Marketing when the buyer disappears

B2B marketing used to be built on visibility.

Marketers could see the search. Track the visit. Score the lead. Attribute the touchpoint. Follow the buyer through a funnel that gave us a sense of control over the customer journey.

But that world is starting to disappear.

At Forrester B2B Summit 2026 in Phoenix, the message came was loud and clear: the systems, assumptions, and measurement models that have guided go-to-market teams for decades are facing pressure. AI has changed how buyers research. Economic uncertainty has slowed business decisions. Now, buying groups are on the rise and the signals marketers have relied on in the past are harder to see.

What does this mean for B2B marketing?  We need to focus on building preference, creating clarity, earning trust, and aligning the work with one goal in mind: to move the business forward. 

The funnel is being outgrown

Forrester called the current moment as the “GTM Singularity” — a tipping point where the old rules of B2B go-to-market fold when up against AI and changing buyer behavior.

Buying groups have become larger and more complex. They want more proof, more pilots, and more reassurance before they commit. At the same time, AI agents have become part of the buying network.

They consume content, analyze data, and present options before a human buyer ever reaches a website or speaks to a sales rep.

94% of B2B buyers now use generative AI in their buying process 

This means that if we want our marketing efforts to be a success, it’s time to think beyond only the audiences we can see. 

The B2B marketer of today has to build for the buyer, the buying group, and AI systems. They need clearer content, better structured information, stronger brand narratives, and a commitment t to consistency.

In other words, the old adage of “know your audience” now includes the algorithms working on behalf of your buyer.

• Augmented: Treat AI buyer agents as part of the buying network; making sure your content and data are clear, accurate, and easy to interpret. 

• Resilient: Gone are static annual plans; teams need the budget, trust, and tools to shift resources when customers and the business need it most.

• Collaborative: Align marketing, sales, customer success and product around shared goals, data and decisions. 

Navigating the “visibility vacuum”

For years, marketing accountability has relied on the assumption that we can see buyer behavior. But AI is making more of that behavior invisible. AI is used to research, compare, and validate vendors—enabling audiences to bypass the original sources. 

Generative AI search produces 90% fewer click-throughs to websites 

This is creating a real problem for marketing teams. If fewer buyers click through to your site, fill in your forms, or appear in your attribution reports, it’s harder to measure success using the old metrics.

This means that the way we’re measuring must evolve. Advanced organizations treat AI visibility as a KPI. They’re asking: Are we being mentioned? Are our pages being cited as sources? Are our experts showing up in the conversations that shape buyer understanding?

In an AI-drive buyer journey, the first goal is to be included in the answer.

Creating a shared goal for brand and demand 

For too long, B2B marketing has looked at brand and demand in silos. Brand builds awareness. Demand captures intent. The difference is long-term vs. short-term

At Forrester, the shared goal was preference.

Think of it this way: When a B2B buy already have a preferred vendor at the start of the buying process, that vendor is far more likely to win. That means the job of B2B marketing, is more than just being known; it’s to be the preferred choice from the beginning. 

The preferred vendor wins 55% of the time 

That’s where the power of brand comes in. 

Having a strong brand narrative creates confidence in the buyer. They know who you are and they trust what they’re going to get at the end of the buying journey. Without brands, demand has to work twice as hard without any guarantee of a win. 

How to make thought leadership work harder 

Thought leadership is often treated as a top-of-funnel awareness play. But Workday’s model shows that thought leadership and organic social media content is more influential the deeper you go into the buying cycle.

This signals that buyers aren’t just using thought leadership to discover a brand, they’re using it to validate their decisions. In situations that require the buy-in of multiple stakeholders, thought leadership and organic social content can play a much larger role than the traditional attribution models give it credit for.

But the goal should be intentional quality, not just outsized quantity of content. When leveraged correctly, thought leadership and organic social media can create loyal customers that return time and again to your brand.

AI is changing the relationship architecture

AI dominated the discussions at Forrester, with a focus on its operational power. 

Instead of harnessing AI to automate content production, TaskUs is changing the game by using it to support buying committee. This means AI is used to understand the role different people play in the buying journey and respond to their end goals accordingly. For example, a researcher isn’t necessarily looking for a BDR follow-up. What they need in-the-moment is more relevant information without unnecessary friction.

This shows us how AI is more than a productivity tool. It helps teams manage the long, pre-intent period when buyers are learning, comparing, and forming opinions.

The old metrics are forcing the wrong behaviors

The biggest challenge is what to measure. If AI reduces website click-throughs, then buyers remain anonymous for longer. This means influence happens outside a brand’s owned channels, engagement decreases. 

The answer?  A shift toward Return on Objectives.

Instead of measuring what is easiest to count, marketing teams need to directly connect measurement to the business challenge they’re trying to solve. If the problem is low preference, measure preference. If the problem is poor perception, measure perception. If the problem is weak visibility in AI search, measure AI visibility. If the problem is slow conversion, look at win rate and sales velocity.

Lead volume, site visits, form fills, and marketing-source pipeline can be useful signals. But they shouldn’t become the strategy. In an AI-first world, what you need measure needs to align with what the business needs. 

A final thought

The future of B2B marketing will not belong to the teams with the most dashboards.
It will belong to the teams that can create clarity in a more invisible buying journey. The teams that build preference before demand appears. The teams that make their expertise easy for both humans and AI to understand. The teams that connect brand, demand, sales, and customer experience around one coherent story.

The buyer may be harder to see, but the job of B2B marketing has become clear.