Idaho businesses can’t afford to ignore PR in the era of generative search

How we search for information online has dramatically changed, with 58% of consumers now using artificial intelligence for product or service recommendations, including when evaluating vendors. That’s twice as many as in 2023, and analysts forecast that by 2026, one in four searches will flow through AI chatbots.

That shift matters for brands and the executives who lead them. We no longer search “best CPA Boise,” but describe the kind of financial struggles we might be having and what we want in an accountant. These richer, conversational queries depend on public relations because the answers generated lean so heavily on trusted third-party sources: Press coverage, analyst reports, expert commentary, industry reviews, awards received.

As generative search engines and AI answer layers evolve, PR, with its levers of credibility, authority and storytelling, is shaping answers consumers receive. PR bridges the credibility gap through third-party validation. When your name appears in Forbes or Fast Company, or even popular local podcasts like The Ranch or Idaho Matters, it signals trust and relevance.

Unlike traditional Google results, AI answer layers do more than retrieve the top-ranked pages. They evaluate and synthesize what the internet as a whole says about your brand, prioritizing what others say about you instead of what you say about yourself. PR helps bridge that credibility gap through third-party validation. A recent Muck Rack report shows that more than 95% of links cited by AI come from non-paid media and nearly nine out of 10 are earned media sources. Earned media refers to publicity that happens organically, unlike paid advertising or search. About 27% of those citations originate from journalistic outlets, and that rises to nearly 49% when users prompt for “what’s new” or “latest.”

Media coverage will only fuel AI visibility in 2026. If your brand is not actively engaging pitching stories to the media now, it risks being misrepresented or worse, omitted entirely from the generative search results that influence buying decisions.

At my PR agency, which ranked No. 16 on the recent Peak 43 fastest-growing Idaho businesses list by BoiseDev, we’ve seen the change first-hand. AI makes our team faster with research and helps flag blind spots. But it does not replace the strategic thinking, writing that sounds real, or the media relationships that drive results.

Editors routinely tell me they can spot AI-generated pitches a mile away because the tone is too smooth, the insight a generic nothingburger, and at times, not a match for the reporter’s beat. AI may be able to draft a pitch, but it struggles to understand what is truly newsworthy.

For Idaho companies ― from credit unions and construction firms to software startups ― the credibility gap between what you want people to believe and what you’ve actually earned the right to say has never mattered more.

If your name appears in a regional business journal, a respected national platform or on a major podcast, you’re building trust and you’re feeding the large language models that increasingly decide what appears when someone asks a question.

Because AI models train on data that often lags six to 12 months, what you want AI to say about you tomorrow needs to be consistently making it into the press today. Short-term PR sprints tied to product launches are less effective in this environment. Brands and leaders who show up consistently in high quality media will hold the advantage as AI answer layers mature.

In the era of GEO, investing in AI-savvy PR is no longer optional; it’s reputational insurance. Algorithms are rewriting the memory of the internet, and your brand’s future depends on what they will find. The question every Idaho business leader should be asking is whether you can afford not to be found.

Caitlin Copple is the founding partner of Full Swing Public Relations and a past Idaho Business Review Women of the Year and Idaho 500 honoree. She lives in Boise with her son.