People Changed How They Buy. Catch Up.

Sponsored by Semrush. *Try Semrush One for 14-days (exclusive Exposure Ninja deal)* 👉 https://exposureninja.com/semrushone ==================== Your customers are building shortlists, comparing options, and deciding who to buy from — all inside AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. And most marketing teams have absolutely no idea it's happening. According to SparkToro, 37% of searches now start in an AI tool rather than a traditional search engine. On Google itself, 60% of searches no longer result in a click. That means the traditional marketing funnel — someone Googles a keyword, clicks your site, fills in a form — is now just one route on an increasingly complex map. In this video, I break down the new marketing funnel stage that most brands are completely missing — and shows you exactly how to build for it: ⬇️ Why a new "Pre-Awareness" stage now sits at the top of the funnel — where buyers create personalised shortlists inside AI tools before they ever open Google ⬇️ How AI Search is creating a blind spot where brands winning in traditional SEO can be completely invisible in AI recommendations (and vice versa) ⬇️ The real-world case study of The Ordinary — where Exposure Ninja delivered a 395% ROI, 555% increase in blog sessions, and 451% increase in blog-driven revenue using a single strategy that works for both traditional and AI search ⬇️ Why the average B2B deal now takes 272 days and 81% of the buying decision happens before any sales conversation — making this a marketing problem, not a sales problem ⬇️ How to use Semrush to identify the topics where your competitors are being recommended by AI tools and you're not ⬇️ What "authority" actually means to AI tools and the specific content, editorial mentions, and digital PR strategies that earn recommendations ⬇️ Why branded search is getting more competitive — and how to protect the moment of conversion when buyers finally reach Google "The marketing funnel isn't dead, but there are new st