The AI era of Customer Buying and the Future of Growth

Setting the Scene

So far in this 3-part series of articles we have covered how and why LLMs have become our trusted buying companions (Part 1) and then on to how to do GEO the right way to gain a lasting competitive advantage (Part 2). In Part 3 we will look into the future of growth as organisations seek to adapt to this new AI era of customer purchasing.

In Part 1 we highlighted that in B2C, 58% of consumers are now using GenAI instead of traditional search engines to find product and service recommendations (Capgemini Research Institute, January 2025) and that in B2B, 94% of buyers are already using LLMs during their decision-making process (6sense 2025 Buyer Experience Report, November 2025). It is not just these statistics – there are others that underline how LLM adoption is more prevalent and more impactful in B2B which makes sense given the higher degree of research complexity and risk involved in a buying decision. Couple this with a higher dependency on outbound GTM tactics in B2B that as a general rule are losing effectiveness (outbound calling, email outreach – reference Part 1 and passing the inflection point between pull and push marketing) then it makes sense to focus future thinking on B2B where structural and operational change is required faster and results will be more profound. Learnings can still be applied to B2C but insights and recommendations throughout this article will always be set in a B2B context.

The Unassisted Buying Journey in B2B has Arrived

Buyers don't want to hear from you. That's the cold, hard truth in today's world. 75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience according to Sopro (2025). 81% of buyers know what they want before they engage with a vendor (6sense 2024). Both these percentages will only increase. Why is this?

Well the primary reason is buyers don't need to any more. LLMs have enabled buyers to condense weeks of research into hours, accessing all corners of the Web at lightning speed. Previously buyers depended on sellers to tell them what was available and often what they needed. The Digital era reduced this dependency but comprehensive research would still take time. LLMs have solved the time trade off for information and in doing so made buyers even more self-sufficient.

There are other reasons. In Part 1 we observed the generational shift in buying. Gen Z and Millennials now make up 71% of B2B buyers (Forrester, 2023) – generations brought up with Digital experiences and communities to inform, guide and validate. In terms of going “rep-free”, this preference is not surprising given most buyers will have experienced mis-selling or over-selling at some point. This is not to necessarily blame the SDR or BDRs (Sales or Business Development Representatives) – they have targets to hit with income heavily weighted on performance. The channel lends itself to compromise and now there is less dependency (and also desire to engage) on the buyer side, could face an existential crisis. More on that later.

As for other forms of (marketing) communication “pushed” to the customer, the evidence suggests that all forms of persuasive messaging are increasingly struggling to cut through – whether that's in the form of paid advertising, email campaigns etc. that we covered in Part 1.

Content is now the Lynchpin of GTM

In the “pull” Marketing era, Content is the key to success. In very basic terms, Content is authoritative and trustworthy communication that informs or inspires your audience – ideally both. This typically takes the form of category thought leadership which done well meets both criteria. Content can entail educational messaging or industry updates but organisations should really strive for genuine thought leadership to establish a competitive advantage.

Crucially thought leadership must stay connected to Brand messaging frameworks (or architectures) for maximum benefit. Too often thought leadership positions are treated tactically as a means to an end to securing earned media rather than a considered perspective on the category's future anchored on a brand's position of authority. Thought leadership should always sit one step away from where a brand is strongest and at the edge of category thinking. For that to happen, thought leadership positions must be developed by Brand experts who own the messaging frameworks top to bottom with market insights and intelligence support to provide the latest market and category trends.

One could argue Product Marketing Managers have emerged in B2B to own the messaging frameworks but this author argues that it should really be a Brand owner. Too often Brand has become detached as a visionary, emotive corporate aspiration in B2B but it should really be wholly connected and built off the solid foundations of product/service capabilities. PMMs may have been brought in with more of a technical background to fill a skills gap but this can lead to conflict or misalignment with Brand direction. If the skills gap is there it can be filled but must ultimately report into Brand so the messaging architecture is cohesive top to bottom and remain in step with more emotive dimensions of the Brand construct.

Media redefined for Effective Content Activation

In the AI era of B2B customer buying, we should consider all forms of customer comms a form of Content that sit along a single continuum of Media activation points (spanning Earned, Paid and Owned). At one end, pure thought leadership content which would typically be editorial copy via earned media. At the other I would now argue Paid Advertising resides – an activation historically kept separate from Content but now, even though it should remain benefits and reasons to believe led, ought to integrate some form of thought leadership messaging. It is simply not enough anymore to tell your audience what you do and why you are great. You need to explain why you matter – leaning much more on Content principles than Advertising – because finding what you do and where you excel is more easily discoverable now. Understanding your values, category knowledge and depth of empathy with your audience's challenges is less readily available and carries more resonance than before.

And between these two points on the Media Activation continuum, moving from pure editorial content through to paid advertising, gradually thought leadership will make way for a product/service's benefits and reasons to believe in the content execution – but never wholly replaced.

This single continuum approach to Media and direct correlation to Content, is absolutely necessary in the AI era of customer buying because LLMs view virtually all Media as viable citation sources. Your website is competing with your social channels which is competing with community platforms which is competing with affiliate publications and so on. And the same for your competitors.

In order to make the right Media choices and prioritise accordingly, all communication channels to your audience must be evaluated by the same GEO metrics where possible with specialist teams/individuals running each Media department – all reporting into a single owner. We will dive into this in more detail shortly.

The Future of Marketing in the AI era of B2B Buying

So far in this article we have identified Content and Media as two interdependent disciplines that need to be re-evaluated for the AI era of customer buying. Done well they will accelerate inbound demand flow which is becoming a rising necessity in the context of increasingly ineffective outbound tactics. However without structural change organisations will never reach their growth potential in this new era.

Both Marketing and Sales, as functions in their traditional form and as the two complementary (but too often conflicting) levers of growth, are increasingly losing relevance.

Firstly Marketing has been so stretched, warped and expanded over many years, with very little consistency in operationalisation cross industry (I can speak with direct hands on experience of this having worked across many different industries in B2C and B2B), it's made it largely impossible to now unilaterally define.

The advent of Digital introduced a whole new set of skills, the explosion of MarTech and AdTech in the last 5 years another and now the avalanche of AI solutions has made it extremely challenging for a senior Marketer to be at the vanguard of every single discipline with the necessary skills and knowledge depth. Factor in that as a discipline it's had to increasingly fight for its worth whether that's relentless ROI pressures at Board level right through to lazy cross company stereotyping, then arguably a re-imagination of the discipline (albeit retaining many of the skills within it) is no bad thing.

This author argues that the future growth state now demands three key roles/functions: Brand Lead; GTM Lead; Technology Lead. In very simple terms – one person is accountable for the story, another for publishing the story externally and the other to ensure the story flows internally. These 3 areas are distinct in their skillsets, accountabilities and profiles.

Of course each position has more to it than that but the principle remains sound. The Brand Lead and The GTM Lead are of course particularly relevant to Content and Media redefined. The former owns the Messaging Architecture top to bottom (this should never be viewed as a static entity and best practice is to review every quarter), the latter uses this to build the Content and Media plan to drive inbound demand, alongside managing any outbound GTM motions that are delivering results (BDR/SDR teams, Events teams etc).

We referred earlier to the single point of accountability. The Brand, GTM and Technology Leads should all report into a CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) or CGO (Chief Growth Officer) – one person that owns the revenue number end to end with all levers at their disposal to identify opportunities, nurture and close. This mitigates operational points of friction between Marketing and Sales that have best case compromised GTM agility, at worst fostered toxic cultures that paralyse organisations.

The Future of Sales in the AI era of B2B Buying

And what of Sales? Well the challenges of upper/mid funnel selling have already been highlighted in this article. Beyond that are we talking about Selling or is it actually Account Management or Client Success? Increasingly in fast growing B2B Tech companies, Client Success are owning the cross sell and upsell revenue number. This makes sense since they have the greatest proximity to customer needs to help them define new opportunities. They also have the highest visibility of the core product/service strengths and weaknesses which needs to be fed in directly to the Brand owner as well as Product team (which should work in close proximity with the Growth team).

For these two reasons the Client Success Lead needs to sit under the CRO or CGO and should also take ownership of the net new acquisition number. This will require some skills development and reshuffling of positions but it makes complete sense for there to be one owner for all points of revenue closure. It also circumnavigates the often problematic customer handover from Sales to Client Success – new stakeholders for the customer to have to work with who are often tasked with delivering the post sales reality check of what the product or service can truly deliver.

Forging an inexorable link between delivering excellent customer experience and winning new business is a guaranteed formula for sustainable growth. And in the AI era of customer buying, happy customers are the best source of new business. We are in the age of trusted communities and referrals – where we elevate the opinions and recommendations of our peers by and large above any form of equivalent communication a Brand could ever hope to deliver. Provide a consistently excellent product or service to customers and the chances are they will refer you…even in the most competitive of environments. It's a hard motion to industrialise but should always be considered one of the most powerful growth weapons in your arsenal.

Rapid GTM Transformation is now Essential

Even if you disagree with these Marketing and Sales projections and recommendations, one indisputable reality is upon us. That in the AI era of buying, the pace of change will be like nothing we've ever seen before. Barriers to entry are low meaning the threat landscape for organisations is highly uncertain – dynamic market intelligence and competitive positioning review to the point of paranoia are imperative. Speed to market is essential but not at the risk of quality – businesses that find the right balance here avoiding the obvious AI “cheat traps” will have a material edge. Broken GTM operating models are no longer burdens companies can carry – they must get fixed…and quickly. Introspection is critical – if a product or service is underperforming it needs addressing or LLMs will expose it, if GTM activities are not working they need to be dialled down or halted.

The rapid rise in LLM adoption has provided somewhat of a level set. Historically the brands with the most money and biggest reputations were guaranteed to boast a significant competitive advantage. In the AI era, that is not definitively the case. Brands with low budgets but crystal clear and accurate messaging architectures translated into brilliant Content consistently reinforced by smart media choices, rooted in a product or service that truly delivers for its customers, have the opportunity to surge ahead.

Which means with all the conjecture over the future of Marketing, at the beating heart of the future of growth is arguably the foundational Brand principles that gave rise to the practice in the first place. And amen to that.

If you missed Part 1, check it out here: The Rise of the Machines: Why LLMs have become our Trusted Buying Companions

If you missed Part 2, check it out here: What is GEO and How to do it The Right Way