PR is changing quickly, with AI reshaping daily workflows, new questions emerging around Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and increased pressure to prove business impact.

Muck Rack, a PR and communications platform used by thousands of companies (including Double Forte) for media relations monitoring and measurement, surveyed 1,115 PR professionals to gather insights for its 2026 State of PR Report. The final report reflects input from participants across agencies, brands, non-profits, consulting firms, and other organizations.

Below are five key takeaways from the 2026 report that stood out to our team.

1. AI Has Officially Become Part of the Standard PR Toolkit

Generative AI has moved firmly into everyday workflows across industries. 80% of PR professionals now use it regularly, up from 77% last year. Another 8% plan to explore it, leaving only a small share of the PR industry without any plans to adopt this technology.

AI and automation also remain the top area expected to grow in importance over the next five years, selected by 61% of respondents. For PR teams, the focus is shifting from whether to use AI to how to apply it responsibly, improve efficiency, and protect the quality and accuracy of communications work.

Double Forte also strongly urges professionals and agencies to deploy clear policies, protocols, and training around AI in the workplace to ensure these tools are being used ethically and maximizing the team’s capabilities rather than hindering them.

2. GEO is Gaining Traction

Nearly 73% of respondents consider GEO at least somewhat important to their communications strategy. Still, many organizations still lack a clear structure for managing it, with 29% reporting no one owns GEO within their organization, while another 13% are unsure who does.

PR and communications teams are most commonly named as the owners, but only at a rate of 24%. We know that earned media results (owned by PR teams) and owned website content (no dominant owner) are the key drivers of GEO results.  This points to a need for closer coordination across communications, marketing, SEO, and content teams as organizations determine how to manage AI visibility, content authority, and measurement.

3. Thought Leadership Continues to Grow

While media relations remains the foundation of PR, with 84% of respondents saying it accounts for at least a quarter of their job, thought leadership now ranks second at 51%, up six percentage points from last year.

This growth reflects the expanding role PR teams play in shaping executive platforms, developing expert perspectives, and translating company knowledge into relevant commentary. Strong thought leadership also supports media relations, owned content, executive visibility, and broader reputation goals.

4. Measurable Results Remain the Strongest Proof of PR’s Value

Nearly 70% of respondents reported that producing measurable results is the most effective way to demonstrate PR’s value to clients and company leadership. Other approaches, including improving executive visibility and delivering creative solutions, ranked significantly behind.

This reinforces the importance of defining success at the start of a program. Beyond impressions, PR teams now have access to an array of measures such as sentiment, message pull-through, share of voice, search visibility, and audience engagement. The strongest reporting connects these factors to business and communications goals.

5. Authority is Becoming Part of AI Visibility Strategy

PR teams are increasingly treating credibility as a key part of their AI strategy. 55% are securing coverage in high-authority publications to improve visibility in AI-generated responses. Half are also creating more authoritative or data-driven content, while 50% are optimizing content specifically for AI searchability.

This gives earned media an added role beyond reaching readers in the moment. Coverage in respected national, regional, trade, and niche publications can also help establish a stronger body of credible information about a brand for AI search engines to pull from. For many organizations, smaller industry outlets hold significant value because of their subject-matter expertise and relevance.

Want to hear more about the current state of PR and how to use these learnings to your company’s advantage? Reach out to the Double Forte team to learn more.

AI seems to have taken over our screens with generated images, captions, ads, emails, and customer service responses. Consumers are fed up. Recent resentment towards AI isn’t necessarily aimed at technology itself. The sentiment stems from a deeper-rooted human need for connection. 

As more brand communication starts to look and sound the same (*read, boring and  soulless*), people are looking for proof that there are real humans behind the message. 

For brands, this presents a clear opportunity: create moments that spark human connection. Here are three ways to do so. 

1. Let personality shine through on socials

Polished content has its place. But in the AI era, perfect feels suspicious. A recent Accenture report shows that 45% of consumers distrust AI-generated content that lacks personability. In contrast, less polished social media content allows brands to say, “We’re human, too.” Sharing a quick phone video, a raw conversation, a behind-the-scenes moment, or a clear point of view will make a bigger impression than an overproduced asset. 

Importantly, unpolished doesn’t equate to lowered standards. It means leaning into authenticity and personality to build trust with your audience. 

Taco Bell does this well. Their Instagram shares unfiltered content, frequently reposting fan-created content  that feels spontaneous, imperfect and entertaining. By embracing user generated content (UGC in the biz), Taco Bell allows its personality to come through while engaging its existing community. And personality gives viewers something to connect with and relate to. 

2. Put real people at the center

The most effective brands make their people visible. Instead of relying solely on product shots or carefully scripted campaigns, they highlight founders, employees, customers, and experts.

That might look like a founder filming a quick video explaining why they created the product. An employee sharing how they use it in their daily life. Or a brand taking its product into the real world with a pop-up and capturing unscripted reactions from people interacting with it for the first time.

People help audiences understand not only what a brand is, but also who’s behind it and why it matters. 

Aerie, a popular intimate apparel, loungewear, and activewear brand, offers a strong example. The brand pledged not to use AI-generated bodies or people in its ads. The move aligned with its long-running commitment to real, untouched imagery, and became its most-liked Instagram post in the last year.

3. Be a catalyst for community

We’re in the midst of a what theAmerican Psychological Association calls a “connection crisis.”  Brands can show up by creating spaces where people feel seen, welcomed and part of something larger than a transaction.

Community can take shape in person: weekly mahjong nights at a local restaurant, local clothing swaps, a dedicated tech-free “analog” zone at a cafe, and interactive pop-ups. It can also happen online through social content designed to spark conversation, customer groups, ambassador programs or forums where people share ideas and recommendations.

At Sonoma’s Dutcher Crossing Winery, community is second nature. The winery brings people together through regular local events that feel like family gatherings. The proprietor and winemakers are often part of the experience, grilling, talking with wine club members, and on occasion giving guests vineyard tours by pedicab. (Full disclosure: DCW is a long-time Double Forte client.)

Heineken executed on a similar idea with a simple billboard statement: “The best way to make a friend is over a beer.” The message works because it focuses on the human moment around the product, not the product alone.

AI can help brands move faster, yet trust still comes from humans. Are you looking to strengthen your brand’s community? We can help with that. 

By: Doug Cipriani

Media relations is a dynamic skill with variables galore, making it easy to fall into the transactional rhythm of sending a pitch, securing a desired piece of coverage and moving onto the next. However, the strongest relationships with reporters aren’t built in the transactional moments – they’re built in the space in between those moments. That’s where the “friendly check in” comes into play.

Relationships Over Pitches

How you show up when you don’t need something from someone often matters more than how you show up when you do need something. This is true in personal relationships, and the same principle applies to media relations. Too often, media outreach is tied directly to an ask, whether it be a pitch, follow up or product sample offer. Once coverage lands, the conversation stops and the silence resets the relationship to start from scratch next time you reach out.

The friendly check in changes this ineffective cycle. It’s about expanding your outreach to go beyond pitching a specific angle or story to a reporter and instead reaching out without an underlying agenda. You don’t try to disguise your outreach as a non-pitch, it’s not “circling back” without any substance or sending frequent follow ups. Instead, you’re:

  • Keeping it authentic to build relationships that are larger than landing a story for your client.
  • Checking in to see how they’re doing, staying in touch on their life updates and working to build an authentic personal relationship.
  • Mitigating silence once coverage runs to not let space grow for the relationship to reset.
  • Filling the whitespace between story opportunities with intentional dialogue.
  • Avoiding the transactional nature by not contacting each other only when you want something.
  • Taking the time to build mutually beneficial relationships.

The Value Proposition

Focusing on building valuable relationships doesn’t just make interactions less transactional – it makes them mutual. Your outreach and conversations with media move from self-serving with the intention of landing coverage, to two-sided as you work to build a personal relationship. When you’re communicating with and without asks, the value then flows both ways. You’ll go to reporters with story ideas and they’ll come to you with source or product requests because you understand each other’s constraints and goals beyond a singular pitch.

When you consistently show up without an undercover agenda, you’re showing reporters that you see them as a person outside of the publication they write for. In their eyes, you become someone who understands their work, respects their time and values the relationship itself, not just the outcome.

Over time, this will lead to your email breaking through the noise of a reporter’s busy inbox. Your message will be one they actually open when they see the familiar name. The relationship you’ve built will create more responsive communication and will garner honest feedback on your ideas because you put in the work to bring it to that point.

Doing It the Right Way

Authentic relationship building doesn’t have to be complicated, but we suggest a few techniques to make it successful. The overarching key is identifying relevant yet natural moments to reach out. These touchpoints can be things like congratulating them on a new role or topic they’re covering, acknowledging a personal milestone, like moving or getting a new pet, or sharing your thoughts on one of their recent stories. Across all these moments, you’re including elements of timeliness, thoughtfulness and intention. The outreach isn’t disguised as a pitch, it’s a true touchpoint for connection.

To identify these moments, it takes a bit of proactive effort. Keep a pulse on target reporters’ social media channels and recent coverage feeds, looking for topics that make sense to connect on. Maybe you had a similar experience or advice to share for something they posted about on Instagram, or you particularly relate to one of their recent articles – reach out. To make this process more manageable, a personal tracker is key. Develop a master document for yourself that includes things like their contact information, notes from recent conversations and their personal interest or milestones you identify. Taking a few minutes each week to update this will make it easier to personalize your outreach and pick up conversations naturally over time.

When you’re having conversations with media, avoid coming across as scripted or overly formal. Your writing should take a conversational tone – you should ask questions and let your personality shine through. This will make you memorable and help the reporter feel that they’re talking to a real person behind the message, not just another PR contact they’re getting a mass blast from.

One of the most essential, and most difficult, parts of this approach is consistency. These relationships aren’t built with one email or one conversation – they take time, so carving out space in the week to do this is crucial. This can be as simple as taking 30 minutes on a Friday to review your key contacts social media profiles and recent coverage, responding to open conversations and updating your tracker with context for future reference. It’s easy to push this to the bottom of a busy to-do list, but investing the time here pays off in the long run.

This is a simple concept but extremely powerful in impact. Relationships go far, especially when properly nurtured. Taking the time to move from chasing coverage to building coverage makes all the difference. Interested in how strategic media relations can support your business? Reach out to the Double Forte team for more information.

By Catherine Bormann

How brands show up online has fundamentally changed. For years, brand visibility strategies were built around traditional search engines and keyword rankings.

Today, discovery is increasingly happening through AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other large language models that generate answers rather than lists of links. These systems synthesize information from what they deem trusted sources to shape brand narratives in real time and influence how audiences understand companies, products and expertise before they ever visit a website – if they click through to a website at all.

This shift has major implications for brand visibility, reputation, and growth, and the data clearly shows the direction of change:

  • Consumer behavior is shifting. According to McKinsey, 50% of consumers already use AI-powered search, and the shift could influence $750 billion in revenue by 2028.
  • Public Relations investment is growing. Research from Gartner predicts the mass adoption of AI search will drive a 2x increase in PR and earned media budgets by 2027 as organizations adapt to how information is surfaced.
  • Visibility is being reshaped. New data from Muck Rack shows that more than 89% of links cited in AI-generated answers come from earned media sources, not brand websites or paid content.

Together, these signals point to a new reality: visibility is no longer driven primarily by keywords or paid placement but by authority. This shift is closely tied to changing user behavior. People of all ages are rapidly changing how they discover brands, turning to AI platforms (if they know it or not in the case of Google’s AI search)  for recommendations on what to buy and who to trust. 

As a result, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging to address how brands are represented in AI-generated responses and which authoritative sources shape those answers. Because these systems pull from multiple trusted sources, visibility now depends on consistent presence across a broad content ecosystem.

As we’ve discussed previously, Why a Surround-Sound Strategy Is Essential for Brand Visibility, brands must build consistent presence across multiple channels to influence perception and discovery. That approach is now even more critical as AI systems pull from a broad ecosystem of trusted sources.

So how can brands understand how they show up in AI-driven search?

We recommend organizations conduct what we call a Generative Visibility Audit, a new type of assessment that evaluates how a brand appears across AI platforms and answer engines. A growing number of free tools provide a strong starting point, offering visibility snapshots that reveal how brands are represented, which sources are cited, and where gaps or inconsistencies exist. This helps communications teams assess accuracy, authority, and narrative control in generative search environments.

Once brands understand how they appear in AI-driven search, the next step is optimizing how they show up.

Keyword strategy still matters, but its role has evolved. Instead of focusing solely on search rankings, PR and marketing teams must understand the questions audiences are asking and how those questions shape AI-generated responses. Tools such as AnswerThePublic and PageAudit, along with other AI visibility and monitoring platforms, provide insight into emerging queries, conversation themes and how brands appear across generative search environments. These tools help organizations align messaging with real audience intent and identify opportunities to strengthen visibility and authority.

With this shift in mind, brands must rethink how they build visibility and authority. A strong content ecosystem is no longer optional – this is what creates the “surround sound” effect. Owned channels such as blogs, newsletters, and websites must work alongside earned media to create credible signals that AI platforms trust. Within earned media, trade and industry coverage plays an especially important role. While it is often seen as less glamorous than mainstream press, it carries stronger authority signals and heavily influences how brands appear in AI-generated results.

If you want to understand how your brand shows up in AI-driven search and learn more about our Generative Visibility Audit, contact the Double Forte team to get started.