For years, B2B advertising operated on familiar ground: search engine positioning, industrial trade shows, niche media buying, and content strategies designed to “educate” the customer. It worked. But it is no longer enough.

Today, the conversation between a company and a supplier begins before the first click, before a website visit, even before a salesperson makes a call. It begins with an answer generated by artificial intelligence.

Yes, it’s that simple: when someone asks, “Which X provider is reliable?”, AI is already giving a name. The question is: is yours on that list?

If there is one thing we have learned by supporting companies through expansion, industrialization, and digital transformation, it is this: visibility is no longer earned solely through paid ads or technical SEO.

Visibility today is a matter of AI-generated trust.

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) does not compete with advertising:

• it complements it
• it makes it more efficient
• it reaches where traditional advertising cannot

When a B2B buyer receives a clear, well-argued, and neutral answer from a generative engine, that recommendation carries more weight than any banner or traditional search result.

The difference is significant. And the companies that understand this before their competitors will gain a real advantage.

What does this mean for a B2B brand?

That it is no longer enough to be “visible.” You must be positioned in the mind of the AI.

That implies three things:

1. Speak the language of real questions

If your future customers are asking:

• “Which provider offers reliable solutions in…?”
• “How do you choose X for industrial operations?”
• “Which brand offers technical support in Mexico?”

Then your content must answer those questions—not the ones you assume they are asking.

2. Be a reliable, verifiable, and useful source

What used to be “SEO content” now becomes expert content:

• concrete
• precise
• evidence-based
  with clear signals of authority

No inflated copy—AI detects real value.

3. Align your content with decision-making

In B2B, every interaction matters:

• technical data sheets
• practical guides
• comparisons
• support documentation

All of this becomes “training material” for generative engines—if it is well structured.

What changes in traditional advertising?

A lot—and for the better.

B2B campaigns can stop forcing discovery and start accelerating opportunities already prepared by AI. If your brand appears in an answer as a trusted source, your paid media performs better. Your remarketing performs better. Your content performs better.

Because you are no longer pushing—you are continuing a conversation that AI started on your behalf.

Conclusion

B2B advertising is undergoing one of its most profound shifts in years. And as with every major innovation, the value lies with those who prepare before it becomes mainstream.

At IMC, we are helping brands take that step—with strategy, context, and business clarity—so that AI does not just mention them, but actively recommends them.

Because the reality is this:

In the next decade, brand authority will not be built on keywords—but on generative answers.