Beyond the Blue Link: How Multi-Location Brands Get Found in the Age of AI Search

WHAT IS A MARTECH HUDDLE?

It is an initiative by Martechvibe in association with Birdeye.

Martech Huddle is specially designed to engage marketing, technology, and marketing leaders who have revolutionised brands by using technology as a catalyst. It focuses on a group of carefully selected industry stalwarts, bringing them together to participate in an exclusive closed-door session. The selected professionals bring a variety of viewpoints, experiences, and domain expertise, but they all share the vision of transforming businesses by enhancing the customer experience while utilising technology and new digital methods. The huddle encourages open discussions among peers, resulting in a better strategy roadmap for organisations. In the age of building peer exchange resources, these gatherings form a community of like-minded business leaders working to explore insights, ideas and best practices.

ABOUT THIS EDITION:

AI is no longer simply a tool that marketing teams use, it is becoming an active participant in the customer journey itself. At the top of the funnel, AI-powered answer engines and conversational assistants are deciding which brands get discovered, cited, and recommended, often before a customer ever encounters a brand’s own channels. Further down the journey, AI agents are increasingly capable of owning entire outcomes, from engagement and personalisation to retention and reputation management, without human intervention at every step.

For senior leaders across growth, brand, CX, CRM, and digital, this creates a shared strategic challenge that cuts across functional boundaries. The question is no longer whether to deploy AI, but which parts of the customer journey AI should fully own, which require human oversight, and how to govern that balance consistently, particularly for multi-location brands where experience quality varies dramatically from one touchpoint to the next. The organisations that get this right will redefine how they are found, how they engage, and ultimately how they convert and retain customers in an AI-mediated landscape.