The GTM landscape today is completely different from 2023 and earlier, but our portfolio of partners still relies heavily on paid search and PPC, organic and AI optimization, social, PR, on-site (events/field sales), some outbound, and partnerships.
Referrals are always high priority, but not easy to control.
But some categories see demand evaporating via channels since 2023:
1. SEO – the HCU update in late 2023 tanked inbound-related media in several categories, from publishing to SaaS blogs to other content-heavy engines.
2. Outbound email – the evolution of AI SDRs, outreach systems, email enrichment and sourcing platforms grew the volume of outreach emails significantly. The higher the rank in the org, the more outbound going… out.
3. Paid search – with SEO taking a hit and AI mode in Google taking more and more space, Google search ads have limited visibility for SaaS, ecommerce, tofu terms and others (still valid for brick and mortars, professional services, blue collar firms).
4. Paid social – with vibe automated comments and loads of AI copy and viral feeds, top decision makers are spending less and less time on social. 2022 formally marks a peak in social use (also coincidentally the high mark before the pandemic was over and return to office and offline entertainment got reinstated).
5. PR – also impaired by AI submissions, bot farms, oversaturating UGC networks like reddit and Quora, and different search engines prioritizing different domains (like OpenAI’s partnership with reddit for a couple of years, then pulled back for a while).
Each of these mediums has certain industries, brands, business segments thriving. eCommerce on paid search or social is still massive. Outbound for investment opportunities or niche blue ocean events wins. SEO for professional or blue collar services delivers results.
What previously delivered strong results due to uniform markets and active human audience now faces real pressure for different market segments.
We work harder, dive deeper, and connect more signal and intent based systems to keep the platforms and revenue engines running, with businesses growing steadily even in this economy.
