What Your Agency Team Gains With an Agency-Specific AI Tool
Agencies are being squeezed from all sides. Brands are shrinking timelines — but not expectations — while budgets get tighter. Clients want deeper insights and more innovative approaches, all while demanding you do more with less, faster than ever before.
Before I go any further, yes: I am going to talk about an AI tool to help you come out on top. But by no means am I suggesting you blow up your processes and sacrifice your well-honed skills and let the tech just do everything for you, because it can’t. Every agency has its secret sauce — those unique fingerprints that make your strategic approach distinctly yours.
The truth is, the most powerful AI tools don't replace your processes, strategic output, nor the secret formula that serves as your agency's core identity. They only accelerate and enhance them. Think of it as a release valve for all that mounting pressure.
Generic AI Tools Don’t Cut It for the Agency Strategic Brief Process
Picture the current progression of writing a strategic brief from beginning to end. Research that takes nights and weekends. Persona development that takes umpteen meetings to perfect. Competitive analysis that sours your team’s morale.
Now, imagine all those key process points take an afternoon — without losing an ounce of strategic depth or replacing your agency’s formula with anything artificial. It sounds ideal, right? But most omnipresent AI tools fall short. They are generic at best, ironically time-consuming at worst. They’re built for everyone, which is to say no one in particular.
I’ve lost track of how many teams I’ve talked to who have struggled to implement new tools into their tech stack, often opting to avoid them altogether. Finding a platform that truly meets your needs without wasting resources is no small feat, and all too common.
We've all spent hours wrestling with AI tools, carefully crafting prompts and hoping for that one breakthrough moment of insight. But consistently generating high-quality, strategic output that you'd confidently present to a client? That's a different challenge entirely. (Though if you’ve mastered that, let me know, will you?)
ChatGPT, et al. wasn’t built for your use case — deep, nuanced agency work. It wasn’t specifically developed by people who know how the agency industry operates in all its complexity, with every step of the strategic planning process baked in. Expecting a generic AI tool to grasp the ins and outs of strategic planning is where many agencies get stuck and stay.
How AI Can Accelerate and Enhance What You Already Do Well
Imagine cutting your research time down dramatically, so instead of spending three weeks digging through a pile of information, you're now free to really craft something amazing. Imagine having your super-smart colleague who never forgets a single fact — who can also help you shrink your timelines from weeks to days. It’s possible with an agency-specific AI tool: Magnolia.
Here are the strategic brief development process points you can accelerate with Magnolia:
Research and analysis
Target audience identification
Insight development
Key message development
Proof that this messaging will work
Tone & Personality
Media & Channel Considerations
Writing a Full Strategy Report
There are many features inside Magnolia designed so your experience is smooth and valuable. Whether you need to narrow in on your client’s business and marketing objectives, upload your own information to be included in the research, or become an expert for an upcoming sales call or pitch, Magnolia’s got you covered.
File Upload Capabilities
Upload proprietary research files (PDFs, CSVs, text docs) to complement Magnolia’s web data.
Use internal knowledge and client data to enhance analysis.
Expanded Research Transparency
Ask questions about specific facts in your brief and get detailed citations instantly.
Enhanced transparency into Magnolia’s co-building process with clear source identification.
Flexible Export Options
Export briefs or sections into Google Docs, Slides, or PDFs.
Streamline your agency workflows and client presentations.
Save time converting briefs into slides and keep work on-brand.
Executive Summaries
Find concise overviews at the top of each research section.
Quickly digest key insights across all subscription levels.
Rapid Biz Dev Research Reports
Quickly generate industry, company, and competitor reports for new business conversations.
Input key criteria, choose up to three competitors, and receive reports instantly.
Run reports without project limit impacts (two for Starters and unlimited for Pro levels).
Chief Strategy Officer Lauren O'Brien is here to tell you a bit about Magnolia's Rapid Biz Dev Research reports.
I want to emphasize this: You're still doing the strategic work, still coming up with the brilliant insights, but now you can get those insights faster. And that's what battling the shrunken budgets and timelines truly demands: your strategic brilliance, amplified.
No Matter the Tech Stack, Your Agency Team Should Always Earn the Glory
Generic AI tools can only take you so far. What truly matters is having a collaborator that empowers your team to tackle the toughest challenges — the ones that define your careers and your agency’s reputation.
Magnolia provides the seed ideas to nurture into standout strategies and the statistical proof points to challenge biases — your own and your client’s. It doesn’t replace the creative spark that drives breakthrough campaigns. Instead, Magnolia clears the mental clutter, giving you more space to be creative, more time to think strategically, and more confidence in every decision.
Magnolia helps you get to the breakthrough faster, armed with sharper insights, and a stronger grasp of your strategic landscape — so the glory is always yours to rightfully claim.
Questions? Send me an email: john@magnolia-made.com.
