private-label verb:  a label associated with a specific chain store ; also : a product or service produced by one company (the producer) that other companies (the marketers) rebrand to make it appear as if they made it.

In software, often white label solutions are reserved for online dating and Internet gaming sites aimed at B2C commerce. In the realm of B2B, the white label concept is similar, but often less "turnkey." In the digital signage world, we are seeing an emergence of more turnkey, flexible options when it comes to marketing to the mainstream customers. This is starting to include private label offerings.

Benefits of White Labeling Digital Signage for the Producer

Two words: increased distribution. In the realm of product marketing, there is almost no lengths to which people will not go to find another way to get our product seen and sold. Allowing your brand to become a private label for a third party can give the increased exposure you desire. There are heretofore untapped niches in almost every industry that could be siphoned if the right individual or company were brought on board and allowed to rebrand.

Another very obvious, yet beneficial aspect of allowing your brand to be white-labeled is that support is pushed to the third party representative. In the event of a rebrand, most "producing" companies require Tier 1 and often Tier 2 customer support to be passed on. This allows for an increase in sales and revenue with a smaller relative increase in support and management costs. That is, if your network and software are reliable.

Benefits of White Labeling Digital Signage for the Marketer

Digital signage resellers will find great benefits when seeking out opportunities with those vendors who provide digital signage white label solutions. The following includes only some of the benefits of a digital signage white-label reseller program:

Low cost of market entry. How much does it take to develop your own digital signage software solution? How much does it require to test it to the point of exhaustion to ensure it is not only bug-free, but secure? These requirements will vary based on how you would like the software to operate and on what operating platform you would like the solution to run. You also avoid the complications--which also include generally large sums of money--that may come from both development and product testing.

Boost recurring revenues by jumping on the SaaS wagon. Many resellers can purchase the servers, the players, and all associated software directly from the vendor, allowing them to charge for hosting on their own regional sign network. It is estimated that by 2011, the SaaS community will be worth an excess of 1 billion dollars. It is also foreseen that 25% of new business software will be delivered as a service (Gartner, Inc 2006). With this in mind, do you think digital signage will be any exception? The contrary is most likely true: digital signage SaaS opportunities will be huge.

Automated billing, provisioning, and servicing of business customers. Many times private-labeled software packages will already contain customer management solutions built into the interface, allowing you to track revenue, RMAs, and other service related issues as your signage network expands. This is one more benefit that you will not have to engineer into your own solution.

Quick deployment. No development time means quick deployment. Whether it's quick website deployment, business plan deployment or digital signage network deployment, you can literally be up and running immediately with many private labeled solutions.

Multiple languages, geographies, and currencies. Much like the automated billing option, many white-labeled software applications already allow for multiple language support, giving you the ability to market to your customers worldwide.

Marketing and sales support. Product PDFs, hardware and software information, tutorials, and on-site training are some benefits offered to those who become white-labeled resellers.

Rebranded user interface. This could include using your own domain name as your brand, inserting your company's logo in the software's backdrop,

Specify your own pricing structure. One of the greatest benefits of a digital signage rebrand is the chance to be the master of your own digital signage universe by setting your own pricing structure, thereby determining your revenues.

In short, any private labeled software solution allows for a marketer to have greater responsibility and control over the decisions made regarding software deployment. I believe it was Jack Welch who once said, "control your own destiny or someone else will." There are many benefits of reselling any software solution if there is profit to be made. In fact, the world of the reseller can be a very profitable business indeed. Better still is the world of the white-labeled rebranded reseller who can realize his opportunity and take full advantage of selling another's product as his own.

Issues with White Labeled Digital Signage

While the benefits to a rebranded software approach are great, there are also a few downsides to such a program that are worth mentioning.

Competition for the same customer base. Sometimes our greatest benefit can also work against us. In the case of white-labeling, low cost of entry for a solution also means more competition for the same customers. In the case of those looking to secure deals for digital signage hardware and software, those seeking a solution will be competing with identical software unknowingly under a different name.

Development is out of your hands. With a white labeled solution, software development is in the hands of the software owners and developers (go figure). That means any custom work and tweaks from your core build need to be done by the parent company. This tends to bring up headaches, especially with larger clients who'll most likely need at least some custom work done.

Supplier power. Have you ever studied supplier power? When you decide to go with one company as the supplier for your digital signage software, you are giving the provider of your solution too much power. Why? Because they then know you are relying on them solely for their needs. This means prices could significantly jump, if legal documents are not implemented to prevent this from happening.

White label can be a great way for smaller networks to work within their own brand in smaller geographic areas, to ensure they can increase their brand's effectiveness. However, certain failsafes must be put in place, including territorial, development, and pricing agreements to ensure your company is fully protected from failure. With the increases in white-labeled and private-labeled branding the phrase has oft been quoted, "the future is bright, the future is white." Such may be the case in digital signage. What do you think?