LinkedIn Is Not the Buying Journey And therefore B2B marketing has to expand beyond it
The industry keeps saying the funnel is broken.
It isn’t.
It’s just moved somewhere we can’t watch. It’s like a private group chat that you weren’t invited to, or like the lights have dimmed
In 2026, B2B buyers are still researching, debating, forming opinions and shortlisting vendors.
But they’re doing it in places attribution cannot follow:
Inside AI tools.
Inside internal copilots.
Inside industry Slack threads.
Inside peer conversations.
Inside podcasts.
Inside industry communities.
Forrester now reports that the majority of B2B buyers use generative AI during their purchase process. Indeed as verifiably long ago in the world of LLMs, 89% were using them in 2024 for B2B buying journeys.
Gartner predicts traditional search will materially decline by as much as 25% as AI becomes a primary discovery interface. Adobe is already seeing exponential growth in AI-driven referral behaviour, and many claim their …
