From Website Traffic to AI Trust: Earned Media's New Role in Brand Building

Earned media is quickly becoming one of the most powerful ways to shape how AI understands — and presents — your brand.

For the past few years, everyone has been predicting that PR is a dying profession – fewer reporters, fewer outlets, and an increasing number of brands trying to influence the story. But in the face of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), the pendulum is swinging back in favor of digital PR. Suddenly, brands that have always prioritized earned content are reaping the benefits. And those that have not are scrambling to establish brand authority again in a new kind of search ecosystem. 

Earned Media’s New Role

Traditionally, earned media has been used in conjunction with SEO to drive website traffic. But now it plays a much more influential role – informing AI training models and shaping how LLMs view your brand. As users turn to LLMs more and more to find answers, this means that how your brand appears in online media directly influences what AI says about you. If you have no presence in digital media, you will be left out.

According to an article in Search Engine Land, “AI search prioritizes entities (like brands and people), reputation, and authority signals gathered from across the web, alongside traditional SEO factors like backlinks and content relevance.” 

Recent analysis from Hard Numbers indicates that approximately 61% of the signals informing AI’s understanding of brand reputation originate from editorial media sources. This includes media coverage, citing sources from national and regional media outlets, news, blogs, podcasts, community sites, and Wikipedia. All forms of digital PR. 

Consistency Matters 

But it’s not just about brand mentions and appearing in earned media articles. It’s also about how frequently your brand appears and how consistent it is. LLMs use pattern recognition to identify authority, so the more your brand appears across trusted platforms, the more likely it is to appear in AI searches. 

Beyond traditional digital PR, Reddit is also emerging as a major player in AI search. According to Semrush, it’s the second most cited source in AI Overviews. 

What does this mean for digital PR? 

With Semrush estimating that LLM referral traffic is worth 4.4 times more than organic traffic, if your brand has not been prioritizing digital PR, now is the time to do so. Many are even saying that brand building should take priority over keyword-based strategies as a top priority in organic discovery. 

A PR consultant can help build your brand presence. Not only have they been working with the media outlets you want to be in, but they are also seasoned in optimizing content across various platforms, including LinkedIn, Reddit, and YouTube, establishing influencer programs, and engaging with online communities. for co-created content and additional brand mentions across social platforms. 

Don’t Wait to Build Digital Authority 

Earned PR is emerging as the hero. Brands that invest in digital PR today won’t just establish brand awareness among audiences that matter to them, but they will also train AI systems to recognize them as trusted authorities. 

The time to prioritize earned media is now. Reach out to Stephanie Driscoll to help build your AI authority.