The Leeds market, honestly
Leeds has genuine depth in digital: large independents, the media and retail groups that trained most of the talent, and a long tail of small studios and freelancers. Rates sit below London and broadly in line with Manchester.
The size of the market means you can find someone excellent for almost any brief. It also means a lot of very similar-looking propositions, which is why the shortlist matters more than the search.
Ask who is actually doing the work
The single most useful question, and the one that separates agencies fastest. In a lot of shops the people in the pitch are not the people on the account, and the work is done by whoever is most junior and available.
Ask for names, ask how many other accounts those people carry, and ask what happens when someone leaves. There is no correct answer, only an honest one and an evasive one, and you will know which you have received.
Ask what happens if it isn't working
Every agency has a plan for the good scenario. Fewer have a straight answer for month four, when the numbers are flat. Ask what they would change, when they would tell you, and what the exit looks like.
Watch for anyone who cannot imagine underperforming. Campaigns underperform. What matters is whether you hear about it from them or find out yourself.
What it should cost
In Leeds, expect roughly £750 to £2,500 a month for focused work on a single channel, and £2,500 to £6,000 for a multi-channel retainer with strategy and creative attached. Project work — a website, a migration, an audit — is priced separately and should be.
Be careful with anything priced as a percentage of ad spend alone. It rewards spending more, which is not always the same as performing better.
When a studio beats an agency
If you need broad coverage across many channels, a lot of creative volume, and layers of account management, a full agency is the right shape. If you need senior people doing focused work on a small number of things, a studio usually gets you more of the work you are paying for and less of the overhead.
We are the second kind, so treat that as declared bias. The general point stands regardless of who you hire: buy the working hours of people who are good, not the org chart around them.