The traditional buyer journey from awareness to consideration to decision is disappearing as buyers move faster, skip steps, and often decide after a single trusted source validates a brand. Earned media and AI-driven research tools are driving this shift. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini act as gatekeepers by answering prospect queries using credible third-party sources, so brands not mentioned in trusted media fail to appear in recommendations. Algorithm-driven recommendations are replacing top-of-funnel activity, making influence over AI-driven answers critical to making shortlists. Earned media now directly accelerates revenue, with many B2B marketers tying it to pipeline and revenue goals.
The traditional buyer journey-the familiar path from awareness to consideration to decision-is disappearing. Today's buyers are moving faster, skipping steps and often making decisions after a single trusted source validates your brand. What's driving this shift? Earned media and AI-driven research tools. Public relations has always been seen as a credibility builder-a way to get your brand noticed and trusted.
AI has become the new gatekeeper of buyer perception. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini are quietly shaping the way prospects discover and evaluate vendors. Instead of manually researching your site, buyers ask these tools questions like, "What are the best solutions for X?" AI tools often draw answers from credible third-party sources, including articles, interviews and industry mentions. In other words, if you're not being talked about in trusted media, you're not showing up where decisions happen.
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