Entrepreneur
When I landed a Forbes feature in 2015 about “How to Get Press,” it felt like a defining milestone. I was energized by the “magic moment.” The coverage drove a surge of attention to SMACK! Media and, for a moment, validated years of work building brands from the ground up.
A week later, as the initial buzz faded, I was reminded of something important: press is not a single moment, and certainly not a finish line. Unless the piece lands in Google’s top rank, press is raw material and fuel, particularly in this new age of discovery.
In 2025, your goal should be to turn that coverage into seeds for AI to find you. When someone opens ChatGPT and types, “best nootropic protein bar,” or “best mattress for sleep,” your brand should already exist in the answer. And it can, if you intentionally engineer it.
Today, coverage is input. Your press and exposure become data for generative systems. Every article, link, phrase becomes a signal that AI models use to build the “map” of what your brand is.
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With a former client, IQBAR, we did not leave messaging to chance. Press coverage was guided with target phrases — brain health, adaptogens, plant-based bars — so that when people queried AI, the signals matched those intent phrases. We did the same thing with Molecule Sleep, a sleep company with products designed to promote cooler, more restorative sleep. In our communication about them, we would talk about “medically-backed sleep technology” and “recovery-focused sleep.”
One of the strongest levers is anchor text. A publication can write a glowing story about your product, but if the in-article link says “read more here,” you have lost an opportunity. Instead, add links using phrases you want to own, such as: “best collagen supplement for women,” or “top clean high protein bars.” This anchor text is a beacon, and over time, AI agents will learn that when someone asks about “top collagen supplement,” this brand is a match.
Now, once you land the coverage, celebrate it, but don’t put it up as a trophy on a shelf. Press is no longer about attention; it’s about integration. Instead, treat it as the backbone of your content architecture. Every article, interview and backlink becomes a signal that helps AI and search systems understand who you are and what you’re known for, so it’s key to make every earned story live in your own domain and optimized.
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There are three ways to this: build a press hub on your site and socials with clean structure (title, excerpt, key quote, date and target keywords); internally link to product pages or blog posts using anchor text that mirrors your press; refresh old press with new context, launches or milestones, then link into it, and share it across LinkedIn, reels and newsletters.
By doing this, you layer a semantic ecosystem around your coverage. AI crawlers see your site, and it reinforces that language again and again.
It’s no surprise that AI agents don’t read like humans. They scan structure. This means that your press posts need to be scannable (and easily digestible): use headers, pull quotes, bold summaries and clear metadata.
Avoid burying your signal in paragraphs. Instead, extract the strongest line and make it a headline. For my own CPG company, Anything Brands, we offer all-natural body care products designed to soothe and relieve common skin irritations ranging from hemorrhoids to eczema, itches, rashes and dry skin.
Within our communication, we emphasize phrases like “all-natural eczema relief” and “plant-based soothing balm” for Amazon and AI search engines to recognize. Incorporating customer testimonials with phrases like “natural soothing relief” into articles and blog posts reinforces those keywords organically.
If the original article is paywalled or behind an external domain, write a summarized version on your blog (with attribution) for crawlers to see it inside your own site. Pair that with short videos or reels using the same key phrase, and then those become indexable too.
Unlike in 2015, press alone will not move the needle unless it permeates your entire marketing ecosystem. Use your coverage everywhere. Embed pull quotes into ads, use logos in email footers (ie, “As Seen in”), podcast episodes, packaging and event materials. Ask your influencers and best customers for video content, and as a founder, film reaction reels to your own press coverage and post on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Lisa Curtis, founder of Kuli Kuli Foods, America’s leading supplier of moringa, did just that when her organic superfood moringa powder was featured in the New York Times. She promoted this in an engaging and very personal video. These types of videos and captions to the content become new signals tied to your key phrase.
Lastly, include media quotes on signage or handouts and QR codes to your press hub pages at events or trade shows. When my team and I invite journalists to panels, we reference recent coverage to reinforce the narrative in the room.
How can you get started? Think about your brand’s key selling propositions and ask ChatGPT, “What are the top supplements for joint health?” or “What’s the cleanest energy drink?” If your brand isn’t showing up, analyze your coverage and ask yourself these 3 things:
- Did you use your target phrase in press or anchor text?
- Did you host that content on your domain, or is it hidden behind paywalls?
- Does your site echo that phrase in internal links, blog posts and metadata?
You may have authority, but if it’s not visible in the AI map, it does not count and it certainly does not convert.
I still think back to that Forbes piece that spiked my adrenaline early on. It felt monumental, and at the time, I did what most founders could: I shared it across social channels, added it to my signature block and celebrated the milestone.
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But looking back, I realize there was more I could have done to keep it alive beyond that initial buzz. Even without AI in 2015, I could have repurposed that coverage in newsletters, reflected on it in future stories and woven it into new conversations.
Today, the same feature would live as a node in the web of discovery — linked, cited and repurposed across formats — continuing to drive visibility months or even years later.
That’s the evolution of PR. Press isn’t a one-day win; it’s an asset that compounds when you treat it as part of your long-term ecosystem. Every feature, podcast or quote can keep working for you if you structure it, reshare it and teach AI — and your audience — how to find it again.
The next time you land a great press hit, don’t just post it, but plant it. Link it in your bio, cite it in your newsletter, slice it into a reel, and use those words to train both people and platforms on who you are. Feed and water it intentionally, and it will keep working long after the headline fades.
It’s not just about being seen. It’s about being discovered forever.
When I landed a Forbes feature in 2015 about “How to Get Press,” it felt like a defining milestone. I was energized by the “magic moment.” The coverage drove a surge of attention to SMACK! Media and, for a moment, validated years of work building brands from the ground up.
A week later, as the initial buzz faded, I was reminded of something important: press is not a single moment, and certainly not a finish line. Unless the piece lands in Google’s top rank, press is raw material and fuel, particularly in this new age of discovery.
In 2025, your goal should be to turn that coverage into seeds for AI to find you. When someone opens ChatGPT and types, “best nootropic protein bar,” or “best mattress for sleep,” your brand should already exist in the answer. And it can, if you intentionally engineer it.
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