If you’re like many business owners, you probably employ a full-time advisor who helps with everything from strategy and decision-making to daily task execution. He has genius-level intelligence, knows everything about your business, and he’s never too busy for you. We’re talking about Claude, though you may prefer to work with his friends ChatGPT or Gemini.
So why pay expensive retainers to marketing agencies if AI assistants can conduct your strategy and execution for a small monthly subscription?
USDP is a marketing agency, and we get paid for our expertise. However, it would be wrong to pretend that there aren’t clear advantages to working with a tool like Claude. Let’s discuss the areas where Claude has us beat and where our human intuition still matters.
Advantages of outsourcing your marketing to AI
It’s cheaper than people
For roughly $20 a month, Claude can instantly field your question or command, scour the internet for relevant information, and synthesize that content for your benefit. It’s certainly not perfect and there are some obvious flaws, but on its face, this level of intelligent assistance for this price point is hard to beat. Most LLMs also offer generous free plans.
Its help is immediate
At USDP, our account managers help us operate with great speed and efficiency. That being said, we are human beings, we can’t multitask, and we require food and sleep (but significantly less water than our AI friends). Our team is incredibly responsive, but Claude is instantly ready to help you long after business hours are over.
However, US Digital Partners has never been labeled as a threat to national security by the federal government, however. Take that, Claude.
It can do everything
AI no longer just writes poems and creates pictures of people with extra fingers. It can do most things that agencies like us specialize in such as creating email campaigns, writing and publishing content, creating videos, designing brands, and even writing and coding entire websites. Agencies can no longer gatekeep industry expertise. With an AI sidekick, anyone can be their own CMO. There are many flaws with outsourcing all of your marketing to AI, and we will address those shortly, but its limitations are no longer technical. But can Claude really be trusted to replace an experienced team of rational people? Let’s find out.
Disadvantages of fully outsourcing to AI
You don’t benefit from a ‘yes man’
AI is programmed to be sycophantic with a tendency to compliment even your worst ideas. We all love receiving compliments, but this “yes man” behavior is actually antithetical to the agency model. At USDP we constantly push our clients, cautioning against bad ideas and distractions along the marketing roadmap. This work is like physical therapy; we may ask you to stretch farther than you’d like but it’s in your best interest.
Empathy is important
AI has a crucial flaw: it isn’t human. The actions and preferences of humans don't always make analytical sense. A well-formed human mind knows when something “feels off” and can account for subjective factors such as emotions. Your AI model doesn’t have that human intuition, so blindly trusting Claude with every marketing decision will eventually result in a brand faux pas. When that happens, the backlash is brutal.
It doesn’t think about your business in the shower
Artificial intelligence is, well, artificial. There isn’t an actual brain at work. Agentic AI can work around the clock, which is certainly very valuable, but it’s different from the advisor who has your business in mind on days off. Agencies are typically paid according to the hours they spend working on your business, but that doesn’t include the epiphanies that happen after hours. That sort of value is hard to quantify.
No accountability
Like humans, AI agents are fallible. AI hallucinations are frustrating and there are horror stories of agents deleting important company files or offering false advice. This isn’t to say that agencies don’t make mistakes. We’ll be the first to admit that we’ve made our fair share in 24 years. When mistakes happen, however, we are accountable in ways that AI isn’t.
An old-fashioned conversation
When things aren’t going the way you’d like, you have a whole team of people you can talk to. While we make mistakes, we don’t hallucinate, and having multiple sets of eyes constantly looking after your account keeps mistakes to a minimum. When Claude makes a mistake, it will likely say something like: “You are right to call me out on that. It won’t happen again.” This would be reassuring, if Claude and its buddies weren’t all known to behave like pathological liars.
Contracts
When you work with an agency like us, you sign a contract. Our contracts, called MSAs, give you assurance that your investment is protected. That concept doesn’t really exist with Claude and its buddies. If you give AI agency over your brand and website, there’s no one to speak to when things go poorly.
Reviews and the free market
There are a lot of agencies in the marketplace today. This level of competition means that only the best survive. If an agency’s work is subpar, they will lose customers. Before rolling the dice with an agency, you can read reviews and hear from happy customers.
Conversely, the big AI assistants on the market are backed by million dollar companies. A dissatisfied customer and a negative review are just drops in the bucket. Referrals are the lifeblood of an agency like ours, and a disappointed customer means lost revenue.
The Bottom Line
AI is a powerful tool that, when used well, can expand your skillset and help you make smarter decisions. Can you use Claude to totally replace your marketing partner? You can try, but it’s not wise.
Claude is the most powerful ally for solopreneurs and DIY types. If your hustle and ingenuity are only limited by a lack of technical skills, that’s where a Claude subscription can help you excel. However, giving AI ownership over brand assets and taking its advice on important decisions opens the door for some potentially treacherous waters. You are Claude’s key accountability factor, so do your due diligence.
Here’s what we recommend: Use AI. Use it with a plan, use it with discernment, and use it to enhance the work your real people do. The companies with the best competitive edge are running on “AI-assisted humanity.” Find how you can do the same.
