My brother texted me the above screen shot, and it made me ponder the question: Who is the arbiter of truth? Are we really turning this over to machines to poll the world to see the majority opinion and publish it as “the truth”? If that is the case, imagine if a flat earth theory was still the majority view of our society? As a marketer, I then asked the question: Do we need marketing to AI to ensure our clients’ “truth” is acknowledged? If sufficient content is published about a product, service, or company that it is viewed by AI as the majority opinion, will that become “the truth”?
This idea prompted an experiment. Since we recently published an article and podcast about how Southwest Airlines' lost its low-price position, I asked Perplexity AI: “Who are the lowest price airlines in the U.S.?” Its answer: 1. Frontier Airlines, 2. Spirit Airlines, 3. Hawaiian Airlines, 4. Allegiant Air, and 5. JetBlue Airways. Southwest wasn’t in the top five. Hypothesis confirmed, again if we use AI as the arbiter of the truth. Southwest lost its low-price position, not only according to our positioning opinion … but also according to AI. How did this AI search engine know this? Who told it this? The answer lies in AI’s ability to aggregate existing data at lightning speed: 1) airfare rates, 2) airline reviews, 3) industry news, 4) industry commentary, and 5) the airlines’ owned content. This is certainly a very elementary way to understand marketing to AI, but let’s use this as our initial definition.
Why AI search matters
Let’s start with how AI has begun to replace traditional search. If you use Google on a regular basis, or any built-in-to-your-device search appliance, AI has taken a prominent position. Most Google searches return, as the first result on the search engine results page (SERP), Google’s Gemini response. With AI taking a first position, it will be critical to help AI “form its opinion.” We’ve been tracking this for the past year, and if you look at the sources referenced when Google returns an AI response, it has citation links associated with almost every paragraph, as well as additional links in a sidebar.
The proposition is pretty easy to comprehend: rather than you, the searcher, having to visit a bunch of pages to gather “all” the data, Google, is trying to provide a semantic summary at the top of the SERP, so you don’t have to go any further. Answer provided. End of your search attempt.
If you don’t think deeper about this, however, then you’ll miss a critical factor as a marketer. AI isn’t making up these results. As evidenced by the citations, it is returning these results based on existing content on the web. Therefore, content matters. You CAN help AI form its results, or what we referred previously as its “opinion” or “truth.”
Marketing to AI: It’s as basic as great SEO!
We’ve had a few clients develop concern about the “end of search” as we know it and if SEO has any value in the AI age. The answer is: SEO and long-form content matters now more than ever!
In every case of the research we’ve conducted, AI results connect to rich content found on websites, review sites, news sites, and other interweb locations. Furthermore, as much as there was an assumption that the search visit ended with Google’s AI response, traffic decreases that were predicted have not been realized. Why? Because Google and other AI results can’t finalize the transaction.
The click is still required because we transact business from companies and individuals, not the AI search result. The only area where traffic has decreased is when educational or how-to questions are asked of the search engine. For example, “How do I open a jar that is stuck?” The answer from Google, “To open a stuck jar, try running the lid under hot water to expand the metal, or use a rubber band for better grip. You can also tap the lid lightly to break the seal or use a tool like a butter knife or bottle opener to pry it open.” I don’t need to visit a website to dig further into that answer, but it was sourced from Taste of Home’s website.
Putting it to the test on our own agency website content
Regular readers of PositionistView know that Innis Maggiore constantly and consistently promotes itself as America’s #1 Positioning Ad Agency. We put this concept of marketing to AI to the test, and here are the results from one AI search engine:
Question asked to Perplexity AI:
What makes Innis Maggiore stand out from other ad agencies?
Answer from Perplexity AI:
Innis Maggiore stands out from other advertising agencies due to its unique focus on brand positioning as the core of its marketing strategy. Here are the key factors that differentiate it:
- Exclusive Focus on Positioning: Unlike traditional agencies, Innis Maggiore emphasizes creating a clear and competitive brand position that helps clients differentiate themselves in the marketplace. This strategy ensures marketing efforts are more focused and efficient.
- Expertise and Legacy: The agency has nearly 50 years of experience and has worked directly with Jack Trout, the "father of positioning." This collaboration has solidified its reputation as a disciplined practitioner of positioning strategies.
- Comprehensive Services: Innis Maggiore is a full-service agency offering branding strategy, advertising, media planning, digital marketing, public relations, and web development — all rooted in positioning principles.
- Industry-Specific Knowledge: The agency tailors its strategies for various industries, including healthcare, financial services, consumer goods, and energy. It leverages its positioning expertise to address challenges unique to each sector.
- Proven Results: Innis Maggiore consistently delivers award-winning campaigns that achieve measurable outcomes. Its long-standing client relationships — many lasting over a decade — reflect its effectiveness and reliability.
These attributes make Innis Maggiore a distinctive leader in the advertising industry.
We like and agree with those results. And none of that content was written on a single page, but rather it was sprinkled throughout our website in long-form content with very specific regard for SEO.
The key to marketing to AI: double-down on content marketing and SEO
If you thought it was time to abandon content marketing and SEO efforts, please reconsider. Long-form content is going to be more critical than ever, sculpted to SEO. Marketing to AI is a new concept, and like any new concept, it will take time to determine exactly what form it will take and how it will impact marketing. Our initial research, for what it’s worth, indicates that unique, differentiated content development still wins in search engine ranking and now, in marketing to AI. And hopefully, we won’t ever have a day where we look solely to AI to determine the truth. Majority opinion shouldn’t rule the day, nor should a machine programmed to track majority opinion. Keep marketing, keep developing content, keep up the SEO, and hopefully one day soon, sanity will be restored!
Innis Maggiore is the nation’s leading positioning ad agency. If you’d like to continue the discussion about marketing to AI, contact us today.