If you don’t define your weakness, AI will
B2B companies that don't define their weaknesses may let AI and buyers do it for them, according to MarTech. This can lead to a loss of control over how AI describes their products.
Original reporting · martech.org
Read “If you don’t define your weakness, AI will” at MarTech →
How this was written. Awesome B2B wrote this article with a language model from MarTech’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from MarTech’s report
- B2B companies should clearly define their weaknesses to prevent AI from misrepresenting their products.
- Buyers are using AI to find new vendors and are looking for information on vendor weaknesses.
- Providing clear information about a product's strengths and weaknesses can help improve the sales funnel.
B2B companies often avoid stating who they are not a good fit for, leaving it to buyers and AI systems to decide, MarTech reported. This can result in AI filling in the blanks and potentially misrepresenting the company's products.
Most product pages are designed to appeal to as many buyers as possible, without clearly stating the product's limitations. However, this approach can backfire, as AI may infer incorrect information about the product.
Andrew Au, co-founder and co-CEO at B2B agency Intercept, argues that companies need to publish clearer boundaries around who their products serve and where they fall short. This can help prevent AI from making incorrect inferences.
Buyers are increasingly using AI to find new vendors, and they are looking for information on vendor weaknesses. If a vendor does not provide this information, AI may fill in the gaps, potentially leading to incorrect conclusions.
Typical B2B content often fails to provide useful information for AI models to work with, leading to incorrect inferences. To address this, companies should provide clear and concise information about their products' strengths and weaknesses.
Creating content that clearly states a product's limitations can be challenging, as it requires agreement from various departments, including product marketing, sales, and customer success. However, this can help improve the sales funnel by disqualifying unsuitable leads.
Questions and answers
Why should B2B companies define their weaknesses?
To prevent AI from misrepresenting their products and to provide buyers with accurate information.
How can companies create content that clearly states a product's limitations?
By agreeing on the content with various departments, including product marketing, sales, and customer success.
What is the benefit of providing clear information about a product's strengths and weaknesses?
It can help improve the sales funnel by disqualifying unsuitable leads and providing buyers with accurate information.
