Is AI in Your Marketing Budget Yet?
This article was published on July 2, 2026
Categorized in: AI Marketing
This Brick Marketing article will discuss the following:
👉 Allocate budget early to establish presence within generative search ecosystems.
👉 Integrate AI visibility parameters into your existing content and website strategy.
👉 Build momentum now before competitors crowd out generative AI answers.
Every marketing strategy should evolve as buyer behavior changes. Yet, this is something that isn’t always done. Over the years, businesses have been forced to adapt to the search engines, social media, and other behaviors. Now, AI is changing things yet again, and this time the change is impacted people’s search behaviors and habits. This means that marketing strategies need to account for it.
Unfortunately, many businesses are still taking a wait-and-see approach to AI. While that may seem like the safest option, we are not in a situation where waiting makes sense. Business that wait could get left behind. As more people use AI to research businesses, ask questions, and compare solutions, now is the time to begin making AI part of your long-term marketing plan.
Make Room for AI in Your Marketing Budget
If AI is becoming part of the way people find and evaluate businesses, then it should also become part of the way businesses allocate their marketing resources. This doesn’t mean shifting your entire budget to AI or abandoning the initiatives that are already working. Instead, it means recognizing that AI is now another area that deserves investment as part of a well-rounded marketing strategy.
Marketing budgets are built around priorities. Businesses invest in websites, content creation, SEO, social media, paid advertising, and other initiatives because each contributes to long-term growth. AI should now be viewed in the same way. Setting aside resources today allows your business to begin building its presence, learning what works, and adapting as AI continues to influence how buyers search for information.
AI Should Complement Your Existing Marketing Efforts
AI isn’t replacing digital marketing. It is becoming another way people interact with it. Your website remains the foundation of your online presence, while your content, SEO, social media, and other marketing activities continue to help establish your authority and connect with your audience. Those efforts are just as valuable today as they were before AI became part of the conversation.
The difference is that AI should now be another consideration when planning those activities. As you develop content, update your website, or evaluate your overall marketing strategy, think about how those efforts also support your business’s presence within AI. Rather than treating AI as a separate initiative, incorporate it into the marketing strategy you already have so it becomes another way to strengthen your overall digital presence.
Don’t Wait Until Everyone Else Does
Businesses rarely benefit from waiting until a marketing shift has fully matured before taking action. By that point, competitors have often spent months or even years adapting their strategies and building momentum. AI presents a similar opportunity. While it is still evolving, businesses have the chance to establish themselves before AI becomes an expected part of every marketing plan.
No one knows exactly how AI will continue to develop, but we already know that people are using it to research businesses, compare options, and gather information before making decisions. That alone makes it worthy of consideration during your marketing planning process.
Your business needs to be found in AI search. This is the future. By making AI part of your marketing strategy today, your business will be better prepared to meet changing customer expectations while continuing to support long-term business growth.
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About the Author: Brick Marketing President, Nick Stamoulis
Nick Stamoulis is President of Brick Marketing and has 28 years of digital marketing experience. He works directly with clients on strategy and implementation, helping solve complex marketing, lead generation, and sales challenges. He is a strategist with expertise in SEO, AI SEO (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), content marketing, social media, pay per click advertising, and conversion improvement. In addition to marketing consulting, he provides expert level marketing leadership, working closely with organizations to drive strategy, execution, and performance as a fractional CMO.
