Top 10 UK Digital Agencies (2023)

There are hundreds of digital marketing agencies in the United Kingdom. Choosing one of them to trust with your business’s future is a tricky job. You want to be sure that you’re in good hands with an agency that can deliver results.

But, with so many different digital marketing agencies to choose from - each with different combinations of digital marketing services - how do you sift through each website to finally land on one that you can actually trust?

Most digital agency sales pitches promise: 'To leapfrog the competition - quickly and easily'.

It’s a competitive industry, and sales pitches are slick. Unfortunately, digital marketing agencies often don’t deliver on the promises they made. Their digital marketing strategies are the same as your competitors. Whether you’re a small business or a team with hundreds of people, you deserve to work with the best agency in the United Kingdom.

Most of these firms are 1 - 3 people strong, with a core competency in social media marketing. If they're lucky, some creative skills make them a creative agency on top of a social media marketing agency. If you are a hair salon - this might work for you. If you operate in a competitive industry. -you need more. 

Choosing the best digital marketing agency is not an easy task. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you make your decision.

Below, we’ll not only tell you about the top ten digital marketing agencies in the UK; we’ll also give you some guidelines on the crucial factors you need to keep in mind when making your decision.

How to Find the Best Digital Marketing Agencies in the UK

So how do you locate and shortlist the right digital marketing agency? Unfortunately, many of these firms make a habit of missing deadlines, breaking promises, and giving excuses for underperformance.

If you’re with the wrong digital or creative agency, managing them can become a full-time job.

Whether you’re looking for a new digital marketing agency, or you’re hiring one for the first time, we'll provide some guidelines you can follow to ensure you’re choosing the right one in the United Kingdom.

What to consider when selecting a UK Digital Agency

Range of Services

Digital marketing agencies come in many different shapes and sizes. Each one might focus on a specific area, rather than offering every possible service. If a digital marketing company does claim to offer every marketing service under the sun, it could be a big red flag.

Make sure to narrow it down to one that specialises in the area you want to work on. For example, don’t ask an agency to work on your website if their speciality is social media marketing. Full service digital agencies are not always what you should look for - despite what they might tell you! 

Common services top digital agencies in the United Kingdom may offer:

• Digital marketing strategy
• Digital marketing campaigns
• Web design
• Web development
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing
• Mobile app development services
• Email marketing
• Lead generation
• Paid search

1. Proven Testimonials

When choosing a digital marketing agency that you’re going to trust, you want to make sure they have proven results. Asking an agency to provide you with some proven testimonials of their previous work is an excellent way to determine whether they’re worth working with or not.

Every agency will claim that they have had good results in the past, but can they prove it? Recent case studies and showcases of work are a good sign. Look out for any awards the agency has won in the past. These accolades are challenging to get, and they're awarded by people with a wealth of experience in the industry.

2. Experience

There are literally thousands of digital agencies in the United Kingdom. The problem is that anyone with a laptop and some know-how can start and own a 'digital marketing company.' Having a website and some knowledge of WordPress does not guarantee they know what they are doing.   

The more experienced digital marketing agencies will cost more. They are operationally superior, have efficient processes, have successful outcomes, and ROI on your spending is far more likely.

You also want to make sure that an agency has experience in your industry because every business is unique and what might work for one, won’t necessarily work for another.

3. SMART and Realistic Goals

While delivering incredible results in a short space of time is achievable for digital marketing agencies, you need to beware of false promises. Make sure that the agency has a plan in place on how they’re going to achieve the goals that they have set out. It’s also a good idea to explore the tools that they will be using to help you achieve the results they’re promising.

4. Reliable Reporting

Tracking the progress of your goals while working with an agency is crucial. The agency needs to have reliable reporting systems with data to back up their progress. If they’re falling short of your expectations and the results they promised to deliver, what needs to change? On the other hand, it’s also great to pour over data and reports to see what has been working for your business and focus on the elements that give you the best results.

5. Ignore Pricing

Saving costs is always important, but when it comes to choosing a digital marketing agency for your business, try to ignore the costs involved as much as you can. If you’re going with a cheap digital marketing agency, you’re going to get cheap results. The best digital marketing agencies in the UK often charge higher rates, and that’s because they have a proven track record, use a methodology that works, and can deliver the results they promised you.

The 10 Best Digital Marketing Agencies in the UK

There are hundreds of digital marketing agencies all over the UK. While some of them specialise in a focused area, others are more general and cover a wide range of services. Below, we’re digging deeper into some of the best industry-leading agencies in the UK.

Velocity

Velocity focuses on using content marketing and storytelling to help their clients grow. Some of their services include branding, strategy, web development, and they also have a focus on visual identity. By finding stories that will resonate with your audience, Velocity will help your business to capture the imagination of your customers and draw them in.

Koozai

Koozai is an award winning digital marketing agency that has been around since 2006. With several years of experience under their belt, they offer a wide range of excellent services including search engine optimisation (SEO), paid media, and content marketing. The team will do thorough research into your business and the industry you’re in to better understand how they can get you the best results as proven by some of the names in their client list such as Bandai, Papa John's Pizza, Stannah, and many more.

Modern 

Another top UK digital marketing agency in the UK is Modern. This digital marketing agency based in Bristol implements effective strategies by using data analytics and business insights. They have worked with brands such as Hyland, AllStar Business Solutions, and Klarna to grow, develop new products, and develop stronger customer relationships. If you’re looking for account based marketing, digital transformation, performance marketing, and much more, Modern is a great agency to consider.

Social Shepherd

As a social first agency, Social Shepherd is laser focused on delivering results in the social media space. From paid social to social media management, and even influencer marketing, these are your go-to guys if you need to up your social media game. They’ve also won several awards and are recognised as one of the leading digital marketing agencies in the UK.

Aira

Aira is a small team based out of Milton Keynes that was set up in 2015. Despite their young age, this agency has won several awards and works with some reputable names including Veriff, Just Tyres, AppJobs, and many more. Aira’s services include SEO, paid media, inbound marketing, content marketing, and digital PR.

SEO Works

SEO is an ever-changing industry that is nearly impossible to stay on top of all the time. But, the guys over at SEO Works are among the best in the business when it comes to delivering results from search engines. They’ve worked with clients such as Sheffield Hallam University, Arai Helmets, The White Room and many more. However, they’re more than just an SEO agency, they also provide PPC services, paid social, as well as design and development.

Pull The Pin

Pull the Pin is a team that operates out of Birmingham. They can offer web building, video production, and digital marketing services. They have a proven track record having worked with clients such as the Daily Mirror, Ingeus, England Gold, and of course many more. Pull the Pin uses multi-channel marketing to get some industry-leading results. The team has achieved some incredible results using video and web building.

We Are Social

We Are Social is an international digital marketing agency with 850 team members scattered across 15 different locations around the world. Their main goal is to connect the business with its customers through social platforms. They have an incredibly wide range of services, but this agency is highly focused on sports in particular. Nevertheless, they have worked with some of the biggest names in the world including Netflix, Lego, Samsung, and many more reputable companies.

Saatchi & Saatchi

Saatchi & Saatchi is a London-based digital marketing agency that has been around since 1970. They have over 6500 team members in more than 114 countries around the world — it’s no surprise that you would see them on this list. They are considered to be a powerhouse in the marketing industry, and they’ve been paving the way for decades. Saatchi & Saatchi has worked with British Airways, Visa, T-Mobile, and hundreds of other reputable companies over the years.

Stackmatix

Whether you’re a small start-up looking to grow, or a bigger business trying to generate more leads, Stackmatix is a flexible digital marketing agency that offers a whole host of services including social media, advertising, sales, creative, and analytics. Some of the reputable names that they have worked with include Figma, Remoov, Nautical, and more.

About MO Agency

With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, we implement technologies and strategies for B2B companies to help them attract the right leads, convert them into customers, and retain them with customer service.

At MO Agency, we work with digital marketers, business executives, as well as sales and technology professionals. Our team may be small, but we’re focused on a specialised skill set that brings value to any business.

Want to hear more about what we’ve achieved so far? Take a look below:

• HubSpot 2020 Impact Awards: Customer First

• HubSpot 2021 Impact Awards: Integrations Innovation

• HubSpot 2022 Impact Awards: Platform Migration Excellence

Our Services

• HubSpot CRM services - Hubspot is our CRM of choice and we offer everything from integration to onboarding when it comes to this industry leading CRM system. Whether it’s sales enablement, customisation, or consulting, we can 
• Inbound marketing and campaigns - Inbound marketing is one of the best ways to consistently increase lead quality, volume, retention, and build brand authority. It’s our preferred form of marketing, and we can get your business set up with this effective campaign.
• Web design and development - At MO Agency we build effective results driven websites. Whether you’re setting up an eCommerce site with Shopify, a new blog with WordPress, or need to migrate into HubSpot CMS, we’ve got you covered.
• Digital branding and video - The world has shifted into a visual landscape. If your business is not portraying its vision, values, and personality using visual content, we can help you to build a strong visual identity.

Our Success Stories

In the absence of results, services are worthless. So, here are some of our favourite client success stories:

• Teraco 

Industry : Information technology

Specialisation: Data centres

Results: We created an interconnection campaign that helps Teraco to generate new leads through LinkedIn and Google Ads resulting in a 42% increase in new contacts in their HubSpot platform.

• ROBUS

Industry : Manufacturing

Specialisation: LED lighting

Results: We created a “Future of Lighting” campaign running on Google Ads for ROBUS and set up automated workflows for their nurture emails which helped them to generate 342 SQL’s and increase their organic search traffic by 39%.

• Meerkat

Industry : Financial Services

Specialisation: Insurance

Results: A funeral cover nurture journey running on Google Ads generated 1074 leads for Meerkat. We saw a 17% increase in funeral cover leads, a 42% increase in debt management leads, and an incredible 440% increase in organic search traffic.

• E-Plan

Industry : Information Technology

Specialisation: Engineering Software

Results: Our Panel Building 101 campaign utilised LinkedIn and Google to have B2B leads delivered 29x more efficiently than the industry average.

• Risk Warden

Industry : Information Technology

Specialisation: Risk Management Software

Results: Running a building safety act nurture journey resulted in a cost per lead 9x lower than the SaaS industry average. Risk Warden also created 307 deals from landing page conversions

• Quantum Cryogenics

Industry : Manufacturing

Specialisation: Cryogenic Monitoring Solutions

Results: Our team set out to optimise Quantum’s website, which led to a 277% increase in organic search traffic.

• Greenpeace Africa

Industry : NGO

Specialisation: Environmental Campaigning

Results: With a focus on increasing exposure, our team used LinkedIn InMail, Google Ads, and Facebook split testing to achieve an industry leading conversion rate with 2.3 million impressions across thousands of actionable data points.

• Ikhokha

Industry : Financial Services

Specialisation: Payment Solutions

Results: We integrated HubSpot’s sales, marketing, and service packages with excellent results. Ikhoka generated 158,470 leads over 12 months and acquired 70,000 new customers since implementing Hubspot.

Final Thoughts

These may only be 10 options for digital marketing agencies, but it's clear that making a decision on which one you’ll trust with your business is nearly impossible. It’s not as easy as going with the biggest digital marketing agency and the one that has worked with the most reputable clients. There are important guidelines that you need to follow to make sure that your business goals align perfectly with the agency of your choice.