Artificial intelligence can bring an efficiency boost to many industries through automated data analysis, fast and efficient processing, and predictive learning systems. There are already several instances of AI systems being implemented in agency spaces, from performance prediction to targeted marketing efforts to better personalization and more.
To help you gain a better understanding of AI’s present and future potential within agency work, we asked 13 experts from Forbes Agency Council to share the ways they are using or planning to use AI to improve workflow.
Members of Forbes Agency Council share the ways they use, or soon will be using, AI to improve their agency’s workflow.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Lead-Gen Force Multiplier
One area where we are seeing outstanding results with AI—both for our agency and for our clients—is the use of AI-driven automated attendants to improve digital lead quality. When combined with high-quality business contact data, AI can accelerate workflows surrounding complex sales and marketing processes, especially in business-to-business markets. – Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.
2. Amplifying Creativity
We’re using AI to improve our creative outputs. By taking in mass amounts of campaign performance data, we’re able to predict what layouts, image-text ratios and keywords drive optimal user engagement by audience. AI isn’t replacing our creativity—it’s augmenting it through neutral, unbiased data. – Andrew Au, Intercept Group
3. Chatbots
When you look at a hot space like RPA (Robotic Process Automation), the opportunities to improve workflows in scaling businesses are growing quickly. The most basic example is using a chatbot to handle inbound sales and service inquiries. Chatbots are getting better and less expensive every day and are the kind of solution we recommend to clients as well. – Scott Baradell, Idea Grove
4. Learning Optimization
AI is capable of delivering relevant information as it is needed. Currently, staff members are sifting through numerous articles and journals for inspiration. To save valuable time, AI can personalize content. This can be done by collecting data (concerning tasks and search queries, for example) and then analyzing that information to determine patterns and deliver relevant content. – Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
5. Process Automation And Optimization
At our agency, we are always looking for ways to automate and streamline the process for us and our clients. Well-documented workflows allow for such implementations—creating rules of engagement if you will. I see many applications for it, from content creation to distribution to data mining and analysis, allowing agencies to be able to cost-effectively scale their teams as well as campaigns. – Yana Nirshberg, BizCastHQ Media Group and Paradigmnext Agency
6. Data Organization
One of the main benefits of machine learning is the ability to organize and interpret large data sets. Agencies can leverage this for large-scale competitor research, interpreting search engine results pages for user intent and even finding websites for manual outreach. On top of this, my team already uses AI and machine learning applications to organize internal data and cut down on manual tasks. – Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
7. Paid Advertising Optimization
AI can optimize paid media campaigns faster. Since AI and machine learning can calculate far more data points at any given time than a human can, this technology will be able to improve ad strategies automatically as data is gathered. Some marketers fear that AI is going to make our jobs obsolete when in reality it will allow us to focus on the bigger picture and creative strategies. – Bernard May, National Positions
8. Automating Website Optimization
We use AI to automate site optimization and to create better customer outcomes. Our tech automatically aggregates data from customer landing pages across our portfolio, analyzes usage trends based on user behavior and sends us actionable insights that we can use to generate better outcomes for our customers. – Adam Guild, Placepull
9. Sales Optimization
We use AI to determine the best days and times to connect with an individual by analyzing their data in our automation platform. This enables us to see when they have previously engaged with us by email and helps us determine the best days and times to connect with them using these insights. This has helped reduce the time to get an initial connection while improving the prospect experience. – Elyse Flynn Meyer, Prism Global Marketing Solutions
10. Enhancing The Customer Journey
By incorporating AI into our customer journey automation and orchestration, we can not only anticipate needs, but also learn from past customer behaviors. AI helps us make the best decisions and build better models to personalize experiences that are beneficial to our clients’ customers and their bottom line. – Greg Kihlström, Yes& Agency
11. Tailoring Messages For An Audience Of One
Our company helps brands grow through superior customer experiences tailored to an audience of one. We are using the latest marketing technologies to create learning algorithms that can assemble content with millions of personalized permutations. This is a new workflow compared to older approaches, which might create just a dozen content categories and target them to a generic set of personas. – David Kilimnik, Hero Digital
12. Data Entry Automation
When it comes to new business prospecting and client management, we find ourselves repeatedly entering the same client and project information. There should be a way to integrate the various software platforms we use easily. This is where AI automation can be of service. – Kris Flint, Citizen Best
13. Enhancing Influencer Marketing Efforts
Finding the perfect “match potential” between influencers and the campaign at hand isn’t always easy. It takes data and a lot of hands-on work from our in-house team. We’re using AI to leverage meaningful data patterns—like audience demographics, brand affinity and eliminating those with fake followers—to optimize the way and speed at which we can work. – Maddie Raedts, IMA – Influencer Marketing Agency