What Can Agencies Reasonably Do To Benefit From AI? Posted on : Mar 31 - 2020

Every time you use a digital assistant, receive a recommendation from Amazon or use an app to find the fastest route, you’re using artificial intelligence. AI has changed our lives in countless ways, but I’ve noticed most agencies still struggle to harness its power to improve their business.

In truth, AI is already a part of agency life — and its influence will only become more profound. According to a recent report, AI in marketing is predicted to be a $21 billion market by 2023.

Clearly, this growth means agencies may want to get on board. They also may need to grapple with determining what data to collect, how to analyze it, which tasks to automate and how AI can help clients.

In my agency, we typically use AI to analyze the content, context and outcomes of client calls. Our findings, ideally, lead to higher profitability and retention rates.

Sizing Up Big Data

I’ve noticed that agencies are often scared to dip their toes into AI’s waters because it feels complicated; after all, it’s rife with terms like “big data” that can seem irrelevant to small businesses. One report on AI in B2B marketing found that only 12% of marketers surveyed feel “very confident” about their knowledge of AI. But really, at its core, data is just information; big data is anything that doesn’t fit on a spreadsheet.

If you’re just beginning to explore AI, apply it first to your internal operations. Where can you be more efficient in 2020? How can AI help improve life for your employees?

Identify repetitive tasks that take a lot of time. If you can use AI to offload some of those time sucks, you can free up time to produce higher-quality work.

Here are some ways to dive into AI today:

1. Record And Transcribe All Calls

An article published by The Atlantic predicted that as AI learns to transcribe human speech with all its nuances, a stenographer’s role may become a thing of the past. Agencies might not hire stenographers, but every employee — from intern to owner — likely spends hours each week taking notes. This is a task no one should have to do in 2020. Imagine that instead of writing notes, your employees could spend more time listening deeply and processing information during calls. What ideas would surface? This is also low-hanging fruit, mind you — your conference line software likely offers this service already. View More