TL;DR
- AI is changing how people search for information
- PR has emerged as a key tactic to surface in AI responses; trade media is particularly important
- Conversational questions are supported by a strong PR strategy
AI has changed how we search
Search is changing – fast. With tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews offering conversational answers instead of traditional search engine results pages (SERPs), comms teams are reassessing how they build and maintain brand awareness.
I’m not suggesting that SEO is dead. It remains a vital part of a well-rounded digital strategy. But as AI-driven search becomes more influential, it’s clear that PR is playing an increasingly strategic role for brand awareness, positioning and reputation management.
Here’s why.
PR as a reputational safeguard in an AI world
Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained on vast amounts of text from the internet. That includes your most recent media coverage – but also blog posts, interviews, and press stories from months or even years ago.
This means old narratives, out-of-date messaging, or one-off negative headlines can linger far longer than you might expect. If you’ve rebranded, shifted direction, or resolved a crisis, that progress might not be reflected in what tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity say about you.
Unless you’ve actively published fresh, authoritative, third-party content to set the record straight, you may find LLMs referencing the past rather than the present.
A recent study by Search Engine Journal found that AI-powered search tools heavily favour third-party sources such as news sites, Wikipedia, and government pages, with branded websites rarely cited. Your carefully optimised homepage might not be what people see when they ask, “Who are the top facilities management companies in the UK?”
While you can’t control what LLMs say, you can influence the information they’re most likely to surface by placing fresh, high-quality media content in the right places.
The power of trade media
Trade media coverage is especially valuable for brand awareness, both for readers and LLMs. A growing body of evidence suggests that niche, topic-specific publications – not just household names – are having a strong influence on what chatbots surface.
A recent article in Semafor highlighted the weight of specialist publications in impacting what LLMs frequently reference, with one communications expert noting that “what trade media says… gets picked up a lot more than people think”. These outlets often carry more weight in AI outputs than social posts or owned content – especially in sectors like facilities management, where credibility and technical nuance matter.
While broad brand awareness is useful, being cited in the right industry press is now a powerful lever for influencing how your business is presented in AI-generated answers.
Using PR to crack tough keywords
Another overlooked benefit of PR in the AI era is its ability to help you reach audiences through highly competitive search terms – without trying to outrank major players.
Search for a term like “best facilities management companies” and you’ll notice that the top results don’t come from brand websites. Instead, they’re curated lists from respected trade media like Facilitate or Building Magazine. These same sources are often among those that AI systems crawl or reference when generating answers.
Trying to compete with these editorial domains on such competitive keywords using SEO alone is an uphill battle. But securing a mention or quote in these top-ranking articles via PR is a smart way to “borrow” their authority – and raise your visibility in both search engines and AI summaries.
It’s not about choosing PR instead of SEO but combining the two to reach places that pure optimisation can’t.
Conversational intent is changing the rules
One of the biggest shifts in AI-powered search is how people ask questions. Instead of typing simple keywords, users now ask complete, natural language prompts like:
- “Who are the most innovative companies in sustainable FM?”
- “Which UK firms are best at office relocation for large corporate moves?”
These aren’t queries that keyword optimisation alone can answer. They demand context, credibility and story – exactly what good PR is built for.
When your business is featured in editorial articles that discuss trends, challenges or innovation, you’re more likely to show up in these nuanced, intent-rich prompts. PR helps seed your brand into wider industry narratives, which makes you more relevant to the kinds of exploratory, conversational searches AI tools thrive on.
A comprehensive comms strategy for the AI era
This isn’t a call to pivot away from SEO, paid media, or other comms tactics. On the contrary – now more than ever, brands need a joined-up strategy that covers all bases: owned content, on-site optimisation, thought leadership, earned media and digital PR.
But with LLMs now shaping how people discover, compare and trust brands, PR deserves renewed attention as a reputational safeguard and visibility engine. It’s not just about column inches. It’s about ensuring your business shows up, shows credibility, and shows leadership, wherever and however people search.
Magenta offers a wide range of PR and communications services. If you’d like to discuss how we can support your business, email me at greg@magentaassociates.co.
