What AI does
Copilot in Word or Gemini in Google Docs drafts the short client updates and report sections your team writes every week, from approved notes and verified figures. An account manager checks every number before it goes out.
Practical AI for small and medium businesses
How a marketing agency could save about $58,000 a year in staff time with AI
At a glance
The short version
What it costs
About $13,500 to set up and $535 a month to run with AI automation.
What it saves
Pays for itself in about 6 months, then about $57,980 a year in staff time, after running costs.
This is an illustrative example, not a past client project. It uses AI features the vendors document today and our cost model. Your own figures depend on your workload and costs.
What would it be worth for your team? Enter your team size and hours for a quick estimate.
Try the AI Savings and ROI calculatorStep by step
How AI helps
Today: An agency with 20–30 staff and $3m–$8m in fees (excluding client media spend), writing about 200 short client updates and report sections a week, partly with paid freelance help. Each update means pulling notes and figures together and writing them up for the client: about 18 minutes each. When the workload peaks, the agency pays freelancers to keep up.
What AI does
- The account manager drops the approved notes and verified figures for the period into the client’s report template.
- Copilot in Word (type “/” to reference the notes file) or Gemini in Docs (add the file as a source) drafts the update or section from that material, in the template’s structure.
- For email updates, Copilot in Outlook or Help me write in Gmail drafts the message, which can be regenerated or shortened before use.
- If the agency uses AgencyAnalytics, its AI Summary widget can draft a report summary directly from the connected campaign data.
Your team still
- Check every figure against the source data before sending.
- Edit for the client relationship and any sensitive news.
- Keep templates and approved wording current.
Tools: Microsoft 365 Copilot or Gemini in Google Docs. We use the office tools you already pay for. Microsoft and Whatagraph both advise checking AI summaries before they reach clients.
Two ways to do it
AI automation or an AI agent?
| AI automation | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Tools | Microsoft 365 Copilot or Gemini in Google Docs | ChatGPT dots (new, pilot first) |
| Set-up cost | $13,500 | $10,000 |
| Running cost a month | $535 | $930 |
| Pays for itself in | about 6 months | about 6 months |
| Value of time saved each year after that | $57,980 | $46,800 |
Our view: Good fit when notes and figures already live in Drive or SharePoint: drafts are waiting before the account manager starts.
AI automation
Pros
- Uses Copilot or Gemini, which you may already pay for
- Lowest monthly running cost
- Reporting tools such as AgencyAnalytics can draft summaries straight from campaign data
Cons
- Someone still has to start each draft
- Nothing happens until a person asks for it
AI agent
Pros
- Drafts are waiting each morning without anyone asking
- The same agent can take on other admin
- Cheapest to set up
Cons
- Costs more each month (an agent seat and closer support)
- A new kind of product: an independent test found it can miss things
- Microsoft Teams support is still limited (Slack works)
How an AI agent would do it
- Each morning the dot checks client folders in Google Drive or SharePoint for new approved notes and figure exports.
- It drafts each update in the client’s template and saves it next to the notes.
- It posts the list of drafts ready for review to account managers in Slack.
- It learns from the edits account managers make.
Not sure which option suits your marketing agency? We can help you choose and plan a pilot.
Request a consultationBefore you decide
If the saving is smaller
If AI saves 25% less time than we assume, AI automation pays for itself in about 7 months and saves about $41,880 a year. These figures value every hour saved at the hourly cost, because your team can put the time into other work, such as more clients or fewer extra hours.
What we check first
- Your weekly count of short updates and current time per update.
- What your team will do with the time saved, such as more client work or fewer extra hours.
- Templates, approved notes and a clear figure-checking step.
Not included: Strategy advice, creative concepts and any automatic sending to clients.
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