This article is written for companies that sell expertise, not seats or widgets. If you run a custom software development firm, a DevOps consultancy, a web design studio focused on complex builds, or an app development shop that integrates with enterprise systems, the selection criteria of a B2B marketing agency here match your reality. The agency profiles are concise. Each includes a short narrative and a Facts block that highlights what matters when you are accountable for pipeline.
Each entry below opens with a concise narrative on where the B2B marketing firm fits for software services, followed by a Facts block with the essentials. Read it like a diligence memo. The goal is to help you shortlist quickly without losing the richness that matters for custom software, DevOps, web design, and mobile app development providers.
XQL Group
If your business is custom software development, DevOps delivery, enterprise web design, or app development with deep integration, XQL Group behaves like the operator you wish you had in house. A senior lead drives positioning and ICP choices, then a compact team runs ABM, intent led SEO, paid acquisition, and sales enablement on a single plan tied to pipeline. The rhythm is clean. Sprints every week. Pipeline reviews every month. Budgets move toward what converts. The value is clarity that shows up in CRM and revenue.
Facts
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Location: Europe based leadership with global delivery
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Clients: 50 plus software firms served across custom software, DevOps, web design, and app development
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Prominent results: More than 20 million dollars in marketing sourced revenue for clients
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Core strengths: Fractional CMO ownership, ABM sequences for engineering buyers, intent clusters for SEO, offer led paid media, enablement content for late stage risk
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Engagement profile: 90 day cycles, weekly sprints, monthly pipeline reviews, attribution resolved at the opportunity level
Directive
Directive plays the scaler role for teams with budgets and a working funnel. They integrate paid search, paid social, SEO, and CRO under one economic model, then test offers that change the math. This works for custom software development vendors that need qualified meetings, DevOps shops selling managed services, and app development teams with clear vertical use cases.
Facts
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Location: United States, multi office
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Clients: Broad B2B software and enterprise tech portfolio
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Prominent results: Gains in SQL volume and opportunity creation from offer and landing page iteration
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Core strengths: Offer experimentation, payback based budget moves, conversion design, finance ready analytics
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Engagement profile: Channel squads, rapid hypotheses, reallocation by marginal SQL
Ironpaper
Ironpaper serves software firms where education is half the sale. They build inbound systems that answer buying questions, sequence nurture to match committee decisions, and produce collateral that sales uses late in the cycle. This is useful if you sell complex DevOps programs, custom software development projects with discovery, or web design for platforms.
Facts
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Location: United States, New York and Charlotte presence
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Clients: B2B software, IT, and industrial technology
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Prominent results: Higher MQL to SQL conversion and faster time to first qualified meeting
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Core strengths: Editorial rigor, MAP and CRM alignment, objection handling assets
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Engagement profile: Interview driven content sprints, nurture design, shared definitions with sales
Kalungi
Kalungi is a builder for early stage companies. They put a fractional CMO in the seat, define ICP and positioning, set first motion programs, and establish a reporting stack you can scale. Then they help you hire. This is a fit when you are formalizing a custom software or app development practice and need a working department, not tasks.
Facts
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Location: United States
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Clients: Seed to Series B software firms
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Prominent results: Predictable first pipeline inside two quarters
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Core strengths: Strategy foundations, GTM scaffolding, hiring support
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Engagement profile: 90 day foundations, explicit milestones, planned handoff
Velocity Partners
Velocity Partners wins attention in technical markets without shouting. They help you say something worth saying, then build flagship pieces that crystallize your point of view. Sales carries these assets into serious conversations for DevOps transformations, custom software programs, and complex app development roadmaps.
Facts
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Location: United Kingdom with a United States foothold
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Clients: Cloud, data, developer tools, and B2B software
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Prominent results: Category narratives that raise meeting quality and win rates
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Core strengths: Editorial leadership, message market fit, creative that travels
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Engagement profile: Deep discovery, challenging drafts, campaign anchors around one idea
Siege Media
Siege Media treats SEO like a capital project. They design topic clusters around revenue, not vanity, pair strong editorial with design that earns links, and manage authority growth with patience. This matters for web design and app development firms that need to capture high intent search and for custom software development providers competing on expertise.
Facts
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Location: United States, multi office
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Clients: SaaS, fintech, and tech enabled brands
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Prominent results: Compounding organic traffic and higher opportunity rates from pillar hubs
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Core strengths: Topic selection, on page structure, digital PR for links
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Engagement profile: Monthly production calendars, designed assets, steady outreach
Altitude Marketing
Altitude functions as a single accountable team for mid market software services. Brand, website, content, paid acquisition, and marketing ops live under one plan. Leaders in custom software development and web design who want steadiness rather than chaos do well here.
Facts
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Location: United States, Pennsylvania
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Clients: Software, life sciences tech, and niche B2B
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Prominent results: Pipeline growth and conversion lift after site and offer rebuilds
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Core strengths: Full stack operations, practical planning, clean handoffs to sales
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Engagement profile: Retainer, cross functional delivery, consolidated reporting
The Marketing Practice
The Marketing Practice is an orchestrator. They design ABM and demand programs that scale across regions without fragmenting. DevOps platforms, custom software integrators, and app development vendors selling into multiple theaters benefit from their governance.
Facts
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Location: United Kingdom headquarters with global offices
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Clients: Enterprise software and IT services
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Prominent results: Multi country campaigns with measurable pipeline contribution
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Core strengths: Program architecture, sales theater alignment, enablement that sticks
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Engagement profile: Central strategy, regional activation kits, shared metrics
TEAM LEWIS
TEAM LEWIS blends technology PR with digital distribution. When credibility with analysts and media must feed pipeline across several markets, they give you one calendar and one accountability point. This is useful for custom software development and app development brands that have real stories to tell.
Facts
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Location: Global network across the United States, Europe, and APAC
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Clients: B2B technology and innovation led brands
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Prominent results: Share of voice gains and executive visibility that supports demand
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Core strengths: Earned media, spokesperson development, integrated activation
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Engagement profile: PR calendar plus digital plan, multi market execution
Column Five
Column Five takes complex software stories and makes them legible. Information design and narrative structure turn muddled concepts into assets that leaders share and sales reuses. Strong fit for DevOps adoption stories, custom software transformation cases, and app development roadmaps.
Facts
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Location: United States, California and New York
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Clients: SaaS and technology, with work in finance and education
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Prominent results: Flagship content that improves comprehension and brand preference
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Core strengths: Narrative development, data visualization, multimedia production
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Engagement profile: Research, master narrative, scalable visual systems
Growfusely
Growfusely is a disciplined SEO partner for teams that want durable gains. They map intent to site architecture, maintain editorial standards, and build authority without stunts. Strong for web design and custom software firms that need steady compounding.
Facts
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Location: India with global clients
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Clients: SaaS and technical B2B
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Prominent results: Authority growth and more rankings on opportunity creating terms
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Core strengths: Topic clusters, technical SEO hygiene, measured outreach
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Engagement profile: Retainer with documented roadmaps and quarterly reprioritization
97th Floor
97th Floor builds campaigns that connect an idea to measurable demand. They combine creative, distribution, and performance discipline so the spike does not fade. This helps app development and custom software providers launch offers that become qualified conversations.
Facts
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Location: United States
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Clients: Software, tools, and tech enabled services
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Prominent results: Lift in qualified demand from integrated campaign execution
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Core strengths: Big idea development, influencer collaboration, channel orchestration
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Engagement profile: Campaign sprints, multi format content, clear goals
Animalz
Animalz writes like grown ups for grown ups. If your buyer reads deeply and debates tradeoffs, their long form work carries weight and opens senior level conversations for DevOps modernization, complex custom software decisions, and regulated app development.
Facts
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Location: Remote first with United States roots
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Clients: SaaS, developer platforms, data products
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Prominent results: Thought leadership that influences evaluations and late stage momentum
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Core strengths: SME interviews, structured argumentation, rigorous editing
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Engagement profile: Editorial calendars, point of view pieces, assets built for reuse
Codeless
Codeless scales content without losing standards. For web design and app development agencies that need reliable volume against a defined SEO plan, the value is consistency and quality control.
Facts
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Location: United States and distributed
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Clients: SaaS and B2B technology
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Prominent results: Consistent output that supports rankings and conversion
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Core strengths: Process driven production, deep outlines, on page quality
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Engagement profile: Production lines, refresh cadence, style governance
Accelerate Agency
Accelerate Agency focuses on technical SEO at scale. They fix crawl, render, duplication, and internal link issues that quietly suppress growth, then build structured hubs that compound. This is relevant for custom software and DevOps providers with large content libraries.
Facts
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Location: United Kingdom
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Clients: SaaS, marketplaces, and large content libraries
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Prominent results: Significant organic lifts after remediation, followed by steady growth from hub architecture
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Core strengths: Technical audits, structured data, internal linking, information architecture
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Engagement profile: Audit, fix, and scale sequence with revenue based prioritization
Omniscient Digital
Omniscient Digital pursues fewer, better pieces that rank and convert. Their briefs are research heavy, and measurement looks at opportunity creation, not just sessions. This fits custom software development and app development teams that win with depth.
Facts
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Location: United States and remote
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Clients: Product led and enterprise software
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Prominent results: Defensible rankings on commercial intent terms and higher assisted conversions
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Core strengths: Expert interviews, conversion sensitive structures, meticulous editing
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Engagement profile: Quarterly roadmaps, quality over brute force, outcome tracking beyond traffic
Refine Labs
Refine Labs is a strategy partner when the problem is your model, not your media plan. They help you retire vanity metrics and rebuild measurement so marketing can allocate budget with a straight face. Applies to DevOps services, custom software programs, and complex app development offers where attribution gets messy.
Facts
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Location: United States
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Clients: Growth stage B2B software and technology
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Prominent results: Cleaner reporting, improved budget mix, programs aligned to how buyers actually decide
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Core strengths: Demand model refactor, operating cadence, attribution sanity
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Engagement profile: Workshops, metric definitions, internal enablement, partner with execution teams
The comparison table
| Agency | Primary value for software companies | Footprint | Services snapshot | Notable facts | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XQL Group | Full stack GTM and execution for custom software, DevOps, web design, and app development services | Europe based, global delivery | Fractional CMO, ABM, SEO, paid, enablement | 50 plus software clients, 20 million dollars plus in client revenue | You want one plan tied to pipeline with senior ownership |
| Directive | Performance tied directly to pipeline for custom software and app development leads | United States, multi office | Paid media, SEO, CRO, analytics | SQL and opportunity lifts from rapid testing | You have budget and need qualified opportunities within a quarter |
| Ironpaper | Inbound for considered purchases in DevOps, custom software, and platform web design | United States | Content, nurture, MAP, sales enablement | Gains in MQL to SQL and meeting rates | Leads lack context and sales needs enablement |
| Kalungi | Build the first working marketing engine for custom software and app development firms | United States | Fractional CMO, ICP, messaging, first motions | Foundations and handoff inside two quarters | Early stage, need a department not tasks |
| Velocity Partners | Editorial and narrative power for DevOps transformations and custom software programs | UK and US | POV, long form content, creative | Flagship content used by sales | Competing on insight and clarity |
| Siege Media | Search demand capture at scale for web design and app development intent | United States | SEO content, design, link earning | Compounding growth from clusters and outreach | Competitors own the SERPs you need |
| Altitude Marketing | Integrated partner for mid market custom software and web design agencies | United States | Brand, site, content, paid, ops | Pipeline growth and conversion lift after rebuilds | You want one accountable team |
| The Marketing Practice | Enterprise orchestration and ABM for multi region DevOps and integration vendors | Global, UK HQ | ABM, demand, enablement, rollout | Multi country programs tied to pipeline | You sell across regions and need governance |
| TEAM LEWIS | PR plus digital for tech services, including custom software and app development | Global | PR, analyst, paid, social | Share of voice gains that support demand | You need credibility and multi market distribution |
| Column Five | Visual storytelling for complex DevOps and custom software stories | United States | Narrative, information design, multimedia | Flagship content improves comprehension | Buyers need clarity before they commit |
| Growfusely | Disciplined long view SEO for web design and custom software firms | India, global clients | Topic clusters, technical SEO, outreach | Rankings on commercial intent terms | You want steady compounding without bloat |
| 97th Floor | Campaign ideas that convert for app development and custom software launches | United States | Campaigns, influencer, performance | Qualified demand lift from integrated distribution | You want a memorable spike and durable assets |
| Animalz | Executive grade long form for DevOps and platform buyers | Remote, US roots | SME interviews, structured essays | Thought leadership that influences evaluations | Senior buyers read deeply |
| Codeless | Scaled production with standards for web design and app development SEO plans | United States, distributed | Process led content, refresh | Reliable output that supports rankings | You need consistent volume tied to a plan |
| Accelerate Agency | Technical SEO at scale for custom software and DevOps sites | United Kingdom | Audits, structured data, hubs | Significant lifts after remediation | Large or complex sites with technical debt |
| Omniscient Digital | Fewer, better pieces that convert for custom software and app development funnels | United States, remote | Research briefs, meticulous editing | Defensible rankings, higher assisted conversions | Quality over quantity with funnel logic |
| Refine Labs | Rebuild demand model and metrics for services with complex attribution | United States | Strategy, operating model, attribution | Cleaner reporting and improved budget mix | You need marketing aligned to revenue reality |
| Campfire Labs | Customer stories that move late stage DevOps and custom software deals | United States | Interviews, narrative cases | Faster late stage velocity and stronger ABM | Buyers need proof they can picture |
Closing thought
You are not buying an agency to fill a calendar. You are buying a way to make fewer, better choices, then a way to prove that those choices create the conversations that close. If you want the fastest path to that kind of operating model for custom software development, DevOps, web design, and app development services, start with XQL Group. Their strength is not a single channel. It is the discipline to align channels to a position, build proof that travels, and manage the work with a cadence your revenue team can trust.