Wondering how customers find you online with AI?
While the fundamentals of good marketing, like a strong website, clear branding, and understanding your audience, remain absolutely vital, the rise of AI-powered search and recommendations necessitates a new layer of strategic activities. Traditional marketing isn’t dead; it’s the essential foundation upon which we now need to build, focusing on customer-centric content and AI trust signals to rank well in this evolving landscape.
AI isn’t just looking at your website’s structure. It’s evaluating the trustworthiness and reliability of your business based on how well you answer customer questions and demonstrate authority. By proactively addressing your customers’ core needs with thorough, honest content and layering in AI trust signals, you’re signaling to both humans and AI that you’re a credible and valuable resource.
Here’s how you can strategically combine these customer-centric content ideas and AI trust signals with your existing marketing foundation to improve your visibility in AI-driven results:
Solid Foundation First (Essential for All Marketing):
Based on everything we know about how AI works, three things have the biggest impact on whether it recommends your business:
- Marketing Action: Ensure you have a professional, user-friendly website. Clearly define your brand messaging and target audience. Implement basic SEO best practices (keyword research, on-page optimization).
- Why it Matters: AI still crawls and understands websites. A strong foundation ensures your content is accessible and understandable.
Position Yourself as a Helpful Educator:
- Marketing Action: Shift from purely promotional content to providing objective and educational resources that empower customers. Offer comparisons and insights that aren’t solely focused on selling your own offerings.
- AI Trust Signal: AI is increasingly prioritizing businesses that offer unbiased and helpful information, thereby building user trust.
Invest in Deeply Informative Content:
- Marketing Action: Create thorough, accurate, and up-to-date content that fully addresses customer questions. Aim to be the ultimate resource on key topics within your niche, going far beyond surface-level information.
- AI Trust Signal: AI algorithms value reliable and comprehensive information. High-quality, in-depth content signals expertise and builds trust.
Build Personal Connections Through Visuals:
- Marketing Action: Leverage video to introduce your team, explain complex subjects clearly, and answer common questions in a personal and engaging way. Let your audience see the people behind your brand to build rapport.
- AI Trust Signal: Humanizing your brand through visuals builds trust and transparency, signaling accountability and approachability to both customers and AI.
Align Content with your Customer’s Journey:
- Marketing Action: Understand the different stages your customers go through and create content specifically tailored to their needs and questions at each stage, providing relevant information when they need it most.
- AI Trust Signal: Providing relevant content throughout the journey demonstrates a deep understanding of customer needs, signaling reliability and customer-centricity to AI.
Address Concerns and Criticisms Directly:
- Marketing Action: Don’t ignore negative feedback or common concerns. Address them publicly and honestly, demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.
- AI Trust Signal: Openly addressing negative feedback signals honesty and a willingness to learn, which can be a positive trust indicator for AI.
Your existing marketing foundation is crucial, but to thrive in the age of AI, you need to add a few more activities to build more AI trust signals. By thoroughly answering your customers’ questions and demonstrating your expertise and trustworthiness, you’ll not only connect with your audience more effectively but also optimize your business for the evolving AI-driven online landscape, leading to improved visibility and sustainable growth.
Do you have questions about how our services can enhance your AI visibility?
Contact us today to learn how we can help your business stand out in AI recommendations.
The future of business discovery is happening now. Don’t let your competitors get ahead while you’re still figuring it out.
