No. 17The shortlist starts somewhere new
A buyer has a problem and ten minutes before their next call. A few years ago they'd have searched, skimmed three blog posts and asked a friend. Now plenty of them just ask an AI assistant: "Who are the best firms for this?"
The assistant answers with a short list of names. If yours isn't on it, you never knew there was a race.
What these tools actually read
AI assistants build their answers from what's public and easy to attribute. That means a few things work in your favour:
- Named people saying specific things. A clear point of view from a named founder or expert is easier to quote than a vague company slogan.
- Repetition across time. One viral post is a blip. Fifty posts on the same theme make you the obvious answer to that question.
- Being talked about. Comments, mentions and other people citing your ideas all add to the picture of who you are and what you know.
LinkedIn happens to be full of exactly this: named people, dated posts and public conversations on narrow topics. That's why it punches above its weight.
How to be the name it suggests
- Pick the questions you want to own. Write down the five questions your best buyers ask before they hire someone like you. Those are your topics.
- Answer them in public, over and over. Different angles, same subject, every week. Consistency is what turns one good post into a reputation.
- Put a person's name on it. Posts from your founder and team carry more weight than posts from a logo, with buyers and with machines.
- Make your profiles say it plainly. Headline, About section and featured posts should all point at the same few topics.
What not to do
Don't flood the internet with AI-written filler in the hope of being picked up. Assistants are getting better at ignoring it, and buyers already are. Real experience, written well, is still the thing that gets quoted.
The assistant is just the newest reader. Write for the human, and the machine tends to follow.
No. 27
No. 14
No. 07