Marketing leaders in B2B technology say the ground under brand visibility has changed fast as AI driven search and zero click buying increasingly decide what buyers see before they ever reach a brand website, according to research released by B2B communications agency 3Thinkrs, which also records falling website visits, weaker LinkedIn interaction and media attention spread thin.
This environment has brought tension inside marketing teams, with the study finding that 62% of chief marketing officers say they lack the skills, budget or resources needed to keep pace with faster moving rivals, while 35% worry competitors are getting ahead as generative AI reshapes search behaviour.
Brand memory has also become harder to secure, as 6 in 10 CMOs rate their brand recall performance as below par in the survey, a problem that carries more weight because AI search tools reward names that buyers remember instantly and repeatedly.
Ruth Jones, CEO, 3Thinkrs said: “AI has shaken the economics of brand influence and discovery for tech companies, giving marketers a rare opportunity to gain more influence, just as their competitors are losing it. Those that define a distinctive brand narrative, shift strategies for the changing algorithms, and adjust content formats will steal the charge.”
Traditional markers of influence no longer deliver the same returns, based on responses gathered by 3Thinkrs, leading many marketing leaders to reassess how influence gets measured, defended and maintained when web traffic and LinkedIn reach carry less weight than before.
How Do Startups And Billion Dollar Firms Take Different Routes?
The 3Thinkrs research compared 200 CMOs from venture backed startups with 200 CMOs from billion dollar technology companies and found two distinct ways of reacting to the same pressure, shaped by scale, speed and internal structure.
Startups act faster on new visibility signals, with 39% already tracking share of AI voice compared with 26% at billion dollar firms, while these younger companies also put more energy into building ties with journalists at newer publications, at 22% versus 11%.
Stephanie Robotham, Value Accelerator Operating Advisor at Goldman Sachs Asset Management said: “AI has handed venture-backed start-ups a strategic advantage. It lets them build visibility fast by shaping marketing and communications for both humans and machines. The trick is spotting the new levers of influence, so they can earn trust and relevance at a quicker rate than their competitors.”
Large firms lean on scale and owned channels, as 37% of CMOs at billion dollar companies put money into broadcast content, webinars and podcasts compared with 26% at venture backed businesses, alongside heavier use of brand owned platforms at 27% versus 20%.
More from News
- Amazon And Apple Face Nearly £1 Billion Lawsuit, Here’s Why
- The UK Public Does Not Trust Tech Companies, Reports Find
- Uber Eats Will Now Be Using Robot Delivery Services In The UK
- African Startups Secured Over $3 Billion In Funding In 2025
- Warner Bros. Becomes The Piggy In The Middle As Netflix And Paramount Battle For Ownership
- Why Do 57% Of UK Founders Say The EU Is Better For Growth Than Britain
- What Checkout Options Should Ecommerce Businesses Use In 2026?
- Why Is Reddit Going Against Australia’s Social Media Ban?
Both camps admit internal weaknesses that limit progress, as the report shows 61% of CMOs say they are not proficient or only mildly proficient at keeping one shared brand story, while half say internal teams struggle to repeat the same message in public channels.
Preparation for reputation threats also looks weak because only 16% of CMOs say they have a response ready if a crisis appears, based on survey results published by 3Thinkrs.
What Drives Visibility, Growth And Attention, Now?
Marketing for generative engine optimisation has become a priority, with the survey finding that 61% of CMOs have already adjusted activity as traditional search performance goes down, a pressure felt more intense at venture backed firms at 56% compared with 29% at billion dollar companies.
Reporting to chief executives has changed in response, as share of AI voice now leads the visibility measures shown to CEOs at 33%, ahead of share of traditional search at 21% and share of media voice at 19%, according to 3Thinkrs.
Growth tactics show a ranking that favours credibility over tools, with thought leadership chosen by 40% of CMOs, followed by strategic partnerships at 38%, while 33% say AI integration inside products and messaging will support growth.
Media choices, on the other hand, show shorter attention spans since 38% of CMOs prefer C suite focused newsletters when pitching exclusives, such as Fortune CEO Daily or Forbes CMO, compared with 29% who favour digital first national business titles, while only 12% look at a publication’s links with large language models.
LinkedIn is still under pressure where company page visibility went down from 2.1% to 1.6% of user feeds between February and October 2025, based on data cited by 3Thinkrs, prompting 60% of start ups and 48% of billion dollar firms to put more weight behind video and carousel formats that attract stronger interaction.
Execution is not where it needs to compared to planning, because although 46% of CMOs say joint goal setting between marketing, PR and sales works well, only 24% say PR content feeds sales teams effectively, while 59% say they struggle to connect marketing activity directly to sales data even as many prepare changes for 2026.
Samanyou Garg, CEO, Writesonic, highlighted a growing focus on performance metrics: “B2B tech brands should focus on understanding three key AI search metrics: AI visibility score – how often your brand is recommended; citation share – how often your content is used as a source; and share of voice – how prominently you appear versus competitors in AI answers.”
