Hey friend,
Last week I typed a client's industry into ChatGPT the way one of their customers might: "best [what they do] in [their city],” just to see who came up. Then I ran the same search in a couple of other tools. What I found is the reason I'm writing you a letter today instead of just linking a blog post: the how behind these answers is where the real strategy is hiding, and it's not what most people assume.
Here's the shift in one breath, in case you missed it: when someone asks an AI tool about you, it doesn't invent anything, it builds its answer out of what real, published sources have said. (I wrote up that part over here - if you want the origin story.) But that's the what. You subscribed for the part I don't put on the public internet, so let's talk about how these tools actually decide who to trust. Two things surprised me, and neither one is about landing a big hit.
Surprise #1: It's corroboration, not prestige.
Think about how you'd size up a stranger. One loud person insisting they're a big deal? You'd raise an eyebrow. But three people who don't know each other, describing that same stranger the same way? Now you believe it. These tools work a lot like that. They lean toward what multiple independent sources agree on and not what one source shouts.
Which quietly flips everything I've been telling you about not needing a Forbes cover. That's not a consolation prize. It's actually the stronger play. Three modest features in the right places: a niche podcast, a local write-up, a trade mention - all pointing at the same story can give one of these tools more confidence in you than a single splashy hit standing alone. The smaller hills don't just count. They compound.
Surprise #2: It's not whether you're covered. It's whether your coverage agrees on who you are.
This is the one that stopped me, and I've not seen anyone talking about it. It isn't enough to be out there. Your coverage has to tell a consistent story. If one feature calls you a marketing consultant, the next calls you a brand strategist, and a third just calls you a "creative" - the tool gets a blurry picture, and it does the safest thing it can: it stays quiet about you. Not because you're invisible. Because you're unclear.
So there's a job almost nobody thinks to do. Decide the single sentence you want to be known by - the exact way you'd want a stranger to describe you and then make every bio, every pitch, every feature reinforce that same sentence. Getting covered is step one. Getting covered consistently is the move most people never make.
Something to actually do this week: the 3-tool audit.
Give yourself ten minutes and search yourself in three places: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and whatever now sits at the very top of a Google search (the AI summary). For each one, check three things:
Do you come up at all? Is the description right, is it the sentence you'd have chosen? And where is it pulling from? Which sources are shaping what it says?
Wherever the answer comes back blank, wrong, or blurry - that's not a failure. That's your next pitch, already picked for you.
None of this takes a big budget or a publicist. It takes being findable, credible, and clear in that order. And clear might be the one you can start fixing this afternoon.
PR Tip of the Month
Speaking of getting covered, the single fastest fix I can hand you is this: stop sending pitches that could've gone to fifty people.
A reporter opens their inbox to more than a hundred emails before their coffee's cold, and the generic ones get deleted on sight. Watch the difference:
Generic: "Hi, I'd love to be featured in your publication! We're growing fast."
Personalized: "Hi [name] your piece last month on [that specific thing] stuck with me, because I'm seeing the same shift with the businesses I work with. I've got a real example that might make a good follow-up."
Same business. Completely different odds. One's a form letter; the other is a conversation with someone who did their reading. I broke down the full pitch process: angle, timing, follow-up, all of it - right here:
What I'm Listening to
I've spent all month telling you podcasts are one of the most winnable places to get your business seen, so it's only right I put my own ears where my mouth is.
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What I'm Pouring
Espresso Martinis with Baileys because I like it a little sweet. |
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Before I go, that "make all your coverage say the same thing" problem? It's exactly what I've been quietly building something to help with. More on that soon.
But right now, I want to hear from you. Hit reply and tell me the one place you're stuck when it comes to getting coverage: the pitch, the angle, finding the right outlet, or just the nerve to hit send. I read every single one, and honestly, your answers shape what I build next.
Talk soon,
Nisha
