What McKinsey's Agentic AI Playbook Means for Smaller Marketing Teams

Agentic AI Workflows

The McKinsey article on agentic AI is fascinating because it shows how large marketing departments may begin rebuilding their workflows around AI. It gives the reader a good sense of what a well-designed AI-supported marketing operation could look like. But the larger lesson is just as important for small and mid-sized teams. AI integration only works when the process behind it is clear.

The article also makes a good case that AI agents should not be seen as replacements for workers. They are better understood as tools that can reduce redundant work, increase productivity, shrink timelines, and give employees more time to focus on the work that requires judgment, experience, and creative thinking.

It is clear that this article was written with larger teams in mind, but the lessons do translate to smaller teams interested in adopting AI tools to support their marketing and communication efforts. Though technology shifts can prove more difficult for smaller teams where folks often wear more than one hat, it is still worth the effort. The key takeaway, no matter the size of the team, is that a successful AI engagement requires a solid plan.

The best starting point is to do a complete assessment of current business and marketing goals and the related workflows. Identify those areas where tasks, processes, and work moving from person to person can be enhanced by an AI integration. Ask questions like these. Where are the slowdowns, what steps are repetitive, where do approvals get stuck, where does information get lost, or where do assets get lost in the daily mix?

Most assessments will identify opportunities to reduce redundant tasks, improve ideation and approval reviews, and simplify the process of managing assets. There are opportunities where agentic AI solutions can be introduced into legacy workflows to find lost time. In some cases, AI solutions can connect information across tools. In other scenarios, a simpler workflow or adopting different technologies will prove a better long-term solution.

The McKinsey report does a good job of framing an approach to agentic AI into business workflows. The report frames the marketing strategy and workflow assessment as a taxonomy of activities and tasks. For smaller teams, it is better to frame it as a three-pronged approach.

• Workflow map - what and how work flows through a desired workflow.

• Taxonomy - how the work is labeled, categorized, tagged with metadata, and tracked from beginning to end.

• Standards - brand voice, quality of deliverables, approval processes, and maintaining a consistent deliverable.

For smaller teams, the goal shouldn’t be to replace the entire marketing operation at once, but instead focus on one or two pain points. Start with a high-friction workflow, like campaign planning, asset organization, reporting, content approvals, or event follow-up. Prove the value, then find the next area to expand upon. This new approach does not replace workers, but moves them away from repetitive work and focuses them on the decisions that affect the brand, quality, customers, and larger growth goals. Oftentimes, the addition of new AI strategies requires team upskilling, which adds value and skills to your team while redefining the way they work.

For the business, the real value of adding an AI component to your strategy is not that every campaign will run itself, but that the team does not need to rebuild the process from scratch. A strong plan leads to a workflow that gives your team a repeatable way to plan, create, approve, store, measure, and reuse their work. This has the opportunity to reduce timelines and reduce campaign costs.

The promise of AI is to reduce effort and workload, but that promise is only as good as the plan behind it. Smaller teams don’t need to copy everything the larger teams do, they just need a practical solution that fits their team, goals, and budgets. TMS is able to help teams build workflows that reduce friction, improve consistency, and level the playing field with larger organizations in much more functional and practical ways.