The Search Revolution Nobody’s Talking About: Why B2B Marketers Need to Prepare for AI-First Discovery
Remember when we all obsessed over keyword rankings and backlinks? Well, while most of us were perfecting our SEO strategies, the entire search landscape shifted beneath our feet. And the brutal truth is: most B2B companies haven’t even noticed yet.
Let me share some numbers that should make you sit up and pay attention.
The Data You Can’t Ignore
39% of marketers report their website traffic has declined since Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024. That’s not a minor fluctuation; that’s a fundamental change in how your potential customers find information online.
But here’s where it gets really interesting. Zero-click searches increased from 56% to 69% between May 2024 and May 2025. Think about what that means for a moment: more than two-thirds of searches now end without anyone clicking through to a website. Your beautifully optimised landing page that you spent months perfecting? Your ideal customer might never see it because the AI answered their question first.
And before you think this is just about Google, ChatGPT has grown to over 250 million weekly users in 2024, with many sessions lasting far longer than the quick in-and-out of a typical Google search. These aren’t casual browsers; these are people having in-depth conversations about their business challenges.
What’s Actually Happening Here
The shift isn’t just technological – it’s behavioural. Your buyers are fundamentally changing how they research solutions.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
A few years ago, a procurement manager searching for a demand generation agency would type “best demand gen agency UK” into Google, click through ten websites, read reviews, compare offerings, and slowly build a shortlist over days or weeks.
Now? They open ChatGPT and ask: “I need a demand generation agency in the UK that specialises in B2B SaaS. Who should I consider and why?”
The AI responds instantly with 3-5 recommendations, complete with reasoning about why each might be a good fit. If your company isn’t one of those names being cited, you’ve lost the opportunity before you even knew it existed.
This isn’t some future prediction. 92% of Fortune 500 companies report leveraging OpenAI’s products. Your buyers are already there, having these conversations without you.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Traditional SEO
I’ve spent years helping companies optimise for search engines. Domain authority, quality backlinks, keyword density, schema markup—we all know the playbook inside out. And yes, these fundamentals still matter.
But increasingly, they’re not enough.
Studies show average drops of 15% to 70% or more in organic clicks for website traffic, depending on your industry and search intent. Even if you’ve fought your way to the #1 position on Google for your target keyword, that ranking means significantly less if people are getting their answers without ever scrolling to see your perfectly crafted title tag.
The reality is brutal: you can have flawless traditional SEO and still be invisible in the platforms where your buyers are actually doing their research
Why This Matters Even More for B2B
In B2B, we already know the buying journey is complex. Multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles, high-value decisions that require internal buy-in. Now add AI platforms into the mix, and you’ve got buyers doing their initial research, building shortlists, and forming opinions about vendors through conversational interfaces that either know about you—or don’t.
Think about your own behaviour for a moment. When you need to evaluate a new martech tool or find a specialist agency, do you still click through ten review sites and comparison pages? Or do you ask ChatGPT or Perplexity to give you a quick rundown of your options?
Be honest.
Your buyers are doing exactly the same thing. And if AI platforms don’t surface your company in those critical early-stage conversations, you’re simply not in the consideration set. You don’t even get a chance to compete.
The Four Factors That Determine AI Visibility
So what makes an AI platform like ChatGPT cite one company over another? Through extensive testing and analysis, we’ve identified four core parameters that Large Language Models consistently evaluate:
1. Authority – Your domain’s credibility and reputation across the web. This isn’t just about backlinks anymore; it’s about whether the broader internet considers you a legitimate, established player in your space.
2. Relevance – How closely your content aligns with what the user is actually asking. AI platforms are remarkably good at understanding intent and matching it to genuinely helpful information.
3. Context – The depth and quality of information on your pages. AI models favour comprehensive, well-structured content that provides real value, not just keyword-stuffed fluff designed to game algorithms.
4. Keywords – Yes, keywords still matter, but not in the way you might think. It’s about semantic relevance and natural language that matches how people actually talk about problems and solutions.
Check the AI visibility of your website now at – https://geoscore.app/
The challenge? These parameters interact in complex ways, and what works for one search query might not work for another. There’s no simple checklist you can follow.
What B2B Companies Should Be Doing Right Now
Here’s the strategic reality: most companies are still pouring resources into traditional SEO while largely ignoring AI visibility. That creates a massive opportunity for early movers.
Audit your current AI presence. Start by searching for your company and competitors in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. What comes up? Are you being cited? For what queries? This isn’t vanity research—it’s competitive intelligence about an entirely new channel.
Understand where you’re losing visibility. If a competitor is being recommended instead of you, why? What do they have that you don’t? This requires more than ego—it requires honest assessment of your digital footprint from an AI perspective.
Optimise your content for AI discovery. This doesn’t mean abandoning SEO best practices. It means ensuring your website content is genuinely informative, well-structured, and clearly explains who you are and what problems you solve. AI platforms reward substance over tricks.
Monitor how this landscape evolves. AI search is changing rapidly. What works today might not work in six months. Companies that stay ahead of these changes will have a significant competitive advantage.
The Window Won’t Stay Open Forever
Here’s what concerns me: we’re currently in that sweet spot where most B2B companies are still asleep to this shift. The ones who recognise it now and take action will build a considerable moat before their competitors even understand what’s happening.
This reminds me of the early days of content marketing or the initial rise of LinkedIn as a B2B channel. The companies who moved first gained disproportionate returns. The laggards spent years playing catch-up.
The same pattern is happening again with AI visibility. Except this time, the stakes are higher because the shift is happening faster.
What Comes Next
We’re not suggesting you abandon everything you know about traditional search marketing. Far from it. SEO fundamentals remain important.
But if you’re only optimising for Google and ignoring the platforms where your buyers are increasingly starting their research, you’re setting yourself up for a nasty surprise when you review next year’s lead generation numbers.
The companies that thrive in the next few years won’t be the ones with the best SEO. They’ll be the ones who figured out how to be visible everywhere their buyers are looking—including the AI platforms that are rapidly reshaping the discovery process.
The question isn’t whether AI search will impact your business. The question is whether you’ll be ready when it does.
Start Getting Your Website Visable to AI Now – https://geoscore.app/
What’s your experience been? Have you noticed changes in your website traffic since AI Overviews launched? Are you seeing prospects mention they found competitors through ChatGPT? I’d genuinely love to hear what you’re seeing on the ground. Drop me a message—this is too important for any of us to figure out alone.arketers can unlock its full potential and create a more engaging and personalised campaigns and customer experience.
Could Gen AI Enhance Your Content Pillars
Generative AI is rapidly changing the landscape of content creation and customer experience. The technology offers a wide range of applications for marketers, beyond just automatic content generation, with many starting to explore applying the technology to curate a personalised customer experiences.
What is Generative AI?
Although you might be aware of what Artificial Intelligence is, Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images, audio, and video. It works by learning the patterns and structures of existing content and then using that knowledge to generate new content that is similar.
How Can Generative AI Benefit Marketers?
Generative AI offers a number of potential benefits for marketers. It can increase efficiency by automating many of the tasks involved in content creation, freeing up marketers to focus on more strategic work. It can also improve personalisation by creating personalised content experiences for customers, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions. Additionally, Gen AI can enhance creativity by generating new ideas and formats for content, helping marketers to break through the clutter and capture attention. Finally, generative AI can create entirely new formats of content, such as virtual influencers and brand avatars.
Practical Applications of Generative AI for Marketing
Here are some specific examples of how generative AI can be used in marketing:
- Text generation: Generative AI can be used to create marketing copy, news stories, social media posts, and other types of written content. For example, a company could use generative AI to create different versions of ad copy to see which performs best.
- Image generation: Generative AI can be used to create images for marketing materials, social media, and websites. For example, a clothing company could use generative AI to create images of models wearing different outfits.
- Video generation: Generative AI can be used to create marketing videos, product demos, and even personalised video messages for customers. For example, a real estate company could use generative AI to create virtual tours of properties.
- Personalised experiences: Generative AI can be used to create personalised email campaigns, website experiences, and even product recommendations. For example, an e-commerce company could use generative AI to recommend products to customers based on their past purchase history.
- Virtual influencers and brand avatars: Generative AI can create virtual influencers and brand avatars for social media and the metaverse. For example, a beauty company could use a virtual influencer to promote its products on Instagram.
Challenges and Considerations
While AI offers many potential benefits, it is important to be aware of the challenges and considerations. Gen AI can be used to create deepfakes and other types of misleading content. It is important to use this technology responsibly and ethically. AI models can also be biased, which can lead to the creation of discriminatory or offensive content. It is important to carefully evaluate and mitigate bias in models. AI could also unknowingly potentially create content that infringes on existing copyrights, meaning marketers must be aware of the legal implications of using this technology. While AI can automate many tasks, it is important to remember that it is still a tool. Human oversight is essential to ensure that the content created is high-quality and meets brand guidelines. AI also works by replicating content meaning the work will always be lacking in originality. It is also important to consider the human reaction to AI, many large brands have faced criticism and backlash in recent times for using AI instead of paying artists, designers, or copywriters.
The Future of Generative AI in Marketing
Gen AI is still a relatively new technology, but it will continue to evolve rapidly. As it continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative applications of this technology in marketing. In the future, AI may be able to create even more realistic and engaging content, maybe even leading to the creation of content that is indistinguishable from human-created content! Marketers will be able to create hyper-personalised experiences tailored to individual customer preferences and needs, automating the entire process of creating and executing marketing campaigns, from content creation to ad targeting. AI could power new forms of customer interaction, such as highly intelligent AI-powered chatbots and virtual customer assistants.
Conclusion
Generative AI is certainly a powerful technology that has the potential to transform marketing. By automating content creation, enabling personalisation, and enable creativity. Marketers will be able to achieve better results and connect with customers in new and innovative ways. However, it is important to remain aware of the challenges and considerations associated with applying this technology. By using AI responsibly and ethically, marketers can unlock its full potential and create a more engaging and personalised campaigns and customer experience.
Choosing a CRM system that best fits your business needs
A CRM (customer relationship management) system is crucial for winning and retaining business. CRM is not only about managing customer relationships. It’s also about gaining a better understanding of your business and clients. It helps you stay in control and effectively meets their needs. In the first few years of the business’s lifecycle, business owners usually store customer information in excels sheets only to realise that when it comes to analysing the customer data and using it to either:
- Create personalised marketing plans
- Improve customer experience through action insights
Hence, choosing a CRM system should be one of the first few decisions a growing business should make based on how it intends to use the customer data.
Identifying Your Needs and Goals
Choosing the appropriate tool is crucial for you and your colleagues to continue advancing the business. With plenty of choices available in the market, it is essential to identify the reason WHY you require a tool and WHAT specific tasks you want it to perform.
What are the benefits of a CRM system?
- A CRM system allows you to see the accurate picture of your customers
- Helps identify, define and segment an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
- Build relationships with clients and improve customer service, thanks to insights
- Improve your client communication
- Identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell
- Help track sales and marketing activities against each client
Factors to consider when choosing a CRM system
What are your most significant needs?
CRM platforms can significantly enhance your business’s efficiency by automating tedious and time-consuming tasks such as data entry and reporting. Therefore, it is crucial to select the right CRM platform that caters to your specific needs and requirements.
When considering different CRM suppliers and platforms, it is essential to identify your specific needs and requirements. Are you looking to improve your customer relationships? If yes, ensure the platform provides the tools to utilise this aspect effectively.
Or are you looking for a way to make quick and informed decisions? A CRM system can provide real-time data on customer engagement and activity through social tools, helping you determine where to focus your new strategies.
What is your budget?
Investing is crucial for growing and scaling a business, so CRM tools are no exception. However, the prices of these tools depend on various factors, such as the features and the number of users, as well as any upgrades or additional options. It’s also important to note that there may be extra charges on top of the initial upfront costs. Therefore, it’s essential to consider how many users you need and not opt for the all-in-one package if it’s unnecessary, especially if only a few staff members will be working on the platform.
What essential features do you require?
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool cannot be expected to work perfectly from the beginning. Its purpose is to facilitate and improve the procedures that are already in place. However, as a business, you must determine what is most crucial for your company. Is it lead management to attract new customers or contact management to maintain relationships with existing clients?
The technology for lead management allows you to choose when to follow up. It analyses demographics and data to help you focus on leads at the right time and secure the sale.
Meanwhile, contact management is an essential factor. You can maintain your relationships with clients by using a tool that helps personalise emails and contacts for each client. This will make them feel special. Additionally, this tool can provide you with data on when to introduce new marketing strategies or products to them.
What sort of integration do you need?
Most CRM systems can integrate with other tools, so it’s essential to verify which software you want to integrate. If a chat function is necessary, or if HR software or website analytics are imperative to you, make sure they are compatible with your chosen CRM system to keep everything running smoothly.
Size of the database and growth forecast
Most CRMs are priced on the number of contacts you hold in the database, so having an idea of the number of contacts you have now in the database and how much you would expect to grow in the contract period with the CRM. Purchasing extra data bolt-ons often proves expensive in the long run, so it is good to have that in mind before purchasing.
Consider your reporting needs
Most CRMs have built-in templates for activity, sales, marketing, and director-level reporting. We strongly recommend testing these templates to see if they meet your reporting requirements.
At Demand Gen, we are experts in utilising various CRM tools – including Hubspot, Monday.com, Salesforce, and more. Speak to our team to take your CRM journey to the next level.
Demand Generation Campaigns for Sales Directors in Tech/Software Companies
Effective demand generation campaigns are crucial for driving business growth in the rapidly evolving tech industry. Recent studies highlight that companies meeting or exceeding their revenue goals tend to attract significantly more website traffic, generating higher numbers of Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and sales opportunities than those not meeting their targets. Companies achieving their revenue goals commonly report having more than 10,000 monthly website visitors.
Moreover, content marketing has emerged as a dominant strategy, particularly within the technology sector, where 43% of companies identify it as a critical investment area, notably higher than in other industries. This underscores the importance of targeted, valuable content in attracting and engaging the right audience. Content formats like video and interactive content show a higher engagement rate in organic or paid campaigns. However, written case studies and well-researched thought leadership pieces have not lost their charm. The value of the content is equivalent to the information that a prospect gets out of a content asset and whether it helps build their understanding about an issue that they are looking to resolve or a new initiative that they are trying to bring into the organisation to improve a process or make their lives easier.
Tactical Insights for Effective Demand Generation Campaigns
Account-Based Marketing (ABM): ABM continues to be a powerful tool, with 76% of marketers observing a greater return on investment through ABM compared to other approaches. This strategy focuses on engaging critical accounts with personalised campaigns, enhancing the conversion rates and effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Leveraging Intent Data: Approximately 40% of technology vendors collaborate with intent data providers to pinpoint potential buyers actively researching related topics. This strategy helps prioritise efforts towards leads with higher conversion potential, making demand generation efforts more efficient and targeted.
Webinars as Engagement Tools: Webinars are recognised for their effectiveness in lead conversion, with 73% of marketers and sales leaders identifying them as reliable methods for generating high-quality leads. This format educates potential clients and directly engages them, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Content Syndication with a Twist: Unlike typical broad-spectrum approaches, successful software companies now leverage hyper-targeted content syndication networks that cater specifically to niches within the tech industry. These networks provide a platform for distributing whitepapers, case studies, and webinars directly to engaged audiences, thus improving lead quality.
Interactive Tools and Assessments: Tools like ROI calculators or product configuration tools engage users more deeply than static content. For example, a SaaS company providing cloud services could offer a cost-saving calculator to help potential clients estimate their savings by switching to their solution and capturing lead information.
Referral Programs with a Difference: Companies are creating tiered reward systems that offer existing customers escalating benefits for referring multiple successful leads instead of general referral incentives. This increases referrals and encourages sustained engagement from the customer base.
Example of a Demand Generation Campaign – Case Study
A notable example is Quadient, a company implementing a targeted webinar series featuring industry experts. The series was marketed through specialised tech forums and social media platforms, leading to a 40% increase in qualified leads over a quarter.
Generate the Dmenad Your Business Deserves
For sales directors aiming to enhance their sales pipeline, DemandGen.co.uk offers expert services in crafting targeted campaigns that resonate with your specific audience. Our approach ensures that every campaign is data-driven, maximizing ROI by focusing efforts on high-potential leads.
Conclusion
Implementing these innovative demand gen tactics can significantly impact the effectiveness of lead generation campaigns in the tech sector. By focusing on targeted strategies and leveraging detailed analytics, sales directors can transform their approach to meet the evolving demands of the market.
B2B Marketing Trends 2024
As 2024 gets underway, we have been working with clients on their marketing plans and generating demand to get their businesses and products noticed in the ever-changing and competitive landscape. Through these processes we have identified what we think will really shape our plans – and the wider marketing world – over the next year. Do you agree with our take on these B2B marketing trends?
Gen AI (Yes, we really think we should start with this)
Since ChatGPT came into the fore in 2022, so much has changed for businesses and their reliance on Generative AI, including in future marketing plans. Utilising a GenAI strategy is going to be pivotal for moving forward, and if we don’t embrace it as companies working in the tech space, we will fall behind. But it’s about scaling at the right pace and level for you – which processes could benefit? Which are already performing well without? There’s no point in spending and overpromising. Our team can help with this and answer the questions on where to put AI to use in either content or processes. And remember, it’s not going away any time soon – a recent PWC report noted “that 84% of CIOS say they expect to use GenAI to support a new business tool”. Apple recently announced it was working on generative AI software features, and it looks set to be a tool that will remain in the future.
Website personalisation
Lead generation is all about giving that personal touch as we move forward. Gone are the days of cold calling – we need to get the right product in front of the right person.
We explore this with clients in many ways, but one of the biggest trends we’ve seen emerging in recent months is the ability to utilise B2B website personalisation.
What does this mean? Website personalisation offers the ability to change the view for your visitor depending on their location, industry, and demographic. If you have a product that works for multiple industries, then it’s a great way to focus on the decision-makers. For example, if you have someone from an accounts payable team for an insurance company looking to automate their systems, you could use the tech to show them the best use cases and products. We believe that personalisation will increase conversion rates to no end.
Keeping things human
Despite all this being said regarding AI, one of the biggest things to take forward this year and beyond is to remain authentic and think of exactly what the end user – this could be your client or their customer – needs. When we are devising client plans and content, the first thing we do is look at the language, breaking it down to ensure it is not overcomplicated, and, most importantly, tell the end user exactly what benefits they are getting from the service or system they are planning to work with.
Long live video
When working to put together our B2B marketing campaigns, we have to know what an effective way will be to get eyes on the product. We have been telling clients to embrace video content for a long time. There’s been an increased shift in the past year or so, as evidence shows video increases dwell time and traffic on the site and
can give a great ROI.
However, video content must be carefully planned and built into the wider brand marketing plan. Whether it’s a Q&A with an accompanying blog or a product showcase, it needs to be clear and concise, and overall beneficial for the end user.
Ensure your brand is seen by those actively seeking solutions in your industry. Increase awareness and visibility of your products and services across all digital platforms.