Marketing in the hybrid human-AI world
Written by Michael Farr, founder of ekim commerce with contributions from Phil Webb, CEO and co-founder of Vu Agency
AI is changing consumer behaviour, creating new shopping channels and a new ‘AI’ consumer for businesses to market to.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being adopted by businesses at speed, driving improved efficiencies across many business functions including Marketing, HR, Strategy & Manufacturing.
McKinsey’s State of AI Report 2025 found 78 per cent of respondents use AI in at least one business function, and that AI is now a key focus area for businesses over the next 3 to 5 years.
However, whilst implementing AI into business functions is key, organisations must also consider how AI is changing their end consumer and their behaviour.
One business function where this is most notable is in marketing.
This area has seen rapid adoption of AI, with 88 per cent of marketers using AI for at least one task such as: audience targeting, ad creative, reporting or optimisation.
This is driving improvements in efficiencies and delivery of marketing campaigns.
In parallel to this however, AI is changing the way consumers interact with brands – and marketing teams need to consider this as part of their strategy.
Most notably search marketing - where companies use search engine optimisation and paid advertising to appear in Google, Amazon, social media and AI generated results – is seeing changing consumer behaviour.
Platforms are incorporating AI into their services to improve experience for users - 60 per cent of Google searches no longer end with a click – as shoppers get information from the AI overview at the top of the search results, and Google has recently announced plans to move all search results over to ‘AI Mode’, allowing users interact with AI in a conversation to receive the most personalised and detailed search responses.
60 per cent of Google searches no longer end with a click – as shoppers get information from the AI overview at the top of the search results
Personalised AI shoppers are also on the rise, with 22 per cent of shoppers researching and purchasing based on ChatGPT recommendations. Amazon's personalised AI chatbot ‘Rufus’ also offers personalised product recommendations to shoppers.
Based on this experience, we're not too far off an experience where a consumer could outsource their entire weekly shopping to an AI shopping agent.
Types of Consumer (Liu-Thompkins et al, 2022)
This dramatic shift completely changes the search marketing field.
As consumer confidence in AI and adoption grows there will be an increase in delegation of tasks to AI agents – such as shopping, restaurant booking, services procurement and more.
With marketing teams using AI to run campaigns, and consumers outsourcing tasks to AI agents – marketing is seeing a shift from a human to human interaction to an AI to AI – creating a new ‘AI’ consumer and channel for marketing teams to consider.
At ekim commerce we are seeing a number of clients expanding their marketing channels beyond Google, to ensure that they remain visible as shopper behaviour develops.
How businesses engage with their consumers – moving from a traditional human to human interaction, to an interaction where business and consumer are using AI.
Marketing to the AI consumer
Phil Webb said: “We’re entering a new era where AI is no longer just something brands use for operations; it’s now part of the decision-making process on the consumer side too.
“Those changes everything.
“Marketing strategies can’t just aim for human clicks anymore; they need to be interpretable and compelling to the algorithms and AI agents that are beginning to shape our choices.”
Search marketing is seeing a dramatic shift from content and ads tailored to display to a human audience - to targeting discovery by an AI agent.
Though still new, some best practices for improving recognition by AI are:
- Building brand authority around key topics in your category
- 3rd Party reviews
- Social media content and mentions - particularly Reddit
Five things brands can do
1 Consistent brand messaging
AI uses several sources to build a picture of your brand – having a consistent brand story across marketing channels (social media, website, etc.) helps to signal your brand values to AI – and also build associations between your brand and key topics in your category.
2 Multi-channel marketing strategy
Brands relying heavily on Google for their traffic and sales are likely to be the businesses impacted most by the launch of Google’s AI mode – with less results shared to customers in Google search results, activating on new channels such as social media, YouTube and programmatic advertising can help these businesses maintain traffic.
3 Third party endorsements
AI builds a picture of your brand based on several sources – 3rd party content from customer reviews and forums can help to build an ‘unbiased’ picture of your brand – and from our research carries weight in the ranking of businesses in AI search.
4 Social Media posting
A strong indicator of your brand used by AI.
5 Public Relations (PR)
Digital PR from websites with strong authority in your niche can help to build your brand association and ranking in AI search.
Conclusion
As businesses increase their adoption of AI to better service and interact with their consumers – they must also consider how AI is altering the behaviour of their end consumer and adapt their strategy and communication to suit.
In the marketing field specifically, as AI agents are used more by consumers in their daily lives – a new AI channel will open up where marketing teams need to ensure their products and services are discoverable.
For marketers, building a key brand identity and consistent brand messaging will be key to staying discoverable in this AI channel.
To discuss building an AI marketing strategy for your organisation – reach out to ekim commerce for a free 15-minute consultation.