Marketing agency leads: companies researching an agency to hire
Companies don't post that they're unhappy with their agency. Their marketing lead starts reading about choosing an agency, outsourcing marketing and fractional CMOs. These are the companies doing that right now.
What are marketing agency leads?
Marketing agency leads are companies that may hire an agency, bought by marketing and advertising agencies, consultants and fractional CMOs to win retainers; they're leads for an agency, not lists of agencies. Intent-based agency leads are people at US companies, often founders, CEOs and marketing leaders, whose recent reading is about choosing an agency, outsourced marketing, fractional CMOs or advertising services, delivered with their company's size, industry and contact details. Unlike a brief on a freelance marketplace, where agencies pitch against each other on price, nobody has sent a brief yet, and unlike a scraped list of companies in your niche, each one showed interest in outside marketing help within the last two weeks.
Companies researching marketing agencies
Agency new business runs on referrals and timing. The timing is a company that has just lost its marketing manager, missed its pipeline target or outgrown a freelancer, and someone there is reading about how to choose an agency, what a full-service retainer covers, or whether a fractional CMO would do.
We count those readers every day and attach their company, its size and its industry. An agency that only works with B2B software, dental groups or ecommerce brands can keep to its niche, and to companies big enough to pay a retainer.
| Topic | Category | People researching (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising Services | Advertising & Creative Agencies | 3,419 |
| Marketing Agency Work | Advertising & Creative Agencies | 1,853 |
| Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Services | Marketing Strategy & Planning | 1,255 |
| Digital Marketing Agency Selection | Marketing & Advertising Agencies | 127 |
| Marketing Consulting | Marketing & Advertising Agencies | 56 |
| Outsourced Marketing | Marketing & Advertising Agencies | 37 |
| Full-Service Marketing Agency Services | Marketing & Advertising Agencies | 19 |
As of November 14, 2026. People in the US researching each topic on that day, counted exactly; the page checks for a new day every hour. People often research several topics, so the rows overlap: the total above counts each person once. A lane keeps a rolling 14-day window, so it also holds people from earlier days.
Ways to buy marketing agency leads
The common ways to buy marketing agency leads, side by side. Third-party prices come from each seller's own pages or a named industry source, checked November 2026 and linked below; where nobody publishes a figure, the row says how the price is set.
| Way to buy | Price | Exclusivity | Contact data included | Timing | Contract or subscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intent leadsPeople researching your topics, which you export yourself | 10¢ falling to 5¢ per lead; counts and samples free | Not exclusive, but no form fill is split among buyers | Name, title, company, business and personal email, mobiles with do-not-call flags, LinkedIn | Researched in the last 14 days; new people every data day | None: prepaid balance, top-ups from $250 |
| Freelance and agency marketplacesProject boards and agency directories where a company posts a brief | Connects, credits, a listing fee or a cut of the project, set by each platform | Shared: several agencies pitch on the same brief | The brief and a message thread inside the platform | When the brief is posted, often with a short deadline | Platform fees per project or a paid membership |
| Outsourced SDRs and appointment settingA team cold-calls and emails for you and books discovery calls | Monthly retainers or a fee per meeting held, quoted per campaign | Meetings are booked for your agency alone | Discovery calls on your calendar | Weeks of ramp-up before meetings arrive | Monthly retainers; terms vary by firm |
| Bought company listsLists of companies by industry, size and location | Per record, or bundled in a data subscription | No: other agencies buy the same lists | Company and contact details, with no sign of need | No timing signal | Per order or an annual data plan |
Who uses marketing agency leads
Marketing and advertising agencies
Prospects already looking at agencies, inside the niche you specialize in.
Fractional CMOs and consultants
Companies weighing outside help against a full-time hire.
Studios and freelancers moving upmarket
Companies large enough for a retainer, by employee count and revenue.
Every field we have, at one price per person
Name, job title, company and website, business email with its validation status, personal email, every mobile we have with its own do-not-call flag, direct and company phones, LinkedIn, department, title and employer history, schools, home city, age, gender, household income, net worth, homeowner, married and children at home, the company's size, revenue, NAICS and SIC codes and address, and why they're here: the topics they researched or the pages they visited. The same fields in the dashboard, the CSV, the API and the webhook.
Every field, by group 70 in all
Who they are33
- First Name
- Last Name
- Job Title
- Seniority
- Standard Title
- Department
- Job Function
- Sub-departments
- Headline
- Title History
- Employer History
- Education
- LinkedIn Connections
- Company
- Website
- Industry
- NAICS
- SIC
- Employees
- Employee Range
- Revenue
- Revenue Range
- Company Address
- City
- State
- Company ZIP
- Company Country
- Company Description
- Photo
- LinkedIn Headline
- Current Title (LinkedIn)
- Current Company (LinkedIn)
- Location (LinkedIn)
Home and household11
- Home City
- Home State
- Home ZIP
- Home Country
- Age Range
- Gender
- Household Income
- Net Worth
- Homeowner
- Married
- Children at Home
How to reach them12
- Business Email
- Email Status
- Personal Email
- Mobile
- Mobile on DNC
- Direct Phone
- Company Phone
- Company LinkedIn
- X (Twitter)
- GitHub
- All Mobiles
Why they're here9
- Intent Topics
- Intent Score
- Last Active
- Visited Page
- Visited At
- Lane
- Keywords Matched
- Intent Strength
- First Seen
The ID that lasts5
- Exported
- Seen Before
- Suppressed
- Lead ID
- Person ID
Aim it at the people you can serve
Every lane takes the same filters as Search, so you only pay for people at companies you can sell to. For this market, these matter most:
- Industry, NAICS code or words in the company description, for your niche.
- Employee count and revenue band, so prospects can afford a retainer.
- Titles such as founder, CEO, CMO and head of marketing.
- Leave out customers, open deals and anyone already in your CRM with an exclusion list.
- Require a mobile, a mobile that isn't on do-not-call lists, or a business email.
- Set the minimum intent strength: low, medium or high.
Pay per lead, only when you export
100% usage-based: pay per lead, no subscription. From 10¢ a person, falling to 5¢ as your month grows, with no seats or contract: add funds to a prepaid balance and spend them on any lane.
Intent leads
Charged once a month per person, however many of your lanes find them.
| People this month | Each |
|---|---|
| First 2,500 | 10¢ |
| 2,501 – 7,500 | 8¢ |
| 7,501 – 20,000 | 6.7¢ |
| Above 20,000 | 5¢ |
10,000 in a month cost $817.50; 50,000 in a month cost $2,987.50. Only the people inside each band get its price. More than 100,000 a month? Talk to us.
Free before you buy
Size the market and check who's in it at no cost.
- Daily counts for every lane and every topic.
- Samples of the people in a lane, before you export.
- Quotes on every export, shown before you pay.
- Exclusion lists, so you never pay for people you already have.
- API, webhooks and CSV on every account.
Set it up in 3 steps
- 01
Add the topics
Create a free account and start a lane with topics such as “Marketing Agency Work”, “Digital Marketing Agency Selection” and “Full-Service Marketing Agency Services”. Or describe what you sell and pick from the topics we suggest.
- 02
Narrow it to your market
Pick your niche by industry or company description, set a minimum company size, and keep founders and marketing leaders.
- 03
Export, or have them sent
Check the count free every day. Export a CSV when it looks right, pull leads through the API, or have each new person sent to your CRM by webhook.
How to work marketing agency leads
- 01
Choose the niche before the list
Filter by industry, NAICS code or a word in the company description so every lead matches work you've already done. A dental marketing agency with dental case studies converts a dental group far better than a generalist does.
- 02
Read the topic as the trigger
Someone reading about fractional CMOs often just lost a marketing leader or can't afford one; someone reading about choosing an agency is usually unhappy with the current one. Open with the problem the topic points to.
- 03
Send a teardown, not a deck
Three specific fixes for their site, ads or emails, with screenshots, prove you looked. A capabilities deck proves nothing they can't get from every other agency.
- 04
Keep clients and open deals out
Upload your clients, past clients and current proposals as an exclusion list, by website or LinkedIn page, so nobody you already talk to gets a cold email from your team.
- 05
Pair email with LinkedIn
Each lead carries the person's LinkedIn profile. A connection request the day after your email, with a one-line note, doubles the places they see your name.
Cadence
Export weekly. Email the teardown on day 1, connect on LinkedIn on day 2, follow up with one relevant result on day 7 and close the loop on day 14. Quiet prospects get one more note at the start of the next quarter, when budgets are set.
Subject3 fixes for {company}'s {channel}
Hi {first name}, I spent 15 minutes on {company}'s {site / ads / emails} and found three things I'd change first: 1. {specific fix} 2. {specific fix} 3. {specific fix} We do this for {niche} companies like {client}. If it's useful, I'll walk you through the full list on a 20-minute call, whether or not you're looking for an agency. {name}, {agency}
Marketing agency leads questions
How counts, targeting and prices work for marketing agency leads. The lanes guide covers keywords, filters and strength in detail.
How much do marketing agency leads cost?
100% usage-based: pay per lead, no subscription. Intent Leads charges 10¢ per lead for the first 2,500 in a month, then 8¢ up to 7,500, 6.7¢ up to 20,000 and 5¢ after that, from a prepaid balance. Counts and samples are free, and each person is charged once a month however many of your lanes find them. Other ways to buy them, as of November 2026. Freelance and agency marketplaces: Connects, credits, a listing fee or a cut of the project, set by each platform. Outsourced SDRs and appointment setting: Monthly retainers or a fee per meeting held, quoted per campaign. Bought company lists: Per record, or bundled in a data subscription.
Are these people hiring an agency right now?
They're researching agency topics: choosing an agency, outsourcing marketing, fractional marketing leaders. Some are ready to hire and others are early. The strength score (low, medium or high) shows how much each one is reading.
Are marketing agency leads exclusive?
No. They're not a brief sent to a shortlist of agencies, and nobody else is told they're a prospect, but another agency doing its own outreach could reach the same company. Your edge is a specific first message, not exclusivity.
How fresh are the agency leads?
The counts on this page are for November 14, 2026, the latest data day. Each company researched agency or outsourced marketing topics within the last 14 days, and new ones come in with every data day. That's usually before a request for proposals goes out to the agencies they already know.
Can I target companies in my own city or state?
Yes. Local agencies can filter on the state or city of the company's headquarters, or a radius around their office, and see the count for that area free.
Do the leads include phone numbers?
On November 14, 2026, 5,029 of the 6,649 people researching hiring a marketing agency, outsourced marketing and fractional CMOs (76%) had at least one mobile number. Yes, when we have one: every mobile comes with its own do-not-call flag. Each lead also has a business email with its validation status, a personal email and the person's LinkedIn, which most agencies use first.
Can I target one industry?
Yes. Filter by industry, NAICS code or words in the company description, such as dental, SaaS or ecommerce.
Can I leave out my current clients?
Yes. Add your clients and open deals to an exclusion list, by company website or LinkedIn page, and they're never exported.
Keep exploring
Leads for nearby markets
Lead lists by ICP
Guides and comparisons
- What is intent data?Intent data shows which people and companies are researching a topic right now. How B2B buyer intent data is collected, scored and priced, and how to use it.
- Website visitor identification: how it worksHow website visitor identification turns anonymous B2B traffic into named leads with emails and mobiles, what match rates to expect, and how to set it up legally.
- Apollo pricing in 2026: plans, credits and what 1,000 phone numbers costApollo pricing in 2026: $0 to $119 a seat a month, 1 credit per email and 8 per phone number, and what 1,000 US contacts with a phone cost on each plan.
- ZoomInfo pricing in 2026: plans, credits and what a contact costsZoomInfo pricing in 2026: free Lite, quoted annual plans, $0.38 self-serve credits and a $33,500 median contract, with the cost per contact worked out.