Top 10 Performance Marketing Agencies to Boost Your ROI

On average, businesses spend around 7% of their total revenue on marketing — a worthy investment when the return on investment (ROI) is high.

And that’s exactly what a qualified performance marketing agency offers: a higher ROI and less wasted spend.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the top agencies in the industry to make sure you get the most out of your marketing budget.

Top 10 performance marketing agencies:

1. HawkSEM

When we say we’re industry leaders, we mean it.

With over 15 years under our belt, HawkSEM is an award-winning digital advertising agency with a data-driven approach that improves performance and increases ROI for our clients.

To find your best leads, we use A/B testing and performance analysis backed by the latest industry knowledge and tech.

Our team of senior-level experts and strategists have years of experience in a full suite of digital marketing services, from paid search to SEO to paid social media marketing.

And then there’s our not-so-secret sauce: HawkSEM’s exclusive, proprietary tech platform ConversionIQ helps automate growth signals, foster better lead generation, monitor trend performance, create customized reports, and more.

The results? There are many, but a few highlights include creating campaigns for Honda that reached 30 million viewers and helping Verizon Digital Media grow conversions by more than 3,200%.

All of this adds up to a robust list of loyal clients who experience an average of 4.5X ROI.

Best for: B2B and B2C businesses

Services offered:

• Pay-per-click (PPC) campaign management
• Google Ads
• Performance display
• Landing page web design
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
• Paid social
• Content marketing
• A/B testing
• Campaign strategy and execution
• Amazon Marketing
• ROI and conversion tracking

Clients:

• DIRECTV
• Verizon Media
• Microsoft
• Nike

2. Acceleration Partners

Acceleration Partners is a global affiliate marketing agency with one prominent value point: global expansion.

You might have a solid partner base of U.S. publishers, but what if your offerings could cross borders into the audiences of international influencers?

This performance marketing agency helps you visualize that jump, boasting an average of 58% affiliate program growth for clients.

They’re also renowned for effective scaling, helping Reebok grow its performance marketing strategy into its highest-revenue digital marketing channel.

Acceleration Partners leverage their affiliate network connections and their own APVision’s business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI) models to transform comprehensive, accurate data into actionable insights.

Best for: B2C businesses

Services offered:

• Partner optimization
• Partner recruitment
• Data and analysis
• Program design
• Global and regional management
• Full program management

Clients:

• Bonafide
• Columbia Sportswear
• ButcherBox
• Allbirds

3. Merkle

Merkle is a one-stop shop for everything marketing, specializing in customer strategy, loyalty, gamification, B2B marketing, and more.

A self-declared provider of customer experience transformation, the Merkle team is a jack of all trades.

While they span many industries, they boast impressive work in the healthcare tech niches, using audience insights and media analytics to expand the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s reach.

Client reviews applaud Merkle’s expertise in streamlining internet marketing efforts for large organizations.

Best for: B2C businesses

Services:

• Search engine marketing (SEO and paid search)
• User experience
• Content creation
• Roadmap development
• Social audit
• Partner recruitment
• Social media management and marketing
• Email marketing

Clients:

• Under Armour
• Specsavers
• KFC
• Burger King

4. Tinuiti

Seeking an agency with unparalleled affiliate marketing expertise? Tinuiti is a diverse digital agency with a special interest in affiliate partnerships.

The company was recognized in the Forrester Report for Media Management Excellence and named a Platinum Agency Partner of Rakuten Advertising, one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing service providers. This is a recognition only achieved by 10% of Rakuten’s partners.

Best for: B2C businesses

Services:

• Lifecycle marketing
• Paid social
• Amazon, Walmart, and Target ecommerce sales
• Full-service funnel solution for influencer marketing
• Programmatic display
• Careful partner recruitment and vetting

Clients:

• Poppi
• TOMS
• Wild Planet
• Rack Room Shoes

5. Wpromote

A siloed strategy can be the kiss of death for your marketing program. Without insights from every channel, you risk leaking valuable budget spend and acting on inaccurate data.

Wpromote’s combined marketing expertise and proprietary tech, Polaris, cut through siloed and inaccurate data to present clear cross-channel insights and marketing solutions.

Notice a growing target audience on TikTok and Instagram? Wpromote will dive deep into each channel, carefully selecting potential influencer partnerships based on an aggressive assessment of their audiences for improved brand awareness, customer engagement, and diversified content.

As for other publishers and affiliates? Wpromote has strong relationships with over 1,000 prominent affiliates.

Then, the company wraps it all together with historical data and trends to inform its recommendations and strategies

As for the agency’s clients? Notable ones like GrubHub and Frontier Airlines speak highly of Wpromote’s team and results.

Best for: B2B and B2C businesses

Services:

• SEO and PPC
• Amazon
• Data science and modeling
• Affiliate marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Partner recruitment
• Paid social
• Data visualization

Clients:

• Spanx
• Whirlpool
• Spindrift
• Intuit Quickbooks

6. MuteSix

MuteSix is a full-funnel performance marketing agency with a special focus on media buying, ad creation, and omnichannel strategies.

Considering only 2% of marketers are happy with their current tech stack, (citing data silos as their top pain point), MuteSix’s holistic, cross-channel approach is appealing.

If you’re looking to expand your reach on social media, this agency offers support with tailored strategies for TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.

Their strategies are data-backed and focus on improving brand social media profiles rather than merely enlisting influencer marketing support.

Reviews are largely positive, with many clients citing tangible improvements to their marketing campaigns.

Best for: B2C businesses

Services:

• Conversion rate optimization
• Custom data reporting
• First-party data
• Native advertising
• Social media, channel-specific strategies

Clients:

• The Walt Disney Company
• Ring
• Fender
• Magic Spoon

7. iCrossing

Seeking a customer-centric agency? Digital marketing agency iCrossing centers its services around providing an impeccable customer experience through performance media and data analytics.

Brands will appreciate iCrossing’s impressive tech stack and partnerships.

Backed by rich relationships with Adobe, AWS, Shopify, and Contentful, iCrossing tailors every strategy with tech-driven workflows and marketing automation to improve each client’s performance.

Of course, most brands need extra attention distinguishing window-shopping leads from buyers. Clients praise the company’s flexible services, client-centric approach, and clear communication.

Best for: B2B and B2C businesses

Services:

• Content creation
• Web analytics
• 360 customer profiles
• Media strategy
• SEO
• Paid search and social

Clients:

• LG Corporation
• Bayer
• L’Oréal
• American Express

8. Deviate Labs

Deviate Labs is the agency you hire when you’re looking for performance marketing with an X-factor.

Like every other performance marketing agency, Deviate Labs builds high-performing demand generation funnels fueled by performance marketing best practices to predictably produce marketing-qualified leads.

Unlike every other agency, Deviate Labs pairs their bespoke services with creative marketing stunts, clever growth hacking tactics (they literally wrote the book on Growth Hacking), and other organic campaigns in pursuit of the coveted $0 marginal cost customer.

Client reviews applaud Deviate Labs’ ability to adapt and optimize campaigns as projects evolve.

One client, Tapfiliate, said “After having gone through several marketing agencies, Deviate Labs is the first one to truly ‘get’ it…Deviate Labs really looked at what was needed for our specific business and then came up with a solid combination of tried and tested channels.”

Services:

• Performance marketing funnels
• Product-led growth
• Account-based marketing (ABM)
• Stunt marketing
• Growth hacking tactics
• Search engine optimization
• Content marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Ad creative development
• Conversion tracking

Clients:

• HR Cloud
• Tapfiliate
• Caden
• .TECH domains

 9. Obility B2B

Obility B2B is a digital marketing company specializing in services for tech and SaaS companies, boasting AutoDesk and Moz in their client roster.

They support businesses in distinguishing MQLs from SQLs (marketing-qualified leads from sales-qualified leads), a helpful qualifier for the average SaaS business’s longer sales cycle.

Custom strategies use SEO, paid search, and RevOps tactics to grow rankings and revenue for their expanding roster of customers.

Best for: B2B businesses

Services:

• B2B paid search
• Paid social
• B2B SEO
• Revenue attribution
• Revenue operations

Clients:

• Autodesk
• Moz
• Fastly
• Snowflake

10. DMi Partners

DMi Partners takes an omnichannel approach with clients, analyzing and optimizing every stage in the customer journey with custom affiliate marketing and SEO strategies.

The agency has employees with an average six-year tenure and prides itself on a responsive, accessible work ethic.

DMi Partners offers flexible pricing models to accommodate client preferences, making them a great option for new businesses and startups.

This marketing firm adds a down-to-earth feel to its highly professional marketing services. They demonstrate a dedication to their clients through endless positive reviews and case studies showing unique solutions to complicated client challenges.

(For example, they created an entire website for a Philadelphia bakery in a single day.)

Best for: B2C businesses

Services:

• Affiliate marketing
• Influencer marketing strategy
• Full-funnel growth marketing
• Paid search
• Paid social

Clients:

• CubeSmart
• Colgate
• Ocean Spray
• Unilever

What is a performance marketing agency?

A performance marketing agency is a marketing and advertising agency that focuses on driving a specific result — like clicks, leads, or sales.

This type of agency devises marketing strategies that deliver short-term results.

Performance marketing agencies may support a range of channels, including:

• SEO
• Google Ads
• Paid social
• Amazon Marketing
• CRO
• Partner marketing
• Email marketing
• Influencer marketing

How do performance marketing experts help your business?

We’ve shared the highest-rated performance marketing agencies, but why exactly should you partner with one?

You may have a solid affiliate network with dozens of publishers promoting your brand. You might even have an entire marketing team dedicated to translating thousands of data figures into strategic advice.

But paying after results and collecting data doesn’t automatically mean your campaigns are bulletproof.

Ask yourself:

• How quickly do you respond to dips in revenue?
• Which affiliates and campaigns bring you the most traffic and conversions?
• Which ones bring you the least?
• How are you engaging your highest-performing partners?
• Which digital channels perform the best and worst?

Regularly managing and responding to insights like these requires time, energy, and expertise.

You might assign a marketing associate to the task, but is it worth the labor expense? And are they truly the most qualified person for the job? If so, great! If not?

The performance marketing agencies shared in this article are equipped for the task.

How to pick the right agency: Advice from the pros

The best performance marketing agencies help you make sense of endless data and pick the most valuable insights to propel your marketing goals.

How do you pick the right one? Consider performance marketing agencies that:

• Use proprietary software to collect, record, and analyze digital marketing performance data in one place
• Have proven expertise and success in your marketing channels and models of choice
• Feel intuitive and easy to work with — high ratings and great reviews speak volumes
• Provide flexible services to adapt to your niche, size, channels, and growth goals

It’s just as important to choose an agency with experience in your industry. For Sam Browne, founder and creative director of Findaband, “It’s essential that the agency is in tune with the live music booking industry.”

He explains that a successful agency partner must “be aware of how people decide on bands for different types of events so they can craft more targeted campaigns that speak directly to our clients’ needs.”

Can’t decide if a particular agency is the right fit for your business? ”Look for testimonials,” advises Sergey Taver, marketing manager at Precision Watches.

“As we’re a brand that sells luxury watches, we’re pretty niche. That said, I look for agencies who not only showcase robust past results but also possess strong client testimonials from clients who have worked with brands in a similar niche.”

When is the right time to hire a performance marketing agency?

The ideal timing for hiring an agency depends on your business model and campaign schedule. Many businesses opt to seek an agency after reaching a certain stage of growth.

For Pavel Naydenov, head of marketing at Businessmap, “The right time to hire a performance marketing agency is when you feel your in-house efforts have hit a plateau or when you need expertise that your current team lacks.”

Taver recommends hiring an agency when your business plans to expand into new markets.

“This is usually the time that you need to do sophisticated targeted marketing campaigns,” explains Taver. “You’ll be doing lots of A/B testing and trying out different campaigns for different personas.”

However, Browne’s business follows a seasonal model. As a result, “the best time for us to engage a marketing agency is about two to three months before our peak seasons start.”

How can you partner successfully with a performance marketing agency?

The keys to partnering with a performance marketing agency revolve around communication and measurement. Before hiring an agency, make sure you’re on the same page about both of these elements.

“During the discovery call, I ask how the agency intends to measure success,” explains Naydenov. “It’s crucial to find an agency that aligns with your definition of ‘success’ and can deliver on those terms.”

“Ensure you have a designated rep and a clear progress tracking system,” recommends Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches. Clearing this up right away can avoid miscommunication.

“Prioritize asking about lines of communication and where you can personally go to check in on campaign progress,” Webber advises.

“Agencies that provide clear processes with continual, transparent updates here from day one are a green flag.”

The takeaway

Performance marketing is a data-driven and results-driven approach to any online marketing strategy. But without enough time, expertise, and energy, you won’t reap its traffic-fueled, revenue-generating benefits.

Performance marketing will supercharge conversions, appeal to your audiences, and pump up rankings in no time. Ready to unleash your highest ROI yet? Let’s chat.