It’s official—the world’s gone digital. One McKinsey study reported that digital adoption has taken a quantum leap due to the COVID-19 crisis, with the average share of digital customer interactions advancing by three to four years while the rate of companies developing digital/digitally enhanced products and services leapt forward by seven.
It follows that companies who embrace the shift to digital as a critical business priority are poised to rocket ahead in terms of growth. Forrester, for example, found that businesses with advanced level of digital maturity saw an estimated 53 percent increase in year-over-year revenue growth, while those at the beginner level saw only 20.
With leaps and bounds in digital adoption, digital fatigue has emerged as a core challenge for B2B brands looking to stand out in a digital sea of choice. On top of that, the number of touches it takes to close a deal in a B2B buyer’s journey has grown from 17 to 27 in the last year.
That’s why, no matter where you are in your digitization journey, now is absolutely the time to seek out the services of an innovative, savvy digital marketing agency to help keep discerning audiences engaged through purpose-packed branding and bold content strategy and execution based on up-to-date market research and artful strategy.
Below, find our list of the top 5 B2B digital marketing firms in The Big Apple, a crowded creative market with definite gems in the rough. Like all of our lists, these agencies have been recommended firsthand by world-class B2B CMOs. And yes, we’re putting ourselves on this one—and we’ve got a solid list of B2B CMOs who can vouch for that!
#1 Renegade LLC
How to stand out in a sea of sameness? Adopt the Renegade mantra “Cut Through” and get our boutique team into your corner today. Renegade is dedicated to servicing the needs of clients via unbeatable brand strategy, PR-generating market research, holistic content development, and exceptional social media management. For all the stuff Renegade doesn’t do, we have a wide network of fully vetted B2B agency partners to round out your holistic marketing needs.
Our secret sauce is informed by the wisdom of countless B2B CMOs that Renegade founder, Drew Neisser, has interviewed over the years, and our exclusive CMO Huddles community. Founded in 2020, CMO Huddles consists of over 80 B2B CMOs (affectionately known as “huddlers”) who meet monthly to take on the most pressing challenges facing marketers today—giving Renegade a unique perspective on what works and what doesn’t in a rapidly changing world.
#2 Moving Brands
With offices spread across NYC, London, San Fran, and Zürich, Moving Brands is an expert in digital-first branding and experience design. Remarking on the work the digital marketing agency did for Software AG in her episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, CMO Paz Macdonald spoke to the great benefit of hiring a B2B firm to strip the emotion away and provide an outside view, and spoke highly of how Moving Brands pushed them to think outside of the box.
While there isn’t a specific case history for Software AG available online, we recommend taking a peek at their case history for Optimizely. Through a close partnership with the client, Moving Brands helped develop a new brand identity and website to match Optimizely’s growth from startup to enterprise level. Check their video for a shot of Optimizely’s CMO at the time, Carl Tsukahara, who shared his knowledge on A/B testing in Episode 169 of Renegade Thinkers Unite.
#3 Agent3
Recommended by one of our huddlers, Agent3 are ABM specialists focused on aligning sales and marketing and delivering business outcomes for B2B clients. They’re steadfastly dedicated to using data and insights to inform creative, artful strategy and have an impressively diverse set of case studies showcased on their site.
Agent3 has been focused on ABM since 2013, making them experts in solving emerging ABM challenges as strategies and technologies continue to evolve. One such offering is Agent3’s SoSell, their AI-powered platform dedicated to social selling, a must in this digital age. The firm trained BMC’s sales team on the art of social selling using SoSell, and since implementation have noted a significant increase in LinkedIn activity, a big win in a world where face-to-face interactions aren’t as possible.
#4 Hawke Media
Fast-growing Hawke Media prides itself on being a brand’s “Outsourced CMO.” And no, they don’t plan on replacing CMOs, they just want to emphasize the power of working with an agency that isn’t just a middleman, but one that enables high-level marketing consultation.
As CEO Erik Huberman explained in his interview on Renegade Thinkers Unite, “We created this à la carte month-to-month approach where you’re literally getting exactly what you need in that moment, and so it can change as fast as you need it to.” This narrowed focus has brought great success for Hawke clients—their SEM/SEO and content execution for Openpath led to a 20% increase in quality leads, 61% increase in cost per lead, and a whopping 2894% increase in first page rankings.
#5 Walker Sands
Known in the industry as a capable PR agency for B2B brands, Walker Sands is actually an integrated marketing agency, offering a wide range of B2B marketing services, including branding, creative services, and demand gen. With “digital as their DNA,” Walker Sands’ notable case histories include their work for G2 Crowd, Cloudcraze, and SiteLock.
The agency believes that “B2B brands power the world, but their story isn’t always heard. Too often, companies play it safe with corporate-speak and uninspiring campaigns that don’t reflect their true innovation or help them reach their full potential.”
Amen to that, and kudos to Walker Sands for their industry thought leadership. A number of Walker Sands clients have appeared on the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast including Randy Frisch (CMO of Uberflip) and Dux Raymond-Sy (CMO of AvePoint).
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