Buyer vs. researcher: Why marketers need to start higher in the funnel 

AI deal cycles rarely start with the person holding the budget. Long before the CIO or VP gets involved, someone else has already begun the research—quietly, behind a screen. That person is usually a mid-level evaluator: a researcher, analyst, or ops lead tasked with surfacing viable options. They shape the vendor list before leadership even sees it. 

If your content doesn’t speak to them, you may never get the chance to speak to the buyer. 

Meet your hidden influencer 

They might go by many titles—data analyst, marketing ops lead, IT architect, RevOps manager—but they share common traits: a technical lens, a mandate to evaluate, and the power to recommend.  

These professionals are the ones comparing tools, benchmarking performance, scanning documentation, and running pilots. They ask practical questions—Can this integrate? Is it secure? Are APIs robust?—and they use the answers to filter vendors before leadership ever weighs in. 

They don’t just collect options; they make the internal case. If your product doesn’t survive their vetting process, it won’t make it to the next meeting. 

Why marketers need to take notice 

Traditional marketing tends to over-index on ROI, transformation, and high-level value—important messages, but not the ones that speak to researchers. These early influencers want feasibility.  

They’re looking for integration clarity, scalability, documentation, and evidence that your solution will actually work within their environment. If your message skips those essentials, they’ll move on before the pitch even reaches procurement. 

What marketers often get wrong 

The assumption that value is defined only at the top leads to missed opportunities. Researchers are trying to answer very different questions than decision-makers.  

When your website offers only abstract promises, or hides technical details behind a form, you lose the interest of the people who are doing the actual evaluation work. They aren’t looking for the big picture—they’re looking for fit. 

How to speak to researchers—without selling 

Think of content as enablement, not persuasion. Researchers don’t want to be convinced—they want to explore. Make your content accessible, specific, and self-service. Surface integration diagrams, API documentation, security summaries, and deployment overviews early in the experience.  

Reduce friction around access—ditch forms for basic product info, offer ungated sandboxes or trial environments. Even your case studies need to evolve. Instead of focusing on Fortune 500 logos, highlight specific implementation stories that show what onboarding looked like. 

Highlight what results were tracked, and how someone in a similar role navigated the rollout. These stories give researchers the credibility they need to bring you into internal conversations. 

The trust factor 

Researchers are technical, time-strapped, and skeptical. They compare side-by-side, test assumptions, and remember which vendors made discovery smooth. Don’t just say your AI tool is “easy to implement”—show the systems it integrates with, what the timeline looks like, and what support actually feels like. 

Trust is earned in details. A reference architecture, SOC 2 certification, detailed FAQ, or in-product walkthrough carries more weight than a brand promise. 

And once trust is established, something powerful happens: researchers become your internal advocates. They explain your product in meetings. They forward links. They respond to objections from leadership. But they can only do that if your content arms them with what they need. 

Build bridges between researcher and buyer 

You still need messaging for final decision-makers—but not at the start. Buyers often lean heavily on internal recommendations. Your goal is to build a sequence: technical clarity for researchers, and strategic justification for leaders.  

Think in layers—explainer articles, integration FAQs, and support documentation up front; ROI calculators, procurement decks, and board-ready slides down the line. 

The content shouldn’t stop at awareness—it should carry your story across the internal funnel. 

Start where influence starts 

AI buying isn’t top-down—it’s inside-out. The first touchpoint is often someone buried two or three layers below the check signer, but they’re the one doing the work of discovery, analysis, and validation. 

If you speak their language early, build trust through clarity, and make their job easier, they’ll bring your name into the rooms that matter. That’s how you earn the deal—before the buyer even shows up. 

Because in this cycle, the real decision begins long before the deal gets signed. Start where it matters most: with the researcher.