Marketing has transformed many times over the past two decades. The rise of websites reshaped commerce. SEO altered how companies attract buyers. Now, artificial intelligence is driving another major disruption – possibly the largest yet. The constant theme is clear: how to best invest resources to elevate brand awareness and customer engagement. The methods keep evolving, and the rules shift every few years.
At the Product Marketing Alliance Analyst Relations Summit on August 21, 2025, this shift was on full display. I attended the track titled “If GenAI can’t find you, neither can your buyers: The new role of AR in an AI-driven, buyer-led world.” The session was hosted by Rick Nash, CEO of Spotlight, and James Cadwallader, CEO of Profound. Together, they addressed how LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, and Anthropic are incorporating industry analyst content and other third-party sources to shape AI-generated outputs. The message was clear: the role of analyst relations (AR) is entering a new era of importance within the AI-Driven Buyer Journey.
Those interested in watching the entire presentation can do so by registering to attend the Analyst Relations Summit. Once you have registered and created a profile, you should then be able to access the recordings.
Influencers and Intent in the Digital Marketing Era
Marketers have long understood the value of influence. A referral or customer review often matters more than a sales pitch. As digital channels grew, the focus shifted toward measuring buyer intent through online engagement. The idea was simple: track clicks, downloads, and form fills, then use ads to push more buyers through the pipeline.
This playbook fueled years of marketing growth. Budgets expanded around SEO, content marketing, and digital ads. Google became the central stage, and paid placements defined who appeared first. For many brands, success was about buying visibility and then nurturing interest into MQLs.
The New AI Battleground
But with the rise of LLMs, this old model is cracking. Paying for a Google Ad no longer guarantees the same exposure. In fact, AI models often bypass ads altogether when answering user prompts. Instead, LLMs surface outputs weighted by trusted sources: analyst reports, customer reviews, and product evaluations.
That means when buyers type questions into ChatGPT instead of Google, the system doesn’t simply return a list of links. It generates synthesized, confident responses based on what it “knows.” Analyst commentary and independent assessments are increasingly central to this knowledge. These sources act like anchors for credibility, while paid ads and promotional claims fade into the background.
For marketers, this is a profound shift. Influence now comes less from buying attention and more from shaping the knowledge embedded within AI systems. The AI-Driven Buyer Journey no longer begins with a paid search, but with the credibility AI finds in analyst voices.
From Google Search to ChatGPT Query
To see the change, consider three examples of how search behavior is evolving:
Choosing the Right CRM in a Regulated Industry
- Old Google query: “Best CRM software for mid-sized businesses”
- New ChatGPT prompt: “I run a mid-sized company in healthcare. Which CRM is best for compliance, usability, and support?”
- LLM output: A ranked overview of CRM platforms, citing analyst reviews, user ratings, and industry benchmarks – no ads.
Finding the Best Cloud Security Fit for Startups
- Old Google query: “Top cloud security providers 2023”
- New ChatGPT prompt: “Which cloud security vendor balances cost and scalability for a fast-growing SaaS startup?”
- LLM output: A curated explanation, referencing Gartner, Forrester, and customer case studies, with trade-offs clearly stated.
Weighing Analytics Platforms: Snowflake vs. Databricks
- Old Google query: “Compare Snowflake vs. Databricks performance”
- New ChatGPT prompt: “I’m evaluating Snowflake and Databricks for analytics. How do they compare in speed, integrations, and pricing models?”
- LLM output: A structured analysis pulling from analyst reports, performance tests, and verified customer feedback.
Each example highlights the same point: the quality of the answer now depends on the strength and visibility of third-party voices. Ads don’t play. Analyst perspectives do. This is the new pattern of the AI-Driven Buyer Journey.
Analyst Relations in the AI-Driven Buyer Journey
For years, AR programs have been undervalued because of measurement challenges. While PR teams could track media hits and digital marketing could measure clicks, AR impact was harder to quantify. Executives often saw AR as a “soft” investment.
That calculus is changing. With LLMs shaping buyer perceptions before sales teams even engage, the influence of analyst content is measurable in a new way. If your search traffic drops while AI-driven recommendations rise for competitors, the signal is undeniable.
Investing in AR now means investing in how your company appears in the AI knowledge stack. Analyst coverage and independent reviews will directly shape how LLMs talk about your brand. Budgets should shift accordingly. More emphasis on analyst briefings, customer references, and participation in evaluations will pay dividends across the AI-Driven Buyer Journey.
The Strategic Takeaway
Marketers can no longer rely on dominating digital ads to guide buyer intent. The battleground has shifted upstream – into the models that buyers consult first. Analysts, third-party reviewers, and trusted evaluators are the sources AI systems amplify.
This doesn’t make traditional marketing obsolete, but it changes the center of gravity. Analyst relations are not just about influencing reports for sales enablement. They’re about ensuring your brand has a voice inside the platforms shaping buyer knowledge every day.
The companies that recognize this early will see outsized benefits. Those who hesitate may find that when AI can’t find them, neither can their buyers. The winners will be those who align analyst relations with the realities of the AI-Driven Buyer Journey.
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