Toward the end of 2024, Stacy Simpson, the chief marketing officer for Athenahealth, a company specializing in healthcare software and services, began experimenting with AI chatbots like ChatGPT by querying them about her own organization. What she found was far from satisfactory.
These AI tools lacked crucial information about Athenahealth’s services and often failed to suggest the company as a viable solution. Instead, they frequently presented outdated details sourced from obscure software websites that hadn’t seen an update in ages.
This revelation made it clear to Ms. Simpson: marketing strategies needed to adapt to artificial intelligence. She emphasized in a recent interview that this paradigm shift is ‘one of the most significant changes we’ve witnessed in decades.’
Across corporate America, businesses are experiencing similar awakenings. The pervasive rise of AI and chatbots is fundamentally reshaping not just how we work, but also how we gather information. This new reality dictates that companies must now impress these digital gatekeepers, rather than solely focusing on direct customer outreach.
Brian Stempeck, co-founder of Evertune, an AI startup dedicated to helping companies monitor chatbot discussions about their brands, points out, ‘There’s a completely new kind of influencer you need to engage with: the AI model itself.’
Digital marketing has been a dynamic field since the introduction of the first banner ad back in 1994. Every evolution, from video to podcasts to social media, has brought forth new tools and experts touting revolutionary results. Despite skepticism, digital advertising surpassed traditional media spending in 2019, reaching an astounding $350 billion in the U.S. last year, as reported by eMarketer.
This new era of chatbot marketing coincides with the widespread adoption of powerful AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. OpenAI reports that ChatGPT attracts 800 million weekly users, and Google’s Gemini chatbot boasts over 750 million monthly users.
Many view AI marketing as a natural evolution of traditional search engine optimization (SEO), a practice brands have long used to secure top rankings on Google. This new approach is being dubbed AEO, or ‘answer engine optimization,’ and GEO, ‘generative engine optimization.’ Similar to SEO, it involves strategic querying, analyzing AI-generated responses, and implementing improvements to enhance visibility and accuracy.
This trend also creates significant business opportunities for AI developers like OpenAI, which has announced plans to integrate advertisements directly into ChatGPT’s responses. (OpenAI chose not to comment on this matter.)
Currently, businesses are actively working to shape chatbot narratives. Their strategy involves feeding these AI systems vast amounts of highly specific information. They’re also strategically targeting online platforms that chatbots deem authoritative and genuine, such as Reddit, LinkedIn, and Quora.
Experts emphasize the critical need for chatbots to absorb accurate messaging while they are still in their formative, adaptable stages. Ms. Simpson from Athenahealth warns, ‘The advantage for early adopters will be fleeting.’
This evolving landscape has also opened doors for entrepreneurs. Mr. Stempeck, who co-founded Evertune in April 2024, has seen his company flourish, raising $20 million and now serving over 200 clients.
Evertune’s tools have been rapidly adopted across various sectors, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, automotive, luxury goods, and electronics, according to Mr. Stempeck. On average, his clients submit a million queries to chatbots each month, rigorously identifying instances where the AI provides incorrect, outdated, or incomplete information.
Stacy Simpson, Athenahealth’s chief marketing officer, confirms that after publishing 250,000 words of highly targeted content, her company is now more frequently cited in AI chatbot queries. The accompanying image shows Ms. Simpson, perched on a black office bench next to a small, white round table, hands on her knees.
Mr. Stempeck highlights that chatbots have an insatiable appetite for detailed information, especially where knowledge gaps exist. To influence the AI’s output, businesses are now inundating these systems with extensive specifics. He cited a luxury fashion brand that scaled its content production from five to roughly 100 pieces monthly, and noted that automakers are now ensuring their complete owner manuals are digitally published for AI consumption.
Over a six-month period, Athenahealth strategically published 250,000 words of ‘highly targeted, highly calibrated content’ with the explicit goal of ‘educating’ AI chatbots, according to Ms. Simpson. This intensive effort has resulted in the company being significantly more visible and cited in pertinent chatbot queries compared to the previous year.
This new reality signals a major shift in branding strategies. Unlike human audiences, chatbots aren’t swayed by narrative hooks or novel concepts. Mitch Stoller, co-founder of Literate AI, an agency with 25 clients dedicated to influencing AI algorithms, emphasizes to his clients that these bots prioritize clarity, comprehensiveness, and an exceptional degree of detail.
He succinctly puts it: ‘Substance has been elevated. ‘Vibe’ simply won’t suffice anymore.’
However, challenges persist. Chatbots frequently struggle to access premium information from reputable media sources, often due to paywalls. They also have a tendency to present outdated data as current fact, and in many instances, they simply fabricate information.
It’s worth noting that a major news organization has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement of its news content by their AI systems. Both companies have refuted these claims.
A single negative comment on a forum such as Reddit or Quora, even if years old, can disproportionately affect how AI perceives a brand. Dimitry Apollonsky, who leads Parse, an AI marketing and data agency, revealed that Reddit was the most frequently cited website in 27 million AI responses to ‘solution seeking’ queries over the past month. It surpassed platforms like YouTube, Wikipedia, and traditional news sites, with over half of ChatGPT’s responses referencing Reddit.
This phenomenon is compelling brands to strategize their approach to Reddit, a long-standing internet community known for its user base’s strong aversion to overt promotional tactics. Hailey Friedman, co-founder of Growth Marketing Pro, an SEO agency established in 2017, noted that her firm started assisting clients with Reddit strategies last year due to surging demand. Her agency now works with over 50 clients specifically on Reddit-related issues.
She admits, ‘My calendar is completely booked with the sheer volume of inquiries.’
Athenahealth embarked on a comprehensive content cleanup, scrubbing old material from its website and social media. Previously, this wasn’t a major concern as Google’s search algorithms typically prioritized fresh content. However, AI chatbots indiscriminately pull information, meaning ‘even incorrect data from a decade ago can resurface,’ as Ms. Simpson explained. She concluded, ‘Vigilance is more critical now than ever before.’