When AI Becomes the Buyer: Is Your Marketing Strategy Ready?
By Lesley Boyd, CEO, Parallel Marketing LLC
I recently came across an article in Forbes that made me stop and think about where marketing is headed. We’ve spent the last several years talking about how artificial intelligence is changing the way we create content, reach audiences, and run campaigns. But this article raised an entirely different question. An AI marketing strategy needs to account for more than how businesses reach human audiences. It must also consider how AI systems evaluate the information available to them.
What happens when we’re no longer marketing directly to people, but to AI systems making purchasing decisions on their behalf?
Think about that for a moment.
For decades, marketers have worked to understand human behavior. What motivates someone to buy? What builds trust? What creates an emotional connection to a brand? We’ve developed entire strategies around influencing those decisions.
Now imagine a customer telling an AI assistant, “Find the best solution for my business within this budget,” and letting that assistant do the research, compare vendors, evaluate reviews, and potentially make the purchase.
No browsing through websites. No carefully crafted sales funnel. No conversation with a salesperson.
The AI evaluates the options and makes a recommendation, or even completes the transaction.
It sounds futuristic, but the foundation for this is already being built.
From Marketing to Humans to Marketing to Machines
An August 2026 Forbes Technology Council article explored the emergence of what some are calling business-to-agent marketing. The concept is relatively straightforward. Instead of trying to persuade a human buyer, businesses must also make their products and services understandable and credible to AI agents acting on that buyer’s behalf.
And that introduces an interesting challenge.
AI doesn’t necessarily evaluate businesses the way people do.
A beautifully designed website might impress a prospective customer, but an AI agent may be more concerned with whether it can verify your services, compare your pricing, understand your capabilities, and find credible evidence that your company delivers what it promises.
Your brand story still matters. But it may not be enough to get you into consideration. This is where an AI marketing strategy becomes important, helping businesses make their expertise, services, and value easier for AI systems to understand.
For marketers, this is a significant shift. We’re no longer thinking only about how to capture someone’s attention. We also need to consider how technology interprets and evaluates the information we’re putting into the marketplace.
What Does This Mean for Businesses?
I think the implications extend well beyond the marketing department.
Consider a business that has invested heavily in branding, advertising, and a beautiful website. The messaging sounds impressive, but the actual information about its services is vague. Pricing is difficult to understand. Customer reviews are scattered. Its expertise isn’t clearly demonstrated anywhere online.
A human prospect might still pick up the phone and ask questions.
An AI agent might simply move on to a competitor whose information is easier to evaluate.
That should concern business owners. An effective AI marketing strategy starts with making business information clear, accurate, accessible, and consistent across digital channels.
We’re entering an environment where clarity, consistency, credibility, and accessibility may become just as important as creativity.
Businesses will need to think more carefully about how they communicate what they do, who they serve, what differentiates them, and why customers should trust them.
And marketing teams will need to work more closely with sales, operations, and leadership to make sure those claims are supported by accurate information and actual business performance.
Does This Mean Traditional Marketing Is Becoming Irrelevant?
Absolutely not.
In fact, I would argue that strong branding and genuine relationships may become even more valuable.
AI agents operate according to the instructions and preferences of the people using them. If someone already trusts a particular company, that preference can influence what the agent considers or recommends.
And let’s not forget that not every purchase is transactional.
Choosing a strategic partner, hiring a consultant, selecting a financial services provider, or making a significant business investment involves judgment, trust, and relationships that cannot always be reduced to a set of specifications.
But even in those situations, AI may increasingly determine which companies make the initial shortlist.
The challenge isn’t choosing between marketing to humans and marketing to AI. It’s learning how to do both effectively.
What Should Marketers Be Doing Now?
I don’t think businesses need to panic or completely reinvent their marketing strategies tomorrow. But I do think they need to start asking better questions.
Can AI systems clearly understand what our company does? Is our website content accessible, accurate, and specific? Are we publishing information that demonstrates actual expertise, or are we simply producing content to fill a calendar?
Do our customer reviews, case studies, and third-party mentions reinforce the story we’re telling?
And perhaps most importantly, are we building a marketing strategy that can adapt as purchasing behavior changes?
These are questions worth addressing now, before AI-driven purchasing becomes more commonplace.
The Bigger Picture
Marketing has always evolved alongside technology. We adapted to search engines, social media, mobile devices, and digital advertising. Each advancement changed how businesses connected with customers.
But this one feels different.
For the first time, we’re seriously contemplating a purchasing journey where technology doesn’t just influence the buyer. It can actually become the buyer’s representative, conducting much of the decision-making process independently.
That doesn’t eliminate the need for marketing strategy. It makes strategy more important.
Because the businesses that succeed won’t necessarily be the ones creating the most content, spending the most on advertising, or adopting every new AI tool.
They’ll be the ones that understand how their customers make decisions, whether those decisions are made by people, machines, or some combination of both.
And they’ll make sure their businesses are positioned to be considered either way.
The question isn’t whether AI will change marketing. It already has. The question is whether your marketing strategy is evolving quickly enough to keep up.
Inspired by Forbes Technology Council’s August 5, 2026 article, “Marketing To An ‘Agentic’ Customer: How To Sell To An AI,” by Pratik Bhadra.
About the Author
Lesley Boyd is the CEO of Parallel Marketing LLC, a strategic marketing firm that helps aviation organizations and other regulated industries build brand authority through strategic partnerships, events, and thought leadership. She previously built and led the in-house marketing engine at Stratus Financial and now works with companies looking to grow through relationship driven marketing, industry positioning, and community building.
This article is part of a series exploring how marketing leadership is evolving in modern industries.
About Parallel Marketing
Parallel Marketing is a specialized marketing firm rooted in aviation and embedded within the flight training ecosystem. Founded by the team behind Stratus Financial’s marketing function and industry platforms, including AeroSummit and Ascend Flight Training Summit, the firm combines marketing expertise with deep industry relationships developed through sustained involvement in aviation.
Parallel operates as a strategic partner to executive teams, integrating brand, demand generation and community engagement into a cohesive business strategy. While aviation remains its foundation, the firm is structured to serve other regulated, relationship-driven industries where credibility, precision and execution are essential.
Media Contact
Lesley Boyd
CEO
Parallel Marketing
949-406-4930
Lesley@parallelmarketingcompany.com