Out with the Funnel, In with the Loop: Your Guide to HubSpot’s New AI Marketing Playbook

The funnel is fading fast.

AI is transforming how people discover, evaluate, and buy, and the linear model marketers have relied on for two decades simply can’t keep up. Today’s buyers are informed long before they land on your site, conversions are happening further along in the journey, and attention is fragmented across AI-driven search, influencer recommendations, and community conversations.

At INBOUND 2025, HubSpot unveiled a new playbook designed for this moment: Loop Marketing. Unlike the rigid funnel, the loop is dynamic, powered by humans and AI, and infinitely adaptable. It’s not just a framework—it’s a way of working that helps businesses grow smarter, faster, and more authentically.

Here’s how you can put it into action with HubSpot’s newest tools.

Why the Funnel Is Breaking

Three forces are disrupting the way marketing has worked for decades:

• AI eats the top of the funnel. Nearly 60 percent of Google searches end without a click, thanks to AI overviews and large language models (LLMs) summarizing answers before a user ever visits your site.
• Intent is skyrocketing. The smaller share of buyers who do land on your pages arrive highly qualified—4.4 times more likely to convert than traditional traffic.
• Authenticity beats volume. Content saturation has leveled the playing field. “Taste”—your unique voice, perspective, and brand story—is now the true differentiator.

The playbook marketers have leaned on for years—heavy top-of-funnel content, rinse-and-repeat campaigns, and static nurture paths—is no longer enough.

That’s where Loop Marketing comes in.

Meet Loop Marketing

Loop Marketing is built for the AI era. Instead of guiding buyers down a predictable path, it empowers marketers to express, tailor, amplify, and evolve continuously, learning faster and connecting deeper at every stage.

The magic happens in the partnership. Humans bring creativity, taste, and authenticity; AI brings speed, scale, and optimization. Together, they fuel a loop that compounds growth over time.

Let’s break down the four stages of the loop and the HubSpot tools that make each one real.

1. Express: Define and Share Your Unique Brand Story

Every loop starts with you. Before AI can be powerful, it needs to be fed your distinct perspective, voice, and understanding of your customer.

Tactics with HubSpot’s new tools:

• Audience Insights with Breeze Assistant (Free): Summarize your best-fit customers directly from CRM data, including their goals, pain points, and deal history.
• Brand Identity (All Hubs, Professional+): Upload your style guide—tone, voice, and values—so every AI-assisted asset reflects your brand.
• Marketing Studio (Marketing Hub Professional+): Turn that foundation into campaign strategies and multi-channel content in minutes.

Why it matters: When you define your taste first, AI stops being a content factory and becomes a growth engine.

2. Tailor: Make Every Interaction Feel Personal

Buyers don’t just want personalization—they expect relevance that feels human. Loop Marketing uses AI to transform generic outreach into one-to-one moments that show your brand truly understands its audience.

Tactics with HubSpot’s new tools:

• AI-Powered Contact Enrichment and Data Agent (Starter+, Credits): Fill gaps in CRM records with real-time intent signals, firmographics, and job changes.
• AI Segmentation (Marketing Hub Professional+): Build audiences based on intent signals such as pricing page visits or email replies.
• Personalization Agent (Professional+): Dynamically adapt landing pages and CTAs for different audience segments.
• AI Dynamic Email Personalization (Enterprise): Generate individualized emails at scale, powered by CRM data.

Pro tip: Always layer human review on top. AI can scale personalization, but only you can make sure it feels genuine.

3. Amplify: Show Up Where Buyers Already Are

Your prospects aren’t following your funnel anymore—they’re following their feeds, communities, and trusted voices. The amplify stage helps you diversify distribution and build credibility where it matters.

Tactics with HubSpot’s new tools:

• AEO Grader (Free) and AEO Strategy Tool (Content Hub Professional+): Optimize your content to surface in AI-generated answers.
• Customer Agent (Professional+, Credits): Place conversational AI bots on high-intent pages (e.g., pricing) to answer questions instantly.
• Creator Partnerships: Use HubSpot’s connectors for ChatGPT or Claude to identify potential influencers or industry collaborators.
• Video Clip Search Agent and Clip Editor (Content Hub Professional+): Turn long-form video into trending, short-form clips for social feeds.
• AI-Powered Ad Builder and Google PMax Integration (Professional+): Generate and launch AI-driven campaigns across channels with precision targeting.

Why it matters: Amplification isn’t about being everywhere—it’s about being in the right places with the right people at the right time.

4. Evolve: Optimize in Real Time

Gone are the days of waiting months to know if a campaign worked. With Loop Marketing, learning and optimization happen continuously.

Tactics with HubSpot’s new tools:

• Email Engagement Optimization (Enterprise): Predict which contacts will engage before you hit send.
• Smart Digest (Professional+): Get AI-powered trend reports delivered to you as campaigns run.
• Pathfinder (Enterprise): Analyze customer journey paths to uncover friction points and conversion drivers.
• Breeze Assistant (Free). Post-campaign, get recommendations on what to refine in your next loop.

Why it matters: Every cycle of the loop makes you sharper. Faster feedback leads to faster pivots, which allows for a stronger competitive edge.

Measuring Success in the Loop

Each stage of Loop Marketing comes with clear metrics:

• Express → Efficiency: Time and cost to create content
• Tailor → Engagement: Click-through rates across channels
• Amplify → Conversion: Channel conversion rates, AI visibility, and share of voice
• Evolve → Velocity: Number of qualified leads and experiments per month

The result? A marketing system that makes every loop smarter, stronger, and more aligned with your buyers.

The Future Is Loop Marketing

Just as inbound marketing transformed an internet-driven world, Loop Marketing is designed for the AI era. It’s not about throwing out strategy—it’s about making strategy more agile, more human, and more scalable through AI partnership.

The funnel had a great run, but today’s buyers aren’t moving in straight lines. They’re circling, looping, learning, and expecting you to keep up. With HubSpot’s Loop Marketing playbook and its newest suite of AI-powered tools, you can.

At SmartBug, we believe this moment is less about adapting and more about leading. The marketers who embrace the loop today will be the ones setting the pace tomorrow.

Ready to make the loop your growth engine? Let’s put it in motion.