In an AdAge article this past week, titled “How AI is changing the way agencies work“, it talks about all the great efficiencies and productivity that platforms are delivering for marketing agencies.

It’s also changing the way marketers and agencies are setting up their relationships.

Marketers are walking away from the “pay by the hour” engagements in large part because they are seen as disincentives to exploring new technology advances like AI.

Marketers today are creating relationships that are more based on output (e.g., “this is what we need, what will it cost”).

AI is helping agencies work better, faster, and more cost efficiently, so it only makes sense to pay per project or define the scope of a larger engagement and its cost (paid monthly as an example) versus traditional hourly relationships.

Some of the more interesting things noted in the article included:

The technology has opened up better and faster access to audience research and analysis with tools that have altered the way marketers see to connect with their target audiences.

It has helped get better and faster results in audience understanding, competitor analysis, and predictive intelligence.

And while many marketers are using AI on their own for things like copy and content development, what many need is help with the use of data – and agencies can definitely be of great assist in this area.

The article also talked about the use of intelligent prompts.  Asking AI a question the right way and being patient in the process of getting what you want out of AI is hyper critical.

Is your agency thinking through all these things?  Are they using AI effectively?

Any agency can talk about AI and frankly anybody (agency or not) can use AI.  But the real value, just like with any service offering, is the value of the strategy, and planning, and thinking behind it.  Wrote a post recently about AI with a slant exactly on that point.

And Raashi Mehta from Critical Mass makes this same point in AdAge article.  She states: “We’re doing more with less across the board, which lets us devote more time to the most important layer in our service – the human one.”