AI is now important for businesses to consider as they develop their marketing
strategies. More people are using the AI platforms to find information about what they
might need, review their options, and even compare products and services, and they do
this before visiting a company’s website. This means that AI has changed our
understanding of the sales cycle and what that means for our marketing, because by the time potential customers visit the website, they might be further along in making a
buying decision.

However, this doesn’t mean that the marketing methods that we have always relied on
aren’t viable. They are, we just need to rethink the place they have in today’s marketing
strategies. Think of AI as fitting inside your existing marketing, with some slight
adjustments to account for its implications.

AI Alters How Customers Discover Your Business

AI has disrupted the way people find information online. In the past, people looking for a
particular solution would use the search engine to gather information. From there, they
could get connected to your website, where they would gather as much information as
they could from it. If they liked what they saw, they’d reach out.

Now, people are using the AI platforms to do the initial information-gathering that would
have taken place in the search engines, and then on your website. By the time people
do visit your website, they are much further along in the sales cycle, which means they
could be ready to have serious conversations about whether you are the solution for
them much sooner and they are closer to closing a deal. AI creates more opportunities
to gain visibility with potential customers who might be looking for what your business
provides.

AI Changes How Customers Move Through the Sales Cycle

Yes, the way people gather information online has changed, and it has therefore also
influenced how people move through the sales cycle. What we might have known about
the sales cycle, and how we have understood how our marketing connects with the
sales cycle, has changed since AI has entered the scene. We can’t expect to take our
old understanding, keep doing what we were doing, and expect the same results.

We need to account for this disruption by really analyzing how potential customers are
finding you today. How can you do this? Well, consider all your marketing channels and
rethink the role each has. Try to find data to support your suspicions, if possible, and
then adjust your marketing strategy based on what you find. The more you understand
about what has changed, the better you can service your potential customers through
your marketing. This will allow you to make the adjustments needed to account for AI.

AI Should Support Your Existing Marketing Objectives

Yes, it’s true that AI has changed the way people find information when doing research
and making purchasing decisions. However, that doesn’t mean that you will be left
behind. AI is now part of the marketing process and should be considered when putting
together a marketing strategy. Very little of what you are doing needs to change. Think
of AI as something that should be added. Your goals and objectives will still be the
same. You still need to reach the right audience, build awareness for your brand,
products, and services, generate leads, and use marketing to build your business. This
is all the same as it always was.

What has changed is how these goals will be achieved. Achieving AI visibility is now
part of the process. Your business should be ready to be seen in the AI generated
responses, which will require building your brand, making sure your existing website
has plenty of great content that will serve your audience, and increasing your mentions
across the internet (outside of your website). This will all help improve your AI visibility. If
you think about it, we have already been doing many of these activities. Accounting for
AI in our marketing just requires a bit of a mindset shift.

The goal is to understand how each of these activities can improve not only your
existing marketing, but also AI visibility, and learning how to put all the pieces together.
It is also worth reconsidering your assumptions related to your marketing. For example,
if you see a decrease in website traffic, this doesn’t mean your marketing is failing. It
could mean that people are gathering information not on your website, but in the AI
platforms instead. Understanding changes like these and what they mean could
strengthen your marketing.

AI has changed how we think about our marketing because it has changed the way
people gather information online. By understanding these changes, you can determine
how to fit AI into your existing marketing strategies.

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