#53 The Mental Av-AI-lability Matrix

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Back to Brave podcast, Babel's Head of B2B Marketing, Ash Lockett is joined by Andrew White, CEO and co-founder of Sapio Research, to unpack Babel's newly released report, The Mental Av-AI-lability Index. Together, they explore the critical intersection between human brand recall and algorithmic recommendations within the B2B tech sector. The episode dives into the methodology behind the research, revealing how AI is rapidly shifting the B2B buying journey (notably that 32% of buyers who select a net-new vendor now use AI tools to find them - officially outpacing traditional search engines and analyst reports). Ash and Andrew also break down the four new commercial realities, identified in the report, into quadrants (Titans, Algorithmic Disruptors, Sleeping Giants, and The Untapped) and share actionable best practices for conducting impactful, unique brand and thought-leadership research.

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Episode Notes

Timestamps

0:00 - 1:21: Introduction to the podcast and guest Andrew White, detailing Sapio Research's focus on B2B and tech audience and brand research.

1:22 - 6:57: Ash introduces the Mental Availability Index and discusses the growing reliance on AI in B2B purchasing, highlighting the debate on whether brands should optimize for human memory or machine recommendation.

6:58 - 10:56: A breakdown of the research methodology, which included surveying 400 UK and US B2B tech decision-makers and auditing various LLMs to rank top brands.

11:08 - 15:05: Key findings on buyer habits: 87% of buyers still choose familiar vendors, but a staggering 32% of those choosing net-new vendors use AI tools for discovery.

15:06 - 22:33: Exploring the four brand quadrants: Titans, Algorithmic Disruptors,  Sleeping Giants, and The Untapped. Ash and Andrew discuss how broad product portfolios from larger brands can cause "algorithmic dilution".

22:34 - 27:53: Best practices for conducting brand research, including the importance of using problem-specific questions over general ones, and the ideal frequency for tracking brand changes.

27:54 - 32:14: Tips for creating unique thought-leadership research by finding the intersection between audience interest and brand attributes. Andrew explains why specific AI centric use-cases perform better than generic AI surveys.

32:15 - 39:58: Advice on securing robust sample sizes (recommending a minimum of 400 for B2B) and ensuring audience representation. Andrew highlights common pitfalls to avoid, such as self-serving or rushed questionnaires, while Ash advocates for including "joker questions" to uncover unknown data points.

39:59 - 44:11: Final actionable tips on being bold with research methodologies, such as using monetary data extrapolations and maturity models to properly educate audiences.

Read the full Mental Av-AI-lability Index HERE.

www.babelpr.com

www.sapioresearch.com

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