Some Twin Cities ad agencies determined to stay independent in quickly consolidating industry

Small agencies are surviving the AI wave not by adopting every tool — but by being very selective about which one problem they solve first. A recent look at Twin Cities ad agencies staying independen

Small agencies are surviving the AI wave not by adopting every tool — but by being very selective about which one problem they solve first.

A recent look at Twin Cities ad agencies staying independent caught my attention. These firms aren't fighting consolidation with bigger budgets. They're winning by making deliberate, narrow choices about where AI actually helps their work.

That's the opposite of what most business owners are told to do.

You've probably heard "AI transforms everything." Then you bought the tool. Now it sits unused at $200/month while your team still does things the old way. That's not a you problem. That's a bad implementation problem — and it's more common than anyone admits.

Here's what the smart independents figured out: AI doesn't replace your workflow. It removes one specific friction point inside a workflow that already works.

Pick your most repetitive, time-consuming task. Not your biggest problem. Your most annoying small one. That's where your first AI win lives.

Start there. One task. Thirty days. Measure it. Then decide if you go further.

No consultants. No six-month rollouts. No ripping anything apart.

What's the one task on your team that eats time every single week but never seems to get fixed?

#AIStrategy #SmallBusiness #BusinessGrowth #AIImplementation

Original Source

... AI tools that are reshaping creative work. ... Dee DePass is an award-winning business reporter covering Minnesota small businesses for the Minnesota ...