AI has rewired discovery, compressing search results and social feeds into instant answers. In this new landscape, impressions don’t matter if they don’t create trust. PR sits at the center because it delivers credibility — the signals machines recognize — and confidence, the trust audiences need to act. This blog explores how PR drives AI visibility, why credibility lowers acquisition costs, and what practical steps marketers can take to future-proof their brand.
Marketing is shifting under the weight of artificial intelligence. Search results aren’t just lists anymore — they’re answers. Social platforms aren’t just feeds — they’re recommendation engines. AI assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini compress the entire web into a single synthesized reply.
In this environment, the scarce commodity isn’t clicks or impressions — it’s confidence.
The brands that win aren’t just visible; they’re trusted. They supply clear, attributable answers that both people and machines are comfortable repeating. That is where public relations moves back to the center of the marketing mix.
What Actually Changed
Clicks aren’t guaranteed. Studies of Google’s AI Overviews show that as many as 65% of user queries are now satisfied without a click-through (Sistrix, 2024). Visibility without credibility is meaningless.
Outside validation matters more. In Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer, 63% of consumers said they are more likely to trust a brand if it is covered by independent media or experts — not by the brand itself.
Machines are building “source graphs.” AI systems prioritize consistency and credible documentation. Perplexity, for example, now shows linked sources for every answer, favoring outlets with authority, experts with named credentials, and content with clear citations.
If the next answer is synthesized, your task is to make sure your perspective is both easy to reuse and easy to trust.
Why PR Is the Connective Tissue
Paid media still buys reach. Product still wins repeat business. But the connective tissue — why someone should believe you before they click — belongs to PR. Earned coverage, expert commentary, and well-sourced explainers create the “evidence trail” that people and platforms alike depend on. In a click-scarce market, those signals lower the cost of growth across every channel.
“AI platforms prioritize credibility signals such as media citations, expert bylines, and consistent language.”
What PR Uniquely Supplies in an AI Economy
Credible experts. AI systems elevate named humans with defined topic lanes (e.g., safety, comparisons, mechanisms).
Portable answers. Create bite-sized Q&As, one-page explainers, and 4–6 question mini-FAQs align with conversational search. Ask an AI agent or work with your SEO partner to determine you highest value “conversational” queries, and answer these without CTAs or sales copy.
Consistency. Structured repetition of the same product claims, expert names, and definitions across bios, press notes, and site copy connects the dots for AI models. PR pros won’t like using the same copy, but machines do.
Proof on tap. Think like a college professor to create “evidence kits”: data notes, citations, quote sources, and add disclaimers speed approvals for legal and make editors — and algorithms — more likely to cite.
Content built for reuse. Make it easy for journlists and AI bots to reuse your content and copy: Add pull-quotes (with attribution!), video clips, and summaries that are easily embedded into articles, newsletters, podcasts, and AI answers.
The Impact in Numbers
PR coverage fuels AI visibility. A 2024 BrightEdge study found that brands with consistent expert mentions in tier-one media were 3.2x more likely to appear in AI Overviews than brands relying on owned content alone.
Credibility lowers acquisition costs. According to Nielsen, earned media is 88% more trusted than paid advertising — and trust correlates directly to lower cost-per-conversion across performance channels.
Expert voices scale. In one CBC program, a single 45-minute interview with a client subject matter expert produced five separate assets — a byline, a quote shelf, a Q&A resource, a short video, and a diagram — each of which was reused across outlets and surfaced in AI-powered discovery.
Practical Steps for Marketers
- Stand up an expert bench. Identify 3–6 credible voices inside your organization, define their lanes, and publish clear bios with quotable viewpoints.
- Package answers, not announcements. Lead with real questions buyers ask — “Is it safe?” “Which option is better?” “How does it work?” — and deliver balanced evidence.
- Audit visibility monthly. Track whether your experts appear in AI answers for 10–15 priority buyer questions, and note which outlets are most cited.
- Structure everything for reuse. Build newsroom hubs with FAQs, diagrams, citations, and pull-quotes that AIs — and editors — can easily lift.
A Note From Practice
At CBC, the programs that perform consistently are the simplest: narrow expert lanes, answer-ready materials, and relentless consistency in how we name things. Editors move faster. AI products surface the same explanations. And downstream channels — paid, email, retail — benefit because the audience arrives already persuaded.
The Takeaway
You can’t control whether an AI box appears. But you can influence the sources it leans on and the language it repeats. That is PR’s lane.
PR is the bridge between credibility and confidence: credibility fuels discoverability in AI systems, and confidence fuels conversion in human decision-making.
Brands that invest in trusted experts, consistent signals, and portable answers will claim a larger, more defensible share of the marketing mix — while lowering the true cost of growth.
By Len Cercone, Founder & CEO, CBC PR
Len Cercone leads CerconeBrown, a PR agency that helps mission-driven brands earn visibility in both media and AI-driven discovery. His work focuses on building credibility signals — expert voices, earned coverage, and structured content — that drive trust and growth.
AI platforms prioritize credibility signals such as media citations, expert bylines, and consistent language. PR provides these inputs, making brands more likely to appear in AI-generated answers.
Credibility is how machines decide what to surface and how humans decide what to trust. Without it, visibility won’t convert to confidence.
Expert-driven explainers, FAQs, diagrams, and structured quotes perform best because they’re easy for both editors and AI systems to reuse.
Yes. Earned media is 88% more trusted than paid ads (Nielsen). That trust lowers friction in the buying process and reduces cost-per-conversion across channels.
Track citations in AI answers, share of answer across priority buyer questions, and the reuse of expert content across outlets and platforms.
#AI and PR
#AI-driven marketing
#public relations and artificial intelligence
#earned media strategy
#credibility vs clicks marketing
