Forget Business Storytelling – Focus on StoryFEEDING
You have no doubt heard the marketing advice to “tell your business story.” While that’s a great way to engage customers and differentiate your brand, today it is AI telling your story. Are you feeding it the right one?
As you know, people just aren’t visiting websites the way they used to even a few years ago. Instead, they are getting their queries answered by artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT or Google AI Overview. AI responds to questions by scanning the web, ranking the available information, and regurgitating a summary of what it considers the most likely answer. That's now what people are seeing.
In order for AI tools to tell your business story properly, the right information needs to be available online for the bots to find. It is your job to be sure accurate, positive, and useful information about your business is prominently there on the web.
What does AI know about your business?
Start by learning what the artificial intelligence tools already know about you. For instance, use Google’s AI Overview to ask questions about yourself such as “What are people saying about Acme?” Try different queries, acting as if you were looking for your own product or service.
You might find quotes from your business website, from review sites, or from online discussion groups. Analyze and take notes. Is what you’re reading the story you want told about your business? Do you need to create more and better content because there isn’t enough? Are there inconsistencies or misinformation that need fixing? Would a prospective customer be interested in working with you?
How can you correct what AI knows?
While a tool like AI Overview provides a summary for quick reference, it also provides the sources from which it pulled the information. When you see mistakes or distorted facts, follow those source links to see where the misinformation originated so you can make corrections.
One common mistake that most folks correct during search engine optimization is inconsistency in the business name or address because it confuses the algorithm. For instance, if you use “Street” and “St.” in different places, or if your business is sometimes identified by a shortened name. All mentions of you online, from your website to your socials to directory listings, should agree completely.
If your business isn't being mentioned in the usual questions prospective customers ask, then you need to start feeding that information to the AI bots. One way to do that is to create online FAQs that you answer, both on your website and on your socials. Be sure to be responsive on your socials as well, even if there is a negative comment. How you handle problems can also show up in an AI summary.
What does AI say about your competitors?
After you’ve done a little research on your own business, ask the same questions about your competition to see what AI scrapes up about them. If people are talking about them the way you’d like folks to talk about you, add that to the list of information you need to feed to the algorithm. Also check the source information to see where they are online that you are not so you can level the playing field.
An engaging business story is a proven technique for winning customers, but only if they can find you. If there isn’t enough useful information about your business to be mentioned by the AI tools, you’ll never get a chance to tell your story.
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Photo by Yan Krukau
Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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