Slate Marketing LLC compares the best digital marketing agencies in Lexington, Kentucky, on services, minimums and reviews.
Slate Marketing LLC works with Lexington businesses as a Lexington digital marketing agency, so read this list for what it is: a competitor's honest map of the market. Every fact below comes from the agency's own website or its public Clutch listing as of October 2026. We report what each agency says it does and the minimums and rates it lists. We do not grade anyone's work, because we have not been their client.
How we picked
- Headquartered in Lexington or the metro around it, by the agency's own site or listing. Nicholasville counts.
- A live website and a public listing we could check: Clutch, or Google reviews.
- National agencies with a Lexington landing page are left out. A city page is not a Lexington team.
The agencies
Cornett
The best-known independent ad agency in Lexington, female-owned and full-service, with work for A&W Restaurants, Busch Light and VisitLEX on its homepage. Its site calls it a five-time winner of Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year awards. Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum project, $100 to $149 an hour and a team of 50 to 249, founded in 1984.
Bluegrass Integrated Communications
The oldest shop on this list, founded in 1974 and based on Nandino Boulevard. It runs direct mail, print, data and fulfillment alongside web design and digital. Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum, $100 to $149 an hour and 10 to 49 people.
BRAINBOX Intelligent Marketing
Digital, sports and live-events marketing, with what its site describes as a 25-year history in youth sports marketing. Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum, $100 to $149 an hour, 10 to 49 people and a 1999 founding.
Mediocre
A small studio on North Limestone for brand identity, websites and messaging, often for nonprofits. Rated 5.0 from four reviews on Clutch, with a $10,000 minimum, $150 to $199 an hour and a team of two to nine.
Trifecta!
Branding, web design, SEO and paid search on West Main Street since 2010, with the University of Kentucky, Alltech and Berea College among the logos on its homepage. Rated 5.0 from five reviews on Clutch, with a $5,000 minimum and $100 to $149 an hour.
Ifland Visuals
SEO, Google Ads and web design for small businesses, half of it SEO by its own Clutch breakdown. Rated 4.8 from 11 Clutch reviews, the most of any Lexington-based agency we checked, at $150 to $199 an hour with a team of two to nine.
Creekmore Marketing
Local SEO, paid search, social, web design and reputation management for small businesses, from Nicholasville. Google showed it at 4.9 from 285 reviews when we checked in October 2026, by far the most on this list, and it appeared in the map results for this exact search.
Based Agency
Advertising, websites, SEO and social for service businesses, on West Vine Street. Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum, $150 to $199 an hour and a team of 10 to 49. Its site says it has been at it since 2016 and claims client turnover under 2%.
Bolt Marketing
Branding, copywriting, websites and digital ads for small businesses, with a team of 10 to 49 on Clutch.
Graystone Performance Marketing
Paid media plus GA4 and server-side tracking for a narrow client: its site says it works only with operators of 5 to 50 locations doing $5 million to $50 million, or B2B software companies. Clutch lists a $5,000 minimum and $200 to $300 an hour, the highest rate here.
Also on page one for this search: Clutch's and The Manifest's directories, a national agency's Lexington landing page, and Yelp. A directory is a fine place to start a shortlist. Then call the agency and ask who will run your account.
What Lexington agencies charge
Of the 50 digital marketing agencies on Clutch's Lexington page in October 2026, 17 list $100 to $149 an hour, 12 list under $100, six list $150 or more and 15 do not say. Where the agencies above publish a minimum project, it is $5,000 or $10,000. For what the same work costs by the month, see what local SEO costs in Kentucky and our pricing page.
Where Slate Marketing fits
We are not a Lexington agency down the street, and we will not pretend to be. Two founders, Jack Moutardier and Daxton Noe, run every account from New Albany, Indiana, about ninety minutes west on I-64. Every price is on the site: local SEO from $500 a month with reputation management included, websites from $147 a month, Google Ads management from $499 a month plus 12% of ad spend. No long-term contracts, 17 five-star Google reviews.
If you want a fifty-person agency with a creative department, Cornett is the call. If you want the people who built the plan to answer your phone, and the price in writing before the first meeting, that is what we sell. Start with the Lexington page or a free audit of your Google profile.
How to choose between them
- Ask who will work on your account, by name, and whether you can call that person directly.
- Get a starting price before the pitch. An agency that will not name one is pricing you, not the work.
- Search the service they are selling you, in Lexington, and see where they rank themselves.
- Read the contract term first. Month to month keeps everyone honest; a two-year lock does not.
- Keep your Google Business Profile, website and ad accounts in your own name.
For the full checklist, read how to choose an SEO company. For the same comparison in other markets, see the best digital marketing agencies in Louisville and in Cincinnati.
