• by Jon Bond , Op-Ed Contributor, March 12, 2026

Agencies for small clients -- what was once a terrible idea is finally practical.

Fifteen years ago I had what I thought was a great idea: streamline agency services to serve smaller clients.

Turns out it was a great way to lose money.  The local plumber required almost as much time as a P&G brand manager.

To wit, a consultant once advised our agency to, "resist the temptation to FK mice.”  Even if said mice were teeming with creative possibilities.  

Today, however, with advent of automation -- and especially AI -- the unthinkable is imminently doable.

Those teeny, tiny mice -- um i mean clients -- can actually get credible marketing. Usually in the area of lead-gen and CRM using 95% technology with only 5% human intervention (humans are expensive).

I see agencies charging $5,000/month-plus for pretty much what I once charged $50,000 for, and getting stellar results. And they make good margins doing it! 

A few shops that I think are doing a good job at this include Adsmith (full-service), Valoreum (mostly lead-gen and CRM)k and ONAR (where, full disclosure, I'm a board member).

These agencies work on a monthly subscription-type model delivering specific services for flat fees, regardless of budget.

This makes sense and transitions agency services into more of a tech company model.

This point is key, because tech companies know how to service SMEs efficiently.

Nearly every business in America uses Google search.  I predict some of these firms will scale not with a few large clients, but with hundreds or even thousands of SMEs, and eventually get bought by Big Tech at multiples no agency has ever seen. 

One last point. For the past 10 years we’ve been pretty good at automating processes that involve media, email and CRM. The elephant in the room has always been creative, which could only be handled by certifiable humans. But new AI tools have now put to rest the final obstacle.

The full-service automated agency finally is a real thing.