What is An AI Automation Agency? Here’s The Breakdown

If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, then you’ve likely spent some time looking at a ton of AI tools on the market. Maybe you’re using ChatGPT to help get those writing juices flowing. Or maybe you’ve even played around with the AI features on various platforms within your tech stack.

That’s all fun and games, but is there a way to actually leverage AI to streamline your business workflows? And how do you do it?

Answer: You implement automation systems to streamline operations with the use of AI.

Come join me on Instagram @SamOnAutopilot, where I share a fun automation every week, or join my newsletter, where you will get automation inspiration on Wednesdays.

So whether you’re looking to automate your accounting, content creation, or some other aspect of your business, you may want to just hire out an automation agency to get the systems set up for you.

First, What Is An AI Automation Agency?

Simply put, an AI automation agency is an agency that helps businesses automate some or all of their daily operations with the use of artificial intelligence.

AI is such a “trendy” word these days, but basically, it’s helping a business set up automation that are next level. Not simply triggering a series of actions, but using AI LLM models, AI art generators, etc. to help assist you.

Will an AI Automation Agency Help Scale My Business?

I often see a lot of confusion over this. AI is a shiny, bright object that can create video and images from scratch. So surely, I can just hit a few buttons and have my entire content marketing department systematized, right?

Of course not. Here’s how automation will ACTUALLY help your business.

Before AI Automation: Step By Step “The Old-Fashioned Way”

Let’s use for example, writing blog articles for your Shopify ECommerce business to increase organic traffic.

Here are your steps before any type of automation.

1. You use Ahrefs or SEMrush to do some keyword research and find out what your audience is looking for.
2. Write an article about that specific topic (including headers, images, etc.)
3. Send it through an SEO keyword optimization software like SurferSEO.
4. Check it through a grammatical software like Grammarly.
5. Upload the article into Shopify.
6. Create meta-descriptions, meta-titles, and add all product embeds and links.
7. Publish the Article
8. Update it when appropriate

Here’s the point of this: There is a very specific process you have to complete. And you understand this process because you’ve been doing this over and over again, and have tested the process and refined it over time.

Automation, The Digital Way.

Now let’s fast forward to pre-ChatGPT days just a few years ago (circa 2021).

We could create some manual automations with Zapier or Make. Our process looked more like this:

1. You use Ahrefs or SEMrush to do some keyword research and find out what your audience is looking for.
2. Write an article about that specific topic (including headers, images, etc.)- An automatic email is sent to each person in the department to do their assigned task.
3. Send it through an SEO keyword optimization software like SurferSEO.
4. Check it through a grammatical software like Grammarly.
5. Upload the article into Shopify. Use Zapier to auto-upload the article.
6. Create meta-descriptions, meta-titles, and add all product embeds and links.
7. Publish the Article -Schedule this out with automation.
8. Update it when appropriate- Set automatic triggers to fire when an upload is needed.

As you can see, we’re adding in some automatic strategic tasks to your existing systems to take away some of the mental fatigue and any manual tasks like sending an email to Paul to add the images to the article, etc. This is what CRMs are very powerful for.

Automation, The AI Process Automation Way

Now, up until this point, we’ve been able to, in a sense “push things” from one workflow to another. And that was automation.

AI workflows are redefining everything. Here’s how you can now implement AI into these daily routine tasks:

You create a form with a widget on your phone about new content ideas you may have. This goes into a database that you check in with once a week to approve for your weekly calendar.

1. You use Ahrefs or SEMrush to do some keyword research and find out what your audience is looking for. You send a trigger to ChatGPT to think of all the SEO keyword variations that could be included in this topic idea. These are automatically sent for keyword analysis, and then all information is automatically prefilled in your Airtable or Google Sheets.
2. Write an article about that specific topic (including headers, images, etc.)- Then you “approve” the topic and keywords, and send it to an AI writer to write the outline and basic information. You then manually tweak and add invaluable information that an AI writer wouldn’t know.
3. Send it through an SEO keyword optimization software like Surfer. Once that’s done you send a trigger for it to be edited by Surfer and Grammarly, and then automatically upload as a rough draft in Shopify with all steps 4, 5, and 6 done.
4. Check it through a grammatical software like Grammarly.
5. Upload the article into Shopify.
6. Create meta-descriptions, meta-titles, and add all product embeds and links.
7. Publish the Article -You then do a final edit and review of the finalized version and schedule it to be published.
8. Update it when appropriate- Set automatic triggers to fire when an upload is needed.

AI Automation Agency Services

Okay, so by now you’re probably like me thinking there are SO MANY innovative solutions you could use this for. So here’s a few more ideas I’ve seen in action with AI solutions:

I don’t even think the sky is the limit, and there is no end to what you can now do with automation solutions.

How To Get Started With An AI Automation Agency

Before you start typing in the buttons to hire someone, it’s MUCH more important to take at least a few days and decide what would create the most leverage in your business.

Here’s what I recommend you doing:

1. Write down a list of all the processes you currently do by hand.

This is a brain-dumping session. Write down all those flows that take a ton of time that you complete daily with either you or your team.

2. Prioritize the list.

After you have them all on paper, prioritize them in terms of moving your business forward. Which ones would bring in the most revenue and run your business the most effectively?

3. Now, order them in how many man hours it takes to complete.

This is where you look at the processes that you need to move the business, but it takes a ton of man hours, and you wish you didn’t have to do it.

4. Now prioritize this based on what actually leverages your business the most, paired with what you spend the most time on. Look at the mismatches.

When you do this simple task, you’ll find that some of the things that you invest the most time on don’t necessarily bring you the highest return. Quite honestly, they make you feel productive and busy but don’t move the needle.

5. Narrow down on 1 or 2 problems that, if you automated it, would either increase your revenue or decrease costs or time.

Now this is the fun part. Choose a couple of processes that will bring you the most bang for your buck.

And that’s really it. Automation is not going to be the answer to scaling your business. Rather, it’s going to help you leverage your time more efficiently so you can spend it on the tasks that will move your business further.

What To Look For When Hiring an Automation Agency

Here are the five things I would look for when hiring an automation agency:

Ready To Automate?

I’ve been working with AI tools since 2021 (a year prior to ChatGPT) and am building out some amazing automation for clients (check out my weekly fun at @SamonAutoPilot on Instagram or the AutoPilot Newsletter.

If there’s a specific automation you’re looking for, you’re in luck! I’m looking for a few more good use cases and offering an insane discount for your honest feedback.

Fill out this form if you would like me to consider your case 🙂