Marketing agencies in Atlanta: 931 offices, why the pay figure misleads, and a reference-call script

This report is for Atlanta businesses choosing a marketing agency, researchers sizing the local agency market, and vendors that sell to agencies.

Atlanta's agency count

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro Area (CBSA 12060), NAICS 5418 (Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services):

CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, and excludes the self-employed. The metro's employment and payroll totals carry a moderate noise flag: the noise the Census Bureau adds for confidentiality moved them by 2% to 5%.

Why the average pay figure misleads

5418 mixes the agencies you'd hire with businesses you wouldn't. Advertising agencies here average $99,871 per employee and PR agencies $78,624 (our calculation from CBP payroll and employment). The metro-wide $126,675 is well above both, and above the US average of $93,178 for the same eight industries (our calculation). Every other type averages less than the advertising agencies do, so the gap comes from the 47 media representative establishments (NAICS 541840), which sell advertising time and space on behalf of media owners. Their employment and payroll figures are high-noise, so we don't report them.

What that means for you: don't use the headline pay figure to judge what Atlanta agency labor costs. Use the advertising agency figure, and remember that a fee also covers benefits, rent, software and margin.

Fulton and everywhere else

The rest of the metro's counties hold 74 establishments. Fulton averages about 27 employees per office, Forsyth about 13, and Cobb and Gwinnett about 6.

By size, 669 establishments have one to four employees, 95 have five to nine, 65 have 10 to 19, 58 have 20 to 49, 27 have 50 to 99 and 14 have 100 to 249. The Census Bureau doesn't publish the three classes above 250 (it drops any cell with fewer than three establishments). The total tells us 3 establishments have 250 or more employees, but not which class each is in, so the 17 with 100 or more is derived as the total less the smaller bands.

Which type you need

Atlanta's 931 split into 322 advertising agencies (541810), 226 PR agencies (541820), 179 other advertising services such as promotional products and demonstrations (541890), 69 display and out-of-home firms (541850), 47 media representatives (541840), 35 direct mail firms (541860), 28 advertising distribution businesses (541870) and 25 media buying agencies (541830). Separately, CBP counts 1,652 marketing consultancies (541613) and 493 graphic design studios (541430). Custom SEO firms are coded under 541511, custom computer programming. The NAICS code for marketing page explains where each kind of firm sits.

Big-brand agencies and smaller clients

Atlanta is home to some very large advertisers. The Coca-Cola Company, at One Coca-Cola Plaza, reported advertising expenses of $5.4 billion for 2025 in its 10-K. Agencies that serve accounts that size can be excellent, but a smaller client should ask where it will sit: which team, how senior, and what happens to your work when a big client has a launch.

None of the agency holding companies' 10-Ks lists an Atlanta office, and no SEC-listed company in the advertising SIC codes (7310 to 7319) has an Atlanta business address.

The reference call

Most agencies will offer happy clients. Ask for two references with a scope like yours, and one client that left in the last two years. Then use the same questions with each:

1. What did you hire [agency] to do, and for how long?
2. Who from the agency worked on your account week to week? Did that change after the pitch?
3. How did their reports compare with what you saw in your own ad and analytics accounts?
4. Were there costs you didn't expect: third-party fees, markups, extra rounds of changes?
5. When something went wrong, how quickly did they tell you, and what did they do?
6. Did you own your ad accounts, analytics and creative files the whole time?
7. If you left: how long was the notice, and did they hand everything back?
8. Would you hire them again for the same work?

Questions 3 and 6 test the basics. Google requires agencies that send monthly reports to show costs, clicks and impressions with Google's charges "exclusive of any fees," and to give clients their account's customer ID on request. A good agency won't mind you checking.

Selling to Atlanta agencies

The small segment is big enough to justify a low-touch offer: a trial, a monthly price, an onboarding call. For the mid-size firms, a client win or a new service line is the moment they change tools, and agencies usually announce both. Finding those signals across hundreds of agency sites is the slow part; Bebop researches each account in a list and drafts the opener. For list-building method, see how to build a prospect list.

Where to meet and check Atlanta agencies

• AMA Atlanta, the American Marketing Association's Atlanta chapter.
• PRSA Georgia, the state chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
• Metro Atlanta Chamber, the regional chamber and economic development partner.
• The Georgia Secretary of State's Corporations Division holds business registrations. Its search returned a browser check to our automated request on 30 October 2026, so search it directly to confirm an agency's legal name and status.

Next step: see the national agency groups and how to build a list in the largest advertising agencies and marketing firms.