What Happens When AI Disrupts 95% of Your Pipeline? How Bitly’s CMO Is Rebuilding the Inbound Growth Engine

From SEO to AI-Era Discovery: What Bitly’s CMO Says Is Actually Changing (and What Isn’t) In a recent Game Changer CMO Series session hosted by Kathleen Booth (VP of Marketing, Sequel), Tara Robertson (CMO, Bitly) shared how Bitly is adapting to a world where buyers increasingly discover brands through AI-driven experiences, not just traditional search. With marketing responsible for 95% of new business revenue, the conversation focused on what’s shifting (distribution, measurement, and discovery surfaces) and what remains constant (quality, trust, and strong fundamentals). 1) AI discovery isn’t optional when marketing is the growth engine Bitly’s urgency starts with a simple reality: marketing isn’t a supporting function, it’s the primary driver of pipeline and revenue. “For us, learning about AEO wasn’t a nice to have. It’s our growth engine.” Robertson frames AI-era optimization (AEO/GEO/whatever label you choose) as existential, not experimental. When marketing drives the majority of revenue, you can’t afford to wait for “best practices” to solidify. This quote sets the stakes for the webinar: Bitly is adapting quickly because AI discovery directly influences growth, not because it’s trendy. 2) The first real signal: an “overnight” shift from curiosity to urgency The mindset change wasn’t gradual, it flipped when the technology started improving fast enough to affect strategy and confidence. “There was almost this overnight change where we went from, hey… there’s all these hallucinations still to, holy crap. This has all changed really fast.” Robertson captures the moment many marketing teams experienced: skepticism gave way to urgency as outputs improved and leadership began paying attention. In the broader conversation, this explains Bitly’s pivot from “monitoring the space” to actively restructuring channel strategy, measurement, and internal workflows around AI-era discovery. 3) The “SEO is dead” debate: the acronym is changing faster than the fundamentals As the industry debates terminology, Robertson pulls the conversation back to what actually drives results, usefulness, clarity, and credibility. “Regardless of what acronym you choose… it is still great SEO. It is still great marketing.” She’s not denying disruption, she’s resisting reinvention theater. The webinar reinforces that the fundamentals still matter, but the playing field has expanded: content must now perform across classic SERPs, AI answers, social platforms, and community spaces. The principle stays the same; the distribution and measurement models change. 4) Brand is having a measurable moment, especially in AI citations A major thread in the webinar is that brand is becoming more provable because AI surfaces tend to elevate recognizable, trusted sources. “This is brand’s moment… it’s the first time I’m talking about it at the board level.” Robertson links brand investment to a new kind of visibility: whether AI tools cite you, summarize you, or “recommend” you. Historically, brand impact could feel indirect or hard to quantify. In this conversation, brand becomes materially connected to discovery, giving marketing leaders stronger footing with executives and boards. 5) The website isn’t going away, but its job is changing As buyers consume more education off-site (or via AI summaries), the website’s role shifts from “first stop” to “proof point + conversion environment.” “The website is starting to serve a different purpose, but that purpose is still critically meaningful.” Robertson rejects the narrative that websites will become irrelevant. Instead, the webinar frames the site as increasingly important for depth, conversion, and authority, while discovery and early learning happen elsewhere. This ties directly into the broader theme: marketers need to plan for influence even when users don’t click through immediately. 6) YouTube: apply SEO discipline, but optimize for education and discoverability When Bitly looks at where discovery is happening, YouTube shows up as a serious lever, not an “extra” channel. “We’ve invested a lot more in our overall YouTube strategy… [by] tak[ing] everything that we’ve done from an SEO strategy and apply[ing] it within YouTube.” In context, YouTube is treated like a search engine with its own ranking logic and a platform that increasingly overlaps with AI discovery. The conversation also nuances intent: the goal isn’t always to drive an immediate website click. Sometimes the win is being the source that shapes understanding and earns trust (and citations) earlier in the journey. 7) Scaling with AI: leadership means making room to learn, not pretending to have all the answers Rather than prescribing one top-down AI playbook, Robertson emphasizes creating an environment where teams can experiment and share what works. “My job is to create the space for them to go in and learn… and just start trying to figure it out.” This is a practical operating model for a fast-changing landscape: enable experimentation, shorten feedback loops, and normalize iteration. It ties into the webinar’s broader message that AI-era marketing isn’t only a channel shift, it’s a new tempo. Teams that institutionalize learning will outpace teams waiting for certainty. 8) Hiring is shifting from “years of experience” to “curious builders” With roles changing quickly, Robertson argues that mindset is now a stronger predictor of success than legacy credentials. “I’m more apt to look for people… that might have that mindset than years of experience in specific areas.” This reflects a deeper point in the webinar: the “right” experience may not exist yet because the rules are still forming. Bitly is prioritizing adaptability, people who test, learn, and evolve. It’s also a quiet warning: teams that hire only for conventional checkboxes may struggle to keep up with new discovery mechanics. 9) Board communication: prepare leadership for volatility by anchoring on revenue impact Traffic patterns are changing, so marketing leaders need to reframe what success looks like before stakeholders do it for them. “We set the expectation to say, this is going to happen… we’re not laser focused on the traffic number… [but] what’s driving the revenue.” Robertson describes proactive stakeholder management: acknowledge volatility, explain why it’s happening, and steer attention to metrics tied to business outcomes. This fits the larger conversation about the “decoupling” of impressions and clicks, and the need to update dashboards so leadership can interpret performance in an AI-influenced world. 10) AI-assisted production only works with governance—speed can’t come at the cost of trust Bitly is using AI to drive efficiency, but Robertson is explicit: the model must protect quality and credibility. “You have to be thoughtful… balance when you’re leveraging AI and when you’re leveraging a human.” The webinar positions AI as a workflow accelerator, not an autopilot. Robertson describes using AI to streamline production (including a reported 14x efficiency gain), but insists on human judgment to prevent low-quality content and preserve brand integrity. In an AI discovery landscape that rewards trust, governance isn’t bureaucracy, it’s strategy. 11) Underestimated channels: Reddit, influencers, and customer-driven visibility To show up where conversations happen, and where AI models may pull signals, Bitly is leaning into channels many B2B teams still underuse. “Reddit and YouTube are the two areas that have been huge critical investments for us… and then influencers and user generated content…” In the lightning round, Robertson highlights a broader distribution philosophy: discovery isn’t confined to Google. Community platforms and creator ecosystems can shape brand perception, generate authentic content signals, and influence what gets repeated elsewhere, including in AI outputs. It reinforces the webinar’s overarching premise: modern inbound is “unbound” from any single platform. AI is changing discovery mechanics, so marketing must change its operating system Across every topic, Robertson returns to a consistent stance: don’t abandon fundamentals, but don’t cling to outdated assumptions about where discovery happens or how success is measured. The winners will be the teams who treat AI as a new environment, updating channels, dashboards, workflows, and talent strategies, while doubling down on what AI systems and humans both reward: clarity, usefulness, and trust.