From PDFs to Conversations: AI’s Real Role in B2B Marketing

From PDFs to Conversations: AI’s Real Role in B2B Marketing

Ben Henson has been in B2B demand gen for over 20 years working at top lead generation companies like TechTarget. He’s helped build the lead management category, shaped the growth strategy at Integrate, and now co-founded Peel.ai. If anyone has earned the right to call BS on static content and half-baked nurture, it’s him.

This article is part of our Partner Marketing Playbook series, based on insights from Ben's conversation with Rick Currier on the Never GTM Alone podcast. Together, they break down how AI is finally reshaping go-to-market in ways that matter—for marketers, for sellers, and most importantly, for buyers.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Buyers Don’t Want Your Process — They Want Their Own

“We’ve been in search of the right prospect at the right time for so long that we’ve forgotten how valuable it is to disqualify early,” Ben explains. Today’s buyers don’t want your webinar series or 8-touch email cadence. They want fast, self-directed ways to solve problems. That requires new tools — and a new mindset.

2. AI Isn’t Just Flashy — It’s Functional (When Deployed Right)

Forget moonshot AI projects that need six months of ramp and a PhD to interpret results. Ben believes in plug-and-play use cases: “Start simple. Use AI as your note taker, your personalizer, your intent detector. Focus on outcomes — not infrastructure.” If it’s not moving business forward today, it’s not worth your time.

3. Turn Flat Files into Conversational Assets

Most marketers still gate a PDF and call it lead gen. Peel flips that script. With tools like Talkables, buyers can now talk to your content — asking it questions, exploring only what matters to them, and engaging asynchronously, in their own language. “The idea that someone’s going to read your entire white paper? It’s delusional,” Ben says. “This isn’t about attention spans — it’s about relevance.”

4. Make the Second Call Your First

AI-led interactions give sellers something they’ve never had before: intent, context, and clear next steps — before the call. “It’s not just about knowing who downloaded the asset,” Ben explains. “It’s knowing what they engaged with, what language they used, and what they’re trying to solve. That’s what turns discovery into conversion.”

5. The Next Era Will Be Voice-Driven, Brand-Controlled, and Buyer-Led

We’re not even in the first inning, according to Ben — we’re in batting practice. The future of GTM is voice-driven, personalized, and asynchronous. “Marketers need to lean in, but they also need to maintain control,” he says. Tools like Peel give brands the ability to power next-gen experiences without sacrificing consistency, compliance, or customer trust.

Final Thought:

Legacy lead gen is about to be left behind. If you’re still gating PDFs and handing over generic MQLs, your buyers are already ahead of you — and using ChatGPT to decode your assets. The good news? Tools like Peel are giving partner marketers a path forward. One that works with buyer behavior, not against it.