If you told me five years ago that I would have AI agents running parts of my marketing workflow, I would have been skeptical. Today? I cannot imagine going back. AI has fundamentally changed how I work — not by replacing what I do, but by amplifying it in ways I never expected.
As someone who has spent 20+ years in digital marketing, I have seen plenty of “next big things” come and go. But AI agents are different. They are not just a shiny new tool — they are a paradigm shift in how marketing work gets done.
What Exactly Is an AI Agent?
Before I dive into how I use them, let me clarify what I mean by “AI agent.” An AI agent is not just a chatbot you ask questions. It is an autonomous system that can take actions, make decisions, and complete multi-step tasks with minimal human input. Think of it as having a highly capable assistant who never sleeps, never gets distracted, and can process information at superhuman speed.
The key difference between an AI agent and a simple AI tool: agents can act, not just respond. They can research, analyze, draft, publish, monitor, and iterate — often chaining multiple steps together automatically.
How I Use AI Agents Daily
Content Research and Strategy
One of the biggest time sinks in marketing is research. What are competitors doing? What questions is our audience asking? What keywords are trending? I now have AI agents that monitor industry trends, analyze competitor content, and identify content gaps — delivering a weekly brief that would have taken me hours to compile manually.
SEO Audits and Monitoring
I have set up automated workflows that crawl client sites, flag technical SEO issues, check for broken links, monitor Core Web Vitals, and even suggest optimization priorities. What used to be a full-day audit can now be triggered and summarized in minutes.
Content Drafting and Editing
Let me be clear: I do not let AI write my content and hit publish. But AI agents are incredible at generating first drafts, suggesting outlines, and catching things I miss. I use them as a collaborative tool — they draft, I refine, review, and add the human experience and voice that only comes from actually doing this work for 20 years.
Reporting and Analytics
My AI assistant pulls data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other platforms, then generates client-ready reports with insights highlighted. The time savings are enormous, but more importantly, it catches trends and anomalies I might miss when manually reviewing dashboards.
The Human Element Is Non-Negotiable
Here is where I differ from the “AI will replace everything” crowd. AI agents are force multipliers, not replacements. They make me faster and help me see things I might miss, but they cannot replace:
- Client relationships — Understanding a business’s unique challenges requires human empathy and experience
- Strategic judgment — Knowing when to zig instead of zag comes from years of pattern recognition
- Creative storytelling — AI can generate content, but connecting with an audience emotionally? That is still a human superpower
- Ethical oversight — Someone needs to ensure AI outputs are accurate, fair, and aligned with brand values
Getting Started with AI Agents
If you are a marketer curious about integrating AI agents into your workflow, here is my advice:
- Start with your biggest time waster. What repetitive task eats up hours every week? That is your AI agent’s first job.
- Choose the right tools. Claude, ChatGPT, custom GPTs, and tools like Zapier AI are great starting points. For more advanced workflows, look into platforms that support multi-step agent chains.
- Set guardrails. AI agents should operate within defined boundaries. Always have human review checkpoints for anything client-facing.
- Measure the impact. Track the time saved and quality improvements. This data will help you justify expanding AI usage across your team.
The Future Is Collaborative
I believe the most successful marketers in the coming years will be those who learn to work with AI, not compete against it. The combination of human creativity and strategic thinking with AI’s processing power and consistency is incredibly powerful.
I will be sharing more about my AI marketing workflows on this blog. If you are experimenting with AI agents in your marketing work, I would love to hear about your experience. Hit me up on X/Twitter — let us learn from each other.
