Media relations has been operated on a relatively straightforward equation: find the right journalist, pitch the right story, earn the right coverage.
That equation is changing.
AI search is reshaping how people discover information, evaluate brands, and find answers. Instead of scrolling through a list of links, audiences increasingly encounter synthesized answers that pull information from multiple sources. For communications teams, that creates a new challenge: How do you make sure your brand is part of the information people find when they're not necessarily searching for you?
Your audience isn't just reading the news anymore
A media placement used to have a fairly predictable path: a journalist publishes a story, readers see it, and some of those readers visit your website or remember your brand.
Now, that story can have a much longer life.
A journalist's article can become a source for an AI-generated answer. A quote can appear in a search response months after publication. A third-party review can shape how an AI system describes your company. A thought leadership piece can contribute to the broader body of information used to understand your category.
The new media relations goal: become a credible source
This means creating stories and information that are useful enough for people, journalists, and search systems to recognize as credible.
That starts with substance.
Strong media relations in an AI search world should prioritize:
- Original insights
- Subject-matter expertise from credible executives and practitioners
- Proprietary data and research
- Clear points of view on issues shaping your industry
- Specific examples
Stop pitching announcements. Start pitching information.
A product launch can be newsworthy. But "Company X launches new product" isn't necessarily the kind of information that earns sustained attention.
Communications teams should look for the bigger story behind the announcement.
What does the launch say about a changing consumer behavior? What new data does it reveal? What problem is the company seeing before everyone else? What does an executive know because they sit at the center of an emerging trend?
The strongest pitches give journalists something they can use to explain what is happening and why it matters.
That's particularly important as AI search makes informational authority more valuable.
Build an ecosystem, not a media hit
One article shouldn't be the end of a communications campaign.
A strong earned media placement can become a starting point.
Turn an interview into an executive LinkedIn post. Turn proprietary data into a deeper article. Use a journalist's question to inform a newsletter. Pull a strong insight into a podcast conversation. Build future pitches around the trend the coverage surfaced.
This creates a connected information ecosystem where your expertise appears consistently across credible channels.
It also gives AI search more meaningful sources to discover when people research your company, executives, or category.
GEO from Zero: How SteelSeries Became the #1 Retrieved Gaming Brand in AI Search
Winner in GEO, 18th Annual Shorty Awards
To tackle a problem many brands are now facing: strong traditional SEO doesn't guarantee visibility in AI-generated answers. SteelSeries optimized its product content and technical infrastructure for AI discovery, while also building authority across review sites, Reddit, and earned media, and preparing its product feeds for AI-powered shopping. The approach made SteelSeries the #1 retrieved gaming brand across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, with AI search traffic growing 23x and conversions growing 27x year over year.
JBL: Showing Up Loud in AI Search
Gold Honor in GEO and more, 18th Annual Shorty Awards
To tackle the shift from traditional search to AI-powered discovery, JBL built “Project Surround Sound,” a content system that used AI agents to analyze how people search across Google, TikTok, YouTube, and LLMs, then optimized editorial, product, and social content for both human audiences and machine understanding. The approach helped JBL earn a 2,434% year-over-year increase in LLM referrals, with 54% of new content appearing in AI Overviews or top search positions.
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