Short answer: choose Directive if you want one larger agency to run most of your B2B marketing channels. Choose AnswerBid if you want a specialist for AI answers and ChatGPT ads with company identification, at a published monthly price.
Side by side
| Directive | AnswerBid | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Full-service B2B marketing agency | Managed B2B AI marketing service |
| Service scope | Paid media, SEO and content, performance creative, programmatic, RevOps, ABM, LinkedIn ads, PR, social, commerce; AI-powered platform Stratos | ChatGPT ads, AI visibility (AEO and GEO), company identification and LinkedIn ABM audiences, run by one team with a live client dashboard |
| AI advertising (ChatGPT and other AI ads) | Paid media across channels; a ChatGPT ads service is not listed on its services page | Yes. ChatGPT ads planned, written and optimised weekly for you, plus AnswerBid's AI Chat Network |
| GEO / AEO | Yes: AEO, GEO and LLM agency services for B2B | Yes. Up to 50 buyer questions tracked daily in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot; 3 page changes and 2 new sources a month |
| Website visitor identification | Not listed as a service | Yes, company level only (never individuals). Up to 250 identified companies a month; all traffic on the Complete package |
| Lead generation | Pipeline-focused programmes across paid, organic and ABM | Inbound: identified companies scored against your ideal customer profile and sent to your CRM, Slack or Teams the same day; visiting companies added to LinkedIn audiences |
| Automation | Stratos intelligence platform for reporting; execution by agency teams | Tracking, scoring, alerts and the dashboard are automated; strategy, creative and optimisation are done by people |
| Self-serve or managed | Managed agency service | Managed service. You approve the strategy and budget; there is no software for you to operate |
| Published pricing | Not published | $990 a month + media (ads), $1,290 a month (AI visibility), $1,990 a month + media (both). Monthly, no lock-in |
| Best for | Mid-market and enterprise B2B brands in technology, industrial and services that want one agency for most channels | B2B SaaS, tech and IT companies with small marketing teams that want AI answers and ChatGPT ads handled for them |
Directive facts come from directiveconsulting.com as published on 16 October 2026. AnswerBid facts come from our pricing page.
Where Directive is stronger
- Breadth. One agency for paid search, paid social, SEO, content, creative, PR and ABM.
- Scale. A large team and long track record (since 2013, per its site).
- AEO and GEO plus SEO. Organic AI visibility as part of a wider content programme.
Where AnswerBid is stronger
- ChatGPT ads. AnswerBid runs ChatGPT ads as a core service; Directive's services page doesn't list it.
- Company identification. Included in every package.
- Published prices. From $990 a month, monthly, no lock-in.
Using both
Companies with a full-service agency can bring in AnswerBid for ChatGPT ads and AI answer tracking, reporting alongside the agency's paid and SEO work.
Which one to choose
- Choose Directive if you want one larger agency to run most of your B2B marketing channels.
- Choose AnswerBid if you want a specialist for AI answers and ChatGPT ads with company identification, at a published monthly price.
How we compared
This page is written by AnswerBid, so we compete with Directive in part. We describe Directive only from its own public website, don't guess at features or prices it doesn't publish, and say where a feature is simply not listed. If something has changed, email ask@answerbid.co and we will correct it. See our comparison method and all comparisons.
Questions
Does Directive do GEO?
Yes. Its services page lists AEO, GEO and LLM agency services for B2B.
Does Directive run ChatGPT ads?
Its services page (checked 16 October 2026) doesn't list a ChatGPT ads service. Ask Directive directly.
