In less than two years, a thriving industry has emerged, primarily focused on a new question: what insights can ChatGPT generate about your company? This inquiry has sparked excitement among businesses, urging them to rethink how they engage with digital platforms. Jake Vince, the Co-Founder of S99 PR, has seen firsthand how companies are now turning to traditional media outlets instead of relying solely on search engines for visibility.

Throughout most of the past twenty years, the means by which consumers found businesses was fairly straightforward. Users typed inquiries into Google, received a handful of links, and competition revolved around securing top placements on that list. Yet, this approach is being overshadowed by an entirely new paradigm as companies adapt their marketing strategies to this significant shift.

Engaging with AI tools like ChatGPT doesn't yield lists of links anymore. Instead, it delivers direct responses, often naming several specific businesses along with brief rationales for their inclusion. There’s no pagination and no additional scrolling needed. For those companies mentioned, this placement is invaluable; for others, it spells obscurity.

Vince observed the transformation within his client interactions well before it appeared in official reports. "We began noticing a sharp uptick in inquiries during sales discussions, particularly from clients previously indifferent to tech specifics," he remarked. "They would express concern after asking ChatGPT about their business and receiving either no response or incorrect information. Within just six months, this question shifted from an anomaly to a regular occurrence."

This trend has also captured attention from investors. Profound, a startup designed to track brand visibility within AI-generated responses, recently secured a hefty $96 million in a Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $1 billion—staggering for a company that didn't exist three years prior. They focus on one question: is your brand cited in generative AI outputs relevant to your industry?

This emergence isn't isolated. A wide array of services now exist to help companies manage their presence within AI replies, with prices ranging from $29 a month to thousands. New terminology has also proliferated—think Answer Engine Optimization and AI visibility—concepts that were largely unheard of until recently.

Consumer behavior strongly backs this surge; a Pew study revealed a stark decline in click-through rates to traditional search results when AI-generated summaries are featured. Users clicked on traditional links just 8% of the time when AI-generated content was present, compared to a 15% rate otherwise. In effect, the AI response has become the primary destination for users.

Vince's agency, which specializes in placing editorial coverage for executives, highlights that this trend spans diverse sectors. "We've seen this realization unfold among founders, attorneys, medical professionals, and consumer brands—all at the same time, without anyone being prepared," he noted.