How AI put PR at the top of B2B tech marketing – and what that means for you

Engaging AI is changing how technology buyers research, evaluate and purchase solutions. In this article, TSW+ community member Crawford Warnock shares why media coverage has become a powerful factor in influencing AI-driven recommendations and what tech businesses can do to stay ahead.

In a recent Foundry / IDG study of more than 500 IT leaders, 91% said AI influences their IT purchase decisions. That’s up from 81% last year.

And the impact of AI is now qualitative as well as quantitive. Analyst house Forrester has found that 94% of B2B buyers use generative AI or conversational search as a core research tool across procurement. The same survey found that buyers rate GenAI as twice as meaningful as any other information source.

In other words, when it comes to B2B tech purchasing, AI is being used more and is being trusted more

And it is not just about creating a ‘day one list’ with Chat, Gemini or Claude.  AI is present throughout the entire top of funnel. A 2026 study from Semrush found that 45% of business buyers rely on AI to support their final purchasing decision.

If you sell tech in the B2B markets, the message is clear: you need to be cited by AI’s. The question is how?

The answer is earned media.

94% of all links cited across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity come from non-paid sources. Within those citations, earned media accounts for 84% of all AI-cited links.

By contrast, paid content, sponsorships, and advertorials account for just 0.3%.

Media coverage is now a direct input into getting cited by AIs. And trade media is the secret weapon.

Respected, trusted titles such as CIO.com, Computer Weekly, Retail Technology or Manufacturing Digital inherently produce the style of content that AI models prefer to validate answers: long-form application stories, deep case studies, relevant, thematic thought leadership and technical specifications.

The three fastest segments within a PR strategy to secure such coverage are news, features and contributed articles.

Getting started on these areas now can yield coverage in days.

Looking ahead, technology companies that embrace earned media and PR now, will develop an incredible advantage as landscape shifts from buyers manually prompting chatbots to “autonomous agents” handling B2B purchasing workflows

This is already happening – recent data from the Gartner reveals that 67% of B2B buyers prefer a completely rep-free buying experience and Gartner predicts that by 2028, 90% of B2B buying will be mediated entirely by autonomous AI agents. 

Those agents will make purchasing decisions based on media coverage.

Those businesses that have gained a head start will likely be unassailable. Existing positive, relevant coverage will drive early waves of sales, creating more positive coverage and perpetuating the cycle.  The gap between leaders and laggards will expand.

The question is not if, but when, your company will integrate PR into its marketing and communications to become one of the winners in this race.

Want to know if AI is already talking about you – or your competitors instead? Email for a free Profile Acceleration Audit: we’ll show you who is getting cited in your category and why – and what you can do about it.