance, and a higher-quality outcome for your accounts. What You Get from a White Label Partnership A Holistic Suite of Services Have you wanted to expand your agency’s scope of services but have not found the right way to do so? With a white label partner, you can instantly integrate any of their products into your offering and brand them as your own. For example, let’s say you have heard that OTT advertising is exploding right now . You want to add this service to your agency, but you have not found the right candidate to hire as an in-house programmatic analyst. A white label solution allows you to leverage your partner’s own team of OTT experts to manage your client’s campaigns on these desirable platforms. This ensures that your campaigns are built in line with the best creative and strategic practices from day-one to maximize the return on ad spend (ROAS) potential. An Expert Ad Operations Team to Complement Your Own Modern hiring challenges and labor shortages have created staffing obstacles for every industry. Agencies are by no means an exception. A white label partner aligns their expert ad operations team with your own. Your team receives the support that they need to deliver elite performance for your clients while reducing strain on internal bandwidth. The Ability to Scale Predictably High account volumes drive the white label partnership model. When you launch a campaign with your partner, this relationship provides you with a long-term peace of mind that you can continue to manage your capacity, expenses, and volume on a predictable basis while also expanding your client roster. Proactive and Unified Communication “I love communicating in siloes,” said no one, ever. Communication between agency and partner drives world-class performance for your client. Whether you need a sounding board for making campaign decisions or are looking for an active and equal participant in your operations, a partner can provide that responsive interaction you desire. Get More of Your Time Back A white label partner can help your agency offload capacity burdens that distract from your core competencies. You can use this extra time to focus on the services that you love fulfilling in-house as well as concentrate more on sales and growing your business. …And yes, plenty of time to finally take that vacation you’ve been meaning to take for the past two years. The Ability to Say “Yes” to Better Opportunities Let’s channel some GaryVee energy for a moment: Passing up on incredible new client opportunities flat-out sucks. No agency owner enjoys the feeling of turning down a chance to elevate their business to the next level. Feels good to admit that out loud, right? It feels even better when you can do something about it. A partner outfits your agency with the products, resources, and infrastructure to give you the confidence to say “yes” to any white-whale clients that knock on your digital door. As you continue to scale, questions like “can we handle this new massive account?” disappear. White Label Partnership: The Quickstart Guide Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with white label partnerships, let’s see how a campaign could play out in practice: Step 1: Identify Your Client’s Campaign Strategy and Goals Every successful digital marketing campaign begins with the end in mind. Working with your client, determine what they want to accomplish with their campaigns. Identify the ultimate high-level goals and then draw the strategic roadmap to reach them. For example, if your client is a fashion retailer looking to clear their recent Fall/Winter inventory in preparation for their new Spring/Summer collection, a goal could be to increase sales of the items from the previous season. As the weather warms and these products move closer to the “Sale” section of the website, you may decide to create a campaign that promotes these discounts on channels like Paid Search , Paid Social, and Programmatic Display . Identify the Audience(s) You Want to Reach Your client’s ideal audience avatars will inform all aspects of your campaign. From keyword and copywriting choices to targeting tactics, creative assets, and desired channels, you cannot build a successful digital campaign without knowing first who you are trying to connect with. Now, how do you determine these ideal avatars? Consider attributes such as: Geographic region Personal interests Personal characteristics (Age, sex, marital status, parental status, etc.) Economic characteristics (Job title, income level, educational level, etc.) Past purchase and search history Their past interactions with your client’s competitors Let’s use the fashion retailer client once again as the example here. Their sales data suggests that their largest customer segment is women between the ages of 20 and 35 that live near their physical storefront in New York City. To reach these ideal customers, you could create a campaign strategy that targets local women within this age range. You may also decide to set targeting parameters around income level if you are trying to attract individuals with larger or smaller shopping budgets. A sale promotion might attract more people who have wanted to purchase items in the past but did not complete the transaction. Additionally, depending on the platform, you could also draw a digital geo-fence around competing retailers near your client’s store. Customers that visit these locations will be served your client’s ads while they are within the boundaries of the fence. Because the client also sells their products online, you could launch an additional national campaign alongside one that is locally targeted. For example, you may launch a Google Shopping campaign with a keyword strategy focused around affordable winter coats that does not consider location-based terms. Determine KPA’s with Your Partner Key performance actions (KPAs) are used to measure a campaign’s results against your client’s goals. These touchpoints combine to write the holistic narrative of your digital efforts. They are reverse-engineered from the campaign goals that you identified during your initial strategic planning. As we stated above, our hypothetical fashion retail client’s goal is to clear out their Fall/Winter collection. Let’s say that you’ve identified “completed online checkouts” as the primary KPA to gauge campaign success. To contribute to this KPA, you’ve decided to direct Paid Search, Paid Social, and Programmatic Display ads toward a landing page promoting the sale on last season’s goods. While “completed online checkouts” is the ideal, there could be other actions the target audiences are performing that also indicate positive or negative performance in other areas, such as: Clicks to other parts of the client’s website after visiting the landing page Abandoned online shopping carts where purchases were not completed Checkouts for items not on the landing page Transactions for single items versus multiple items These additional touchpoints supply your team with valuable insights. Why are audience members interacting in these ways instead of completing a checkout? Following the data trail, you can uncover new optimization opportunities to improve the ad experience. Select the Right Products to Support the Campaigns You have your end-goal, targeting strategy, and KPAs. Now, it’s time to select the best digital products to support the work you’ve already done. For our fashion retailer’s campaign, we have already pointed to Paid Search, Programmatic Display, and Paid Social as potential channels. These most intuitively align with their need to clear their previous season’s inventory. Your agency can start with one or two channels and always add more products as campaign needs evolve. Start with the ones that provide the most direct benefit and can generate the most desirable KPA activity. Provide Your Partner with the Right Resources to Deliver High Level Performance Depending on the nature of your client’s products or services, business model, and industry, your partner may benefit from additional resources beyond what you submit in an insertion order. These could include items like product brochures, specific website pages, examples of past creative assets, and other similar points-of-reference. For example, if you are developing creatives around a specific product, send the product listing as well as any sales literature to your partner. This will help direct their own efforts for tasks like ad copywriting and keyword research. Use Your Partner’s Rate Card to Create Your Margins When you begin your white label partnership, your partner will provide you with their rate card. This document contains the prices that they charge for products and services. Use this as a reference point when creating your markups to resell these solutions to your client. Check Your Reports Frequently You have created the campaign strategy and have given your partner the green light to implement. Along the journey, the reports your partner provides will allow you to track ongoing progress and past optimizations. Performance is proven through reporting. During an active campaign, check in on your partner’s reports at least a few days each week. This transparency allows everyone to remain on the same page and make more impactful decisions in real-time in the event that any further optimizations need to be made. Stay in Touch with Your Partner Successful white label partnerships are built on two foundations: Communication and performance. Respond to messages from your partner’s ad operations team and do not hesitate to reach out to them with any questions, comments, or feedback you might have from your perspective. What to Look for in the Right Partner Evolving Product Suite A holistic product suite completes today’s digital marketing needs and evolves for the ones that will appear tomorrow. This equips your agency’s sales team with the ability to attract and land new quality accounts as well as expand opportunities with existing ones. 100% In-House Service Look for a partner that fulfills your campaign needs completely in-house instead of offshoring or outsourcing your work to another provider. Single-origin performance ensures higher-quality deliverables, more impactful communication, and timely action. Elite Performance and Reporting When entrusting your client’s campaign budget to another provider, you might be wondering: How can I be sure that my partner knows what they’re doing? This is a fair question, as you might be testing a white label solution for the first time and have not received a deliverable or report from them yet. Look for a partner that can provide you with tangible demonstrations of their capabilities and expertise. Examples could include case study libraries, high-level platform certifications, and samples of their campaign reports. Single Point of Contact Communication You started your agency to make a difference for your client’s business, not to play phone tag or juggle thousands of emails. Look for a partner that prioritizes your partnership experience as much as you do by providing you with a single point of contact to act as your key liaison for all of your white label needs. Sales Support Resources A performance-driven white label solution will equip your agency with the resources needed for you to resell their products and services effectively. Assets like product playbooks, partner portals, and a white label rate card can empower you to sell with authority and confidence that you will have the infrastructure behind you to seize new opportunities. Custom Branded Deliverables A “white label” product or service implies that your partner’s deliverables can be custom-branded to suit your agency’s business needs. Look for a partner that allows you complete creative freedom to customize your shared deliverables so that you can brand them under your agency or client. NDA Compliance Not all agencies desire to disclose their white label partnership to their clients. If you wish to remain private about your partnership, look for a solution that will faithfully honor your request for a non-disclosure agreement. Launch Your Own White Label Digital Marketing Partnership for Your Agency At Conduit Digital, we serve as the elite performance partner for successful digital agencies globally. By equipping your agency with best-in-class products, performance, reporting, and communication, we enable you to say “yes” to any can’t-miss opportunity. Are you ready to unlock your agency’s full scaling potential? Visit our Agency Partnership page for more information or schedule a 20-minute call to tell us more about your business.

Apr 14, 2021 To paraphrase our good friend Marcus Murphy, marketing agencies are the backbone of the backbone of our economy. Why? Each day, agency-managed campaigns are driving customer action for businesses across all industries and are relied on to help them succeed.  Since we launched Conduit, we have spoken to hundreds of agency owners that share with us their business success and roadblocks. Some of these agencies are in the startup phase, others moving into the growth phase, and many have been crushing campaigns for years. Taking this intel into account, we have developed a list of 10 traits that can be found in any successful marketing agency.  If you are looking to grow your own digital marketing agency or refine your operations, check out this list of successful traits that you can integrate into your own workflow: 1. Communication is the Central Driving Force  All marketing campaigns are communication. From internal project management to the audience-facing message, you are harnessing digital channels to inspire action and consideration in others.  To ensure that all of your campaigns are hitting target benchmarks, prioritizing communication must remain at the top of mind for everyone on your team. Some ways that you can better leverage communication at your agency include:  Use an advanced project management platform as a central hub for all campaign-level discussion  Integrate a sophisticated messaging solution into your digital infrastructure (We’re big Slack fans here!)  Develop a transparent standard for turnaround times when responding to client messages. For us, we have a 1 business day maximum turnaround time when responding to any messages.  Check-in with your team members on a regular basis to track campaign progress, identify any roadblocks, and develop solutions  Transparent and timely communication should act as a central artery through the heart of your agency. Without it, you run the risk of unhappy clients and inefficient processes.  2. Airtight Processes  Having an airtight project management process will ensure that your agency can hit your goals on time and remain as profitable as possible. Each process should be tailored to the specific product or service that you offer.  Developing processes is especially important when adding any new digital capabilities to your marketing agency. This way, everyone involved with these campaigns knows how they should be run, can remain in lockstep with one another, and can see a road map from start to finish.  It is also recommended that you have semi-regular process evaluation meetings. After spending time in a process structure, you or your team members might identify new ways to further refine them. This will only boost efficiency when it comes time to crush more campaigns!  At Conduit, we use the project management system Teamwork to outline our processes. This allows us to create structures that are as high-level or granular as necessary to ensure that we hit our benchmarks. 3. Your Agency Treats Itself as its Own Client  Your marketing agency should market itself just as much as you do for your clients! Without investing in your own internal efforts, you can miss out on attracting high-quality leads that are looking for your services. Many agencies tend to neglect their own marketing in favor of allocating as much time as possible to client work. While that is important, doing the same for your own self is just as critical to your success.  This rings true particularly for agencies that focus on their local market or specific industries. In these contexts, your ideal client pool is smaller than one that serves an eclectic roster on a regional, national, or global scale.   Treat your own business as your most important client. If you are running innovative campaigns for your clients, do the same for yourself. This will help maintain a steady pipeline of qualified leads that will lead to tangible results. 4. You Have a Land-and-Expand Mindset At Conduit, we are all about land-and-expand. Once you land your client, work to expand the scope of their marketing capabilities. Ensure that all the client’s digital marketing bases are covered and that you are positioning your client for the most success possible across all channels. The best way to accomplish this is through providing a holistic suite of services. Push campaigns through multiple channels simultaneously, such as SEO , paid social , and programmatic display in addition to video and paid search to target users in the exact moments they are engaging with these platforms. 5. Everyone Has a Clear Role  Many marketing agencies throughout the world are one-person or small-team operations. In these situations, a single individual may have to “wear many hats” to make sure that client needs are met.  As you grow your business, identify both your own and your team members’ greatest strengths and develop processes that allow them to maximize their potential. Give your team members clear-cut roles so that they can focus their attention on providing world-class service quality. 6. Investing in Client Relationships Beyond the Contract  Positive client relationships result in a more fruitful endeavor for all parties. Simply put: People are more willing to work with other people that they like.  Building a strong relationship with your client extends beyond a contract or business transaction. When the opportunity arises, ask them how their business is doing, how their families are, what they like to do outside of work, and so on. Getting to know these people on a personal level will create a more comfortable environment for everyone and transform a business arrangement into a true marketing partnership. 7. The Agency Understands the Client’s Brand  The best campaigns result from agencies syncing with their client’s brand. Do everything you can to understand their unique messages, value propositions, and identity.  Here are three easy tips to master your client’s brand and understand it as intimately as they do:  1. Conduct an in-depth interview with your client about their brand before launching your campaign  2. Review their current marketing materials and look for consistent imagery and messaging  3. Read as much of their sales literature as you are able to (brochures, existing ads, etc.)  Once you have gathered this intel, you can create better deliverables with a shorter learning curve. 8. You Know How to Identify a “Good” Client  For any agency, a strong client base plays a critical role in growing your business. However, not every potential client that fills out a contact form will prove the “right fit.”  Here are four traits to look for in a “good” client that can best align with your own agency:  1. Personality Compatibility – You and your client get along on a personal level outside of business discussions. They are pleasant to talk to and are mutually respectful.  2. Willingness to Collaborate   – The client has their business goals identified and is willing to collaborate with you on developing the best possible strategy to achieve them.  3. Expectations Meet Reality – You and the client share a clear set of realistic expectations for campaign performance vs. other factors like budget and billable hours.  4. Communication – You and the client are able to maintain consistent communication and keep one another informed on the most pertinent facts related to campaign performance.  9. You Know Your Numbers  Marketing agencies, like any business, need to know their numbers to drive profit and scale. Are your margins high enough to sustain growth? Are you under or overcharging on deliverables? Regularly auditing your agency’s financial health and resolving outstanding issues can ensure that you remain profitable and can expand your client base. 10. You’re Built to Scale  “Scaling my business” is a goal that many marketing agency owners share but often face challenges in execution. When you’re in the weeds of daily client work, it’s understandable that you might miss the forest for the trees.   As you plan to grow your business, you should take an inventory of roadblocks you might encounter and outline some solutions to overcome them. For example, what happens if you sign on far more clients than your current team can realistically handle? Will you hire a new team member to meet these needs or look for an external solution? Partnership Positions Your Agency for Scale  You’ve done the hard work: Built a successful marketing agency that is ready to dominate the digital landscape on your clients’ behalf. If you’re looking for some help to take your capabilities to the next level, that’s where we come in.  At Conduit, we strive to partner with agencies across North America to help them better serve their clients. We accomplish this by acting as an extension of their in-house teams and can expand their service capabilities, manage their account overflow, and provide one-of-a-kind data-driven insights through our Live Reporting platform.  Our in-house team of digital experts can help you round out your service capabilities, offload your overflow client work, and serve as a driving component in your digital marketing engine. If you are interested in forming an agency partnership to land and expand clients at an unprecedented scale, view our Partnership & Pricing page for more information.

Apr 16, 2020 Marketing is always tough. But when a global pandemic strikes and many local and global economies come grinding to a halt, it can be near-impossible. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, brands have had to drastically reconsider their marketing efforts. After all, you don’t want your brand or your clients’ brand to come off poorly during a sensitive time. So how do you navigate this brand minefield and chart a successful course for you and your clients? The Truth Is, No One Knows And that’s ok! We are in an uncertain time and anyone who tells you that they “have the answers” probably doesn’t. However what we can do is band together, and take a look at what others around our industry are doing to reach out to consumers who are just as afraid as the business owners themselves. Since the crisis began, many brands have changed their strategies to reflect the changing times. Some have been more successful than others. Perhaps the best way to chart a course for your clients is to look at what has been done successfully so far during this crisis. Who Did It Right These brands have found the right mixture of sincerity, mindfulness, and value to market to consumers during this difficult time: Designs This cleverly designed Guinness ad from freelancer Luke O’Reilly is far more than just a call to self-quarantine. The subtle imagery of the couch against the all-black background invokes the imagery of a Guinness beer, reminding consumers that the product can be consumed from the comfort of their own home. As a brand that can still offer a product to its customers, Guinness found a way to promote a healthy message with a clever reminder to buy their product. This Nike ad from Weiden + Kennedy was part of a larger campaign where they got many of their big name athletes and spokespeople to promote their “Play inside, play for the world” initiative. With a simple approach, Nike was able to promote this message while remaining consistent with their brand voice and messaging. This campaign from McDonalds from Brazilian agency DPZ&T achieves a minimalist message. By distancing their iconic Golden Arches, they are sublty reminding people of the “social distancing” message that is being spread by healthcare and government officials. This is a great example of an approach that isn’t too “in-your-face” or pushy while reminding consumers of the grander mission. Initiatives While any marketer can appreciate a good design or a clever campaign, this is a serious time. And because of that, companies have a social responsibility to help where they can. Many industries will be able to help in their own unique ways. Diageo and Anheuser-Busch have shifted production and logistics to produce millions of bottles of hand sanitizer in order to aid the medical community during this time. This act goes far beyond a simple message of support or monetary donation. This commitment to a common goal and unity is exactly what makes gestures like these sincere and genuinely helpful during a time like this. Facebook and Tesla have also pledged to provide tangible help to the healthcare community. After stocking up on safety masks in the wake of California wildfires last year, both companies have pledged to donate their supply of masks to local healthcare organizations. While these may seem like simple gestures, they go a long way in creating real impact for local communities in need of these crucial supplies. Popeye’s took a different approach. Trying to remain light and playful during a hard time, the famous chicken chain gave away 1,000 free month-long subscriptions to Netflix if they sent a picture of themselves eating Popeye’s chicken while staying at home. While this campaign had little in the way of impact for the medical community, it did encourage the stay-at-home messaging in a way that grasped consumer engagement. How Does This Help My Agency? While looking at some of the biggest brands in the world is an interesting exercise, you may be thinking, how does any of this help my agency or my clients navigate through COVID-19? While your clients may not have the name recognition of McDonalds or Facebook, they can learn from their initiatives. These brands were able to walk the fine line of appearing to take advantage of the situation vs providing real value. With these examples in mind, we can begin to break down how your agency should be marketing for yourself and your clients. Ultimately, it begins with messaging. Are You Providing Real Help? Ask yourself the question, how can my agency or my clients provide real help right now? If your clients are in a position to provide tangible help to their local community, they should be capitalizing on that opportunity. Are your clients in the restaurant or healthcare industry? Give them guidance on how they can serve their community. For example, some local restaurants are donating meals to healthcare providers or creating funds to support out-of-work staff. Encourage your local vendors to engage with their communities and help in any way that they can. Maybe your vendors are the ones that need desperate help. Unfortunately, most small businesses can’t last 0-3 months without revenue. So what is your agency supposed to do if you and your clients have to keep the pedal down and keep selling? What If I Have To Sell? While no one wants to be disingenuous or out of touch, many businesses have no choice but continuing to look for ways to market and sell their products or services. And that’s ok! However it is more important now than ever before to be weary of the tone and messaging. If your agency and your clients are in sell-now mode, here are some Do’s and Don’ts to remember. Do 1. Provide Real For Customers If you’re going to be selling, give consumers an incentive to buy. Many agencies are temporarily waiving their fees, discounting prices, or providing strategic assistance. 2. Create Context Around Campaigns Though this is a global pandemic, its impact is local. Every message, ad, or campaign needs to be sensitive to the context of the issues people are dealing with. 3. Tailor Messaging To The Right Platforms As consumers move increasingly online, make sure you are finding the right audience and speaking to them on that platform, for that platform. Don’t 1. Try To Capitalize On The Crisis Just don’t. No explanation needed. 2. Run The Same Campaigns You Were Before A lot has changed in the past few weeks. Even if the goals of the campaign are the same now as they were before, consumers are not. Be sure to run campaigns that fit the current times. 3. Display Mixed Motives Many people, agencies, and organizations are struggling right now. If you are going to sell, that is ok! Just be transparent with your customers or clients and make your messaging clear. How Agencies Are Marketing Themselves A great thing about our industry is that every agency is unique! Just like the owners and teams behind the scenes, each agency has a different perspective on how to market themselves and their clients during this crisis. We reached out to agencies across the country to hear how they are marketing right now. Kevin J. Walker, Co-Founder & President, Boardwalk “Celebrate any achievements you may have during the crisis. Let your market know you’re waiting for them to come back. Mark Cuban said it best recently. Your market is watching how your business behaves during this crisis. And your brand will be judged by that behavior for decades to come. So make sure to maintain the highest standards of ethics and responsibility. Find ways to help others if you can.” Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO, Mavens & Moguls “Communication is key to all of our community, customer and employee engagement. As far as messaging goes, between the pandemic and the possible recession, brands have an opportunity to further connect with anxious consumers and focus on the true relevance of their products or services. We have to acknowledge that now things are different so we need to communicate in a way that will give our audiences better focus, helping them to create a bridge from today to the future. We need to communicate in a way that combines information and need, synthesizing feeling and facts. I feel we have a tremendous responsibility because never before has communications had the power to help society in the way that it does right now. Words are part of the healing process and we can see which leaders and brands are doing the best job every day with messages that touch not only the mind, but also the heart and soul. There has never been a more important time to provide accurate, empathetic communication with transparency, truthfulness and timeliness. It is inappropriate now for content to appear tone deaf in any way to this crisis. Do not ask to be paid, be too salesy, imply solidarity, hope they are doing well, etc. it seems cheesy and worse opportunistic. Everyone is struggling right now to find a new normal so the key is to show your humanity and compassion.” How Agencies Are Marketing Their Clients Data-driven strategies drive our industry forward. Here are a few examples of what different agencies are doing to help their clients succeed during the pandemic. Shana Harris, COO, Warchawski “Our clients are pivoting to see how their offerings can be helpful during this time. The lesson here is that being adaptable and entrepreneurial is a skill that you will always need. For example, one of our clients is in the jewelry industry and has a unique model. They buy all sorts of high-end luxury jewelry and gold. This model allows them to do collateral loans and stay open. We have shifted our marketing efforts to support this side of their business and also promote their mail-in service. Clients in the conference business quickly had to cancel their upcoming conferences and create online webinars and networking events. For clients in sales, this is a good time to offer a good sale to help people during this time or allow people to defer payment, etc. Clients in the service business should offer flexible payment options that would also be a good way to promote your services while also showing how you are being flexible during these times. Media relations is still a great way to get third-party credibility and position your client as an industry leader. The rules of media relations don’t change, even during a pandemic. You still need to make sure your pitch and story answer these questions: Why is this newsworthy? Is it timely? Why should the media pay attention to this story vs. another story? How does this impact the target audience?” Jamie Hardin, Founder & CEO, Greenlit Marketing “Our clients are responding to COVID-19 with content, resources and offerings that address what their target audiences are struggling the most with. We are fortunate to work with small to mid-size businesses that can move quickly and adapt to what we’re seeing in the market. Increase in social media engagement is also a must.” What Conduit Is Doing We understand the troubles that agencies face during this time. We face them too! Conduit Digital is hoping to help guide our clients through these times with compassion, care, and attention. However in order to get through this time, we need your help! We are calling on all of our fellow agencies to join the #AgenciesUnited community. Times are tough but if we band together to share insights, ideas, content, struggles, and solutions, we can come out of this crisis stronger as an industry. Join us on the mission to Unite agencies everywhere . See What Partnership Can Do For Your Agency

Sep 3, 2021 Get the Most Out of Your New PPC Advertising Product If your agency is considering partnering with a white label PPC advertising provider, you may be wondering how you can effectively resell these services to your clients? In this ultimate guide, we’re going to show you how you can effectively resell PPC to that client you’re looking to land or expand.  How to Communicate the Value of PPC Advertising to Your Client As an agency leader, you’re probably familiar with this scenario: Your client clearly needs to take their digital marketing strategy in a new direction, but there always seems to be a disconnect when you try to sell them on the idea. Instead, they are either happy to continue doubling down on current campaigns or they start to consider scaling back their marketing investments. When you speak to your client about PPC advertising, one of the questions you will probably have to answer is “Why should I spend money on that?”. Without a thorough and authentic answer, your attempt to expand the account can fall dead in the water. Here are some unique selling points of expert-managed white label PPC campaigns that you can offer to your client. Jump to the Top of the SERPs PPC campaigns place your client’s website at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). This occurs when a search user enters a term relevant to the keywords that your client is bidding on. Rather than hoping your website ranks organically for that keyword, you can cut right to the front of the line and get your business in front of desirable eyes. Only Pay for the Clicks You Receive It’s in the name: Pay-Per-Click advertising means the client only pays for the clicks their ads generate. This method results in an invest-as-you-go structure that only costs the client when it is producing results. Target the Most Likely Conversion Prospects Unlike text-based newspaper classified ads of old, PPC ads allow you to target specific audiences that are most likely to convert on key performance actions (KPAs). Beyond matching users’ search terms, you also can tailor campaigns to reach specific people based on factors such as location, demographic data, and much more. Rather than broadcasting your ad to any and every set of eyes, you’re putting it in front of the right sets of eyes. Multiple Types of PPC Ads to Choose From Beyond simple text ads, there are many other varieties of PPC advertising formats that you can take advantage of. You can use a single ad format or a combination that best suits your client’s business goals. For example, Google offers ones that include, but are by no means limited to: Shopping Ads – Promote a product that your client is selling on their website and pay when a user clicks through to the landing page. Local Services Ads – Professionals in select industries can advertise verified service listings to search users. For example, a local personal injury lawyer can create an LSA ad that targets people who search terms like “personal injury attorney near me.” Click-to-Call Ads – Ads specifically designed to drive phone calls for businesses. These display only on devices such as smartphones where the user can place the call instantly. Expert-Managed Campaigns When you connect with a white label PPC advertising partner like Conduit, you have access to a team of certified experts that apply their expertise to your client’s campaigns. This ensures that the campaigns: Are designed based on your client’s desired KPAs Feature high-opportunity keyword strategies Implement effective ad copy compliant with PPC best practices Of course, you do not have to disclose that your agency works with a white label digital performance partner if you do not want to. In our experience, about half of the agencies in our network actively promote that they work with Conduit’s team of certified Google Ads and Bing Ads partners. Some prefer to call our PPC advertising team their own, which we are equally excited about! That’s the beauty of a white label partnership. Track Your Campaign Performance in Real-Time We believe that successful white label performance partnerships are built on transparency. When considering a PPC advertising partner, look for one that offers transparent data reporting on each of your client’s campaigns. This allows you to show your client how their campaigns are performing in real-time. This may inspire your client to invest more in PPC in the future or can open a productive conversation about adjusting strategy if the campaign is underperforming. It’s All About ROAS All of PPC advertising’s unique selling points are moot if the performance doesn’t align to drive return on ad spend (ROAS) for your client. However, with an expert white label partner, you can ensure that your client’s campaigns are set up for the most success possible. At Conduit, we help successful agencies across North America scale to the summit with a full suite of digital products. If you’re interested in adding white label PPC to your arsenal of solutions, contact us today to learn more about white label partnership.

Sep 13, 2021 Leverage These Insights to Turn Your Agency Team Into Local SEO Rockstars  Local SEO requires a different approach than general search engine optimization campaigns. To become a true rockstar among other competing agencies, you have to apply global-sized thinking to local execution.  As a digital performance partner for digital marketing agencies serving many local markets across the United States, we’ve learned quite a bit about local SEO along the way. We’re going to share some agency insights to help you best leverage your white label digital partnership to become a truly major player in your client’s local market. 1. Gather as Much Local Intel as Possible Research the general region where your client’s business is located. Then, conduct research on their municipality, county, the other surrounding counties, and eventually the state. Be sure to also read up on local government regulations that may impact the way your client conducts their business. Other aspects of local intel you might want to research can include, but are not limited to: Seasonal climate conditions that may affect business Proximity to major cities and local economic hubs Median household income of the local population Other demographic data of local residents (i.e., Age, race, education level, etc.) Top local employers where potential customers might work 2. Research Local Competitors In-Depth Perform a local search related to your client’s business. For example, if your client is a medical provider in Ocean County, New Jersey, you can search “doctors office in Toms River” and view a variety of local competitors’ websites and Google MyBusiness listings. Perform a thorough review of these competitors’ websites. Look for aspects of these sites that might be outperforming your client’s digital presence. Look for factors like: Do the competitors have more content on their pages? Do the competitors have better quality content? Do they have a more intuitive user experience design? Are they using links more effectively on their website? Do they have more consistently optimized meta descriptions and headers than your client? These surface-level aspects of a website can provide you with a detailed initial overview of your client’s competitors. This will aid you in developing a strategy to elevate your client’s own website to remain viably competitive in their market. You can also use site examining tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to take a deeper look into competitors’ websites to gather more granular data. These tools can provide you with advanced intel like: A website’s text-to-HTML ratio Number of broken links found on the website Instances of duplicate on-page copy Keywords that competitors are currently ranking for on organic search 3. Make Sure Your Client’s Digital Presence Has Updated Location Information Businesses that target local audiences often have their information displayed on a variety of different digital channels. These can include their own website, social media profiles, Google MyBusiness listings, directory portals, and more. Take an inventory of each channel that lists your client’s business information. Ensure that all of their contact information, address, and business hours, and website URL are up-to-date on each property. If one or more are inaccurate, be sure to address this immediately. 4. Identify Directory Opportunities Your Client is Missing Out On Online directories with local listings dominate local organic search results. These portals are considered of the highest authority by search engine algorithms, which means they face little difficulty achieving a top-3 ranking. Directories generate a large amount of organic referral traffic for your client’s website. If their site is not in the top-5 organic results for a specific keyword, but their Yelp listing is, this can result in many Yelp visitors clicking through to your client’s website if they want to learn more about their business. If your client is missing key directory listings for their local market and general industry, take inventory of them and plan to add their business to these channels as soon as possible. This will play an instrumental role in supplementing your organic traffic generation with referral links. 5. Build a Local Keyword Strategy “(Product or service) near me” is the king of local SEO keywords. Whenever a user includes the qualifier “near me” in their search term, Google leverages the device’s location function to provide local results. On your client’s website, be sure to tastefully call out specific locations in their content. This will indicate to Google that the business serves local customers in that specific area. For example, the H1 heading on a physical therapist’s homepage in Lincoln, Nebraska might be “Top Physical Therapy Center in Lincoln, NE” with the focus keyword being “physical therapy Lincoln NE”. 6. Be A Digital Neighbor People often support local businesses because they are owned and operated by their neighbors. In a similar vein, operate your client’s online channels like a digital neighbor. On their Google properties, social profiles, and directory listings, perform regular actions like: Respond to reviews from all customers, no matter the rating. Post notices of any changes in business hours, unusual closures, holiday schedules, etc. Link to new content on the client’s website, such as blog posts, to channels that allow you to post updates like Facebook and Google MyBusiness. Respond to questions, comments, and messages on these properties and provide links to the client’s website if the page can help satisfy a user’s needs. Share images of the business to the client’s Google MyBusiness profile, directory listings, and social media channels. These will also aid your client in ranking for image results on search engines. Scale Your Agency To True Local SEO Rockstardom Local SEO is a far more nuanced variation of search engine optimization that requires consistent experience to become a true rockstar. At Conduit, we’ve built a team of expert certified SEO analysts and managers that have built countless local SEO campaign strategies for agency clients all across North America and around the globe. As digital performance partners, we help agencies scale by meeting their needs with a full suite of services to round out their own in-house core offerings. If you’re ready to scale to becoming a true local SEO rockstar, contact us today to learn more about our white label SEO services.