The marketing industry has always been susceptible to trends and fads. When a new technology or channel pops up, marketeers are usually the first to jump on the bandwagon. It’s a pattern we’ve seen repeat itself, over and over again. But the hype around AI is unprecedented, and the B2B marketing industry is not exempt from disruption.
As LLMs and AI overviews become more commonplace, something fundamental is shifting behind the scenes: a structural change in the way brands connect with their audiences. In fact, 94% of B2B buyers are already using AI to learn about brands and make purchasing decisions.* The traditional customer journey is dying.
20-50% of search traffic is at risk.
Brands now have less control over the way their products and services are presented. And 70-80%* of the journey is already complete by the time a vendor actually makes contact with a customer.
The information that customers find is mediated and presented to them by AI agents that gather and process data about a brand or product. So CMOs and marketeers need to treat these agents like a new audience.
70-80% of the B2B buying journey is completed before a buyer engages a vendor.
At Frankly – a creative digital agency based in Copenhagen – we’ve formulated a new marketing model (you’ll find full details on pages 6-7) that directly addresses this new dynamic. We call it the Flip. It’s an approach that totally rethinks traditional marketing and activation strategies.
The Flip is all about developing an ability to communicate with machines as well as humans. The way these two audiences deal with information is very different. So in order to make the most of this new dynamic, marketeers will have to learn how to speak to the AI agents.
And to learn how to speak to them, we need to know how they work…
94% of B2B buyers are using AI to learn about brands and make purchasing decisions.
*According to McKinsey & Company
