Advertising Agencies in the UK
Someone to run the Google Ads properly, a social media agency posting three times a week, a brand and a website that look like a real company, a campaign for the launch, PR that gets the local paper, or an agency that will tell you what to stop spending on: find a local advertising and marketing agency businesses recommend.
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07903 121668Advertising Agencies by city
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Finding a good marketing agency in the UK
Advertising and marketing agencies get customers for businesses: the digital agencies running search and social advertising, SEO, email and websites; the social media agencies creating and posting content and managing communities; the creative and branding agencies making the name, the logo, the campaign and the adverts; the PR agencies getting coverage; the media agencies buying the space on radio, outdoor, TV and online; and the full-service and integrated agencies doing all of it for larger clients. Most towns have a few small agencies and freelancers serving local businesses; the cities have the specialists and the big networks.
Choosing well is a matter of fit and evidence: an agency that has done your kind of work for your size of business and can show the results in numbers — leads, sales, cost per acquisition — not just the creative; a clear proposal with the scope, the deliverables, the fees and who will actually do the work; ownership of your accounts, domains and data in your name; and a contract you can leave. Agencies charge retainers, project fees, hourly rates or a percentage of ad spend, and a small business usually needs one or two things done well — the Google Business profile, the ads, the website — before it needs a campaign.
The listings here show each agency's services and specialisms, sectors, case studies and results, pricing and contact details, so you can see who is nearby, who does the thing you need, and whose work businesses in your town credit for their customers.
What agencies do
Digital advertising: Google and Microsoft search ads, shopping, display and YouTube, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ads, managed for a fee or a percentage of spend.
Content and social: social media management, content creation, video, photography, influencer campaigns, email marketing and community management.
SEO and websites: search engine optimisation, local SEO, websites and landing pages, conversion optimisation and analytics.
Brand and creative: naming, logos and brand identity, campaigns, print and outdoor, radio and TV adverts, packaging and design.
PR and media: press and media relations, launches, events, crisis communications, and media planning and buying across radio, outdoor, press and TV.
Before you hire an agency
- Write a one-page brief: what you sell, to whom, what you want to happen, by when, and the budget.
- Ask for case studies with numbers for businesses like yours, and speak to a current client.
- Ask who does the work day to day, and how much of the fee reaches the ads.
- Keep every account — Google, Meta, domain, website, analytics — in your name with the agency as a user.
- Agree the reporting: what is measured, how often, and what a good month looks like.
- Start with a project or a three-month retainer with a notice period, not a twelve-month contract.
What agencies cost in the UK
As a rough guide, small agencies and freelancers charge £40 to £90 an hour and £300 to £800 a day, with paid ads management at £300 to £1,500 a month or 10 to 20 per cent of ad spend, social media management £400 to £2,000 a month depending on the posting and content, SEO retainers £500 to £3,000 a month, a logo and brand identity £500 to £5,000, a small business website £1,500 to £10,000, a local campaign £2,000 to £20,000 all in, and PR retainers £1,000 to £5,000 a month; the city agencies and the networks charge two to five times that with minimum retainers of £5,000 to £20,000 a month. Ad spend is on top of the fee, and the agency's fee should be a fraction of it.
A £600 a month agency running £2,000 of ads well beats a £200 freelancer wasting £2,000 of ads badly, and the reporting is how you tell.
Advertising Agencies — frequently asked questions
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How do I find a marketing agency near me?+
Look at the agencies listed for your town, which show the services, sectors, case studies, pricing and reviews; most towns have small agencies and freelancers serving local businesses, and the specialists — PPC, SEO, social, PR, branding — are within reach in the cities. Ask two or three for a proposal against the same one-page brief.
How much does a marketing agency cost?+
Small agencies charge £40 to £90 an hour, £300 to £1,500 a month to manage paid ads, £400 to £2,000 a month for social media, £500 to £3,000 a month for SEO and £500 to £5,000 for a brand identity, with ad spend on top; city agencies and networks charge several times that with minimum retainers of £5,000 to £20,000 a month. Start with a project or a short retainer.
What is the difference between an advertising agency and a marketing agency?+
An advertising agency makes and places adverts — the campaign, the creative, the media buying; a marketing agency covers the wider job of finding and keeping customers — strategy, digital, content, SEO, email, social, PR and websites — and may run ads as part of it. Most small agencies now call themselves marketing or digital agencies and do both.
What marketing does a small business need?+
Usually the basics done well before anything clever: a Google Business profile with reviews, a fast website that says what you do and where, local SEO so you appear for your trade and town, a modest search or social ad campaign measured by leads, and an email list; a good agency will say which of those you need and which you can do yourself. Branding and campaigns come later.
How do I brief an agency?+
On one page: what you sell and to whom, what makes you different, what you want to happen — calls, bookings, sales, awareness — by when, the budget for fees and ad spend, what you have tried, and what you must keep or avoid. The proposals that come back are then comparable, and the agency that asks the most questions is usually the one to hire.
How do I know if an agency is working?+
By the numbers you agreed at the start: enquiries, bookings or sales and what each cost, tracked in analytics and your own records rather than in likes and impressions, reported monthly with what changed and why; an agency that will not tie its work to leads or sales, or that owns your accounts and data, is one to leave when the notice period allows.
How do I get my business listed?+
It is free. Add your business in about two minutes to appear on this page and your local town directory. Upgrade to Featured for £2.99 a month to sit above the free listings.