Brick Marketing has announced a free webinar to help businesses plan their 2027 digital marketing budgets as AI-powered search changes how prospective customers discover and evaluate companies. Scheduled for December 9, 2026, the 60-minute session will cover search engine optimization (SEO), AI search, paid advertising, content marketing and channel performance measurement. The webinar, presented by Brick Marketing President Nick Stamoulis, will focus on connecting spending decisions to business objectives, qualified leads and measurable sales and brand value. Registrants who cannot attend live will receive a replay.

Webinar Focuses on Marketing Investment Decisions for 2027

The webinar, titled 2027 Marketing Budget Planning in the AI Search Era, is scheduled for Wednesday, December 9, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Registration is available through Brick Marketing's webinar page.

Rather than promoting a fixed allocation across marketing channels, the session will examine how businesses can assess existing programs, identify ineffective spending and decide where additional investment may be justified. The agenda includes traditional SEO, AI search optimization approaches such as generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO), pay-per-click advertising and content marketing.

The central premise is that budgets should reflect business priorities and evidence of performance, rather than simply carry forward last year's spending. That means evaluating whether campaigns attract the right prospects, support sales activity and contribute to longer-term brand value.

For businesses preparing annual plans, this approach can help frame a more useful discussion between marketing, sales and leadership: not just how much to spend, but what each investment is expected to accomplish.

AI Search Adds Another Dimension to Budget Planning

The session will examine how platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude fit alongside conventional search engines and paid media in the buyer journey.

AI-generated answers can change how people research topics, compare providers and discover information. However, visibility within an AI response is not the same as generating a qualified inquiry or closing a sale. Marketing teams need to distinguish discovery signals from outcomes that directly support business goals.

Google's own guidance offers an important qualification for companies allocating money to AI search. Its documentation says established SEO fundamentals remain relevant to AI Overviews and AI Mode, with no separate optimization requirements needed to appear in those features. Technical accessibility, useful content and reliable information remain important.

For budget owners, this suggests that AI search should be evaluated as part of the broader discovery strategy, rather than automatically treated as a separate expense category. Businesses can test changes, establish a baseline and review whether the work improves relevant visibility, qualified traffic or sales opportunities before increasing investment.

Channel Performance and Lead Quality Take Center Stage

Another focus is how companies evaluate the contribution of individual marketing channels. Traffic, clicks and form submissions can help explain campaign activity, but they do not necessarily establish whether an investment is producing commercially valuable results.

For example, a paid campaign might generate a large volume of inquiries but attract prospects who are unlikely to become customers. A smaller campaign may produce fewer leads that better match the company's services and sales priorities. Without examining lead quality and downstream outcomes, a budget review could favor volume over value.

Brick Marketing also highlights the need to consider what happens after an advertisement or content interaction. Landing-page relevance, follow-up processes, sales feedback and the length of the buying cycle all influence how marketing performance should be interpreted.

These considerations apply to content and brand-building activities as well. Businesses need to understand the purpose of each program, identify appropriate indicators of progress and review whether the work remains aligned with commercial objectives. A disappointing result may call for changes to targeting, messaging or execution rather than an immediate budget cut.

The webinar is therefore positioned as a planning session for businesses seeking to make more deliberate investment decisions, whether they are preparing a new budget or reviewing one already approved.

Strategic Outlook

Brick Marketing's webinar addresses a practical challenge for marketing leaders: allocating budgets across established channels and emerging AI-driven discovery methods without losing sight of sales performance.

Its most useful premise is that budget decisions should follow business objectives, lead quality and evidence of contribution. AI search may deserve greater attention for some organizations, but its priority should depend on customer behavior, existing performance and the business outcomes being pursued.

The session's value will ultimately depend on the practical frameworks and measurement guidance it delivers. For organizations planning 2027 spending, the broader lesson is to evaluate channels as parts of a connected buyer journey rather than isolated line items.

Top Insights

• 2027 budget planning: Brick Marketing's free webinar will help businesses review digital marketing investments across SEO, AI search, paid media and content.

• AI search enters the budget discussion: The session will examine how AI assistants and traditional search influence discovery and how companies can assess their relevance.

• Lead quality matters: Evaluating whether prospects fit a company's target market can provide a more meaningful performance signal than inquiry volume alone.

• Measurement should reflect business goals: Channel reviews should consider sales contribution, brand value, conversion processes and the time required to close deals.

• Spending decisions need evidence: Businesses are encouraged to assess current performance before expanding, changing or discontinuing marketing programs.

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