Before marketing became the multi-faceted, competitive ploy that it is today, it was often used by people pandering to their local communities, attempting to sell commodities as opposed to brands. It wasn’t until the birth of radio, television and eventually the internet, that it began to take the shape of what we know as modern-day marketing. As consumers continually grow more sophisticated, marketing agencies feel a pressing need to reinvent themselves, which often entails acquiring a team of not only top-notch creatives, but talented analysts and engineers as well.
With countless trendy neighborhoods, the San Francisco Bay Area has its fair share of innovative, world-class marketing agencies adopting the latest technologies and cultural trends in an attempt to outscore the competition. Whether you’re looking to revamp your branding strategy or build an eye-catching website, these marketing agencies will take your business’ marketing game to the top of the San Francisco hills, where your brand will receive the hard-earned recognition it deserves.
Top Marketing Agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area
- BayCreative
- Demonstrate
- Extractable
- Metric Theory
- Firewood
- Honeycomb
- Ignite X
Location: Financial District
Focus: 2012
What they do: Metric Theory is a performance digital marketing firm with services in a variety of marketing disciplines. The agency has a deep expertise in marketing for B2B, retail, e-commerce and startups, and offers services that range from SEO and SEM to display advertising, digital video and even site conversion optimization.
Who they work with: Lyft, Optimizely, FatFitFun, Carvana, Tradesy, Getaround and LexisNexis
Location: SoMa
Focus: Software, Tech, Social Media, Telecommunications, Computer Security
What they do: BayCreative, Inc. is a full-service B2B marketing agency committed to offering in-depth, collaborative support to develop and execute effective digital marketing, inbound marketing, lead generation, brand awareness-building, new product launches and sales enablement strategies. Boasting a team of writers, designers, web and mobile developers, videographers and branding experts, the company offers a variety of services, including web and mobile development, presentations, video and animation, infographics and content.
Who they work with: McAfee, Western Digital, Twitter, Systema Software, Fluxx, Sunrise Telecom and Oracle.
Location: Cow Hollow
Focus: Tech, Personal Care Products, Museums, Retail, Food + Beverage
What they do: Demonstrate is a marketing agency that focuses on brand, culture and audience when working with clients. The company takes an editorial approach, deepening audience engagement to drive conversation and shape brand reputation. Their services include brand communications strategy, public relations, creative strategy, content production, influencer programs and events and experiences.
Who they work with: Google, Swisse, Logitech, The Walt Disney Family Museum, Walmart, Microsoft and Kipling.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Banking + Finances
What they do: Extractable is a marketing agency that specializes in user experience, design and digital strategy specifically for financial services, focusing on digital strategy, data analysis and experience design. When working with clients that require dramatic shifts, the company offers top to bottom recalibration, providing digital experience vision and go-to-market strategy, digital experience architecture, customer research and competitive benchmarking. For companies seeking to improve their digital experience, they offer digital strategy assessment and optimization, team training and realignment programs.
Who they work with: Charles Schwab, Heartland Bank, South Shore Bank and Bank of Oklahoma.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Search Engines, Hospitality Tech, Corporations, E-commerce, Cloud-based Software, Global Freelancing Platforms, GPS Navigation Software, Social Media, Social Networking
What they do: Firewood is a marketing agency committed to combining thought and technology, generating efficiency and enabling scale without compromising quality. With a focus on creative, strategy, planning, performance media, technology and events, the company offers a variety of services, including B2B and B2C multichannel campaigns, customer journey visualizations, go-to-market execution, predictive modeling, web analytics and business insights, app development and event planning and production.
Who they work with: Google, Airbnb, Cummins, Mercari, Salesforce, Upwork, Waze, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Aviation, Travel, Fashion + Retail, Hospitality, Money Transfers, Healthcare, Nonprofits, Stock Market Indexes
What they do: ForwardPMX is a marketing agency that works with brands to create a unified global vision, providing local depth and expertise to engage today’s fast-paced society. With an emphasis on strategy and consulting, paid media, earned and owned media, CRM, creative and technology, the company offers a broad range of services, including customer experience, paid search, SEO, print production, creative optimization and project management. ForwardPMX also provides data science and advanced analytics services, such as onsite analytics, tagging and data collection and multi-channel attribution.
Who they work with: Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Holidays, ASOS, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, MoneyGram, AARP, Ace Hardware and Dow Jones.
Location: SoMa
Focus: Global Freelancing Platforms, Religious Organizations, Corporate Signage Companies, Personal Care Products
What they do: Honeycomb is an inbound marketing agency that helps clients launch, run and manage their marketing funnel. With the goal of generating traffic, leads and customers for clients, the company focuses on buyer persona documentation, content mapping, SMART goals and lead generation. In addition, Honeycomb offers services relating to social media marketing and SEO, such as social lead generation campaigns and link building.
Who they work with: Upwork, Southern Baptist Convention, North American Mission Board, GNU Group and Bebitza.
Location: Daly City, Greater San Francisco Area
Focus: Tech, Cloud Services, Finances, Software, Social Networking
What they do: Ignite X is an integrated marketing agency that works with B2B and consumer-facing startups in a wide range of industries, including security, fintech, travel, enterprise cloud services and e-commerce. Committed to helping clients drive sales, build brand awareness and establish a market leadership position, the company offers a variety of services, such as brand review and refinement, content marketing strategy, development and implementation, executive presentation coaching, collaborative event concept and execution, storyboarding and local business sales campaigns.
Who they work with: Cloudyn, Ethereum Classic Labs, Telerik, Jackson Square Ventures, HealthCrowd and TagWorld.
Location: North Beach
Focus: Outdoors + Recreation, Athletics, Construction, Food + Beverage, Retail
What they do: Jumpyr is a digital marketing agency that specializes in web design, SEO, content marketing, SEM, video production, photography, digital consulting and social media marketing. With a full-service creative branding division, the company works with its clients to give them exposure in the digital world. Some of Jumpyr’s services include WordPress, e-commerce, UX design, customer journeys and roadmaps, user experience design, aesthetical positioning, wireframing, product photography and design prototyping.
Who they work with: Do All Outdoors, California Unified Taekwondo Association, Sky Martial Arts, Tumbleweed Tiny Houses and Nora Spanish Catering.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Finances, Healthcare, Real Estate, Law, Cannabis, Education, Hospitality, Construction, Life Sciences
What they do: With numerous offices around the country, Lorenzo Gutierrez provides digital marketing services to clients from a variety of industries, including healthcare, law and hospitality. Dedicated to helping clients grow their online revenue, the company offers a wide range of results-oriented services, including content writing and marketing, web design and development, digital strategy, SEO, Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Management.
Who they work with: BioChain, NovaBay Pharma, Families First Mediation, 2nd Chance Youth Services and Facebook.
Location: SoMa
Focus: Nonprofits, Foundations, International NGOs, Social Enterprises
What they do: Media Cause is a full-service digital agency that specializes in community-centric marketing. With a commitment to community empowerment, the company provides a wide range of services, which encompass digital strategy, websites and content, advertising, community growth, creative campaigns, fundraising, advocacy and technology. Some of their specific services include impact planning, content strategy, persona development and audience research, paid media plans, donor acquisition and fundraising audits, conversion funnel analysis and campaign evaluation.
Who they work with: Shifamed, Futures Without Violence, Trickle Up, Oceanic Preservation Society, American Kennel Club and Uncommon Schools.
Location: Embarcadero
Focus: Education, Food + Beverage, Professional Communities
What they do: Scalero is a boutique marketing consultancy that acts alongside companies as a valuable partner in designing strategies that help their businesses succeed. The company specializes in email marketing, marketing automation, and marketing and merchandising strategies. Scalero’s services include designing, coding and testing emails, assisting clients with marketing softwares, data analysis, e-commerce merchandising, and content.
Who they work with: Teachers Pay Teachers, Vivino and The Org.
Location: SoMa
Focus: News Outlets, Legal Tech, Food + Beverage, Nonprofits, Multinational Media Conglomerates, Healthcare
What they do: SevenAtoms Digital Marketing provides inbound marketing and PPC management services. Specializing in PPC campaign management, inbound marketing, SEO, social media and content marketing, the company offers a wide range of services, including paid social advertising, HubSpot campaign execution, e-commerce Facebook ads, retargeting and LinkedIn marketing.
Who they work with: USA Today, Rocket Lawyer, McEvoy Ranch, Habitat for Humanity, Thomson Reuters and Mason District Hospital.
Location: Financial District
Focus: B2B Tech, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumer Tech, Automotive, Healthcare, Food + Beverage, Telecommunications
What they do: SHIFT Communications is an agency dedicated to data-driven PR, combining the best tactics from paid, earned and owned media to drive results for traditional PR strategies. The company covers a wide range of marketing sectors, including retargeting and remarketing, competitive analysis, analytics infrastructure, CRM strategy and deployment, website optimization and social media audience building. Spanning social and creative, SHIFT’s other services include data-driven influencer programs, content marketing, paid promotions, social picto-puzzles, giveaway sticker sheets and overview documents.
Who they work with: Ad Tech, Credit Karma, McDonald’s, Toyota, Wayfair, Honeywell, Whole Foods and AOL.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Real Estate Tech, Transportation, Entertainment, Aviation, Tourism, Hospitality, Healthcare
What they do: Spritz is an integrated marketing agency that identifies and implements current trends with personalized marketing strategies. Backed by in-house design, development and search teams, the company specializes in developing websites and mobile apps. Their services include branding and creative design, event marketing and brand activation, public relations, strategic partnerships, website design and development, content strategy, advertising, media buying, SEO and analytics.
Who they work with: TrueRent, Salesforce Transit Center, Scoma’s and Taiwan Tourism Bureau.
Location: The East Cut
Focus: Search Engines, Social Media, Social Networking, Social News Aggregation, Web Advertising Platforms, Question-and-Answer Websites, Data Management Tech
What they do: With 12 offices worldwide, 3Q Digital is a digital growth marketing agency that works with brands to build growth and performance. Their services encompass paid media, strategy, creative and SEO and content. 3Q Digital has a small business marketing (SMB) team called 3Q Accelerate, which drives enterprise-level growth for mid-sized budgets. The company also has a Decision Sciences team that helps clients understand their audiences, using multi-touch attribution, a DMP leveraging advanced first, second and third party data collection and integration, audience targeting and media-mix insight.
Who they work with: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Bing, Outbrain, Quora and Lotame.
Location: Financial District
Focus: Tech, Philanthropy, Social Media, Software, Health Tech, Video Streaming Services, Transport Tech, Toy Manufacturing, Online Finance
What they do: The OutCast Agency is a communications and marketing firm backed by a team of strategists and creatives who seek to drive change and create value for companies at all stages. The company is guided by the desire to put emerging companies on the map and help market leaders chart new growth. Their services include brand architecture, messaging and positioning, media and social audits, campaign measurement and analysis, crisis communications, native advertising, blog management, social brand voice, UI / UX design and web and mobile app development.
Who they work with: Amazon, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Facebook, GitHub, GoodRx, HBO, Lyft, Mattel and SoFi.
