Summary 

As LBMS grew, Frank struggled to manage PPC by himself. He tried two white label vendors, but they were problematic. By switching to oxbird, though, he reduced client complaints by 80% and more than quadrupled his client retention.

Meet the Partner 

Local Business Marketing Solutions started out with a focus on consulting in ’07 and switched to marketing services in 2012. That helped to grow their agency from a one-man band to 10+ employees with numerous client success stories.

Identify the Problem 

Frank did all the PPC management in-house for the first five years (2012-17). However, as his CEO responsibilities grew with his agency, PPC became too much to handle.

A blog post about high rates of turnover among media buyers discouraged him from staying in-house. That led him to try not oxbird but two other white label providers.

“I got overwhelmed. At that point, I hired two white labeling companies prior to working with oxbird and got TERRIBLE results (a TON of complaints about the poor results we were getting). The skillset was definitely not there. The pain points were primarily performance (or lack thereof), so moving to oxbird has been a godsend.” 

LBMS clients were reporting “no conversions,” high costs per click (CPCs), and “weird leads.” He asked his providers for support, but their communication processes were clunky (giant Facebook groups, disorganized email threads) and took days.

75% of his clients were complaining, and several had given him one month’s notice. PPC was costing him not just services but even his reputation and key clients.

He struggled to justify his fees and didn’t want to pitch PPC to prospects anymore.

Understand Our Services 

Frank’s admin saw oxbird on Facebook, and he scheduled discovery calls with us and another white label PPC provider. He “went with his gut and [chose oxbird].”

“It was a cool rapport; it was a smooth conversation… didn’t seem sales-y at all. The other [competitor] was more of a cutthroat type of sales call.” 

Even still, Frank was “afraid that he was going to have yet another failed outsourcing partnership… I had my back against the wall. I had people breathing down my neck saying, ‘Hey. If this doesn’t work in the next week, I’m out.’”

Because of this and similar situations, oxbird built a custom web application for partners called Pivot. This interface organizes project management for onboarding.

“I never even knew something like [Pivot] existed until you guys [built it]. It’s a great software and… I LOVE Twist, which, I believe, is tied to Pivot. I like it because I can communicate with you guys via that platform, and everything is in one place.” 

We use another app, Twist, for partner communication. It specializes in async work with minimal notifications. Frank remembered when we launched Twist and said, “That was huge!” He likes the “streamlined” and “efficient” structure that has eliminated the confusion he experienced with his previous white label PPC vendors.

Frank also appreciates the improved communication and relationship with our team:

“I view our partnership as a friendship, to be honest. … I just feel like I can reach out to you or anyone. I get replies right away… You guys are like Johnny on the spot.” 

Frank’s previous providers relied on AI optimizations, sacrificing quality for speed. Frank knew he had “found the team that I needed to work with” when he realized oxbird appreciates the value of manual, hands-on optimizations.

See the Results 

Frank invests in oxbird’s fees because we “brought in results for [his] clients.” Our Strategy Reports are “a great touch and have increased my belief in your services.”

He reported that Google Ads “revenue has skyrocketed” for a basement waterproofing client “since he made the switch [to oxbird].” Another business development client has been able to access 225+ Facebook Ads leads for the low cost per lead (CPL) of $11.90.

LBMS has also been able to solidify their client relationships,

“My agency has been able to improve the communication with our clientele because we are sending them the [Strategy Reports] … I can show them what we’re working on, and they really appreciate knowing exactly what our plans are going forward.” 

oxbird has helped Frank reduce client complaints by 80% and increase client retention by 300%. Now he and his team spend a lot less time resolving client concerns!

The effect on his P&L has been exponential. Many of his clients use multiple services, so the boost to retention has dramatically increased his customer LTV and revenue.

He used his profits to hire a full-time operations specialist and “invest more money and time in content marketing.” His business coach had already been telling him to raise his fees, and oxbird’s results have helped him do that while pitching PPC more.

“I can now honestly say, without hesitation, that LBMS is a lead generation specialist company because I have oxbird on my side to perform the work… I no longer am hesitant to sell PPC to larger brands [due to results and reports].” 

Follow the Journey 

Much of Frank’s success is due to his excellent interpersonal skills,

“Frank has close relationships with his clients and is quick to message us back. We’re able to save time since his clients have proper expectations.”  —Nick Robinson, oxbird

He has also mastered the dynamics of working with a white label provider,

“My responsibility is to get in front of as many potential clients as possible… oxbird’s responsibility is to provide the best services possible… for my clients.” 

And he and his new operations specialist are building an employee training process to help new team members get involved in all our services and offerings.

“I am really looking forward to growing with you guys. Everything is PPC related now.”