What’s a brand got to do to be seen around here?!
Jennifer Manocchio is president of Sweeney.
This era of “zero click” has led to a decline in organic traffic to websites, reducing the effectiveness of traditional SEO. So, what are PR professionals to do? We can all run and hide and pretend it’s not happening, or we can take advantage of this budding opportunity. Here’s how.
The strategic shift: Practical tips for PR practitioners
The exciting thing is that being consistent with the tried-and-true PR strategies while thinking outside the box has driven results.
This topic reminds me of what lit the fire in me to start really looking into what AI search prioritizes. Over the last year, we have pitched thought leaders to their alumni magazines for feature stories. This started out as an idea for trying to humanize the thought leaders, share more of their personal backgrounds as well as increase the amount of coverage. What we found is that the .edu articles were showing up in AI search results. Why? Because they’re trusted and credible. A feature story on a CEO in William & Mary’s alumni publication showed up more often in AI search results than coverage in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, though those publications are extremely valuable and credible as well.
Here are a few insights we have found along the way:
- AI is just another communication channel. A few things that continue to be true are that traditional PR still drives brand awareness and media is not dead. It has just evolved. A holistic content and PR strategy is necessary to make your brand visible. SEO isn’t going away just because AI search is here … but you need to strategize how your brand will show up in AI search results. Some tips include:
- Use descriptive subheads in blogs and articles, and make sure you’re writing about what your target audience is searching. It’s that simple.
- Don’t bury your key information in PDFs. Add FAQ pages to your website instead; AI loves the structure, and your customers and prospects will thank you.
- At one point, less copy on websites and blogs was best practice. Now we are shifting back toward more copy and more descriptions. Keep your home page free of clutter, but add designated pages for the copy-heavy topics.
- Skip the jargon. Talk to your audience as if you were talking to a friend.
- Post content regularly to your channels and continue to focus on your earned media strategy. According to an Ahrefs study, AI responses prioritize newer content over old more often than not.
- AI has rejuvenated the value of earned media. Yes, it’s true! Not only does AI love credible sources like .edu and .gov sites, but it also pulls from media. If you were recently quoted in the New York Times, AI may cite that source in a query response if the topic is relevant. Focus on thought leadership and diverse content sources and ensure that earned media is part of that strategy.
- Technology will keep evolving. It always has and it always will. As PR practitioners, it seems like as soon as we get the hang of one tactic, the whole game changes. Expect this and adapt. Right now, it’s AI. It’ll be something else in a year.
- Maintaining human connection and authenticity is critical. I can’t in good faith write a whole piece about AI without saying this: Do not let AI do your writing for you. When you do that, you lose the emotional language that makes your readers connect with you and/or your brand. AI is great for research, thought starters and refining what’s already there, but don’t let it generate whole pieces of content or rewrite everything for you. By then, you’ve lost the part of the content that made it memorable – you.
Practical foresight: AI as A channel, not THE channel
For the past few years, AI has dominated headlines and changed the way we work. But when it comes to PR, the foundational strategies and philosophies have not changed; you have to create the right message, find the right channels and deliver it at the right time. And adding AI as a channel either makes us roll our eyes, overwhelms us or excites us – because it’s a challenge or opportunity depending on how you look at it.
It’s “just another thing to add to our plate,” but it isn’t going away, so we can’t ignore it. We are in the relationship business, and if we think about AI search as another avenue to build relationships with target audiences, we should feel more compelled to rise to the challenge.
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