Over the past two weeks, we've talked about positioning yourself instead of chasing every AI development, and how adoption timelines are longer than the hype suggests.
This week, let's answer the question you're probably asking yourself: Am I behind? Am I keeping pace? Am I actually ahead?
Most agency owners don't know because they're comparing themselves to either tech Twitter hype or colleagues who claim they're not using AI at all. So here's a framework to gauge where you actually stand.
The Three Tiers of AI Adoption (Right Now)
Tier 1: Non-Business Owners / General Public
ChatGPT for personal research, writing help, and learning. AI image generators for fun or personal projects. Maybe using AI for resumes or cover letters. This is curiosity and experimentation with no business stakes.
Tier 2: Small-to-Medium Business Owners / Most Agencies
AI for content drafting, research, and competitive analysis. AI for image and creative asset generation. Using AI as a brainstorming partner or first-draft tool. Maybe AI for ad copy variations and SEO optimization. The key characteristic: using AI as an assistant to speed up existing workflows, but still heavily reviewing and editing everything.
Tier 3: Large Companies / Cutting-Edge Tech Companies
Custom AI models trained on company data. AI agents handling specific workflows end-to-end. AI-powered customer service and sales automation. Predictive analytics and AI-driven strategy. Building AI products as part of their core offering. Significant investment in AI infrastructure and talent.
Reality Check for Agencies
If you're in Tier 2, you're not behind. This is where most functional agencies are right now. The question isn't "am I using enough AI?" The question is: "Am I using it strategically in the places that matter most?"
What You Should Be Doing Right Now (Tier 2 Essentials):
1. Strategic Decision-Making Use AI as a consultant for business decisions, strategy reviews, and client planning - getting a second opinion before you move forward.
2. Workflow Acceleration Identify bottlenecks in your existing processes - client onboarding, campaign planning, performance analysis, creative briefing - and use AI to speed them up, not replace them.
3. Context Building Every conversation you have with AI about your business builds a knowledge base that will become invaluable when more advanced automation becomes accessible in the next 1-3 years.
4. Strategic Exploration Spend time regularly testing tools, learning how AI works, and thinking through how you'll integrate it more deeply as capabilities expand over the next 1-3 years.
The Near Future (1-3 Years)
Tier 2 businesses will start adopting the workflow automation that only Tier 3 companies use now. AI will handle more end-to-end processes with light supervision - campaign setup, reporting, basic optimizations.
The agencies that survive will be those who've built AI into their positioning NOW - either as efficiency multipliers or as a new service offering.
The gap won't be between "using AI" and "not using AI" - it'll be between agencies who integrated it strategically vs. those who bolted it on at the last minute.
Next week: The Context Document - Stop re-explaining your business to AI.