Anthony McGrathWhat does AI agent development for marketing involve?
AI agent development for marketing covers research agents, ads agents, seo and content agents, reporting agents, connections and control and safety. General AI assistants are clever but forgetful, and they need someone to drive them. Anthony McGrath does the work himself, with 22 years in digital marketing, for businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia.
- Best for
- Businesses and marketing teams that want AI to save time and win more customers, without the hype
- What you get
- Research agents, Ads agents, SEO and content agents, Reporting agents, Connections, Control and safety
- First step
- Talk it through: a short call about your business, your goals and where AI could save time or win more customers.
- Where
- The UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, working remotely across time zones
- Who does the work
- Anthony McGrath, hands-on, with 22 years in digital marketing
Why build agents around specific jobs
General AI assistants are clever but forgetful, and they need someone to drive them. Agents built for one clear job, with access to the right data and tools, can run every day and get better as they go.
I build agents on Claude, OpenAI and Gemini, connected to your ad accounts, analytics, CRM and website, with logging, permissions and approval steps. You stay in control of what they can see and do.
What's included
Start with one agent for one job, then add more.
Research agents
- Competitor ads and pricing watched
- Market and keyword research
- Customer review analysis
- Daily or weekly summaries
Ads agents
- Ad accounts audited every day
- Wasted spend and broken tracking flagged
- Search terms reviewed
- Suggested changes for approval
SEO and content agents
- Rankings and AI citations monitored
- Content briefs and drafts
- Technical issues spotted
- Pages updated with approval
Reporting agents
- Data from every platform pulled together
- Plain-English weekly plans
- Alerts when something changes
- Answers to questions about your numbers
Connections
- Google Ads, Meta and GA4
- Search Console and Bing
- CRMs, email and Slack
- Your website and back office
Control and safety
- Clear permissions for each agent
- Approval before any change
- Full logs of every action
- Costs capped and monitored
Before and after
An example of what adding a daily ads and reporting agent typically looks like.
- Hours on account checks each week: 10 before, 2 after
- Days to spot a tracking break: 9 before, 1 after
- Wasted spend caught each month: 300 before, 1,900 after
- Reports written by hand each month: 6 before, 0 after
An example of the kind of change this work aims for, based on typical starting points. It is not a promise or a specific client result: every business starts somewhere different. Money figures are shown without a currency: the same pattern applies in pounds, dollars, dirhams or Australian dollars.
How it works
- Talk it throughA short call about your business, your goals and where AI could save time or win more customers.
- Plan and priceA clear written plan: what gets built or changed, which tools, how long it takes and what it costs.
- Build and testSet up on your real data and tested properly, with a person checking the output before anything goes live.
- Launch and improveLaunched with tracking, so you can see what AI is adding, then improved month by month.
Platforms and tools
Questions
What is an AI agent?
An AI system that can carry out a task on its own: gathering information, using tools, making decisions within limits you set and reporting back, rather than just replying to a prompt.
Can an agent change my ad account?
Only if you allow it. Most agents I build suggest changes for a person to approve. Any direct actions have strict limits and full logs.
Which AI models do you use?
Claude, OpenAI and Gemini, chosen for each job based on accuracy, speed and cost.
How much does it cost to run an agent?
Usually a modest monthly amount in AI and hosting costs. The build is quoted as a fixed price, and running costs are capped.
Is my data safe?
Yes. Agents use business API accounts with data training off, the minimum access they need and secure storage for keys.
About Anthony McGrath
Tip of the day
Avoid tiny split audiences. Combine similar ad sets so Meta gets enough conversion data to exit learning phase.
A UK-based freelance digital marketer with 22 years across Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, conversion rate optimisation, funnels, Google, Meta and TikTok ads, SEO and tracking. He works directly with businesses in the UK, the US, Dubai and Australia, so the person who plans the work is the person who does it. More about Anthony or connect with him on LinkedIn.
Got a job an agent could do?
Tell me the marketing task that takes the most time. You get a plan for an agent to do it and what it costs.
Talk about an AI agent