Best of LinkedIn: AI in B2B Marketing CW 21/ 22

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennus based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about AI in B-to-B marketing, in calendar weeks twenty one and twenty two.

00:00:08: Frenness is a better be market research company that supports enterprise marketing teams and unlocking full potential of their customer data with help from AI.

00:00:16: You can find more info

00:00:20: For today's deep dive, we're zooming in entirely on the top AI trends and B to be marketing that We saw across LinkedIn over the past two weeks.

00:00:28: Yeah And we were moving completely passed the AI hype right like if you're listening This is your focused no fluff breakdown of what's actually working for real practitioners Right now

00:00:37: exactly.

00:00:37: I mean pretty intense backlash against AISDRs and how the smartest teams are basically redesigning their whole operating model.

00:00:46: Right,

00:00:48: I think we have to start with this idea of AI visibility or answer engine optimization, AEO?

00:00:54: Oh totally because... To market effectively right now, you first have to actually exist in the mind of the AI before buyers even hit your website.

00:01:02: Yeah it's wild.

00:01:03: and Marjorie pointed out on LinkedIn that only fourteen percent of marketers actually feel confident in AEO Right Now?

00:01:10: Wait!

00:01:11: Only fourteen

00:01:11: percent?!

00:01:12: That is literally just fourteen percent.

00:01:14: people are scrambling... You know I mean you see them downloading LeVent LG's forty three page playbook or taking Neil Patel assessment Just to See if their brand Is Even Ready for LLM visibility.

00:01:26: Well, yeah because the old SEO rules just don't map over to this.

00:01:29: Arter Perelik Lukowski was saying you have to audit your non-branded AI Visibility first You know?

00:01:35: You have to earn citations where they.

00:01:37: I actually it

00:01:38: looks right Because it's not just crawling for keywords anymore

00:01:40: exactly.

00:01:41: Anna Deepish Khandlewall made a really good point about this.

00:01:44: He said your content has to be discoverable across all AI systems Not just Google but like perplexity chat GPT Claude All of them

00:01:53: Which is a huge headache for reporting, honestly.

00:01:55: Because the signals we're getting from platforms are just completely contradictory right now.

00:01:59: Oh hundred percent?

00:02:00: Like Ankesh Gupta posted that Google has finally added dedicated AI visibility reports to Search Console which sounds great!

00:02:07: It sounds great until you see what Cyrus S posted.

00:02:11: Yeah exactly

00:02:12: because he warned that Google was actually hiding clicks in that new AI report Like they're doing it specifically to mask low traditional traffic.

00:02:20: Right, the AI synthesizes the answer that user never clicks your link and you basically get starved of traffic.

00:02:27: So how do you even win visibility in a black box like that?

00:02:31: Well comes down to authority.

00:02:33: You know, Olga Miko Parkina is focusing super heavily on PR and earned media right now.

00:02:40: Yeah

00:02:40: because it's about being seen as a credible entity by the LLM And Annie York backed this up too saying you have to select the right backlinks Now rather than just chasing sheer volume quality

00:02:50: over quantity.

00:02:50: that makes sense

00:02:51: exactly.

00:02:52: lisa Adams actually summarized It perfectly.

00:02:54: she said earning AI recommendations comes down To be invisible credible and consistently recommended By trusted sources.

00:03:01: Which is why AEO isn't just SEO with a fresh coat of paint.

00:03:05: It's like trying to get a reservation at an exclusive restaurant, but the AI is The Bouncer!

00:03:10: I love that analogy.

00:03:11: Rightly you can't game the keywords anymore To pass the velvet rope.

00:03:15: You actually have to be recommended by right people.

00:03:17: Yeah Marvin Miller nailed it inside.

00:03:19: He said B-to-B tech marketers Just have found trusted and remembered in the Ai age.

00:03:24: But okay so say you got passed the bouncer.

00:03:26: Get visibility.

00:03:28: next logical step Outreach which brings us to outbound sales.

00:03:33: Oh boy!

00:03:34: Yeah, this is where the reality check hits a massive speed bump.

00:03:38: The

00:03:39: backlash against AISDRs over the last two weeks has been absolutely brutal.

00:03:43: It really does

00:03:44: like Jack Porter had this hilarious post about the delicious irony of an AIS DR company actually posting a job ad for human salesperson.

00:03:53: That's

00:03:54: amazing but I mean it makes sense when you look at the evidence.

00:03:56: Adam Jay literally called AISTR spam with UI

00:04:00: Ouch!

00:04:02: and uh, Louis D. Pee was pointing out that the hype is just completely overblown because the drop-off rate after these AI book meetings is massive.

00:04:10: Right!

00:04:10: Because The Prospect expects this super nuance bought they were just emailing And the human hand off totally fails.

00:04:16: Exactly Nick Palouse was brutal about it too.

00:04:18: He's like look A.I can't even reliably book a dentist appointment without hallucinating let alone replace an enterprise SDR

00:04:26: Which is funny, but there's hard research backing this up from CW-Twenty One and Twenty Two.

00:04:31: Jason Meier shared a story about company that spent months trying to replace SDRs... ...and literally got zero pipelines?

00:04:37: Zero!

00:04:37: That is

00:04:38: brutal.

00:04:38: Entirely zero.

00:04:39: And Mohamed Abe's shake tested four different AI SDR tools for eighteen months.

00:04:44: His verdict was incredibly honest and grim.

00:04:47: Yeah

00:04:47: then Gabe Larson ran an actual side by side experiment right?

00:04:51: AI versus human

00:04:52: SDRS?!

00:04:52: And the humans won.

00:04:54: Of

00:04:54: course they did, because like Mohan Sundar pointed out AI-SDR workflows inevitably break on unreliable contact data.

00:05:01: Ah right the data.

00:05:02: Yeah

00:05:03: your date is garbage.

00:05:03: you just scale that garbage at the speed of light.

00:05:05: You have to fix your data first.

00:05:07: So

00:05:08: I have to ask though if the AISDRs are failing this badly what happens to the human reps?

00:05:12: Are they just totally off the hook?

00:05:14: Not at all.

00:05:14: Their role is just evolving, you know?

00:05:17: Eddie Petrie noted that AI is making average salespeople extinct but the really skilled consultative closers.

00:05:23: They're becoming the most valuable people in the company.

00:05:25: Because the

00:05:26: A.I.'s

00:05:26: taking away the admin work.

00:05:28: Exactly Tito Bort says You should only hire reps who are completely obsessed with their craft now, because AI frees up their time to actually build relationships.

00:05:37: Well wait

00:05:38: Daniel Oswald raised a huge red flag about that... Because if the AISDRs are doing all of early outreach you're skipping the early grind or reps learned how to sell!

00:05:48: Oh thats great point

00:05:49: Like If your sales leader is listening to train your future senior reps if they never had to make cold calls.

00:05:56: Yeah, that structural gap is definitely why the smartest B-to-B teams are pivoting right now.

00:06:00: They're moving away from these single fully outsourced sales schools and building custom eGentic architectures

00:06:08: Egentic workflows Right We saw so much about this.

00:06:12: Jonathan MK showed a story of a CMO who literally replaced her agency with AI agents And five xed her output.

00:06:19: Five X did And people are sharing real practical tools for this.

00:06:23: Eric Lay is building outbound systems right inside Claude Code.

00:06:26: Yeah, and Ryan Law built-out this AI content automation using Agent A.

00:06:31: Oh!

00:06:31: Don't forget Michelle Lieben.

00:06:32: He said his head of growth is running ads Using twelve custom Claude skills.

00:06:37: Wait twelve custom skills just for running ads.

00:06:41: Yeah, instead of the traditional dashboard they're basically chaining these agents together to do their work.

00:06:46: but Beluri Pukovic dropped a huge warning about this which is you can't download random internet skills and plug them in.

00:06:53: You have build AI context your specific team first.

00:06:56: Right.

00:06:57: if it doesn't know your brand voice or ICP its gonna fail.

00:07:01: Couple Devereux-Mosey warned about the governance side of this too.

00:07:04: Oh,

00:07:04: the shadow IT problem?

00:07:06: Exactly!

00:07:07: Most enterprises have literally zero governance for AI agents.

00:07:10: their marketing managers are quietly deploying

00:07:12: Yeah and Jason M Limpkin added that building these agents is highly, highly iterative.

00:07:16: not every final automation step is actually worth a time it takes to build.

00:07:20: It

00:07:21: sounds like buying most advanced factory equipment in world but plugging into completely crumbling foundation.

00:07:28: You know, like the tech isn't a problem.

00:07:31: The factory floor plan is

00:07:32: that it's spot on and drew.

00:07:34: nicer says That's how you actually win the AI quarter?

00:07:36: We have to build in new operating model not just run more isolated little experiments.

00:07:41: Carolyn Healy said something similar.

00:07:43: Redesigning the work itself Is what decides your return Not just throwing up bunch of budget at NewTek right

00:07:49: and Kieran Flanagan Actually gave her really good blueprint for this.

00:07:53: he Said you need To rebuild Your marketing team around AI into four layers.

00:07:58: Okay, what are the layers?

00:07:59: Context

00:08:00: execution orchestration and leadership.

00:08:03: so the context is your clean data Execution as the AI agents doing the drafting.

00:08:07: exactly

00:08:08: then you're.

00:08:08: orchestration Is the humans reviewing and directing the AI And leadership sets the strategy.

00:08:14: that makes a ton of sense But you definitely can't just flip a switch to do that overnight.

00:08:18: Oh

00:08:18: no way It's a massive transition.

00:08:20: if you enjoyed this episode new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:08:24: also check out our other editions on account-based marketing, field marketing channel marketing, MarTech.

00:08:30: go to market and social selling.

00:08:32: Thanks so much for taking the time to learn with us today guys And make sure you subscribe So you don't miss the next deep dive.

00:08:38: Yeah

00:08:38: before you jump into your next marketing meeting I want You To Ask Yourself This Sophie Carr made this incredible point that AI agents are basically our new website visitors, silently deciding if brands get shortlisted.

00:08:51: Such a wild concept!

00:08:52: Right so if your buyer is using an AI agent to screen vendors and you were using an AIAgent to do your outreach.

00:08:59: what happens when your AI is literally just pitching their AI?

00:09:03: Are you building a brand that the actual human buyer will remember when the bots are finally done talking?

00:09:08: something to think about?

00:09:09: catch ya next time.