Digital Isn’t About The Tech

I moderated a panel at the MAICON conference in 2019 where 300+ marketers and agency folks gathered to talk about artificial intelligence and how it is beginning to transform marketing. The conversations and examples were fascinating and one of my biggest takeaways was how often the words human and humanity came up. How do we leverage these tools to humanize marketing and form real connections? Can we eliminate some of the rote, repetitive tasks we’re doing manually now so that we can free up smart people to actually use those smarts on higher-level tasks?

The good news is — everyone is at the infancy stage so we all have plenty of time to learn. If your agency hasn’t even thought about dabbling in AI yet — you are not alone. It’s tempting to just grab onto the technology and take it for a spin through our agency so we can say we’re keeping up. I’d suggest a different tactic. Why not experiment on yourself? There were quite a few vendors at the conference and they were all quick to do demos, offer free trials, and were more than willing to lead video lunch and learns with agency teams. Don’t be shy about playing with some of these tools that do everything from help map out content holes to analytics report writing.

By the time you’re ready to offer it to your clients, you either need to partner with a few, acknowledging that you’re all going to learn together or you need to be proficient enough that you can demonstrate a ROI. I totally get that many agencies are feeling under the gun to offer a wide array of digital services, but if you are thinking of adding a new digital discipline or deliverable to clients, be sure you are ready to document and prove results. I’m working with an agency to unwind some of their more sophisticated digital offerings because they could not deliver what they promised. It was a tough conversation internally but it was costing them their clients and their reputation.

I know this is going to feel like a “duh” to you but — we have a two-pronged responsibility when it comes to technology. We have to keep learning and experimenting so our agencies continue to evolve with the times AND when we are ready to actually deploy these technologies, we have to expect our clients to ask about the value proposition and be ready to deliver against it. 

Keep exploring and learning. But don’t do it on the client’s dime unless they’ve bought into the experiment.

Drew McLellan, with Agency Management Institute, produces a weekly newsletter with updates, tips, and market information of value to marketing agencies, owners, and employees. If you'd like to receive the weekly newsletter, follow this link to subscribe.

This piece was originally published in the AMI Newsletter.