Why European B2B companies hire a North American marketing agency, and what to look for

European B2B companies rarely lack marketing skill at headquarters. What they lack in North America is presence in local hours, familiarity with which customers, analysts and events matter to local buyers, and someone accountable for North American pipeline. That is the gap an agency should fill. Our article on why a North American team matters covers the operating model; this one covers how to choose the partner.

Buyer behaviour makes the gap expensive. Gartner reported in March 2026 that 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience, and Forrester’s 2026 research found buying decisions are influenced by 13 internal stakeholders and nine external participants on average. When buyers research alone and in groups, the team that runs North American programs every day sees the deal first.

We work with European B2B companies from Montreal. Four things make a Canadian agency a practical fit for a European company entering or scaling in North America.

Clear ownership prevents most transatlantic friction. This is the split we propose.

• Headquarters: brand, positioning, product marketing, global messaging, the pipeline target and final budget decisions.
• Agency: the North American account list with sales, ABM plays, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Microsoft Advertising, landing pages and conversion tests, event programs, CRM reporting for North America.
• Shared: localized messaging, proof, the weekly pipeline review and the quarterly plan.
• North American sales: follow-up, meetings and opportunities, against an SLA with the agency and headquarters.

Our specialists work inside your Slack or Teams and your CRM, so headquarters sees the same data the North American team sees.

Agency pricing is often opaque, which makes cross-border comparison hard. We publish ours on our pricing page: paid media management is 15% of monthly ad spend up to $50K, 12% from $50K to $200K and 10% above, in USD, with no markup on media, and the monthly minimum and setup confirmed in your proposal. ABM, Demandbase, advisory and integrated programs are scoped after a free 30-minute pipeline plan, because they depend on accounts, regions and the state of your data. Media and platform licenses are paid by you directly, so you keep ownership of accounts and data.

Use these whether you talk to us or to anyone else.

1. Who will do the work after the pitch, at what seniority, and in which time zone?
2. Which North American programs like ours have you run, and how were they reported?
3. How will you report pipeline from our CRM, and how will that reconcile with headquarters reporting?
4. How do you handle CASL, CAN-SPAM, Quebec French and US state privacy rules?
5. Which platforms have you implemented at enterprise scale (for example Demandbase or 6sense)?
6. What are the fees, terms and exit rights, and is there any markup on media?

We keep the start simple and visible to headquarters, so nobody waits months to see whether the partnership works.

1. A free 30-minute pipeline plan with your North American and headquarters leads: goals, accounts, current programs and data.
2. An optional three-week pipeline diagnostic when leadership wants a full review of funnel, attribution, target accounts, paid media, website and AI search first.
3. A 90-day plan: audit, roadmap, launch and scale, with the North American account list agreed with sales.
4. Weekly reviews in the European afternoon and monthly pipeline reporting from your CRM, in the currency your headquarters uses.
5. A review after 90 days on accounts engaged, meetings and opportunities, with the next quarter’s scope agreed from there.

Retainers start with a 6-month initial term and then run monthly; integrated multi-region programs run on a 12-month statement of work with a 90-day exit right after month 6, as set out on our pricing page.

Across engagements our programs have influenced $120M+ in pipeline and delivered 18,000+ qualified leads to sales teams, and 92% of clients expand scope after their first 90 days. Clients include ABB, KNIME and Nakisa. We are an official Demandbase partner and have implemented 6sense for more than five large enterprises.

In our KNIME case study, we rebuilt paid media measurement, targeting and landing pages for the data analytics software company: cost per lead fell 51%, nine in ten leads were verified in the CRM and 100% of paid leads were traceable to closed deals.

We are not the right partner if you need native German, Dutch or Nordic copywriting as the main deliverable, a weekly in-person presence in Europe, or a broad brand campaign with no pipeline goal. We are a good fit when North American pipeline is the goal and you want a senior team that is native to North American buyers. We work with European B2B companies across sectors such as software, industrial technology and data. If that matches your situation, talk to our team.