According to research, anti-AI channels lead for engagement, despite AI Search’s rise in popularity.
TL;DR: track asset-raising signals from both in-person and online meetings.
A forever-puzzling marketing conundrum – can in-person engagement bounce-back in the digital era? – looks to have been answered by 300 go-to market leaders.
In a survey posed by Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged newsletter and GTM Strategist’s Maja Voje, network and introductions were the most effective B2B channels (at 62%), showcasing the enduring value of intimate events.
The respondents were largely US-based software and AI companies rather than financial houses, but do identify that the B2B buying and selling world is still precarious with AI tools and platforms vying with in-person events to improve long-term customer relationships.
Elsewhere SEO (51%) and LinkedIn posts by firm leaders and employees (50%) were popular. Founder-led sales were a leading GTM motion overall, so long as there is repeatable inbound or outbound engine.
AI Search also recorded its largest YoY gain out of every channel that was tested, treated as a core channel by 39% and a further 41% experimenting with it. On the other hand, AI sales development tools are favoured less than expected.
On the buying signals front, content engagement was acted on most (52%), then website visits (42%) and product usage (40%) rather than third-party signals like hiring and leadership changes.
So, what does this mean for fund marketers?
What will be music to a lot of funds’ ears is that traditional in-person introductions to allocators remain sacred. Close-knit events like investor dinners, roundtables and consultant meetings can still be the source of progressive LP relationships.
Digital channels are, of course, still highly useful. They are paramount to speed up time-consuming tasks, and are supportive instruments to provide investors or consultants with content before an initial meeting.
On the other hand, cold outreach has been described in the survey as saturated, where volume-based prospecting can damage sender reputations. Fewer, tailored approaches are safer for building pipelines.
AI being used as a research step means that funds should test their AI Search strategy and track records across popular assistants, and correct any errors it assimilates by keeping messaging consistent across websites, public profiles and factsheets.
With content engagement and site visits continuing to provide quality intent signals, it is important to maintain CRMs to track them, indicating to IR teams that a known allocator is revisiting certain pages. Then, teams can act on the best next steps to nurture those interests.
Ultimately manual and automated fund marketing should sit side-by-side in order to boost engagement opportunities, both in the real-world and the ‘invisible’ online setting.
Source
Kyle Poyar and Maja Voje/Growth Unhinged, “2026 State of B2B GTM report”
