Episode 504 Explore the Findings of the 2025 Agency Edge Research with Susan Baier

Hey everybody, Drew here. You know, we are always looking for more ways to be helpful and meet you wherever you're at to help you grow your agency. It's one of the reasons why we've produced this podcast for so long. And I'm super grateful that you listen as often as you do. However... There are some topics that are better suited for quick, hyper-focused answers in under 10 minutes. That's where our YouTube channel really comes in.

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Running an agency can be a lonely proposition, but it doesn't have to be. We can learn how to be better faster if we learn together. Welcome to Agency Management Institute's Build a Better Agency podcast presented by White Label IQ. Tune in every week for insights on how small to midsize agencies are surviving and thriving in today's market. With 25 plus years of experience as both an agency owner and agency consultant, please welcome your host, Drew McClellan.

Hey, everybody. Drew McClellan here from Agency Management Institute. Glad you are with us. If you're listening to this in real time, we are a week out of the Build a Better Agency Summit for 2025. It was spectacular. If you were there with us, you know.

All the learning, all the connections, all the energy. If you weren't there, we really hope you're with us in 26. We hear it every time. I take you all at your word. It is unlike any other conference for agency folks in the world. So the energy and connections are just off the chart. Content is spectacular. And I can say that because.

While we curated, a lot of it is not our doing. A lot of it is the community. A lot of it is the speakers. So I'm super proud of what we create. But I know a lot of it is created around us, not by us. Super grateful for that. So at the Build a Better Agency Summit, one of the things we do is we always unveil the new agency edge research and the agency edge research for 2025.

No Big Shock to You is going to be all about how our clients are feeling about AI, their use of AI, our use of AI, and what they want from us. And so today, my guest is Susan Beyer from Audience Audit, as you know. Audience Audit is our partner in the Agency Edge Research. We've done it for 14 years now together, and it's always insightful.

We're super excited to walk you through some of the findings of the research and then invite you to a webinar where we can do even a deeper dive together. So without further ado, let's bring Susan on the show. Susan, welcome back to the podcast. Lately it feels like you've been here quite a bit. It's nice to have you back.

It's great to be here. I appreciate you tolerating me so often on your platform. Well, we have a lot to talk about. I mean, the agency core stuff we talked about last month was, I think, super insightful and powerful. today uh we're together because as always at this time of year we have just got through the

Build a Better Agency Summit. And one of the things that we always do there is we unveil our research data to the folks there. And now it's time to do that to the bigger audience here on the podcast. So I love that. It was such a great event to hear. There were a lot of people talking about this research, so I'm really happy to get it out to a broader audience. It's good news this year, I think. It is. I think so too. Yeah, it was a great event and I'm still sort of on a high from it for sure.

But part of that was, you know, this is what year 12, 14 for us. This is our 12th study. Okay. Sometimes we don't have a lot of good news to share. Like some of it's been hard. hard conversations to have with agency folks. And I feel like this time we have a lot of really interesting sort of blue ocean opportunities to talk about.

Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's always a box of chocolates. We ask the questions that agencies want to hear the answers to. And sometimes the answers are reassuring and sometimes they're not. And I think that there may have been certainly I expected. some response to this study that I didn't end up seeing. And that was a good thing. So, you know, it's nice to have good news. For sure. So this year, for the audience's sake, no surprise. So the way this works is every fall.

Susan and I put our heads together and we think about what is it that agency folks really need to know? What do you need to hear from your clients and prospects and people that you might be out talking to over the course of the next year? No surprise to any of you, I suspect, we very quickly honed in on the topic of AI. How clients are feeling about AI, how they're using AI, how their agencies are using AI, and...

how they want us to be using or not AI. And so we stayed very focused on that. As you know, if you are a regular listener or you are a regular follower of the Agency Edge. We sort of pick a very narrow scope of focus for each year, and we just drill really deep into that topic, and this year was no exception. So let's talk a little bit about what we found.

Yeah. So as usual, you know, we had 401 respondents this year. They're all people who are decision makers across marketing, marketing budgets. And in this case. A lot of them are determining the legal and compliance matters associated with what their agencies are doing for them. And they're all working with agencies that are small to midsize folks like us and the folks that we have built the study series for. Right.

You know, when we look at the overall group, one of the first things that really caught my eye was how positive the group is about their agencies using AI. As agencies are learning more about AI and diving deep into tools and trying to figure out how to work in their organizations, I know there have been concerns about how clients are going to feel about all of this and whether agencies are going to retain the value that they have.

in the face of such a transformative technology. And what we saw overall, so we asked folks to agree or disagree with a bunch of stuff in the survey. And when we look at the percentages that strongly agreed with these three statements, I think it really sets the tone for this study. So 73% strongly agree that they are comfortable with their agencies using AI as long as they're

transparent about it. And we're going to have a little more conversation about that because we've got some more info. But that's, you know, three quarters strongly agreeing with that statement. That strongly agree that they trust their agencies. to understand the regulations around AI in their industry. And 62% strongly agree that they trust our agencies.

to tell them when and how using AI is right for them, the client. All of which I think was eye-opening for me. I didn't expect to see. That is overwhelmingly strong agreement and positive on the role that agencies... should play in the eyes of clients around this AI question. So I think that sets the stage. But of course, as always,

Not everybody feels exactly the same way about whatever topic we're asking. For sure. But I think if there are a couple of key words for listeners to sort of key into as we have this conversation. You're going to hear the words transparency and trust and guide all throughout the data. So when...

respondents were uncomfortable or nervous. It was really around the transparency. They want to trust us. They want us to be their guide. And we'll talk more about how these group of people sort of subdivide into some categories. One of the big takeaways is that we are not as transparent as an industry. you as a listener may be very transparent. We are not as transparent as clients want us to be in general around our use of AI and they're hungry.

for us to lean into that more, to be more transparent, not because they want to chastise us or keep us from doing it, but because they really do want us to be their guide. and lead them into the world of AI in a much deeper way, which we'll talk about.

One thing I want to mention, so as you're listening to this, we only have a little bit of time to sort of walk you through this data and we have a lot of data. So I will mention this now and I will mention it again at the end. So Susan and I will be hosting a live Zoom webinar. on Friday, June 13th. I didn't realize it was the Friday the 13th, but that's what we've picked.

Friday, June 13th at 9 a.m. Mountain. And we've allotted about an hour and a half, about 90 minutes to literally walk you through every question and the respondents. We will include a Zoom link in the show notes so you can come join us. It'll be in the newsletter. Susan and I will share it on our social media prior to the 13th so you can find it there.

If you really want to dig into this and you have questions, that's the perfect time to come hang out with us for 90 minutes. We'll walk you through all of the data and then answer any questions you have. We're also going to be able to give you access to the data so you can kind of look.

for specific things that are related to your agency, maybe agency size or client size or things like that. So I'll give you a tool to be able to sort of twirl through the data and sort of pick out the parts that are most important to you. So I just want to say that before we...

before we dig in. So as always, because this is an attitudinal study, we look at the audience and then based on how they're feeling and responding. uh we break them up into smaller groups to give you insights into them and as always to help you sort of identify which of your clients fall into these different categories so susie you want to talk just a little bit about the attitudinal segments

how we sort of get there, how these folks do or don't get into a segment, and then what we found. Sure. So everybody in the survey has to rate about 40 statements that we develop. and their rating could be, I disagree with this completely, I agree with it completely, or somewhere in the middle. In our case with this study, the statements were around what they think AI can do.

how they feel about themselves and their organization's comfort level with AI, and their perceptions around their agencies using AI. And then the math basically finds groups that have sort of a connected set. of these attitudes that define, in essence, a mindset that we can look at and go, okay, that's interesting. So the landscape this year has three segments around this AI topic. AI embracers, which represent

31% of our respondent group, AI skeptics, which is the largest group, 41%, and AI opportunists, which are 28%. And they all have some different perspectives around this whole topic.

let's talk about the ai embracers first this is 31 these folks have very close long-term strategic relationships with their agencies they value their agencies they say they're worth the cost And these are the folks who are most comfortable with their agencies using AI, as long as they are transparent about it. One of the things that's really interesting about these embracers is that

they don't see this AI conversation as being just an efficiency play or even a cost savings play. They see it as a strategic opportunity. For example, one of the attitudes defining this group is that They think their agencies can help them differentiate from their competitors who are relying solely on AI-generated marketing. These folks really see the value of agency plus AI.

and the people in the agency plus AI as an opportunity to up-level their marketing and really stand apart from the folks who were just turning to sort of AI slop that starts to look like everybody's got the same agency. Right. So these are the folks in every study. There's always a one group where they're the.

deep tie they have to their agency at a strategic level is very evident. And this is the group this year. So these are folks who have deep trust in their agency, long-term relationships, and are counting on their agency. to guide them, but be alongside them. So one of the key sort of elements of this group is one of their concerns is they, they would not want to lose some of their key agency people.

to AI efforts. So that what they're saying is, look, I want all of you, the people I know and trust in it, sit at the strategy table with me. And together, I want us to use AI. But I do not see AI as a substitute for my agency partner or my agency team members. Yeah. And in fact, losing connection and collaboration and the smarts of those agency people that they rely on is a concern for them.

Right. People make that mistake. The other interesting thing about this group this year, you know, a lot of times when we see this group that's very closely tied in with their agencies. They're the little guys, right? They have smaller budgets, right? Yeah. And agencies have sort of had to make a decision about, wow, I really want these clients, but I need to know that their budgets are limited, et cetera. And that's a sacrifice we'll need to make. In this case, we see the opposite. This group.

is only 14% of the agencies who have revenue under a million dollars and 44% of those that have revenue over 25 million. They're 19% of the clients with less than 250K in a budget.

And there are 39% of those that have over 500K. So this is a nice opportunity for agencies to really get in with folks who are loyal, deeply value their agencies and are on this AI journey hand in hand. with the agencies that they're working with. Well, one of the things that I think is interesting about this group is they recognize that AI is a tool, just like computers are a tool or other software is a tool. They don't see it as a substitute.

No, not at all. So they sort of recognize where AI's place should be. They're clearly seeing stuff out there they know is AI generated and does not meet their standards. They can clearly differentiate between the all AI stuff. and the stuff that's being created with humans involved yeah yeah so that the second group are the ai skeptics so this was our biggest group 41 yeah and interestingly they are I would say the word worry is like the...

predominant words. So it's not that they're anti-AI. No. They have more worries. They're more anxious. Worries and wonders, right? So these folks don't know. They're not as familiar with AI, even personally, they admit that. They're not as comfortable with it. They're all using it and their organizations are using it, but they feel a lot less comfortable about their own level of knowledge and some of the risks. The interesting thing about this group is that

Their chief concerns about this include that it will weaken their relationships with their agencies, which is fascinating to me. Right. So this group does worry that AI content could. come back and hurt their organization's reputation they worry that their agencies may be trying to adopt ai too quickly and in effect getting over their skis with respect to regulations in their industry or whatever or

but they're not doing it quickly enough. And competitors who have agencies moving at the right pace are going to eat their lunch. They often wonder whether the stuff they're seeing from their agencies are AI generated.

have a suspicion that their agencies may be using AI in ways that they're not telling. So for this group, there's a lot of anxiety around AI in general. And the fact that their agencies are not having... conversations with them about this they sort of have a paranoia about it right But the chief issue is really like, what's happening with our agency relationship in this transition? And are we going to lose that guidance and that expertise that we've come to trust?

Which is concerning for these folks. I think in general, they just feel uninformed, right? Like, I'm not sure about the regulations. I'm not sure my agency is doing enough or too much. I don't really know what's going on. And they probably, and this is a supposition on my part, not that the data showed this, but they probably are not

informed enough about AI to even know how to ask the questions of their agency. So they're looking to their agency to be forthcoming about what you're doing with ai and how it's helping them and how you're protecting them whether it comes to regulations or the quality right right because i think in the absence of these conversations they're thinking about the worst case scenarios

Yeah, so that's the biggest group. A lot of folks in there, but that group does not want to dump their agencies either. In fact, the opposite, right? Then we've got the AI opportunists. These are 20%. So this is the group that does believe that AI could replace or reduce their need for agencies. So these are the folks who are thinking that AI can do things that...

at least right now, AI cannot do so. They have some pretty unrealistic expectations about what AI can do in terms of creating professional level marketing with what... you know today i think we would all argue is sort of the tip of the iceberg of what ai will eventually be yeah i think most agency marketers would look at this group even very if they tried to be very sort of neutral about their role in this relationship

and think that these expectations are unreasonable. For example, one of the defining characteristics of this group from an attitudinal standpoint is that beginner-friendly AI tools, the stuff that anybody can use, can create the same professional level of marketing that an agency does. And I think anybody in or out of the agency world who understands AI knows that that is not true.

It can mimic some stuff pretty well. But as far as differentiating, as far as creating an emotional connection, those are things that AI is not very good at doing. This group also feels that they know more about marketing with AI than their agencies. So we've seen clients like this before who are very confident about their own marketing expertise.

And these folks definitely fall into that group. But there's another characteristic of them, which I think is really interesting. They admit that even if AI-generated marketing is not as good as what they can get from an agency, it's worth it. given the cost savings. So there is definitely a penny pincher component to these folks who are looking for real cost savings by trading out either their agency for AI or certain things their agency has been doing for them.

with an in-house AI generated solution. The interesting thing is in the near term, they still value their AI relationships because they want to learn from their agencies. how to replace them. They hope that learning from their agencies about AI is going to give them the whole toolkit they need to separate that relationship and save a bunch of money.

So I think it's really important to remind you that this is only 28%. And so the knee jerk reaction of, well, then I'm not going to show them what we're doing because then they're just going to fire us. You got to be really careful about that because.

More than three-fourths or almost three-fourths of the respondents need their agency to be more transparent so they can let their agency use AI more effectively and learn from them. And we're going to talk about some opportunities in a little bit. Yeah.

I don't want you to hear about this group and go, oh, well, they just want to replace us with AI. So I'm not going to show them what we're doing because it's just going to get us fired faster. I think that's a very dangerous attitude to have given the size of this group. Yeah, I think it's short-sighted because I think they... opportunity here really is to show them how important the human agency connection with AI is. They don't realize that.

And ultimately, some of them may decide that it's still not worth it because they can save a buck. The reality is, do we as agencies really want those kinds of clients who are always sort of driving downward in terms of price point? I don't know that we do, but I think there is an opportunity here.

to really open the eyes of these folks with respect to the importance of that human component, that expert marketer element in this, and maybe change their perspective. Maybe they'll still do some things with AI.

But there are going to be some things that I think they can come to realize it's really a mistake. It's a risk to their brand and their reputation if they just go AI only. As that first group said, right? You just start looking like everybody else because AI is generating the same sort of neutral.

blah, blah. If you don't have a human involved. And, you know, we see them across all budget ranges. We see them across all of the revenue ranges. So it's not about the big guys versus the small guys exclusively.

it's just that you know this is sort of where the landscape is and chances are this is where the landscape is for agencies too it probably looks very similar to that like i know agencies that are wholeheartedly embracing ai i know some that are sort of on the we need to be really careful front And I know some that are like that. I don't know that that's where we want to go. Right. That's what we wanted. So probably not unfamiliar to a lot of our listeners.

So not unlike all of our other studies, these groups of people don't neatly gather by gender or region of the world or budget. One of the things, as Susan said earlier, one of the things that we often do not see is the most desirable of the attitudinal segments actually this time has the biggest budget. So the ones that really love their agencies. want long-term relationships, which for most of us is the kinds of clients we want.

in this case, are larger clients with more revenue and more marketing budget. So that's a nice change for us. It is. You know, they have more agencies. So 40% of those with four or more agencies are in that AI embracer group. compared to only 22% of those with just one agency. So as always, and I don't think this is new news to anybody who's been listening to our research for the last, I don't know, five, seven, eight years, more agencies, most clients are working with more than one.

agency at this point. One thing that did stick out from a demographic standpoint is that 53% of the respondents who are 50 or older are AI skeptics. Which normally we don't see a lot of sort of age-related tied to this, but it makes perfect sense, given this is an adoption of new technology, that the older the respondents, the more likely they are to be. nervous, right? Even under 40, 36% of them are skeptics. So it's not like the old people are the only skeptics in the group.

If you are talking to a decision maker at a client or prospect who is 50 or older, there's a 50-50 chance that they fall into this skeptic group. So it's just kind of good to know as you're going in. Yeah.

So one of the things that was interesting was we said to them, hey, how comfortable are you? Like, what are you doing with AI? First of all, the big takeaway is very few respondents aren't using AI in some way, shape or form. So if you're an agency that's like our clients are not even in a highly regulated industry.

They are using AI. We'll talk in a little bit about the tools that they're using because they're pretty rudimentary. But they are using AI. And a lot of them quickly raised their hand when we said, are you comfortably using it? Yes. Again, no surprise. The skeptics are the least comfortable in the completely comfortable category that they are using AI always or often. Again, a predominant number of them said yes in all of the categories.

you place high or extremely high value of AI and work again, very positive. 90%, 80%, a little lower for the skeptics at 59, but yeah, they're using it and they are seeing value from it, even in the red of rudimentary. tools. So I think when you think about the skeptics, their worries aren't keeping them from implementing AI. Despite their lack of comfort with it, despite their concerns about what may be happening, they're sort of dancing on the tightrope.

as far as they're concerned, you know. So that question was about their individual use, but when we asked them about their organization, again, same level of responses. They're using it in a high degree and they're very comfortable. Like, again, predominantly in all the categories we got, yes, skeptics, certainly the lowest, but even they are, you know, at... 50% beyond. So again, anybody who thinks their clients are afraid of AI or not using AI, I hate to tell you,

But that is yesterday's news. I mean, they may be afraid of it, but they're using it. Adoption is widespread, right? So there's no point tiptoeing around it anymore and pretending it doesn't exist because we just don't see it. Even the ones who said they were uncomfortable.

acknowledged that they were actively trying to improve their understanding of and comfort level and use of AI. So even those who are like, this is super uncomfortable for me. Makes me feel really squeebly, yeah. Right. And I think this is a key thing. They know that AI is not going away and they have to figure out how to embrace it and how to leverage it inside their organizations. So we need to know that too. We need to know.

that our clients are expecting that from us and that's not just a mindset the majority 70 of the embracers 77 of the embracers 83 of the opportunists and 55 of the skeptics say they're actually doing something to improve their comfort level, not just thinking about it. They are making efforts. They are specifically planning efforts to correct that problem. They've got a lot of concerns. And when we ask folks about their concerns, we asked about serious concerns, right?

And we get a laundry list of stuff, everything from making sure it's like helpful and not a distraction to making sure it's aligning with business objectives. to navigating regulations, compliance issues, data integration, cost. How many of us have really big tickets now every month on AI? Because we're trying these various platforms. stuff like that. So there's a lot in there that I think really worries people, even the people who are using it. Yep.

So they also obviously have some restrictions. So we asked them, are there rules in your organization about what AI tools and how they can be used inside your organization? And the majority of them said there are in all of the categories, I would say a slight majority of them said we have some rules, right? Right. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. So it's interesting to me that so few of them.

sanction AI use without restrictions by all employees. Only 31% of the embracers, only 19% of the skeptics, and 44% of the opportunists. The bulk of folks, especially among the embracers and the skeptics, sanction use with some restrictions. So they're restricting the use to certain tools. They're restricting the use to certain use cases or circumstances, certain types of deliverables.

certain phases of the development process or whatever. So they are trying to put sort of rules on these. When we asked about the challenges people are having with respect to rules and stuff like that, a lot of them, the answers really fall into It's just too new and we don't actually know what we need to do yet. Restriction wise. Or I don't know that we're going to need to restrict it.

You know, so they're sort of falling into a couple of camps. But most of our clients have some kind of restriction. Unfortunately, most of our clients are also not providing any kind of training across the board. for employees only 31 of the embracers 22 of the skeptics and because they see ai as their future 45 of the opportunists have opened the doors wide and said

You know, we're training everybody. You guys can try all sorts of stuff or whatever. But a lot of them have selected a few employees in their organization to train and everybody else is. You know, even the respondents admit that they overwhelmingly think that people are using AI, even if it isn't sanctioned, even if there isn't trained. Right. So there's a lot of people sort of.

out in the wild west of AI, while some of their employees are getting specific training. So big, big opportunity there, I think. Yeah, I think the other opportunity is to recognize that when they say they're using AI, pretty much we said to them, what tools are you using? And the list is, we'll walk through it with you on the 13th. The list is long, but when you look at the percentages of what they're using, they're basically using ChatGPT and...

Yeah, Gemini and Grammarly. Those are the big three. Right. 85% ChachiPT, 74% Gemini, and... You know, about 30% cite Grammarly or Canva, which are tools that have been around forever, but now have an AI sort of assistant kind of situation. They're not actually, but even when you get down to something like Claude or perplexity, you're seeing.

like 15-13% and then there's a whole long list of things that are like 1% so they haven't dealt very deeply into the tools that are out there you know one of the things about this category I know as an agency owner as well it's overwhelming and it feels like new tools coming out every day and the existing tools up level so they can do things they couldn't do yesterday so just keeping on top of it all

is a bit. And so I think that's part of the help us appeal that clients are asking for. Like, what's good for this use? What can we trust? What makes the most sense for our budget to utilize in terms of AI? So again, I think there's opportunity for us to step in and be a guide, right? So then we shift our questions to how agencies, other agencies are using AI. So we're going to take a quick break.

And then we're going to come back and we're going to talk to you about from their lens, how their agencies are using AI and what we think some of the opportunities are. So we'll be right back. Hey, everybody. Just want to remind you before we get back to the show that we have a very engaged Facebook group. It's a private group just for podcast listeners and agency owners that are in the AMI community. And to find it, if you're not a member...

head over to facebook.com slash groups slash BABA podcast. So again, facebook.com slash groups slash. All you have to do is answer a few questions to make sure that you are an actual agency owner or leader, and we will let you right in. And you can join over 1,700 other agency owners and leaders. And I'm telling you, there's probably 10 or 15 conversations that are started every day that are going to be of value to you. So come join us.

All right. We are back with Susan Beyer from Audience Audit. And we are, again, talking about the Agency Edge Research for 2025, which was all about AI. Prior to the break, we were talking a little bit about sort of the client's attitudes about AI and how they're using it. And then, of course, we said, OK, well, what about agencies? And so most of them said their agencies are using AI at some level.

71%. Remember, though, that, again, they're feeling like we are not being as transparent. While they know we're using it, they're not really overall confident. where we're using it, how we're using it, why we're using it, what tools we're using. And there's huge opportunity for us to be kind of the sage around this and really be the teacher. And so again, that word transparency is going to keep coming back.

And 22% say they don't know whether their agency is using it. That's a big number for something that should be a real conversation already between clients and agencies. For sure. Very few of them. think that their agencies are AI marketing experts. So while most of them think that they're using them, only 15% say all of their agencies are AI experts. So another, I think, opportunity to not only say, yeah, we use it, but...

you know, share the expertise and show clients that we are looking at it from a strategic standpoint, from a discriminating standpoint, and we're there to try stuff out and guide them. Right. They also have some concerns about us using AI. They do.

When we look across the board, the percent strongly agreeing, you know, it's not 80% in these cases, it's 25% at the top of the list, but... There's a sizable proportion that really feels like agencies may be getting cost breaks with AI and not passing those savings on. They may be considering eliminating the people that clients rely on in the agency for expertise and support.

that agencies are downplaying how much AI could do for their marketing, maybe because we're sort of being protective and hoping not to get fired. Right. 22% strongly agree that they worry agency deliverables are AI generated. Another one that, you know, we put on the list, but I was surprised to see 17% strongly agree that they worry agencies are going to prioritize the information coming out of AI.

over the client's own perspective and insight and expertise about their customers and the market that they're in. Weakening relationships with agencies is big. Maybe adopting too quickly, may not be adopting quickly enough.

and reputation harm and there's you know that's a pretty broad list of sort of the worst case scenario i think yeah luckily it's not everybody strongly agreeing with that but there's enough that agencies can easily address some of these concerns I think it's just conversation and strategic information and guidance.

Yeah, I think so too. So then we said, all right, that's what's happening. What are your expectations about how your agency should use AI? And they had some interesting take. Yeah. What are we going to do for them with AI? This was fascinating to me because one of the things on the list was lower fees. And I really expected lower fees to be pretty high up in this.

And it wasn't. That's the good news. Yes. Only 30 percent said that they expect some lower fees compared to listen to the ideas that were up in the 50 percent expectation level. More new ideas. Improved analysis of effectiveness. Better ideas. Work completed more quickly. There's an efficiency measure. More effective strategies. Optimized spending. Higher quality work. More effective collaboration.

on and on and on. 40% expect their agencies to teach them how to use AI effectively. Most of the stuff that they rated highly on the list is strategic. I mean, efficiency is on there. Cost is way down at the bottom of this list. So much of what they expect from us is to use AI to help make their marketing work. better, stand out better, be more original, be more differentiated, which I think is really powerful. And what they do not expect besides lower fees.

is that we are going to get rid of the people that they count on only 18 percent expect their agencies to drop the number of experienced creatives to drop administrative staff to drop experienced strategists. No, they do not see AI as something that should. make that change happen in the agencies that they're working with. Yeah, I think this set of questions is good news for agencies. So what they really want is they recognize that AI can help us dig deeper.

think broader, like that they can get more. Yep. Right. Not that they're going to pay less. And also that yes, the speed is sort of a factor, but it's not really about doing things even faster. It's really about better. And so I think one of the opportunities for us as agencies is to talk to the clients about the tools we're using and the depth of information or insight we can get, whether it's data crunching, pattern recognition, whatever it may be, we can show our clients.

how we are able to give them even more for their money.

by using AI tools in conjunction with the work that we're doing. And so I think that's really good news for us. I do too. I think a lot of agencies worry about talking about AI in the context of it making things faster and cheaper, understandably. The good news is the clients have told us that's not really what they're looking for. And so the opportunity to have conversations is really around smarter.

And that's great. Agencies are great at having those kinds of conversations. Great news, in my opinion, that there's just a lot of enthusiasm for those strategic conversations. Yeah. Around the value of AI with agencies. Unfortunately, you know, clients say they want all this stuff better. They don't know how to get it. They don't know how AI translates into that. That's what they hope we will do. But they're.

Their understanding of how that could happen is really low. Fewer than half of these clients say that their agencies have fully discussed with them. how AI is being used in the work that the agency is doing for them, when it is being used, and why it is being used. So to me, this is again the, I think you're doing it. Or I even know you're doing it, but I don't know the specifics. So huge opportunity here to quell your client's concerns, to educate your client.

To create revenue opportunities for your agency in terms of thinking of whole new product offerings and packagings around really, truly being the guide inside your organization. One of the things that...

surprised me a little bit is clients not only want their agencies to be AI experts and find value in that in terms of their agency's sort of contributions, but they don't... They want their agency to help them be better at AI, not just in their marketing, but in any aspect of the business. So there's huge revenue opportunity for us.

to be the AI guide. They expect us to know all the things about all the AI. That's our expectation, fair or not. And they want us to be their teacher. Yes. So this conversation... but I think can feel sort of scary and intrusive maybe to agency leaders about how we're using AI, when we're using AI, why we're using AI. We need to see it as an opportunity to demonstrate our investment and expertise in this technology.

right like it's like none of us could imagine right now not talking to agencies about how much we know about pay-per-click advertising or search or whatever, right? Or messaging, right, right. Right. Or CRM systems or whatever. We are comfortable showing our expertise in that because that's what builds their trust in us. We need to do the same thing with AI and we need to get over the fear that because we tell them we use a particular tool to help us lay out.

this particular resource, they're going to fire us. It's just not held up in the data that that is the case. So these conversations are really important. Interestingly, Drew, Clients aren't doing any better at having these conversations and initiating them than we are. No, right. Right. The same percentages that say their agencies have not fully had this conversation admit that they have not had fully had a conversation with their agencies about.

how their organization's comfort level and concerns about using AI, the regulatory situations that may exist for them. That conversation is just not happening because I think everybody feels like it's new and they're not an expert and everybody's freaked out. We're freaked out that they will fire us. They're freaked out.

that we will let go of all the people that they depend on and not be there to help them with their marketing. So we all kind of have to get over that. And I think it's the responsibility of the agencies to lead the way. And it's such a great opportunity to say, look, we are embracing this. We have your best interest at heart. We're going to show you what we know and how we are continuing to learn and the things that we are trying. And we will always tell you.

when there's AI involved in the work that we're doing for you. Because the absence of that is fear and anxiety. And that's not what we want our clients to feel in any capacity in their relationship with us. And the good news too, is they know it's an evolving technology. So they're not expecting their agency to know all the things of all the tools. It's okay to say to them,

hey, we're doing a beta test or we're doing an experiment or we're doing things like that. But they expect you to lead the way. That to me is probably the biggest takeaway of this is they understand AI is here to stay. They understand the power of the tool and or tools and technology. And they expect us to show them the way that AI can serve them.

in their work with us and inside their organization in other ways. They are looking to us to be the guide. And you know what? I cannot tell you how many conversations I have with agency owners. where they're bemoaning the fact that they are just being order takers and being hired to make stuff and they want to get back to the strategy table.

This is your path back to the C-suite and the strategy table is by being a leader in this, by being well-informed, by being a teacher and really embracing that role inside that organization. And not just with marketing. I also think it's a great opportunity for you to get with the R&D people, the sales people, the HR people, the ops people. There's all kinds of budgets inside your client organizations that you have never had the opportunity to tap in.

into that being the guide or teacher around AI. could avail yourself to those budgets. So huge opportunities. It is. And get really deep and be a really deep trusted partner with these clients across a lot of things. You know, one of the things we're what a week out from.

the end of the Build a Better Agency Summit. And one of the things that I find so gratifying is that I see so many attendees there have come back home and are starting to work on this or starting to work about their conversation. You know, we have. one attendee who's actually created their whole value statement now around AI and what the role they see AI playing in their agency and in their work. And it's powerful stuff. You know, people are setting up.

processes to inform clients how AI has been used to create deliverables or how they plan to do stuff where they plan to include on a project. So I think for the people in the room in the presentations at the Build a Better Agency Summit, this was... sort of a flip in how they think about AI as a power of good for their agency with their clients. And I hope that for our listeners and for those who are attending our webinars, they will experience the same thing because

One of the things that this data clearly shows is that most clients do not have agencies who are experts in this and are demonstrating that expertise and are helping them. Most clients are feeling adrift. in this world. That is blue ocean for those agents who get on this quickly. And I don't think you have to say you know everything about AI. Nobody does. But I think what we can say is...

Look, we are on a journey with AI. This is the future. This is not going to be left behind. We want to harness it for good and for strategic purpose. And we want you on that journey with us. Let's try some stuff together. We're going to invest. and tools to let you know what makes the most sense for certain use cases. We have your data privacy, your

regulatory concerns, your brand reputation at the forefront of our efforts. We will never let those behind your own input, your own perspective on your audience. That's not getting left behind. the people that you trust to do your marketing for you we are not leaving them behind right right but we're on this journey come along with us build a tremendous amount of trust and the data says

That if you do that, you will likely be the first agency they work with that does. And that they assign extreme value in that. They're hungry for it. This is clients asking for more. We don't see that all the time. We need to lean into it. But I think you're right, Susan. We're at the top of the hour. So we need to let everybody go. But at the summit, we had more time to talk about what to do with this data and how to take some action. And we will certainly do that in the webinar.

on June 13th at 9 a.m. Mountain Time. So again, in the show notes, you'll find the Zoom link. In the newsletter, in both Susan's and AMI's social media channels, we'll be sharing the Zoom link. And we would love for you to come and continue this conversation. But bottom line is this, clients know AI is here to stay.

They want to know more about it, but they also recognize they're not going to, they don't have the resources. They don't have the time. They may not have the permission to learn all about it on their own. And they are looking for someone. to be their teacher. This is your opportunity.

This is your chance to have all new access to people inside the organizations that you haven't had before to upsell clients, to be of more value to clients, to move up the food chain and get back to that strategy table or the C-suite table. There is nothing but good news in this study and opportunity. And so again, please hear us and say, this is not an episode just to listen to and go, that was interesting.

This is an actionable episode. Do something with what we're telling you. Yeah, I think one of the things I heard from attendees was in a world where there's so much we cannot control. for our clients or for our agencies right now. Tremendous uncertainty, whatever. This is something we can do. This is something that we know will have an impact.

that we can actually do to move the needle for the agency and for our clients. That feels good to have something concrete, a real opportunity. I'm excited that so many that attended with us last week and heard this information are already moving.

I hope our listeners will start thinking about this and moving. And do please join us because there's so much more to talk about. And we want to hear your questions and your ideas and your thoughts in those sessions when we'll have more time to go through all of this. Pretty exciting stuff. Yeah, it really is.

As always, Susan, thanks for being our partner on the Agency Edge series. It's always fun to do this research with you and grateful to have you back on the show. And I'll see you on the 13th. Can't wait. All right. All right, you guys. So again. One of the cool things that we saw coming out of this summit already, Susan and I are getting emails from people going, we did this, we did that, or check this out. And it's fun to see people like hearing this data and doing something with it.

We want you to do the exact same thing. You have enough data from just this brief conversation to start thinking about where your agency is at with AI and what you need to do to sort of level up and be that teacher and guide, that trusted teacher and guide. And to be super transparent in all the things we talked about today, please come join us on June 13th to dig into this even more. And because we have a lot more to think about and talk about, and we're excited to do that with you.

Before I let you go, you know, I always like to wrap up the show by saying thank you to our friends at White Label IQ. They're the presenting sponsor of the podcast. Super generous people. Love them. They were born out of an agency. They provide white label design, dev, and PPC services to agencies all over the world. And because they were born of an agency, they understand.

how to work with agencies and be a great strategic partner. So everybody makes clients happy. Everybody makes money. Everybody exceeds client expectations. So check them out at whitelabeliq.com. because they have a special offer just for you because you listen to the podcast. I love this stuff. I am grateful that you keep coming back for more. And I promise as long as you keep coming back, I will too. So I'll see you next week. Thanks for listening.

That's all for this episode of AMI's Build a Better Agency podcast. Be sure to visit agencymanagementinstitute.com to learn more about our workshops, online courses, and other ways we serve small to mid-sized agencies. Don't forget to subscribe today so you don't miss an episode.