Loop Marketing is HubSpot’s new go-to-market framework (introduced and emphasized heavily at this year’s INBOUND conference) that reimagines the traditional linear marketing funnel as a continuous, customer-centric loop.
Instead of thinking of marketing as something that ends when a prospect becomes a lead or closes as a customer, Loop Marketing keeps audiences in a perpetual cycle of engagement, amplification, and optimization.
Loop Marketing is best visualized as a figure-eight (∞), a constant motion of:
Attracting
Converting
Nurturing
Retaining
Re-engaging
And back again.
HubSpot is calling this shift “the new blueprint for B2B marketing,” and it aligns with changes in search behavior, AI tools, and the need for evergreen campaigns.
Emily and Maryanne discuss how the traditional funnel model (where leads "drop out" and become sales' responsibility) is no longer effective.
Key reasons why the funnel is fading:
Zero-click searches are rising: 94% of Google searches don’t result in a website click.
Buyers are engaging in non-linear ways: They enter and re-enter the journey across channels.
AI is changing how people find information: Search is no longer just Google. It’s ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.
Instead of trying to “drive traffic” in the old way, Loop Marketing reframes success around persistent optimization, value delivery, and intent-based visibility.
One of the biggest takeaways from INBOUND? SEO is evolving into AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
AEO is the practice of optimizing content for AI-powered search tools and LLMs (like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others), not just traditional search engines.
Key AEO Tactics Discussed:
Creating clear, direct, answer-style content
Building topic authority through structured, semantically-rich posts
Using tools like HubSpot’s new AEO grader (in beta) to analyze content for AI visibility
Loop Marketing and AEO go hand-in-hand: both aim to serve the right content at the right moment without relying on clicks.
HubSpot rolled out several product updates designed to support this shift toward loop-based, AI-aware marketing.
An interactive campaign planning tool that lets teams:
Visualize campaigns like a Miro board
Tag assets, drag-and-drop tasks
Plan across landing pages, emails, forms, and more
New features that:
Analyze your content’s performance in AI search environments
Provide specific improvement suggestions
Help marketers adapt SEO strategies for LLM-powered search
AI-powered agents you can install into your HubSpot portal to automate tasks like:
Analyzing closed-lost deals
Recommending follow-up actions
Speeding up campaign and deal workflows
Important note: These tools work best when your CRM data is accurate and up to date. As Emily and Maryanne remind listeners: Data in = data out.
Another shift with Loop Marketing? Campaigns are no longer measured by start and end dates.
Instead, marketers should:
Continuously optimize the same campaign assets
Repurpose high-performing content year after year
Focus on longevity, not just launches
This shift encourages a mindset of content stewardship: updating, reusing, and promoting content across formats and platforms, rather than constantly churning out new assets.
Emily and Maryanne wrapped the episode with this insight:
"It matters more than ever what content we're creating and how we're approaching our prospects."
The Loop Marketing framework (paired with AEO and HubSpot’s evolving AI tools) isn’t just a trend. It’s a necessary response to how modern buyers search, evaluate, and engage.