Marketing, AI and designers

Gartner’s latest research found that 65% of CMOs believe AI will fundamentally change their role. Yet only 32% believe they need significantly different skills.

That’s a blind spot. As marketing becomes more strategic, your clients will need agencies that can help them make better decisions, not simply produce more content.
Here’s how to respond this week.

Audit your services

List every service you currently sell, and ask:
Does this help a client make a better business decision, or simply execute one?
If most of your revenue comes from execution, you’re competing in the area AI is rapidly commoditising.

Moving up the strategic pathway is your best option

Add one new strategic service
Your action is to choose one additional service you can offer immediately before any creative work begins:

Discovery workshop. If you already offer this is there an insight you can offer?
Customer interviews. Take the lead and do some interviews before you put in a submission.
Stakeholder interviews. Show how these can strengthen your clients positioning.
Competitor review. What are they doing that wins work?
Positioning workshop. Bring all the research together in this workshop.
Customer journey mapping. Take the lead and do one before you submit your proposal.

Don’t wait until the end of the proposal to sell strategy. Lead with it.

Learn to ask better questions

You should ask your client:

What has changed in your market?
What behaviour are you trying to change?
What would success look like in twelve months? Higher profit? More clients?
What is stopping customers from choosing you today?
What strategic decision are you trying to make?

These questions create opportunities that no AI image generator can.

Rewrite your proposals

Open your last proposal and count how many pages describe deliverables then count how many describe the business problem.
If you’re talking more about what you’ll produce than why it matters, rewrite the proposal.
Clients want outcomes, not just artwork.

The challenge

A quick activity; identify one service your agency currently sells that AI will make less valuable over the next six months. Then identify one strategic service that will become more valuable for your clients. Lead with this in your next client proposal.

As always, happy to discuss further, just email Greg

Greg Branson

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About Greg

Most business consultants come from a finance background. That’s where I differ. My background is firmly in the creative space. I have degrees in photography and education and my extra-curricula love is a dark room, analogue photography and vintage cameras – a money pit if ever there was.

That’s why my interest in the business of design. Carol and I loved running a design studio but were adamant it was a commercial business and our energies should be well-rewarded. I started research into working smarter not harder early in my career.

Since then I’ve sat with hundreds of Australian creative business owners and discussed what’s working and what’s not. I understand the practicalities of a studio, and have empathy for the challenges but I know good profit margins are attainable.

Always happy to chat, I can be contacted here.