THE SHORT ANSWER
Tenth is our pick for private equity firms that want one senior team running search, AI answers, the website and paid media for a portfolio company. It reports the work in a form sponsors can use. Agencies with a stated private equity practice come second. Large performance agencies, vertical specialists, fractional CMOs, SEO and AI search specialists, and freelance marketplaces each fit narrower jobs. (We're Tenth, so read how we ranked these before you trust the order.)
Still deciding between an agency and a hire? Compare agency, in-house and owned growth before you send a brief.
Key takeaways
- The best agency for a portfolio company runs the channels and reports in a form the sponsor can use. It covers search, AI answers, the website and paid media, and it ties the work to the value creation plan.
- Tenth ranks first because it covers the full deal cycle, from a pre-LOI screen to managed growth during the hold. It's also the newest and smallest firm here, with no public review profile yet.
- Agencies with a stated private equity practice are the closest alternative. Percepture, Mediagistic and MJ2 Marketing all publish PE-specific services, and Mediagistic says the assets it builds belong to the client.
- Large performance agencies bring scale and specialists for every channel. Minimum project sizes on Clutch range widely, so check them before you shortlist one.
- Fractional CMOs, SEO specialists and freelance marketplaces each solve a narrower problem. Use them when you know exactly which gap you're filling and who will manage the work.
What a private equity marketing agency actually is (and what it is not)
A private equity marketing agency runs marketing for a company a fund owns. The work looks like any agency's: paid media, SEO, the website, creative and reporting. The difference is the audience. The agency answers to the management team and to the sponsor, whose questions come from the value creation plan.
That changes 3 things. The reporting has to roll up cleanly for board meetings. The plan has to fit the hold period. And the work has to survive a sale, so the accounts, data and creative belong to the company from day 1.
It also has clear edges. Diligence before the deal is a separate job, although some firms do both. Fund marketing, the work that helps a sponsor raise capital, is a different service again. A fractional CMO sets strategy and leads a team, while an agency does the hands-on work.
Most of the work is ongoing. A good agency runs the channels week to week, fixes what it finds, and brings the sponsor a short, trusted set of numbers each month. In a roll-up, it also folds each new brand into the same playbook.
Good agencies for portfolio companies share a few habits. They start from a baseline everyone agrees on, they show their sources, and they hand over a working system when the engagement ends.
How we ranked these firms
We ranked agency types, since most operating partners pick a kind of partner before they pick a name. Each type gets named examples whose own pages describe the service. We checked every example page and Clutch profile on 14 and 15 October 2026.
We scored each type on the 5 criteria below, using what agencies publish about themselves. Where a page was blocked or vague, we left the claim out.
- Deal-stage coverage. How many of 4 stages the type serves: pre-LOI, pre-close, the first 100 days and the hold.
- Channel coverage. How many of 5 areas the type runs: SEO, AI answers, the website, ad platforms and creative.
- Sponsor reporting. Whether the type publishes reporting built for the sponsor and the board.
- Private equity focus. Whether the type's own pages describe work with PE-owned companies.
- Pricing clarity. Whether the type publishes fees, ranges or minimums, or quotes each client.
Disclosure: Tenth wrote this guide and ranks itself first. We've stated the criteria so you can check the order yourself, and each entry lists its sources. No firm paid to appear on this list.
The best marketing agencies for private equity portfolio companies in 2026
Seven agency types, ranked. Each entry names real examples, what they publish about their work, and the companies they fit best.
1. Tenth, best for one senior team from deal screen to the hold
Tenth is a growth and AI implementation firm built for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. It works across the deal cycle, so the team that reads a company before close can run its growth after.
After close, First 100 Days turns the assessment into action: search fixes, landing pages, tracking and a 90-day paid media plan, across 100 days of execution. Managed Growth follows during the hold. Senior operators run SEO, AEO, website conversion work, ad platforms and marketing reporting.
For a company the fund already owns, the Portco Growth Assessment scores the same 5 areas as Growth Diligence: SEO, AEO, the website, ad platforms and creative. It takes 2 weeks, and the fee counts toward Managed Growth. Across the portfolio, the Growth Intelligence Dash gives operating teams a weekly view of each company's digital health. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to stand up.
Co-founder and CEO West Barnwell spent 10 years at Google building growth frameworks for advertisers, then served as Director of AI Transformation and Go-To-Market Strategy at Snapchat.
The trade-offs: Tenth is newer and smaller than most agencies here, and it has no public review profile yet. PR and offline media sit with other partners.
- Stages
- 4 of 4, from pre-LOI to the hold
- Channels
- SEO, AEO, website, ad platforms, creative
- Sponsor reporting
- Weekly portfolio dashboard
- PE focus
- Built for PE firms and their companies
- First step
- Portco Growth Assessment in 2 weeks
- Pricing model
- Flat fee for the Initial Marketing Audit; other work quoted; open to tying payout to performance
Sponsors who want the diligence read and the post-close work done by one team. It fits companies whose growth runs through search, paid media and the website.
2. Agencies with a stated private equity practice, best for a partner that already speaks the sponsor's language
Examples: Percepture, Mediagistic, MJ2 Marketing
A small group of agencies builds its whole pitch around private equity. They frame the work in value creation terms and report to sponsors as well as managers.
Percepture, based in New York, calls itself a private equity marketing agency with more than 20 years of work with PE-backed companies. It ties its services to value creation levers such as pricing, retention, acquisition cost and exit support. It also publishes its campaign pricing tiers on its site.
Mediagistic serves home services companies and runs a dedicated private equity page. It standardizes local marketing and analytics across acquired brands, manages co-op funds, and says the marketing assets it builds belong to the client at exit.
MJ2 Marketing works at both the fund and the portfolio level. Its case study names Stadion Capital as a client and describes repositioning work for portfolio companies after acquisition.
Ask each one for sample sponsor reporting and a written list of what the company keeps when the engagement ends.
- Stages
- Mostly post-close and the hold
- Channels
- Paid, SEO, web and creative; Percepture adds AI search
- Sponsor reporting
- Framed around value creation
- PE focus
- Stated on their own pages
- Exit handover
- Mediagistic says assets stay with the client
- Pricing model
- Percepture publishes tiers; others quote
Sponsors who want an agency that already knows hold periods, add-ons and board reporting. Pick the one whose sector and company size match yours.
3. Large performance marketing agencies, best for big media budgets that need specialists in every channel
Examples: Tinuiti, Wpromote, Power Digital
Large independent performance agencies run big budgets across many channels. Tinuiti covers marketplaces like Amazon, TV and streaming, social, search, conversion work, email and affiliate. Wpromote organizes its work around media, creative, data and strategy, with a practice for AI search.
Power Digital runs a page aimed at private equity firms. It covers market intelligence, including due diligence insights for investment decisions, along with brand work and full-funnel execution across SEO, content and paid media. The page does not say at which deal stage the diligence work happens.
Review volume varies on Clutch. Power Digital holds a 4.8 rating from 66 reviews. Wpromote shows 4.7 from 3 reviews and Tinuiti 5.0 from 1, so treat those two as thin samples. Minimum project sizes range widely across the three, so check them before you shortlist.
Scale brings depth in every channel. Ask who will run the account week to week, how senior they are, and how the agency's own reporting rolls up for your sponsor.
- Stages
- Post-close and the hold; Power Digital also offers diligence insights
- Channels
- Most channels, including marketplaces and TV
- Sponsor reporting
- Own analytics tools; sponsor views vary
- PE focus
- Power Digital has a PE page
- Clutch
- Power Digital 4.8 from 66 reviews
- Pricing model
- Custom retainers; minimums vary
Platform companies with large media budgets across many channels. Confirm the minimum project size and the seniority of the day-to-day team before you sign.
4. Vertical specialist agencies, best for companies in a sector with its own rules
Examples: Healthcare Success, Directive
Some sectors have their own buying patterns and rules, such as healthcare, home services and business software. Vertical agencies build their practice around one sector or a small set of them, with a playbook for each.
Healthcare Success, based in Irvine, California, runs a private equity page for sponsors and their portfolio companies. It acts as an outsourced marketing team, builds a central marketing playbook across locations, and offers platform-level dashboards for sponsors. Some sponsors bring it in before close for a marketing audit that tests the growth story.
Directive is a business-to-business agency with practices for technology, industrial and services companies, and it says each sector gets its own growth playbook. Its performance, commerce and communications divisions cover paid media, SEO and content, creative, revenue operations, shopping and marketplace ads, PR and influencer work. Its Customer Generation method aims marketing at qualified pipeline rather than lead counts. It holds a 4.8 rating from 56 reviews on Clutch.
Specialists bring sector depth that a generalist takes months to build. Check that the agency can also report in the form your sponsor needs, since only some of them build for private equity ownership. Ask for examples from companies at a similar size and stage.
- Stages
- Post-close and the hold; Healthcare Success also audits before close
- Channels
- Full mix, tuned to each sector
- Sponsor reporting
- Healthcare Success offers sponsor dashboards
- PE focus
- Healthcare Success has a PE page
- Clutch
- Directive 4.8 from 56 reviews
- Pricing model
- Custom quotes
Portfolio companies in regulated or specialized sectors, such as multi-location healthcare. Pick one that has worked through a roll-up like yours.
5. Fractional CMO firms, best for senior marketing leadership without a full-time hire
Examples: Chief Outsiders
Fractional CMO firms place an experienced marketing leader in the company part time. Chief Outsiders runs a private equity practice that offers senior commercial expertise at specific points in the hold period. Its private equity articles describe work across the whole deal cycle, from pre-LOI assessments and growth audits before close through the first 100 days, the hold and exit. It uses a PE Growth System Diagnostic that scores 8 categories.
A fractional CMO sets the strategy, hires and manages the team, and reports to the board. The hands-on work, such as running ad accounts or fixing the website, usually goes to staff or agencies the CMO manages. Chief Outsiders says its operating model can also add execution capacity where the company lacks it, such as demand generation, CRM discipline and execution support.
That makes this mainly a leadership choice. It pairs well with an agency or an in-house team, and it suits a company that has budget to execute and needs a senior owner to steer it.
Ask which deal stages are in scope, how many days a month the CMO will spend with the company, who they'll bring in to do the work, and how their reporting will reach the sponsor.
- Stages
- Mostly post-close; Chief Outsiders covers pre-LOI to exit
- Channels
- Strategy and leadership; Chief Outsiders adds execution support
- Sponsor reporting
- Board-level reporting from the CMO
- PE focus
- Chief Outsiders has a PE practice
- Delivery
- Part-time senior leaders; execution help varies
- Pricing model
- Custom quote
Companies with a marketing team or agency in place and no senior leader to steer it. Ask whether the firm also supplies hands-on execution, or pair the CMO with a team that can do it.
6. SEO and AI search specialists, best for visibility in search results and AI answers
Examples: Omniscient Digital, Siege Media
Buyers now ask AI tools for recommendations, and a new group of agencies sells visibility in those answers alongside classic SEO. The work goes by answer engine optimization (AEO) or generative engine optimization (GEO).
Omniscient Digital offers SEO strategy, AEO, programmatic and technical SEO, link building, digital PR, content, conversion work and analytics. It publishes a starting price for full-service SEO engagements on its services pages.
Siege Media calls itself a GEO agency. It lists GEO, SEO consulting, content marketing, digital PR, affiliate partnerships and Reddit marketing. Its Reddit work includes running Reddit ads, and its content team makes design, animation, video and interactive tools. Its GEO page says every engagement tracks the brand's share of voice in AI answers each month, along with citations and AI referral traffic.
Search specialists go deep on organic search and AI answers. Neither example lists paid search, and the only paid social either one lists is Siege Media's Reddit ads. A portfolio company still needs someone running its main paid channels and one report across every channel. Plan how the pieces fit together before you hire one, and ask how the agency measures visibility in AI answers.
- Stages
- Post-close and the hold
- Channels
- SEO and AI answers; Omniscient adds conversion work, Siege Media adds creative and Reddit ads
- Sponsor reporting
- Search reporting; sponsor views vary
- PE focus
- Neither example states one
- Paid media
- No paid search; Siege Media runs Reddit ads
- Pricing model
- Omniscient publishes a starting price; Siege Media gives a range for Reddit work
Companies where organic search and AI answers drive most new demand. Pair the specialist with a partner who covers paid search and the main paid social channels.
7. Freelance and talent marketplaces, best for filling one skill gap fast
Marketplaces let a company hire individual marketers by the hour or by the project. Upwork's digital marketer category showed a 4.7 rating from 7,288 client reviews in October 2026, and each freelancer sets their own rate.
Toptal says it screens its marketers down to the top 3% and offers a no-risk trial. A client advisor helps match the company with hand-selected talent. Toptal can also put together a team with a mix of skills, and its Marketing Agency service can run SEO, search ads, content and social media projects end to end.
Freelancers are flexible and quick to start. A company that hires them directly has to manage them, though: someone inside sets priorities, reviews the work and holds the account access. A managed team or project hands some of that work to the marketplace.
Use them to fill a specific gap, such as a paid social specialist for a launch, while a lead partner or an internal owner runs the plan and the reporting.
Ratings help you filter, and a short paid task tells you more. Give each freelancer a defined brief, a deadline and the least account access the job needs.
- Stages
- Any, task by task
- Channels
- Varies by person; Toptal also offers managed teams
- Sponsor reporting
- Usually built by your own team
- PE focus
- General marketplaces
- Ratings
- Upwork marketers 4.7 from 7,288 reviews
- Pricing model
- Hourly or by project
Companies with a strong internal marketing owner who needs extra hands for a defined task. Keep account ownership and reporting inside the company.
Side-by-side comparison
How the 7 types compare on the criteria above. Each cell reflects what that type publishes, and individual agencies vary.
| Agency type | Deal stages | Channels run | Sponsor reporting | PE focus stated | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenth | 4 of 4 | 5 of 5 | Weekly portfolio dashboard | Yes | Published audit fee; other work quoted |
| Agencies with a PE practice | Post-close and hold | At least 4 of 5 at Percepture and MJ2 | Yes | Yes | Published tiers or custom quote |
| Large performance agencies | Post-close and hold; Power Digital adds diligence insights | 5 of 5 at Tinuiti | Varies | Power Digital | Custom retainer; minimums on Clutch |
| Vertical specialists | Post-close and hold; Healthcare Success adds pre-close audits | 5 of 5 at Healthcare Success | Some | Some | Custom quote |
| Fractional CMO firms | Post-close and hold; 4 of 4 at Chief Outsiders | Leadership; Chief Outsiders adds execution support | Board-level | Chief Outsiders | Custom quote |
| SEO and AI search specialists | Post-close and hold | 3 of 5 at Omniscient, 4 at Siege Media | Mostly search; varies | Rarely | Some publish a starting price or range |
| Freelance marketplaces | Any | Varies by individual or team | Usually your team | General | Hourly or by project |
Which marketing agency fits your portfolio company
Match the partner to the gap in the company and the stage of the hold.
| Your situation | Best fit | Why | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just closed, and the growth plan needs to move | Tenth (First 100 Days) | Assessment, fixes, tracking and a 90-day paid plan | Agree who owns each account on day 1 |
| Mid-hold, and growth has stalled | Tenth (Portco Growth Assessment) | 5 areas scored in 2 weeks | Share access early so scoring starts on time |
| You want a PE-savvy agency in your sector | An agency with a PE practice | Speaks value creation and board reporting | What the company keeps at exit |
| A big media budget across many channels | A large performance agency | Specialists for every channel | Minimums and day-to-day seniority |
| A regulated or specialized sector | A vertical specialist | Sector rules and buying patterns | Sponsor-level reporting |
| No senior marketing leader | A fractional CMO firm | Strategy and team leadership | Check who does the hands-on work |
| Organic and AI search drive demand | An SEO and AI search specialist | Depth in search and AI answers | Paid search and most paid social need cover too |
| One skill gap to fill fast | A freelance marketplace | Fast, flexible hiring | Management time for direct hires |
What results look like
Here's what a Tenth deliverable looks like. Both samples below cover fictional companies with representative data, so you can judge the format before you hire anyone.
The audit reads 6 surfaces from the outside and rates each one. The Phase 0 screen shows the same habits before a deal: graded findings, stated sources and clear limits.
Initial Marketing Audit sample
A 5-page audit of a fictional home services portfolio company. It reads 6 surfaces from the outside, from search demand to AI answers, and rates each one sound, warning or weak.
See the audit samplePhase 0 Feasibility Screen sample
A 6-page pre-LOI memo on a fictional roofing company. It shows how Tenth reads search demand, channel concentration and data trust before a deal.
See the Phase 0 sampleIllustrative samples. The companies are fictional and the data is representative. No client names or results appear on this page.
Want to see how the work runs after close? Read our 100-day marketing plan for portfolio companies.
Frequently asked questions
What is a private equity marketing agency?
It's an agency that runs marketing for companies a fund owns and reports to both management and the sponsor. The work covers the usual channels, tied to the value creation plan and the hold period.
How do you choose a marketing agency for a portfolio company?
Start with the gap: a missing leader, a missing channel or a missing system. Then ask each agency for sample sponsor reporting, the names of the people who'll run the account, and what the company keeps when the contract ends.
What should a portfolio company own when an agency engagement ends?
The company should own its ad accounts, analytics, website, data and creative files from day 1. Put that in the contract, so a change of agency or a sale leaves the growth engine intact.
How long does it take a new agency to get started?
It depends on access and scope. Tenth's Portco Growth Assessment takes 2 weeks, and First 100 Days runs 100 days of execution with a 90-day paid media plan. Ask any agency for a dated plan for its first 30 days.
What do private equity firms look for in agency reporting?
Sponsors want a small set of trusted numbers that roll up across the portfolio, with sources stated. Tenth's Growth Intelligence Dash gives operating teams a weekly view of each company's digital health and recommended actions.
How is a fractional CMO different from an agency?
A fractional CMO is a part-time senior leader who sets strategy and manages the team. An agency does the hands-on work in the channels. The two often work together, and some fractional CMO firms, such as Chief Outsiders, also supply execution support.
What is AEO, and does a portfolio company need it?
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the work of getting a company named in AI answers from tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI results. A growing share of buyer research starts there, so Tenth scores and manages AEO alongside SEO.
Should a portfolio company hire in-house or use an agency?
Hire in-house when the company can recruit, manage and keep the roles it needs. Use an agency when it needs capacity now, and plan a handover if you want the skills inside later.
THE NEXT STEP
Get a free growth read from Tenth
Pick one portfolio company. We'll read its site, ads, search footprint and reviews from the outside. The company isn't contacted. You'll get a written read in a few business days. Every source and limit is stated. There's no fee and no call required.
Looking at a company before you buy it? See the best digital marketing due diligence firms for private equity.