Here’s a thought experiment that should concern every software marketer: Ask ChatGPT or your LLM of choice to name the top solutions in your industry. Does your company make the list? If not, you’re already behind in the new frontier of brand visibility and AI search.
The AI Search Revolution
The battle for visibility is rapidly shifting from traditional Google search results to AI-generated responses. According to Forrester’s State of B2B Buying report, nearly 95% of buyers plan to use generative AI to support their purchasing decisions. This fundamental shift demands a new approach to how B2B SaaS companies position themselves online — a shift where citations in reputable sites outweigh backlinks.
From Links to Mentions: The New Currency of AI Visibility
Remember when backlinks dominated SEO strategies? As a SaaS PR agency, we’ve had clients over the years say that earned media coverage without a backlink isn’t a win. We can point to why this isn’t true, but now we have AI search to back us up as well.
As Rand Fishkin of SparkToro aptly observes:
“The currency of Google search was links. … The currency of large language models is mentions (specifically, words that appear frequently near other words) across the training data.”
What this means for your brand: While we’ve spent years optimizing for search engines and pursuing backlinks, securing visibility in AI search results depends on how your company is discussed across the web. Context, descriptions and the semantic neighborhood of your brand name now determine your AI search visibility.
How AI Tools Actually Make Recommendations
AI systems don’t conduct live Google searches when asked about your industry. Instead, they predict which words typically follow others based on patterns in their training data.
When someone asks, “What are the best enterprise data security solutions?” the AI essentially asks itself: “In my training data, which company names appeared most frequently alongside discussions of enterprise data security?”
If your brand has been consistently mentioned in relevant contexts across media sites included in AI training datasets, the AI is more likely to recommend you.
Strategic Implications for B2B SaaS PR
1. Third-Party Credibility is Now Double-Impact
When industry journalists, analysts and experts discuss your brand, they’re serving two critical purposes:
- Human influence: Reaching current readers and decision-makers
- AI training: Shaping how AI systems will represent your brand to future prospects, employees, investors and partners
Resulting media mentions are building the foundation for years of AI-powered brand representation.
2. Content Distribution is Critical
Having compelling content exist primarily on your owned channels is even less effective than before. You need to strategically distribute your expertise through:
- Contributed articles in respected industry publications
- Expert interviews and podcast appearances
- Press releases distributed across the web
- Active participation in industry forums
Each placement associating your brand with key industry terms strengthens your position in AI recommendation algorithms.
3. Messaging Consistency Creates Competitive Advantage
The language used to describe your company across different sources directly impacts how AI models understand and represent (or misrepresent) you.
If sources consistently describe you as “the leading DevOps automation platform” across multiple authoritative sources, AI systems will likely adopt this framing when discussing your company. So, having accurate and consistent messaging is key for your PR program. If you’ve recently undergone positioning work and your former descriptions are all over the web, investing in a PR strategy is crucial for AI search visibility of your new positioning.
Actionable SaaS PR Strategies for the AI Search Era
1. Strategic Media Targeting
Focus PR efforts on the media and mediums most likely included in AI training datasets:
- National publications discussing your topics of interest
- Local publications covering company news in your HQ’s area
- Industry-specific trade media
- High-traffic forums and discussion platforms (Reddit, Stack Overflow)
- Podcast interviews, especially those with a video component posted to YouTube
2. Thought Leadership Distribution
Deploy your internal experts strategically with tactics like:
- Securing bylined articles and interviews in respected publications
- Participating in industry panels and roundtables
- Launching a podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders or securing a guest spot on other podcasts
- Creating owned resources that naturally reference your company in the right context, including data reports and blog content
3. Unified Messaging Framework
Develop and consistently deploy language that:
- Clearly and succinctly positions what you do and your unique value proposition
- Uses industry-specific terminology appropriately
- Differentiates your solution from competitors
- Aligns with how your target customers describe their challenges
The Renewed Importance of Strategic PR
Despite unfounded claims like “traditional media is dead” or “nobody reads news anymore,” industry journalism is more important than ever. The articles, interviews and analysis created by credible sources are literally teaching AI how to understand your industry — and your brand’s place within it.
As Rand emphasizes:
“This process of essentially doing outreach and PR and content marketing and making sure that your words are appearing on the web after other words in the places where LLMs are likely to source their training data, this is the methodology for how you get your brand into large language model answers.”
The Time to Act is Now
Like the early days of SEO, B2B SaaS companies that understand and adapt to this paradigm shift will secure a significant competitive advantage. Those who ignore it risk watching competitors consistently appear in AI responses while they remain invisible.
The question is no longer just about your Google ranking — it’s about whether AI systems recognize your brand as relevant in your industry. What’s your strategy to ensure they do?