marketing, market-researchI work for a mobile detailing company and I’m trying to come up with an expansion plan. I’m exploring the option of White labeling by calling businesses in the automotive industry that we can partner with, and detail under their brand at a discounted price. This way they can help us get our name out there by telling all their customers about us.
Are there any other white labeling strategies I should be exploring? Any other way to get our name out there using other businesses? All input would be appreciated!
It sounds like you’re talking about a very common mistake startups make. Here’s the thing: when you operate as a white-label service, you don’t get exposure.
If you’re detailing for a Ford dealer, and you do an amazing job, that person doesn’t say “oh I should take my car back to Cesar when I need detailing”. That person thinks “oh I should take my car back to Ford”. The only exception to that is if you’re individually telling the customers that it’s a separate business- but if the company you’re partnered with finds out, you’re going to get cut right out of their supplychain.
However, there is an alternative to whitelabelling. You can form partnerships with businesses where you maintain your own individual branding! The most common way I’ve seen this done is a kickback for referrals- essentially instead of providing a discount, you charge the customer full price and then send a check for a percentage to the other business at the end of the month.
There are a number of great books on branding and establishing a reputation- doing your homework is very important in the early phase of a business.
Have you considered looking at a franchising model? You probably need to prove it by having a few “test” friendly franchisees that you can engage with to build a appropriate methodology and engagement method.
I guess if you are going “national” with it, and considering 100s of outlets, then that might be plausible, but if you goal is more modest, then franchising may not work, as you really want to have national marketing working to support the local entities, so they have a benefit for their franchise investment.
I’m sure someone on stack exchange should have franchise experience.
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