HubSpot - Marketing Blog

Digital PR has always been about earning coverage that influences the audience you can’t reach through paid channels. While the value proposition of digital PR hasn’t changed, the definition of “showing up” has.

Clients are asking about AEO. Some have seen competitors show up in AI results and want to know what it means. Others have read that AI is changing how buyers find vendors and want to know what their agency is doing about it.

Enterprise brand teams face a complex version of AEO that most tools weren’t built for. A single brand might span a dozen product lines, operate in multiple languages, and compete in markets where local answer engines have their own citation patterns.

Buyer behavior has changed since the advent of artificial intelligence. Now, before ever filling out a form or clicking an ad, prospects are likely asking AI for recommendations, comparing vendors, and gathering answers. Those interactions shape which companies make the shortlist, but they often happen outside the systems marketing operations teams use to measure performance....

Demand generation has been built around the assumption that buyers will come to a brand when they are ready to learn about its category, whether through search, ads, content, or other channels. The funnel starts when a prospect arrives somewhere the business can see, measure, and influence it. But AI is changing what happens before that point.