The Future of Growth Marketing in the Age of AI
Three months ago, I got a call from a CMO I've known for years. Great B2B company. Strong brand. Excellent product. She was confused.
"We lost several deals last quarter," she said. "Big deals. Dream customers. And they never even talked to us."
No inbound. No demo requests. Nothing in the CRM. These buyers researched, built their shortlist, and chose a competitor. Her team never knew they were in market.
She asked me: "Why are we being shut out of the conversation?"
I told her the truth: "Thanks to AI, you’re no longer in the room."
Here's what's happening right now…
Someone at your dream account is typing into ChatGPT: "What are the best solutions for such and such category?"
ChatGPT is answering. It's comparing vendors. It's explaining differences. It's making recommendations.
And you're not there. You can't present your case. You can't address objections. You can't correct the misinformation.
Your brand is being discussed without you.
Well, there's a new room now. It’s LLMs.
89% of B2B buyers are in it. And 90% of them trust what AI tells them.
Awareness. Consideration. Decision. The traditional funnel and all the best practices we’ve spent decades optimizing have been rendered obsolete. Poof. Gone. LLMs are taking over.
And this shift is accelerating faster than anything I've seen in my career.
Everyone is an early adopter. My father uses ChatGPT daily. My teenagers are texting with Claude like it's their BFF. This isn’t a trend. This isn’t merely a new channel. This is a fundamental shift in how people seek information and make decisions.
So how do you get into the room?
Think of it like Studio 54 in its heyday. There's a bouncer at the door. A long line of people trying to get in. Some are wearing the right clothes. Some have connections. Some are trying to talk their way past.
The bouncer decides who gets in and who doesn't.
You can't bribe the bouncer. You can't sneak in through the back. A fake ID won't work. The bouncer knows who belongs and who doesn’t.
The LLM is the new bouncer. And, it only lets in brands that have earned authority. GEO – Generative Engine Optimization – is how you earn that authority.
Here’s the thing about getting past that bouncer:
This isn't something you can hand off to your SEO team. An LLM doesn't fall for keyword ranking hacks and will aggressively reject generic content and AI-generated slop.
It wants to know: Are you actually somebody? Have you done something worth talking about? Do other important people vouch for you? Does your brand have genuine authority?
Getting it right requires alignment across your entire C-suite. This is boardroom-level work, not a marketing tactic.
Your CMO orchestrates the strategy, deciding which buyer questions to own, what authority to build.
Your CTO ensures AI can actually find and parse your content. the technical infrastructure, the structured data, the performance that lets AI crawlers access everything you've created.
Your CEO backs the bold moves, funding original research, and taking thought leadership positions that differentiate.
From there, you need creativity to make it compelling to humans, and the proper structure to make it irresistible to LLMs.
It’s part science. It’s part art. It’s 100% big picture thinking. That's what it takes to get past the bouncer. Anything less, and you’ll be stuck standing outside.
Remember that CMO I mentioned earlier?
After I spoke to her, she didn't seek out her SEO team for GEO advice. She went directly to the C-suite. She showed her CEO where their brand appeared in AI responses and where it didn't. She showed her CFO the deals they were losing to competitors they never got compared to.
She made it clear: This isn't a marketing issue. This is the biggest brand-building and growth opportunity in 25 years.
So here’s my challenge to you:
Tomorrow, type the 10 most important questions your buyers ask into ChatGPT or Claude. See where your brand appears. See what AI says about you. And what it’s not saying.
Then get excited. Because once you see the gaps, you'll see the possibilities. This is your chance to build authority, earn trust, and pioneer how your brand will win in the age of AI.
The conversation is already happening. Are you in the room?
Are LLMs misrepresenting or ignoring your brand? Download BOL's “Locked the F#!k Out” eBook and discover how to get past the LLM bouncers.