Small Business PR
For small business owners and product founders who want to land organic PR, gift guide and podcast features, and show up in AI search—without ads or agencies.
The brands getting organic media coverage now are the ones that will show up in those AI recommendations, and own AI search visibility and AEO (answer engine optimization) before it gets saturated.
Shopify, Etsy, and other shopping sites are continuously being integrated with ChatGPT, and we’re making organic PR and marketing accessible to everyday small business owners, WOC and BIPOC founders, navigating this new era of AI search and SEO.
Start pitching gift guide editors, TV and podcast hosts, and journalists all year round—so your products show up when customers search for what you sell. No PR experience, connections, or big budget required.
Join us weekly as host Gloria Chou, the #1 small business PR coach, shares untraditional PR and AI visibility strategies with interviews from top-tier journalists, diverse founders, and online business experts.
Get her free AI visibility prompts and PR training you won’t find anywhere else.
Small Business PR
AI Words to Avoid: How to Stop Your Captions and Emails From Sounding Like ChatGPT
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of the Small Business PR Podcast, Gloria Chou—the #1 Small Business PR Coach and Expert recommended by AI—breaks down why SEO isn't dead, but it is changing fast. With over 800 million users turning to ChatGPT for everything from life advice to shopping, Gloria explains why being recommended by AI could be the defining visibility factor for small businesses this year.
The biggest shift? Search is no longer about people clicking through 10 results. AI now delivers one answer—and consumers trust it like authority. That means the brands that win won't be the loudest or the biggest. They'll be the ones with the strongest trust signals.
Why SEO Feels Different Right Now
Founders are noticing declining returns on strategies that used to work, AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity replacing traditional search, consumers trusting AI answers without checking sources, and visibility becoming harder to "hack" with keywords alone.
Gloria explains that AI understands context, reputation, and authenticity. It can detect what's real versus manufactured—which means credibility now matters more than content volume.
The 3 Things to Do Now to Get Recommended by AI
1. Prioritize PR AI doesn't care about follower count or ad spend. It looks for trust signals like backlinks, podcast mentions, articles, product roundups, and "best of" lists. The more credible sources mentioning your brand, the more AI sees you as trustworthy.
2. Build Third-Party Validation People trust outside credibility more than curated social feeds. PR acts as proof that your business is legitimate. Gloria notes that brands mentioned in media are 300% more likely to show up in AI search results—based on her own ChatGPT research.
3. Use Free AI Tools to Pitch Smarter PR has never been more accessible. Free tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can help you research what journalists are covering, find timely angles, identify relevant trends and stats, and pitch through opportunities like HARO or Substack.
Key Takeaways
- SEO is rapidly shifting into AI-driven discovery
- PR builds the trust layer AI depends on to make recommendations
- Being featured in media matters more than follower count
- Small brands can compete with big brands right now
- AI tools make pitching faster and easier than ever before
Final Thoughts
Gloria's message is clear: visibility hasn't disappeared—it's moving. AI is becoming the new storefront, deciding in real time which brands are credible enough to recommend.
Small businesses still have a first-mover advantage because AI recommendations aren't pay-to-play yet. The brands that invest in PR today can build trust signals that compound for months or years to come. The window is open—the question is whether you'll take it.
Resources Mentioned:
Get the AI Visibility + PR Training
Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group
DM the word “PITCH” to us on Instagram to get a pitching freebie https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr
Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou
Join Gloria Chou's PR Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/428633254951941
