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# How AI gatekeepers are killing traditional content - and what works now
- URL: https://www.techstories.co/how-ai-gatekeepers-are-killing-traditional-content-and-what-works-now/
- Published: 2025-07-29T05:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-08-02T05:18:49.000Z
- Description: As AI eats search, here's what B2B marketers must do.
- Author: Paul Mah
- Tags: Writing

As AI eats search and rewrites the rules of content discovery, old ways must give way to new ones that actually work. Here are two things I learned today.

This evening, *JustCo* hosted "The New B2B Buying Stack," where speakers shared strategies for B2B discovery and decision-making.

Here are two takeaways for marketers and content leaders.

### Welcome to the AI jungle

AI is disrupting the search experience for B2B outreach, says Katrina Balmaceda and Samantha Ramos-Zaragoza from *With Content*, and we are in the age of AI gatekeepers.

- Click-through rates down by 34.5%
- 3 in 4 searches are ending in zero clicks.
- Search + social have become gatekeepers.

And oh, educational content no longer suffices, since AI is cannibalising informational intent keywords.

### All-in diversified, platform-native content

Moving past the AI gatekeeper entails:

- Bypassing it with direct B2B relationships.
- Meet AI requirements - but it's new and tricky.
- Be so big that you can't be ignored.

But businesses have to start somewhere, right? The old "breadcrumb" strategy, which sees content split into a half dozen pieces across other platforms, is no longer effective, says Katrina.

She suggested new strategies:

- Platform native content: Tailored content created for a platform's audience and experience, not as an afterthought, but from the very beginning.
- All-in diversification: Diversify with new content forms, from blogs to email newsletters, to messaging via WhatsApp or even B2B influencers.

### The evolving B2B buyer

The buying journey has evolved and is no longer a linear journey, observed Arundhati Saha and Pauline Yoong from *INFLUENCE*.

B2B marketers face the following hurdles:

- No longer pitching to one person but a panel.
- Buyer profiles have changed; new methods needed.
- Crowded field limits effectiveness of long-form content.

Getting ahead calls for an integrated approach.

### Build your influence stack

Ultimately, B2B is still about selling to humans.

Their suggestion? Businesses should build an "Influence Stack" comprising:

- Executives.
- Employees.
- Industry influencers.

I found their idea of influencers particularly fascinating, as it entails the co-creation of content in a way that plays to both the brand and the influencer.

The way I see it, it's about:

- Genuine dialogue.
- Social amplification.

Definitely food for thought.