Does this scene sound familiar?
You log into LinkedIn and see yet another story about “how our team cut down 60% of time thanks to AI.”
Instantly, you feel a mix of curiosity, anxiety, and frustration.
Because you know AI can help you… yet somehow you're still stuck in a toxic relationship with your 25-tab Excel.

The truth? Between manual reporting, client deliveries, live campaigns, and a thousand different tools, it’s tough to focus on innovation.

And the worst part: it starts to feel like other agencies and brands are doing it.
Yep, your FOMO is off the charts.

So… how do you start integrating AI in your agency for real?

Nope, I’m not selling you a 100-prompt ebook.

I just want to share how I believe small steps can lead to real AI implementation in agencies.
Why? Because I genuinely believe AI can be a powerful partner in digital marketing and because I’ve made it my mission to escape the operational hamster wheel.

1) Before using AI, train your team

One of the biggest mistakes I see is this: people buy an AI tool and toss it at teams without any prior training.
What happens? Distrust, misuse, and zero real impact.
So I recommend starting with a quick (non-technical!) internal session where you explain:

• What AI can and can’t do. And especially, what you want to explore in your agency.
• How to protect sensitive data. What qualifies as sensitive, and why it matters.
• The risks of bias and how to spot them. Teach people how to review AI-generated content.
• How to use AI responsibly. Be clear on what can’t and shouldn’t be replaced by AI.

For a cultural shift, this session should include folks from all areas: content, ads, design, client services…

💡 If we don’t talk about these things from the start, we’ll be integrating AI blindly. And that’s dangerous, especially for an agency managing multiple clients.

2) Custom AI assistants by team: the easiest way to start (without overwhelming anyone)

One major blocker? Thinking you need to train a model or build a massive system from scratch.
You don’t.

A realistic solution is to start by creating small AI assistants per team or task, trained with what you already know, like:

• your agency’s email tone
• report structure
• key metrics explained
• QA checklists
• basic debrief templates

Here are a few ways we use AI assistants at Welov internally (since we’re all friends here, I’ll share the juicy stuff):

• summarizing meetings with next steps
• structuring Help Center articles
• acting as tone experts for corporate comms

We use custom GPTs, but you can do this with Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or even internal platforms. The key is that it’s fed with your own know-how.

But careful! AI shouldn’t live only in the hands of the most #AIEnthusiastic folks.

We need to stop using AI as a random party trick and start embedding it as a core layer of efficiency and knowledge.

So, use cases should be accessible to every department, encouraging testing and knowledge sharing.

💡 One tip I insist on: set up an internal wiki with all your AI experiments: what worked, what didn’t, what surprised you. This speeds up your learning curve dramatically.

3) One person to manage the AI hype

(yes, that’s probably you)

More and more, agencies need someone to own the AI roadmap.

Ideally, someone who understands each department’s workflows and enjoys staying up to date on AI. (Again… sounds like you 👋)

Here’s some ammo to convince whoever needs convincing:

This person is crucial to:

• choose tools that actually integrate well.
• define internal guidelines for AI use.
• oversee ethics, privacy, and legal stuff.
• be the go-to for questions and scaling insights.
• (add more reasons based on your agency’s setup)

💡 If we don’t use AI properly now, we risk staying stuck in operations and missing the chance to focus on strategy.

You can start using AI without crashing and burning

If your plan for next quarter includes “streamline processes” and “leverage AI” but your reality looks like answering emails at 9pm… don’t panic. Start small.

Make a list of tasks you want to improve. Create one prompt. Try it. Then iterate, tweak, improve.

If you wait until everything’s perfect, spoiler alert: you’ll never start. The real challenge is to step out of autopilot, question some workflows, and try with intention.

And if you do (even imperfectly), the next time you see a “how we crushed it with AI” post on LinkedIn, you’ll say: “Yep, I’m on that path too.” And honestly, that’s already a win.