Brand Marketing in the AI Era
We’ve spent the last two decades optimizing websites for Google’s blue links. Now it’s time to optimize for the bots that don’t even link out. Welcome to the age of LLMs and generative AI—where consumers are getting answers, recommendations, and product suggestions directly from chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. And if your brand isn’t showing up in those answers? You’re missing the new front door of discovery.
According to Statista, over 100 million people use ChatGPT weekly. A 2024 survey from Gartner found that 56% of Gen Z and Millennials have used a generative AI tool to assist in a purchase decision. That’s not a trend—it’s a tectonic shift in how people search, shop, and interact with brands.
How to Optimize Your Brand for Generative AI
It’s not just about traditional SEO anymore. LLMs rely heavily on structured, high-quality, and well-attributed content to train their responses. That means:
Structured data is your friend. LLMs consume schema markup, FAQs, specs, reviews, and other structured content like it’s breakfast. Make sure your digital presence is rich with this kind of info.
Helpful, human copy wins. If your content feels like it was written by a mid-2000s sales brochure or keyword-stuffed blog post, you’re going to get skipped. LLMs reward clarity, utility, and tone that mirrors how people talk and ask questions.
You need authority. Generative AI tools lean on trusted sites and sources. If your brand isn’t mentioned or cited in third-party reviews, forums, or industry roundups, you’re invisible to the bot-brain.
Make content that’s easy to summarize. If ChatGPT were summarizing your value prop in one sentence, would it get it right? If not, rework it until it would.
And What If You Go Viral... for the Wrong Reasons?
The flip side of visibility in the LLM era is virality—not all of it good. As generative AI blends with meme culture, some brands are finding themselves the punchline in auto-generated skits, fake screenshots, or AI-generated parodies.
Just ask any brand that’s become an unwilling mascot in Reddit threads or TikTok voiceover memes. In a world where anyone can ask a chatbot, “Write a song about why [Brand X] is the worst,” you need a plan.
Here’s how to prepare:
Monitor AI mentions. Just like you’d monitor social media sentiment, start tracking how your brand is being mentioned in AI tools and AI-generated content. (There are tools for this—new ones are popping up fast.)
Have a response strategy. If your brand becomes the subject of an AI meme, don’t overreact—but don’t ignore it either. Decide when to clap back, when to lean in, and when to let it ride. Remember: the Streisand effect is very real.
Lean into transparency. If a chatbot serves up bad info about your brand, don’t panic—correct it with better content. Use your owned channels to clarify and educate. LLMs improve based on feedback loops.
Consider submitting corrections. Several platforms are starting to let brands (and people) submit factual corrections or content suggestions for AI answers. It’s early days, but don’t sleep on this.
The Bottom Line
Brands that treat LLMs like another algorithm to understand (instead of a fad to ignore) will win the next era of digital visibility. But the same tools that can amplify your message can also turn it into a meme.
So show up with purpose—and have a plan if things get weird.