An interview with Heather Holmes
PR is supposed to help small brands get found, but what happens when the finder is an AI that returns a single synthesized recommendation instead of 10 blue links? In this interview, Heather Holmes, founder of Publicity For Good and author of Seen by AI, Found by Customers, argues that “PR is the new SEO” in a world where discovery has collapsed into a three-click journey driven by AI recommendations rather than traditional search. She explains how brands can earn a place in the model’s line of sight, why third‑party validation now outweighs owned content, and what a 90‑day path from digital invisibility to AI‑era authority really looks like.
Top 3 Takeaways
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Small brands can still win with a structured, compounding strategy. By auditing their current footprint, fixing technical and narrative gaps, and climbing a “media ladder” from niche outlets to higher‑tier coverage over a focused 90‑day period, founders can meaningfully increase their “Share of Model” across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews.
The Heather Holmes Interview
“PR is becoming the new SEO” is a strong claim. What do small businesses need to understand about visibility now that AI tools are summarizing answers instead of just returning ranked links?
As the #1 communications agency for purpose-driven brands, we have witnessed the discovery landscape change overnight. The traditional customer journey has collapsed into a high-velocity, three-click process: a question, an AI recommendation, and a purchase. People aren’t Googling the way they used to—traditional Google search traffic is reportedly declining by 25%, while AI-driven search volume has surged by 300%.
In this new environment, success isn’t measured by click-through rates, but by “Share of Model,” or how often your brand is synthesized into the single answer generated by the AI. PR is the new SEO because AI models act as digital detectives; they prioritize brands that have earned authority through third-party validation rather than simple ranked links. I dive deep into this transformation in my book, Seen by AI, Found by Customers, which serves as a tactical playbook for this new era.
When a small business says, “We don’t show up in AI search,” what are the first three things they should audit?
If you find yourself invisible in AI answers, you have a serious discoverability problem that requires a systematic audit.
- Audit Third-Party Validation: Roughly 89% to 95% of content cited by AI models originates from earned media rather than advertisements or your own website. If you are the only one claiming your brand is authoritative, AI will likely ignore you.
- Audit Messaging and NAP Consistency: Verify your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) across all directories, social profiles, and industry listings. Inconsistencies act as “narrative debt” that confuses AI models and weakens your credibility signal.
- Audit the Content and Technical Gap: Ensure your website provides Citable Depth. These are comprehensive, factual answers to real customer questions. Furthermore, check for technical “AI-readiness,” such as using schema markup to help tools properly categorize your content.
Founders can get a head start by using our AI Search Scan, the only AI visibility audit that shows how ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity actually choose, trust, and explain your brand.
How much of AI discoverability comes from owned content, and how much comes from third-party validation such as earned media, interviews, awards, podcasts, and expert citations?
The disparity is significant. AI fundamentally relies on external signals to determine if a product or brand is worth recommending. Research indicates that approximately 89% to 95% of AI-cited content comes from earned media. While your website is necessary for parsing technical details, the models weigh third-party validation such as interviews, trade features, and expert citations, exponentially higher. PR acts as the critical “should I buy” signal, building the trust required to rank in LLM outputs.
Google trained businesses to think in keywords, backlinks, and page rank. What replaces those habits in an AI-mediated discovery environment?
In an AI-mediated environment, habits like keyword stuffing are replaced by “Entity-Linked Search” and “Intentional Intelligence“. Instead of just accumulating backlinks, businesses must now build Algorithmic Trust through consistent mentions across multiple credible sources.
One powerful new habit is “Listicle Inception,” or strategically aiming to be featured in “best of” lists to align with how AI links entities. Additionally, brands should focus on “Brand Co-occurrence” by pitching themselves alongside current market leaders to train the AI to associate their entity with established, trusted names. Our agency, with 70+ professionals across 7 countries, has pioneered this approach to help purpose-driven brands master these new rules.
What are the most common mistakes founders make when trying to build authority too quickly?
Founders often sabotage their growth by failing to realize that AI monitors platforms like Reddit for authentic human sentiment. Chasing “spray-and-pray” PR instead of meaningful, niche community engagement is a major error. Another frequent mistake is neglecting “correction before creation”. Founders often attempt to chase new media while their existing digital footprint is outdated, telling a conflicting story to the “digital detectives” that are cross-referencing their past.
AI systems often privilege recognizable sources and repeated mentions. How can a smaller brand compete without manufacturing hype or flooding the internet with low-value content?
A smaller brand can effectively compete by utilizing the “Media Ladder” strategy, which I outline in The PR Playbook: A Comprehensive Roadmap To Media Outreach Success. This involves starting with accessible Tier 3 media, such as local news and niche podcasts, before pursuing national features. By using this initial coverage as a credential, you build a “clip file” that AI sees as independent proof. Additionally, brands can leverage social proof by keeping case studies and award information updated with quantifiable impact data, which AI models favor. Publicity For Good has successfully utilized this strategy for 500+ clients worldwide across CPG, FinTech, and Health & Wellness.
What does a modern PR strategy look like when the goal is not just media coverage, but being correctly understood by AI systems?
A modern strategy is an integrated eight-part system that prioritizes long-term consistency. It begins with building authoritative content and earning media from local and niche outlets that AI already trusts. Technically, it requires implementing schema markup and maintaining absolute NAP consistency. For e-commerce brands, it also involves specific technical onboarding, such as using Stripe for instant AI-driven checkout and maintaining high-quality product feeds. Founders can see exactly where they stand by visiting aisearchscan.com.
How should small businesses measure visibility when customers may discover them through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, LinkedIn, podcasts, and traditional media before ever visiting a website?
Visibility measurement must move beyond clicks to include the AI Citation Rate and Share of Model. Businesses should also monitor Positioning Accuracy to ensure AI is describing their mission correctly rather than hallucinating outdated data. Tracking how often your brand is mentioned as a “rival” or “alternative” to industry leaders is another critical metric for understanding your entity’s standing in the model’s eyes.
Does AI-driven discoverability favor companies with clear positioning and consistent language? If so, where do most founders get their story wrong?
Consistency is essential because AI cross-references information across multiple sources. Most founders get their story wrong by failing to update their brand’s evolution across all directories. AI acts as a researcher; if your old press releases say you are a “startup in an Airstream” but your current reality is a million-dollar firm, the AI recognizes a data conflict and loses trust. Clarity beats cleverness every time in the eyes of the machine.
What should small businesses do during Small Business Month that will still matter six months from now, after the campaign moment has passed?
Small businesses should commit to a 90-Day Implementation Timeline to move from digital invisibility to domination:
- Days 1–30 (Audit): Use AI tools to inventory your current media coverage and document gaps in your positioning.
- Days 31–60 (Optimization): Fix inaccuracies in your NAP, update your schema, and begin strategic pitching.
- Days 61–90 (Domination): Maintain a consistent cadence of media outreach to ensure you remain part of the AI’s permanent training data.
PR is a compounding asset. The placements you earn today will continue to drive high-intent discovery for years to come. For more information on our proprietary AEO + SEO Flywheel, visit publicityforgood.com.
About Heather Holmes
Founder, Publicity For Good
Heather Holmes is the founder of Publicity For Good and an award-winning PR expert dedicated to helping purpose-driven founders architect their authority. She is the author of The PR Playbook: A Comprehensive Roadmap To Media Outreach and Seen by AI, Found by Customers. For more information on building AI discoverability, visit publicityforgood.com.
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The cover image is AI-generated from the author’s prompt and Heather’s source photos. Used with permission.
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