Rapid execution has become a new baseline for PR practitioners. AI has made it possible for teams of any size and budget to draft press releases, generate pitches, and synthesize information in seconds. The result is a flood of competent but interchangeable output. As AI equalizes access to speed and execution, the thinking behind those outputs is increasingly serving as the primary point of differentiation. Human insight, rooted in perspective, originality, and cultural awareness, can help brands to create distinct, compelling narratives that resonate with audiences and drive impact.

Differentiating With Deep Insight

Deep insight reflects an ability to interpret what’s happening beneath the surface and translate that understanding into meaningful action. It connects signals across culture, audience behavior, and industry dynamics to answer two critical questions: why does this matter, and what should we do about it?

Insight-driven differentiation requires discipline. It depends on continuous analysis, critical thinking, and a willingness to challenge default approaches. In practice, that means leaning into a set of insight-first methods.

Deepen Audience Understanding

Insight-driven approaches focus on behavior, intent and tension over demographics and broad audience personas. Analyze what audiences are struggling with, what motivates them to engage and what language resonates. Messaging should reflect those realities to drive higher relevance and stronger responses.

Expand Narrative Intelligence

Analyze how narratives evolve over time, who is shaping them and where they are heading next. Map storylines across outlets, identify inflection points and understand what is driving shifts. Teams that detect repositioning early can adjust messaging before the narrative becomes saturated.

Identify Whitespace

AI tends to reinforce existing patterns because it is trained on historical data. Review what angles dominate a topic and look for gaps in coverage and perspective. A brand that utilizes an underrepresented angle faces less competition for attention and can deliver more value to journalists.

Synthesize Insights Across Datasets

Approaches for answering specific questions are often confined to a single dataset or channel. Deeper insights come from connecting signals across sources. For example, link shifts in search behavior with media coverage and social discussion to identify emerging priorities. Cross-platform synthesis reveals patterns that isolated analyses miss and supports more confident decision making.

Connect to a Larger Story

Many announcements default to product features or company milestones. Reframe these events through broader themes that matter to external audiences, such as changing consumer behaviors or economic pressures. This shift increases relevance and expands the potential for coverage.

Personalize Outreach

Generic outreach fails because it ignores the specific interests of each journalist or creator. Analyze recent work, identify gaps or unanswered questions and tailor pitches accordingly. This approach positions your brand as a contributor versus an interruption.

Evolve Measurement Beyond Outputs

Track how different narratives influence perception and behavior. Check messaging for alignment with emerging themes and evaluate how coverage contributes to longer-term positioning goals. This approach creates connective tissue between PR activity and business outcomes.

AI can support this process by accelerating data collection and summarization, but without deeper thinking, it offers uniformity. Teams that invest in analytical capability and building domain expertise will outperform those that rely on AI-generated suggestions. Strong thinking shapes stronger stories, and stronger stories earn attention.

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 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.

By Ava Lund

Search once felt predictable. Ask a question, scan the links, click through. AI has changed that experience. Audiences now turn to tools such as ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for direct answers, often without ever leaving the page. As a result, discovery happens faster and in fewer places.

As generative search becomes the norm, discoverability looks very different from what it did even a year ago. SEO still matters, but new signals now decide which brands AI includes in its answers. This shift from SEO to GEO forces brands to rethink how they want to show up. PR now shapes discovery, not just awareness.

The New Reality of Brand Visibility

AI-driven search changes how people move through information, and the data backs that up. A 2025 Pew Research Center study of Google search behavior found that users click links far less often when an AI-generated summary appears, and in most cases, people ended their search after reading the AI response.

This new search behavior leaves little room for guesswork. When an AI answer skips over a brand, many people may never know it exists. When the answer gets it wrong, that version of the story can shape perception. The best way brands can respond is by focusing on how AI presents them across common searches. To stay ahead in this shifting search landscape, brands should review AI responses regularly and prioritize earned media in outlets AI trusts to stay visible and accurately represented where discovery now happens.

Trust Wins the Visibility Game

As AI answers replace traditional search results, different signals decide which brands show up. Keywords matter less. Trust matters more. Google signals this shift through its E-E-A-T framework, which focuses on experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. AI tools apply the same logic when they decide which sources to pull into answers.

What this means for brands is simple. Authority now matters more than tactics. Industry analysis from Semrush shows that AI-driven search favors sources that demonstrate clear expertise supported by credible evidence. Before AI includes a brand, it looks for trust signals across multiple sources. Credibility, backed by proof, is no longer optional.

This is where media relations and public relations deliver real value. Clear author bylines that highlight expertise help both people and AI understand who stands behind the content. Claims supported by data, research, or third-party validation strengthen trust even further. Pages that showcase experts and credentials reinforce authority at the brand level, while expert review adds confidence for more complex topics. Over time, these signals build on one another and increase the likelihood that AI systems include the brand when it matters most.

Narrative Consistency Shapes Discoverability

Credibility opens the door, but consistency keeps it open. AI answers pull from many sources to tell one clear story. When a brand speaks in different ways across interviews, announcements, and thought leadership, that story breaks down. Without a clear throughline, AI often leaves the brand out entirely.

Consistency solves that problem. GEO research shows that AI systems look for patterns, not one-off mentions. Brands that repeat clear positioning across credible outlets make it easier for AI to recognize and trust them. PR teams play a key role by setting strong positioning, aligning spokespeople around shared language, and keeping a close eye on coverage. When the narrative stays consistent, AI has a clear story to tell and brands stay visible where it counts.

The rise of generative search marks a reset moment for communications. Brands that take control of their narratives now, back up their claims, and show up consistently across trusted channels will stay ahead as AI continues to evolve. The opportunity is clear. Those who adapt early will shape how they’ll be discovered next.