How are we all link building these days?

I run an agency, and before that worked in-house for a big UK brand. At the brand I was lucky to hire 2 full time link builders (email outreach to bloggers, industry sites) etc and they smashed it! 40+ links a month and the SEO for the site exploded.

My clients in my new agency are small startups and solopreneurs. On-site is looking great but link building is the thing that will really move the dial for them.

How do you go about link building for smaller clients with monthly budgets under $1000?

Are services like FatJoe / Click Intelligence part of the mix?