Today, we released our Press-to-Pipeline Activation in the Age of AI report, and the findings confirm what we’ve been seeing with our clients for months. AI assistants have overtaken Google Search as the No. 1 starting point for enterprise technology buyer research.
We partnered with Censuswide to survey 300 senior B2B buyers across five industries. The results were clear. When buyers need to evaluate a new vendor, 47% now turn to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini first, ahead of Google Search (43%), vendor websites (42%) and trade publications (40%). And once they're in evaluation mode, 93% use AI to summarize or compare vendors before a sales conversation ever happens.
But AI doesn't create credibility on its own. It summarizes what third parties have already published. That makes earned media the credibility layer behind every AI-generated vendor summary.
Every press release, media mention, analyst report and byline is now training data for the AI tools buyers use to build their shortlists. PR has always been about shaping perception. What’s changed is that the perception is now shaped by an algorithm that draws on earned media. The companies that understand this are the ones showing up when a potential customer asks ChatGPT to compare vendors in their space.
The report also found that recency matters. Ninety-two percent of buyers say media coverage published in the past 90 days is important when assessing vendor credibility. If your last major coverage was a quarter ago, you're already fading from the conversation.
Download the complete Press-to-Pipeline Activation in the Age of AI report to see the full findings.
And if you're curious about how your company's earned media presence stacks up in AI-driven research, request a free AI Visibility & Earned Media Readiness Assessment.