Published - 11th July 2025
Our head of PR Faye Harris-Frost explores how a considered PR strategy can help give you credibility and greater control over what AI’s large language models say about you and your business.
AI and its role in marketing is a huge topic and not one that can be easily covered in one blog. However our recent full-agency conversations around the use of AI at Harris Creative, which has led to the creation of our AI policy, has really sparked an interest in me about the benefits, and the potential pitfalls, of incorporating AI into our day-to-day activities and its wider role in the PR strategies that we create for our clients.
There’s a lot of focus on AI generated content and the tell-tale signs that it has been used to create copy in the press, on websites and across socials. I’ve been using em-dashes for years – does that make me a robot too? Are you re-reading the opening paragraph now wondering if I have used AI to write this? Reader, I didn’t. However, after experimenting with different models, I think I can say with confidence that using AI doesn’t necessarily make you a bad writer, but it can make you a lazy one. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking more about the content that feeds into these AI models rather than just the output. It’s fair to say that the world of AI is a little like the wild west at the moment, but with common sense, integrity and skill, can we use traditional PR techniques to shape the information that AI creates about us? I think we can and more importantly, if you type that question into Chat GPT, the AI model agrees!
AI-powered tools, from search assistants to chatbots, claim to be able to tell you everything you need to know about a brand, company, product or service within seconds. In a world of misinformation, it can be risky to take this summarised content at face value but increasingly, this is what will shape the first impression potential customers, clients or supply chain partners will make of you and your business. Most AI tools rely on large language models (LLMs) which are compiled by drawing on existing content already published online. They learn to understand, generate, and summarise human language by identifying patterns across billions of data points so when you type a question into an AI-powered assistant, it’s the LLM that is being scanned to create a natural language response based on what is already publicly available.
Now think about the type of content that you put out there, if you even create any at all. If you aren’t shaping the conversation about your business through blog posts, press releases and customer testimonials, AI will do it for you but not always in ways you’d expect. That’s because LLMs have one significant flaw – they have no ability to truly fact-check or take an objective view in the way a human reader would. That’s why creating authentic, ethical, accurate and consistent PR content has never been more important.
As AI models create their content from what’s publicly available, every carefully-crafted press release, case study, and thought leadership article becomes part of this extensive knowledge base that shapes how LLMs describe your brand.
Owned content channels are an important first line of defence, and it’s important to review the information that is shared across every element of your website – not just your news pages. Similarly, as social media platforms remain a vital way to engage directly with your target audiences, creating engaging and regular posts, videos and newsletters can make a big difference. However, while good quality owned content matters, in terms of how AI models are currently trained, earned media coverage tends to be trusted more and has a greater influence on what LLMs will say about your business.
Earned media does require a different approach to the content you create as it’s important to identify a news hook that will make your story interesting not just to your customers, but to journalists and editors too. Being too promotional, too vague or just not understanding the needs of your target media are all pitfalls to avoid. This is where an experienced PR agency can identify stories and opportunities that help your brand reach an audience beyond your website and social media channels.
If you don’t currently have a media relations strategy in place because you don’t think people are interested in traditional mainstream media any more, it might be time to rethink where you are focusing your efforts and your budget. Make sure you’re feeding the AI machine with stories that best reflect your brand.
Quality, consistency, and clarity in your external communications is an important part of any business plan and this is as true now as it was 20 years ago. The main difference now is that bad news spreads even quicker than before and as a result, crisis communication strategies have had to evolve too – and fast. Reacting to a potentially reputation-damaging incident via an official statement is still important, but when people are using AI to fill in the blanks, it can be too little, too late. Being proactive, rather than reactive, in terms of reputation management will give you a significant advantage. So think about how you want your customers to see your business all of the time, not just when issues arise, to curate a balanced view of your company.
Quality and consistency are universal content pillars and if you don’t use your voice, you are at risk of being drowned out by inaccurate third-party commentary on your brand, and content created by your competitors.
Instead consider a varied plan which focuses on authentic, engaging and newsworthy stories including a mix of case studies, press releases, thought-leadership articles and customer testimonials. It’s important to reinforce your core values and brand messaging at every opportunity but not to create content that is so promotional that it is a turn off – after all, no one likes feeling like they are being sold to.
What about using AI to create this content? Of course that is an option but remember, AI models don’t have opinions, they only have access to data and the only way you can shape this data is to carefully consider what type of information is feeding into the LLMs. At least for the moment, creating a public relations strategy that people can really connect with is perhaps best left to us humans.
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