From Funnels to Loops: Rethinking Modern Marketing in the Age of AI (2025)

Sep 8

At this year’s INBOUND conference, HubSpot introduced the Loop Marketing Playbook, a bold reimagining of marketing built for an AI-first world, where discovery is fragmented, attention is scarce, and action happens instantly.

It’s a shift that couldn’t be more timely. At Inveniv, we’ve always believed marketing isn’t linear. Our infinity lifecycle framework shows how the customer journey loops back on itself, with brand consistency as the thread connecting every stage. HubSpot’s new marketing model echoes that perspective, and takes it further by showing exactly how AI fits into the loop.

This approach isn’t just a fresh funnel graphic. It’s a clear sign that the playbook for marketing strategy has changed - and it’s time to think differently.

The Old vs. The New

The old marketing playbook was simple:
create content → promote it → nurture leads → convert.

But today’s buyers don’t follow a straight line.

Search has shifted: AI tools don’t just give answers, they shortcut the journey to action, bypassing the familiar list of links.”
Discovery is scattered: people find solutions through podcasts, newsletters, niche events, and endless social feeds.
Personalization has a ceiling: AI can swap in a name, but only humans can create connection.

Today’s buyer journey is dramatically different. Research shows that nearly 80% of B2B research is completed before a buyer speaks with sales, and over 60% of Google searches end without a click. This means buyers are relying on AI summaries, peer reviews, and alternative discovery channels rather than company websites alone.

It’s true that it’s now harder than ever to be found, but once you are found, the opportunity to build trust and convert is stronger than ever.

Inside the Loop Marketing Framework

HubSpot’s Loop framework includes four steps: Express → Tailor → Amplify → Evolve.

Express who you are with clarity and conviction. AI can help scale content, but humans bring the tone, clarity, and voice that earns trust, and in life sciences, that means translating complex science into brand stories that are both credible and compelling.

In practice, this involves identifying your ideal customer profile (ICP), creating a style guide that defines your brand’s tone and language, and brainstorming core content topics that showcase your perspective.
Tailor beyond simple personalization tokens. In life sciences, this means contextualizing content around regulatory milestones, scientific challenges, or specific patient outcomes.

In practice, this involves unifying data sources, mapping intent signals (search behavior, engagement history, buying stage), and crafting contextualized content so every prospect feels like a “segment of one.”
Amplify across shifting discovery channels. As AI reshapes search, fewer buyers will land on your website at all. From SEO to AEO (Agent Engine Optimization), from scientific podcasts to conference halls, visibility depends on showing up in the places where your audience is already engaged.

In practice, this involves diversifying distribution, optimizing for AEO (AI Engine Optimization), syndicating across podcasts, YouTube, newsletters, and using AI tools to repurpose content across multiple channels.

This is where Agent Engine Optimization (AEO) becomes critical. By 2028, AI-driven search is expected to overtake traditional search, and being visible in AI-generated recommendations will matter as much (if not more) than ranking on Google’s first page.
Evolve in real time. The true power of the Loop is that it doesn’t just repeat. It learns. With every cycle, AI and human feedback sharpen the next iteration. Each campaign gets smarter, more contextual, and more effective in real time. Human oversight ensures this evolution remains compliant, ethical, and credible.

In practice, this involves monitoring campaign performance in real time, feeding those insights back into AI systems, and continuously iterating so each loop cycle gets sharper and more effective.

The Loop Gets Smarter

One of the most important aspects of HubSpot’s announcement is that the Loop isn’t just a cycle — it’s a learning loop. Every interaction feeds back into the system, making your next action more relevant.

HubSpot ties this to their vision of an agentic customer platform: a marketing, sales, and service engine where AI agents don’t just automate tasks, but continually adapt strategies in real time.

What this means for us:

Your outreach gets sharper with every scientific or clinical touchpoint.
Feedback and engagement from your audience isn’t static. It actively reshapes campaigns.
Over time, the loop doesn’t just repeat; it gets smarter.

At Inveniv, this resonates with our own infinity lifecycle: the more data and insights you feed into the system, the more precise your brand’s storytelling and engagement become.

What This Means for Life Sciences

For innovators in biotech, pharma, and health-tech, Loop Marketing isn’t just a shiny new model, it’s a practical lens for building stronger relationships in a noisy market.

AI as an enabler, not a replacement. Use it to scale insights, but keep humans in the loop to ensure accuracy and empathy.
Brand as the anchor. In highly regulated industries, consistency of brand voice matters as much as scientific data.
Trust as currency. Buyers don’t buy from brands. They buy from people they trust. AI can amplify the signals, but the story has to be human.
Signals that shape response. Every customer interaction, from general inquiries to conference booth conversations to site tours, can feed back into the loop. The smarter your system gets at capturing these signals, the more precisely it can shape real-time responses and future campaigns.

This aligns with what we’ve believed all along: the customer journey is infinite. Brand isn’t a campaign asset you put on a shelf; it’s the foundation that ties together every interaction, every experiment, and every conversation.

The Bigger Shift: From Robotic to Human

Most marketing today still feels robotic — templated, transactional, interchangeable. That’s why so many campaigns fail to break through to their audience.

“Loop Marketing” challenges us to think differently:

The question is no longer ‘How do we generate more leads?’ It’s ‘How do we stay relevant, personal, and human in an AI-driven ecosystem?’

When AI gives every company the ability to create endless content, the brands that win will be those who express themselves with clarity, tailor with empathy, amplify in the right spaces, and evolve, all in real time.

That’s not just modern marketing. That’s human marketing.

The Takeaway

The traditional funnel is fading.

For life sciences companies, that means embracing AI not as a bolt-on tool but as a built-in partner, always guided by human judgment, creativity, and brand integrity.

At Inveniv, we see the Loop as validation of the infinity lifecycle we’ve always believed in: a continuous, brand-centered journey where every interaction sharpens the next. HubSpot’s framework shows how AI can power that loop, but it’s brand, strategy, and human creativity that keep it authentic.

And in a world where buyers trust humans more than brands, the companies that master the loop will be the ones that transform complex science into clear, credible, and human stories that truly connect.

Explore HubSpot’s announcement: hubspot.com/loop-marketing
And let’s start rethinking how the Loop applies to the future of life sciences marketing.

Aaron Mazze