Generative AI is reshaping how buyers discover information and how marketers design campaigns. Artificial intelligence (AI) search summaries have greatly impacted the effectiveness of long-form content, condensing the buyer journey and forcing marketers to rethink how to reach their audiences. Visibility is no longer guaranteed by publishing volume.
What matters is whether your content, and the intent data that powers your programs, signals relevance to AI systems trained to extract key audience insights. In the rapidly shifting B2B marketing landscape, identity-first targeting and precision demand generation have become essential to sustaining ROI.
The impact of Generative AI on information discovery and B2B GTM strategies is substantial. AI search summaries are redefining discoverability in B2B marketing, enabling buyers to access condensed insights and key information on potential solutions without diving into long-form content like blogs, case studies, e-books, and whitepapers.
The Problem: How AI Search Is Reshaping Discoverability
For years, these formats were the backbone of demand generation and the foundation for capturing early-stage attention. As a result, traditional discovery methods are being overshadowed by AI search summaries, meaning publishing volume no longer guarantees visibility.
Additionally, recent Gartner data shows that 61 percent of buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience. As a result, publishers are engaging less with prospective buyers, making intent signals harder to detect. Targeting accuracy is becoming more critical than ever. In this rapidly shifting B2B marketing landscape, SEO and paid placements are not sufficient in sustaining marketing ROI. Identity-first targeting and precision demand generation have become essential for marketers to ensure their content remains visible and their campaigns remain effective.
The Solution: Designing Precision Marketing Strategies for an AI-Powered Discovery Ecosystem
Competing in an AI-powered discovery ecosystem and successfully reaching prospects requires a shift from volume-driven tactics to precision strategies that strengthen both content and audience quality. B2B marketing teams must rethink how they target audiences, generate demand, and create content that informs AI-powered systems with signals that drive visibility.
Adopting Identity-First Targeting to Reach Audiences. IP-based targeting is losing its effectiveness as buyers work across devices, networks, and environments that mask traditional identifiers, limiting where marketers reach audiences. Identity-first targeting enables marketers to gain a deeper understanding of prospects and target individuals across devices by leveraging identity graphs and device linkage. Identity-first strategies help marketers maintain accuracy even as the buyer journeys become more fragmented.
Pairing Identity Data with Intent-Activated Demand Generation Campaigns. By leveraging identity data, marketers can gain a deeper understanding of a potential buyer’s specific interests, pain points, and stage in the buyer research journey. As a result, marketers can deliver relevant content with targeted messaging that aligns with the prospect’s priorities. Precision targeting empowers marketers to prioritize key accounts, accelerating movement through the funnel and reducing wasted spend across channels.
Develop Content Strategy to Align with AI Systems. As AI search becomes a primary research tool throughout the buyer journey, content development and syndication strategies must evolve. By developing content that answers key buyer questions, marketers can increase the potential of appearing in AI search summaries. While AI may summarize your content without directing traffic to your site, if the insights are attributed or surfaced, your influence remains. Ensuring your content produces signals that AI recognizes as authoritative and that align with the questions real buyers are asking is key.
How B2B Marketers Can Adapt
With AI reshaping B2B marketing, it’s crucial for teams to adapt GTM strategies to align with the AI-powered buyer journey. The following strategies can help ensure visibility, accuracy, and relevance across the buyer journey.
- Auditing Content for Signal Strength. Marketing teams should evaluate current content strategies to determine if they produce clear, interpretable signals that inform AI systems and buying group models. This includes assessing clarity, structure, question alignment, and keyword richness. Stronger signals improve discoverability and increase the likelihood that AI summaries leverage content.
- Strengthening Data Ecosystem. By shifting from IP-driven audience data to identity data, marketers can personalize outreach, prioritize high-value prospects, and activate demand more accurately than broader targeting, resulting in better outcomes.
- Aligning GTM Strategy with AI Search. As AI-driven search accelerates, marketers must design GTM strategies that are optimized for how AI-powered systems evaluate signal strength, keyword ranking, messaging, intent, and identity. This includes understanding how AI interprets messaging patterns, intent signals, and buyer relevance. Aligning GTM strategy with AI search behavior can increase a brand’s visibility even as discovery processes evolve.
Conclusion
AI search summaries have changed how B2B buyers find and evaluate solutions. Marketing ROI now depends on relevance, identity accuracy, and the ability to activate demand through verified intent signals.
Success is no longer achieved by content volume but by the clarity and precision of the signals marketers send to AI-driven systems. Teams that strengthen their data foundations, evolve content strategies, and align GTM programs to AI-powered discovery will remain visible and competitive in the AI search era.
Brian Perks is the founder and chief strategy officer at Five by Five (5×5), a member-driven data cooperative that empowers businesses with a collaborative data ecosystem. He has more than 20 years of experience in data, SaaS, sales, marketing, operations, and leadership, coupled with a deep functional knowledge of technical infrastructure and a strategic outlook in automation and advertising technology. He has been a critical contributor to the success of leading platforms and providers, including ZoomInfo and Data.com.
