AEC PR in the Age of AI: Why Earned Media Matters More Than Ever

If you’ve been lying awake at night worried about whether or not your AEC firm’s PR efforts mean anything in the age of AI chatbots and generative search engines, I have some great news for you.

Just keep doing what you’re doing. In fact, do more.

Yes, I realize that’s a bit self-serving given I’m an AEC marketing consultant, but hear me out: AI has ushered in a new golden age of AEC firm PR, and those who adapt now will reap the benefits.

Why? Because in an era of AI slop and deepfakes, trust has become the blueprint for business success — and clients won’t break ground without it. Clients are no longer willing to believe just anything on the internet — they’re looking for proof and signals of authenticity.

More importantly, they’re scrutinizing sources and assessing credibility, particularly when using AI. They click on the links from generative AI searches to see exactly where the chatbot found its information. And, if they see it came from Engineering News-Record, Architectural Record or Construction Dive — that’s the credentialing they need.

Is a lightbulb going on for you? Yup. PR has always provided the third-party verification that backs up marketing messages — and with AI that’s on steroids. If you want to stand out — and fill your project pipeline — you’re going to have to double down on PR.

AI Sees All Your Earned Media Coverage

Generative AI isn’t really “intelligent,” it’s just good at rapidly going through reams of information and spitting out results. The responses you get to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity prompts are simply a best guess by the large language module (LLM) based on available data.

And where are LLMs getting the majority of their information for top-of-the-funnel searches (that first touchpoint with your firm)? Media coverage.

MuckRack recently analyzed more than 1 million citation links from AI responses and found that a whopping 89% were to earned coverage. The study, titled “What is AI Reading,” also revealed that 95% of links were to non-paid media. Other noteworthy findings include:

• Recency rules: The majority of citation links to media coverage are from the past year. MuckRack noted that this is particularly true for OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
• Outlet authority matters: LLMs lean on outlets with high authority, and that varies depending on the chatbot. Claude’s go-to sources, for example, are NPR, CNBC and the Harvard Business Review, while ChatGPT leans on Axios, Time and Forbes. Interestingly, Reuters, the Financial Times and Associated Press show up regularly across several LLMs.
• Niche sources valued: MuckRack also found that, while top-tier media outlets are frequent sources, trade publications are AI’s go-to for industry-specific queries. This can also vary depending on the specific industry, with some also pulling information from government websites and research institutions.

It’s no exaggeration, then, to say that LLMs are news junkies, voraciously consuming coverage from a variety of sources and prioritizing it for results.

AI Is Telling Your AEC Firm’s Story

So AI prioritizes media coverage in source citations. What does that mean for AEC firm marketing?

Well, for one thing, if you’re not showing up in media coverage, then you won’t be as likely to appear in AI results. For another, what’s being said about your firm’s capabilities, project portfolio and specializations in the media is what AI will see — and rely on.

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of this and focus on the technical aspects of what information AI uses. But there are real-world implications for all of your firm marketing and business development efforts.

Imagine your firm’s principal architect speaks at a major industry conference like Greenbuild or AIA Convention. You’ve done an amazing job of ensuring there’s a mention on the website, and you even did a LinkedIn carousel post with key highlights. You prepped the architect in advance on how to position the firm’s sustainable design expertise and make new connections, and reminded them to collect contact information. The architect came back with a stack of business cards and was excited about the potential project leads — but no new RFP invitations rolled in. There was barely a ripple of interest, and follow-up calls went unanswered. Your email nurture campaign yielded nothing.

Here’s what could have happened: the facility managers and developers your architect met went straight to ChatGPT with a query asking about your firm and that architect to verify whether or not they were as experienced as they claimed to be. They wanted some way to validate the architect’s expertise based on an authoritative source. Maybe they found nothing. Maybe they found something that was off message or just completely wrong based on one article that ran. As accomplished as your architect is, they came up short in ChatGPT. That’s today’s equivalent of not showing up in a Google search.

“AI is telling your firm’s story based on media coverage — you need to ensure what it’s finding is accurate and reflects your core messages.”

AI is telling your firm’s story based on media coverage — you need to ensure what it’s finding is accurate and reflects your core messages.

Win Over AI With AEC Firm PR

If all of this seems daunting and confusing, remember that I said at the outset of this blog post that I have good news — you already know what to do. You just need to do more of it to ensure the right information about your firm and services is getting into LLMs and their results.

It is more important than ever to have a solid strategy that secures consistent media coverage. More good news: PR lends itself so well to AEC firms. You have a team of experts with established authority, which is exactly what reporters need to do their job. Your architects and engineers are working on cutting-edge projects every day, keeping tabs on emerging building technologies, new sustainability standards, evolving building codes and innovative design solutions. They know the trends based on what’s coming across their drafting tables and job sites. That is gold you can mine to drive a solid PR program.

Consider the following to make sure your efforts result in coverage that yields generative search mentions:

• Focused messaging. Now is the time to be very clear on the stories you want to tell about your firm and its professionals. Think about the generative search result you’d like to pop up when a prospect asks a question related to your firm’s expertise, such as “What should a developer consider when planning a net-zero building?” or “How do you design for extreme weather resilience?”
• Consistent coverage. Sometimes firms only think about PR when big news happens — a major project completion, a significant award win or a notable hire joining the team. Those times are just too unpredictable and infrequent, however, to satisfy the AI beast. Get proactive with your architects and engineers, conduct regular knowledge extraction calls to develop story ideas and regularly pitch them to drive a consistent drumbeat of coverage. This has always been the best approach, and given AI’s preference for recent media coverage, it’s more important than ever. Anything older than a year will be stale and less compelling for an LLM.
• Target a broad range of media. Sure, that Architectural Record feature is satisfying — and will get you a lot of AI juice — but LLMs are citing trade publications just as frequently, and even more so for industry-specific coverage. So, be sure to include publications like Construction Dive, Building Design + Construction and local business journals in your media lists and develop pitches targeting them. It’s a win-win: You get in front of your potential clients, and the resulting coverage could get cited by an LLM.
• Be mindful of all firm communications. Just because LLMs prefer media outlets for top-of-the funnel and zero-click searches, that doesn’t mean you can neglect your website, content marketing or social media. For one thing, while the data is showing that LLMs prioritize earned media and third-party credibility when answering broad, exploratory or educational queries (where relationships begin), “owned content” (the project portfolios, case studies, client testimonials and other content you create and publish on your own website) is fueling LLMs’ responses when a user clearly signals intent to hire, compare firms or request proposals. Remember, however, that most complex AEC project buyers engage only with firms that have built trust, credibility and authority over time. In other words, often way before those searches happen.

And, people are still engaging with LinkedIn, so you need to be there. You also need content on your website for prospects to review after seeing a ChatGPT result linking to media coverage. Project pages are still the most-visited pages on AEC firm websites. A tight content marketing strategy ensures all messages about your firm, both owned and earned, are consistent — and telling the story you want an LLM to read.

Double Down on AEC Firm PR

It’s tempting to throw up your hands in frustration at the dizzying changes ushered in by generative AI and LLMs. But, when you look more closely at what exactly is going on, you’ll see that taking an updated approach to tried-and-true tactics that work with AI is exactly how to respond.

AEC firm PR is your new secret weapon to crack the AI code and make sure your firm and professionals are showing up in cited results. At a time when trust is at a premium, having that third-party validation is more valuable than ever. Earned media is center stage in the new SEO and key to getting your firm found.