API vs White Label In Digital Marketing
The digital marketing industry offers various tools and solutions for marketers to make the most of their strategies, improve their clients’ experience and enhance the performance of a particular product or service. When it comes to ad network building, sellers may well need to decide whether to use an Application Programming Interface or a white-label platform, without knowing which of these solutions would fit their situation best. Which is the best method to create an advertising platform and achieve maximum profit while saving time and money? How do you streamline your efforts and get all the necessary tools to work with big data effectively? Today we would like to review the role of API and white-label solutions and show their benefits so we can understand which the best choice for digital marketers seeking to create a marketing platform might be and why.
What is an API and what is a white-label?
Application Programming Interface known as API is something users deal with every day. It is essentially a piece of software that has a certain function and exchanges data between apps and servers. When you browse your social media, check the weather, write emails, or play games on your smartphone, an API does its work invisibly. It is responsible for data delivery and interaction between devices and applications making programs run smoothly and provides a particular functionality. In short, a specific code is added to an application enabling access to providers’ services and allowing customers to use them quickly and easily. The Application Programming Interface usually takes its place between the server and application, and it works like this: once you use an app or open a website, API sends a data request to a server with a particular task, and the server responds, which means you receive the information you need or a certain task is performed. If we talk about it in abstraction, it’s like you need to rent an apartment and find a manager who will process your request, and find the right location, so you can enjoy the result without having to do everything yourself.
White labeling is a common practice in many industries including digital marketing. So, how does it work? A third party creates a product or service and sells it to another company which then turns it into a label by implementing the necessary customization, adding a logo, and other branding elements. In other words, white-label products can be resold and remarketed. They are readymade solutions for any product and the basis for your future brand. From the definition of API, we can conclude that it is the interface used to enrich the functioning of the existing app, while a white-label is a solution that helps to actually create the platform into which the Application Programming Interface can be further integrated.
Which choice is better if you’re creating your own platform? Let’s examine the benefits of both solutions.
Benefits of API technology and white-label products
Both methods have their advantages, so when choosing between an Application Programming Interface and white-label, it’s crucial to consider whether they really fit your product. Let’s review both options to give you a better understanding of their feasibility.
The benefits of using an API
- Automation. API involves less individual work, which gives extra productivity and accelerates the process of setting everything up. You can publish content and information or retrieve the necessary data in a few clicks without needing to do anything else.
- Developers don’t need to write code from scratch using API solutions because premade components are already integrated.
- APIs help digital marketers improve the performances of their campaigns because interfaces are easily integrated allowing you to gather and process big data quickly with a minimum of manual effort. Marketers can improve targeting, get detailed reports, improve ad personalization, and leverage custom bidding to boost CTRs and CPCs.
- With APIs, it is possible to share content across different channels deliver information to new audiences as well as implement the necessary updates to your platform.
However, it is crucial to take into account the fact that APIs can be either readymade or written by request. In some cases, it might take about 15-20 attempts before the Application Programming Interface can be created or updated. It depends on the function and complexity of the API that needs to be written. Apart from that, purchasing an API would cost more than if you bought a white-label product.
The benefits of white-label solutions
- These are time-saving and cost-effective as you don’t have to create a product from scratch, which would add considerably to your expenses.
- They are an easy way of creating your own platform. Building your own product is not a seamless process even if you’ve got experience in that field. With a white-label service, you don’t have to worry about a complicated construction process. They guarantee high quality. White-label providers employ qualified experts in the creation of a product, so you can be sure that what you are offered is of premium quality and will work as it should.
- They help you focus on your business, on the expansion and improvement of your offers as well as on marketing efforts. You get a high-quality product that can be easily branded and then promoted and distributed. This means you will be able to do whatever you need to do better without being burdened by technical issues.
If we compare API to white-label, it is clear that API is better suited as an extension of an existing application or platform rather than having to create it from scratch. You simply expand its functionality and features. i. Once you buy a readymade application, you can then add APIs to it, but you won’t be able to use them as a standalone option, or without having an app. So, although an API is recommended for those who already own a platform and want to take it to a new level, a white-label solution fits startups and those brands which have decided to create their first online presence. In terms of expenditure, white-label is seen as a more cost-effective solution. You avoid extra spending because you don’t need to hire a team of professionals who usually charge high fees for their work.
White-label is a game changer in digital marketing. With its help, marketers can create a fully-fledged ad network with all the necessary tools and functions included. Compared to custom development from scratch, it saves you not only investment costs but time as well. Dedicating all the work to professionals means you can focus on your main business goals and provide top-quality service, boosting customer satisfaction and, as a result, increasing your revenue. In addition, white-label services help you monetize your campaigns effectively with professional promotion strategies that really work.
API example and white-label in use
If we talk about API use in terms of digital marketing, we can give several examples of how marketers actually leverage APIs. With their help, marketing experts can create and manage advertisements, simplify ad serving by making necessary ad requests to get responses more quickly and receive detailed and structured data reports that are accessed in real-time via dashboards. These can be then shared with the analytical team to make further decisions and reach conclusions. There are also APIs for custom bidding and advanced targeting. However, you need to integrate every interface separately unlike white-label products that already contain all the necessary functionality.
There are a number of different types of API. For instance, audience segmentation applications help track viewers by geolocation. Digital marketing can vary depending on the location. It is not only about geography but about culture, values, and behavior. That is why digital marketers segment audiences by location to tailor their messages. Another example highlights analytical applications. Analytics are crucial for digital marketing especially nowadays when everything has become data-driven. Specific analytics software may well require significant expenditure, so installing an API would be a cost-effective solution.
Of course, you can get support from API providers as well, in case something goes wrong. However, Application Programming Interfaces are written by skilled developers who sell them to many other companies, so they feel confident in their expertise. Finally, white-label solutions are less expensive and time-consuming than an API, and the best thing is that marketers don’t have to install anything, they can just focus on their strong suit, promotion.
Summary
When choosing between Application Programming Interface and white-label, you need to keep your desired outcomes in mind. What do you really need for your product or platform to work at its best, achieve your goals and satisfy your customers’ needs? An API might take more time and effort to be integrated but while this is happening, it is able to start adjusting easily to your product.
In most cases, a white-label solution turns out to be better because you save money and get a product that is completely ready to become your own brand after simple customization. You don’t have to hire a team of developers to create new software. You can start implementing your marketing strategies to achieve exceptional results after you turn a white-label platform into your own brand – it’s less time-consuming than custom development where everything is made from the ground up. This enables you to switch to your main goals straightaway as you are able to avoid the hassles and obstacles that many companies encounter in the process of development. That means your brand is one step ahead of those that use up valuable time and investment in ad network creation. Better still, when you use a white-label solution you get full control over your campaigns and the process of ad buying becomes more transparent.
In many cases, there is no need to build a platform on your own and purchase or request separate APIs to expand its functionality because you can buy a fully-fledged solution from white-label providers. However, you need to weigh up the pros and cons of both options and make a decision based on your product’s specificities, the functionality you require, and your desired outcomes.
