How We Automated 80% of Our Agency Work

We run a digital marketing agency with 15 clients and a team of 3. Two years ago, that same client load required 8 people.

We didn't get more efficient. We automated.

Here's exactly what we automated, the tools we use, and the results.

The Automations

Research & Discovery

Client Brand Research

Before any new client kickoff, we run an automated research pipeline: scrape their website, pull social media profiles, analyze competitor positioning, and summarize their market. Claude processes everything into a structured brief.

Before: 4-6 hours of manual research per client

After: 15 minutes of review + edits

~5 hours saved per client

Proposals & Pitches

Proposal Generation

Feed client requirements + our service templates into Claude with a structured prompt. Out comes a 90% complete proposal with pricing, scope, timeline, and case studies automatically pulled from our database.

Before: 3-4 hours per proposal

After: 30 minutes of customization

~3 hours saved per proposal

Content Production

Social Media Content Calendar

Monthly content calendars used to take days. Now: input brand voice guide + topics + content pillars → Claude generates 30 days of post concepts with captions. We review, adjust, and schedule.

Before: 8 hours per client per month

After: 2 hours of review + refinement

~6 hours saved per client monthly

Reporting

Automated Performance Reports

Pull data from Google Analytics, Meta Ads, Google Ads via APIs. Claude analyzes trends, highlights wins/concerns, and writes the narrative. Export to Google Slides template automatically.

Before: 6 hours per report, dreaded monthly task

After: 45 minutes of review

~5 hours saved per report

Client Communication

Email Response Drafting

Every client email gets processed by Claude to draft a response. It pulls context from our CRM, previous conversations, and project status. We review and send. Never starting from blank.

Before: 15-30 minutes per thoughtful email

After: 5 minutes to review and personalize

~20 minutes saved per email

Ad Creative

Ad Copy Variations

For every ad campaign, we need 10-20 copy variations. Claude generates them based on winning formulas from our swipe file. We pick the best, test, and iterate.

Before: 2 hours per campaign

After: 20 minutes of selection + tweaking

~1.5 hours saved per campaign

The Numbers

Across 15 clients with monthly retainers:

Research: 75 hours/month → 15 hours/month
Content: 120 hours/month → 30 hours/month
Reporting: 90 hours/month → 15 hours/month
Proposals: 20 hours/month → 5 hours/month
Communication: 50 hours/month → 15 hours/month

Total: 355 hours → 80 hours. That's 78% reduction in operational hours.

💡 The insight: We didn't eliminate human work. We eliminated human busywork. Strategy, relationships, and creative judgment still require humans. Data pulling, first drafts, and formatting don't.

What We Don't Automate

Strategy calls: Humans build trust. Period.
Final creative approval: AI drafts, humans decide.
Crisis management: When things go wrong, humans fix them.
Relationship building: No AI can replace genuine connection.
Novel problem-solving: AI handles patterns; we handle exceptions.

The Tools

Claude Pro + API: The brain behind 90% of our automations
Make (Integromat): Connects everything, runs on schedule
Google Workspace APIs: Pulls data, generates docs/slides
Notion: Our knowledge base that Claude references
Custom scripts: Python for the stuff no-code can't handle

Total automation tooling cost: ~$200/month. Saves us easily $8,000+/month in labor.

How to Start

Don't try to automate everything at once. Here's the progression that worked for us:

Week 1: Automate one reporting task. Pick your most repetitive report.
Week 2: Add email drafting. Create templates Claude can use.
Week 3: Content calendar generation. Build your brand voice prompts.
Month 2: Connect systems. Make data flow automatically.
Month 3: Tackle proposals and research. These are bigger but highest impact.

Each automation builds on the last. You learn what works, refine your prompts, and expand.

The Result

We went from 8 people struggling to keep up to 3 people running smoothly with better output quality. Not because AI replaced humans, but because AI eliminated the work that was never really "human" work in the first place.

The 80% we automated was always just information transformation: taking data from one format and putting it in another. That's what computers are for.

The 20% we kept is what actually matters: strategy, creativity, relationships, and judgment. That's what humans are for.

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