For B2B marketers, the playbook is undergoing a massive rewrite. The days of relying solely on gated content and traditional SEO to drive traffic to your website are rapidly evolving.

Today, we are seeing the rise of “clickless demand,” where buyers do their research, validate their choices, and make up their minds long before they ever land on your homepage.

So, how do B2B marketers ensure their brands show up when buyers are asking questions? According to Robin Bulanti, CEO and partner at Offleash PR, the answer lies in the powerful intersection of AI search, niche communities, and a modern approach to earned media.

In a recent episode of the Tomorrow’s Best Practices podcast, host Clark Newby sat down with Robin Bulanti, to unpack how PR is experiencing a massive resurgence and what B2B marketing leaders need to know to stay relevant.

Here are the deep-dive insights from their conversation.

1. The Shift from Traditional SEO to AI Search

Historically, B2B marketing heavily relied on SEO to capture demand. The goal was simple: rank high, drive traffic to the website, capture an email address, and drop the prospect into a nurture sequence.

AI search has flipped this model on its head.

  • Instead of driving people to your website, the new goal is to ensure the answers about your brand are out there where the questions are being asked.
  • Buyers are getting their information delivered directly by Large Language Models (LLMs).
  • To win in this environment, marketers must ensure that their content is incredibly clear, consistent, and consumable by these LLMs.

But it’s not just about algorithms. Buyers are actively seeking out their own information in niche communities, such as Reddit or industry-specific social media platforms. Marketers must take a holistic approach, ensuring their brand is present and participating in those highly specific conversations.

2. Why Earned Media is the Ultimate Trust Signal

With AI search scrambling to provide the best answers, credibility is the currency that matters most.

  • LLMs rely on third-party, trusted sources to formulate their responses.
  • Because of this, earned media—such as coverage in respected publications and mentions in analyst reports—is more important than ever.
  • What carries the most weight in an AI-driven discovery process is what trusted third parties are saying about you, not just what you say about yourself on your own website.

Robin notes that while people are calling this a “rebirth” of PR, earned media never truly left; it has simply become the critical engine feeding today’s AI discovery tools.

3. Foundational Red Flags: Do You Really Know Your Buyer?

Before a B2B marketing team engages with a PR agency, they need to have their own house in order.

Robin highlighted several foundational pieces that must be in place, along with a few major red flags she looks out for when evaluating a potential client.

  • The “No Competition” Myth: If a founder or marketer claims they have absolutely zero competition, that is a massive red flag. Even if you are building a new category, you cannot be a category of one; you exist somewhere in the competitive universe. If you don’t acknowledge your alternatives (even if it’s just a DIY workaround), it is the very first thing a reporter will challenge you on.
  • Knowing Your Buyer: You cannot be everything to everyone. Marketers must know exactly who they are building for and where those buyers hang out online.
  • Checking a Box: If you are only investing in PR because your board told you to, without genuine C-suite buy-in, the PR engagement will likely struggle.
4. Spokesperson Prep: You Need an Edge

A common misconception in B2B marketing is that you can simply outsource your PR to an agency and wait for the articles to roll in. In reality, successful PR requires active participation from your company’s leaders.

  • The agency’s job is to craft the narrative, but the spokespeople (usually the founders or C-suite) must be willing to actually get out there and tell it.
  • It is critical for a spokesperson to have a distinct point of view and a little bit of an edge.
  • If your executives are afraid to alienate anyone and just repeat the same safe talking points as everyone else, your message will not cut through the noise.

Marketers play a crucial role here by working with their PR partners to media-train executives, ensuring they feel confident, over-prepared, and comfortable delivering an authentic, compelling story.

5. Reverse-Engineering the “Dream Publication”

Many B2B companies come to the table with a “dream publication” in mind—often The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. Robin explains that wanting to land a top-tier publication isn’t a bad thing, but it requires a fundamental shift in how marketers pitch their stories.

  • You cannot simply push the story you want to tell the world.
  • You must reverse-engineer the story based on what that specific publication’s audience actually wants to read.
  • Every channel and outlet requires something different, and your narrative must be tailored to serve the publication’s needs if you want to land that coveted spot.
Your Next Step: Audit Your AI Visibility

As AI continues to redefine how B2B buyers discover and evaluate software, marketers need to know exactly where they stand. Are LLMs accurately describing your product? Are you showing up in the right conversational queries? 

To gain even more insights into this topic, watch Robin’s podcast episode.

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