How to Make Your Brand Easier to Find in AI Search

One of Katherine Tuominen’s early product placement assignments came with an unusual problem.

She needed medical brands to place their technology in a horror film set hundreds of years in the future.

The initial pitches went nowhere. Medical companies did not want their products associated with death, fear, or anything else a horror film might suggest.

Katherine changed the way she presented the opportunity.

The film was still a horror story, but that was no longer the center of her pitch. She showed medical brands how their technology would appear as part of a highly advanced future. Their product could be presented as something so forward-thinking that it would still matter hundreds of years from now.

The responses changed.

Katherine had found the connection between the story the film wanted to tell and the reputation the medical brands wanted to build.

Years later, she uses the same principle as the founder of Catalyst Brand Strategy. Her clients are no longer trying to get a product into a Hollywood production. They are trying to earn media coverage, establish authority, and help people understand why their work matters.

That has become even more valuable as customers use ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Copilot, and other AI tools to research companies and make decisions.

The technology has changed. The need for a clear, credible story has not.

A business owner might know exactly why a company is different.

Search engines and AI systems can only work with the information they can access.

If your website contains a vague service description, a short About page, and several broad claims, there may not be enough public information to accurately understand your business.

Consider two possible descriptions:

And:

The second version answers several questions immediately:

Clear language gives search engines, AI systems, journalists, partners, and potential customers a better chance of interpreting your business correctly.

Google says the same fundamental SEO practices used for traditional search apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. Pages must be crawlable, indexed, eligible to appear with a search snippet, and built around reliable, people-first information. Google does not require a separate GEO file or special AI schema to qualify for these results. You can review its current guidance in AI Features and Your Website.

That makes your brand narrative more important, not less.

There is no switch that makes a brand appear in AI-generated answers. A business becomes easier to find when several supporting layers work together.

Write one sentence that describes the business without using broad phrases such as “full-service solutions,” “results-driven strategies,” or “helping businesses grow.”

Use this structure:

For example:

That sentence should appear consistently across your website, author profiles, company descriptions, interviews, and relevant social accounts.

Consistency helps people recognize the brand and reduces the chance that different sources describe the company in conflicting ways.

Katherine works extensively with health and wellness companies, where inaccurate claims can damage the customer and the brand.

Her team examines whether clients can support their statistics, testimonials, medical statements, and performance claims. A journalist needs that evidence before publishing a story. A prospective customer needs it before placing trust in the company.

The same standard strengthens content for search.

Replace vague claims with evidence such as:

If you say your process improves lead quality, explain how you measure lead quality. If you say customers save time, show what changed and how much time was saved.

Google’s guidance emphasizes helpful, reliable content created for people. Mass-producing pages that repeat information available elsewhere adds little value and can fall under its scaled content abuse policies. Google’s guidance on generative AI content specifically recommends using AI to support original work rather than replacing it.

Your experience is the part competitors cannot generate from the same prompt.

One article rarely establishes a brand as a dependable source.

Create a collection of pages that answer related questions within the same area of expertise. Each page should solve a distinct problem while linking to the others where relevant.

A marketing company serving repair shops might publish:

Together, these pages show depth.

The content also gives search engines more context about the company’s area of expertise. Google recommends making important pages easy to discover through internal links and keeping essential information available as readable text.

AI search optimization begins with publishing material worth finding.

Katherine has seen increased interest in public relations as brands pay closer attention to the sources appearing in AI-generated responses.

A respected publication, podcast, trade association, conference, or industry website can give a business another credible public reference.

Coverage does not guarantee that an AI system will cite the company. It expands the body of accessible information that describes the company, its people, and its work.

Quality matters more than collecting mentions from unrelated websites.

A useful media placement should connect the business to a subject it genuinely understands. A repair shop marketing company might contribute data about missed calls, explain changes in local search behavior, or discuss how independent shops compete with national service chains.

The goal is to become a useful source within the conversation you want the company associated with.

Katherine’s product placement story provides a useful PR exercise.

Before pitching a journalist, podcast, partner, or event organizer, write down:

The fifth question is often ignored.

A weak pitch describes the company and requests attention. A strong pitch gives the recipient a story that helps their audience.

Katherine calls this finding the “through line.”

The film wanted a credible piece of futuristic technology. The medical company wanted to be associated with innovation. Once Katherine connected those interests, the partnership made sense.

The same approach works in media relations, referral partnerships, guest interviews, event sponsorships, and co-marketing campaigns.

Start with the value the other party receives.

Katherine also evaluates whether a potential client has something newsworthy to discuss.

A company announcement may feel important internally without giving the public a reason to care. Newsworthiness usually comes from a broader context.

Potential hooks include:

Editorial calendars can help identify upcoming themes, awareness months, seasonal topics, and industry events. The business can then prepare research, commentary, or educational material before journalists begin working on those stories.

Timing cannot replace substance, but it can make strong expertise more useful.

You do not need a national PR campaign to begin shaping how your business appears online.

Create a one-sentence company description. Define the primary audience, problem, method, and result.

Review your homepage, About page, social profiles, and author bio. Update any descriptions that conflict or rely on vague claims.

Choose a question your customers regularly ask.

Write the best answer your company can produce. Include firsthand experience, a clear process, examples, and supporting evidence.

Add an author byline and link it to a complete author profile.

Connect your expertise to a current customer concern, industry change, seasonal event, or meaningful data point.

Create three possible headlines a journalist or podcast host could use. If none sound useful to an outside audience, the angle needs more work.

Send the article or story idea to a focused list of relevant publications, podcast hosts, associations, partners, and industry newsletters.

Personalize the reason each recipient’s audience would care.

You are giving them a useful source, not asking them to promote your company as a favor.

Many companies have enough expertise to become credible sources. Their knowledge lives inside sales calls, private conversations, proposals, customer support messages, and the founder’s head.

The public website never receives the best material.

As a result, the company appears less experienced online than it is in real life.

This is the gap Gene and I see frequently. The business has valuable experience, but its website and content do not communicate that experience clearly enough for customers or search systems to recognize it.

Publishing more words will not automatically solve the problem. The company must decide what it wants to be known for, support that position with evidence, and distribute useful ideas consistently.

AI search optimization is the process of making online information clear, accessible, useful, and credible so search engines and AI-powered tools can understand and potentially reference it. It builds on standard SEO practices rather than replacing them.

Relevant media coverage can expand the number of credible public sources describing a company and its expertise. It may support brand discovery and recognition, but no PR placement can guarantee inclusion in an AI-generated answer.

Google says there is no special schema required for AI Overviews or AI Mode. Structured data should accurately match the visible information on the page, while the page itself must remain crawlable and eligible for Google Search.

Useful content usually answers a specific question, demonstrates firsthand knowledge, includes supporting evidence, and is written clearly enough to quote or summarize accurately. Original research, case studies, expert explanations, and detailed processes can be especially valuable.

A new company can begin shaping its brand narrative before hiring a PR agency. It can clarify its positioning, publish expert content, prepare founder biographies, gather evidence, and develop relationships with relevant publications and podcast hosts.

Katherine’s story shows what happens when a good opportunity is presented through the wrong frame.

The medical brands initially saw a horror film. Once they understood the innovation story, the partnership became relevant.

Your business may have the same messaging problem.

Customers might see another service provider when you have years of experience they would value. Search engines may see a thin website when the company has answered hundreds of difficult customer questions. Journalists may see a business announcement when you could give them a useful industry story.

Start by making one piece of your expertise public and genuinely helpful.

If you want help identifying the story your company should own, book a call with Gene. He will review your current message, find the strongest business angle, and help you determine which content can turn that expertise into traffic and qualified opportunities.

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