Hannah Cranston Media (HCM) – a public relations agency focused on impact-driven brands – announced a significant expansion of its Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) services to help clients capture visibility in an increasingly AI-centric discovery landscape. This move reflects a broader industry shift as B2B and B2C brands alike grapple with how artificial intelligence is transforming discovery, search, and audience engagement.
As generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude become primary tools for information discovery, HCM’s expanded GEO offering is designed to help brands earn visibility where audiences actually search and receive answers, combining traditional earned media with optimization strategies tailored for AI-driven platforms.
What HCM’s Expanded GEO Services Do
At its core, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is an evolution of digital visibility strategy that focuses on ensuring brands are not only discoverable on conventional search engines — through SEO – but cited, referenced, and visible inside the outputs of AI models and large language models (LLMs) that increasingly serve users direct answers rather than lists of links.
HCM’s expanded GEO framework merges earned media placement — such as news coverage, editorial content, and thought leadership — with content structured to optimize machine discoverability. The strategy amplifies high-credibility earned coverage alongside educational and contextually relevant content across owned channels and social platforms, compounding authority signals that generative AI systems value when selecting which sources to reference.
HCM’s founder and CEO, Hannah Cranston, emphasizes that “AI isn’t replacing PR – it amplifies the value of stories that demonstrate authority and credibility. If a brand doesn’t have a clear, trusted narrative, generative engines have nothing reliable to cite.”
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Why This Matters for the B2B Marketing and Advertising Industry
The expansion of GEO services isn’t just a tactical upgrade — it represents a strategic turning point for how brands approach visibility, engagement, and discovery in the AI era. For B2B marketing and advertising professionals, the implications are profound:
Visibility in AI Is Becoming a Core Requirement
Traditionally, SEO practices aimed at getting a high place on search engine results pages (SERPs). This approach is, however, gradually being replaced by AI, first discovery experiences. Nowadays users ask questions in natural language, and AI systems gather information from the entire web to give answers straight in the interface. Companies that are not prepared for these systems will be unnoticed even if they have good rankings on traditional search.
By extending GEO capabilities, HCM is helping businesses ensure their expertise, narratives, and credentials are recognized and cited by AI — which increasingly functions as the first point of contact for business buyers, researchers, and decision-makers. For B2B brands targeting complex audiences — whether enterprise buyers, technology evaluators, or industry professionals — this type of visibility can be a competitive differentiator.
Earned Media Is Becoming a Driving Force for AI Discovery
One of the most compelling shifts in AI discovery is how generative engines prioritize authoritative third-party content. Studies show that a vast majority of links cited by AI recommendations originate from non-paid, earned sources rather than paid ads or brand-owned pages.
For B2B brands – where authority, credibility, and thought leadership are essential to buyer trust — optimizing earned media to be discoverable by AI systems has become a strategic imperative. As HCM’s early client results demonstrate, brands that secure high-quality placements and amplify them strategically can dramatically boost visibility — driving stronger brand awareness and amplification across digital channels.
Marketing Measurement Must Evolve
With AI systems serving synthesized answers rather than traditional search results, the way marketing performance is measured is also shifting. Pull metrics such as SERP rankings and click-through rates are no longer sufficient indicators of visibility or influence. Instead, brands must evaluate their presence within AI outputs — citations, mentions, and contextual placements — as part of modern performance metrics.
This shift requires B2B marketers to rethink KPIs, invest in tools that measure AI discoverability, and align communications, SEO, and content strategy to maximize machine-readable authority.
Broader Effects on B2B Businesses
HCM’s expanded GEO services highlight several broader trends that B2B businesses should consider as they adapt:
Strategy Will Be More Integrated Across Channels
In a generative AI landscape, earned media, owned content, and search optimization are no longer distinct silos — they are interdependent components of how a brand is discovered, perceived, and trusted. Integrated campaigns that align SEO, GEO, PR, and content marketing will outperform fragmented strategies.
Content Quality and Credibility Matter More Than Ever
Unlike traditional search, where keyword optimization and backlinks once dominated relevance signals, generative engines weigh authority and credibility heavily when selecting sources to cite. B2B brands investing in high-quality thought leadership, case studies, expert commentary, and structured informational content will be better positioned to appear in AI-generated answers.
Early Adopters May Gain Lasting Advantages
Since GEO is still relatively new, brands that adopt and optimize for AI visibility early are likely to establish stronger authority signals that carry forward as generative systems evolve. Just as early SEO leaders captured marketplace visibility advantages in the past decade, early GEO leaders may capture mass AI discovery presence going forward.
Conclusion: GEO Is a Strategic Frontier for B2B Marketing
HCM’s enhanced Generative Engine Optimization offerings mirror a wider industry reflection on the way AI is changing customer discovery and engagement. Marketers of B2B companies should take note of this development as it highlights the increasing significance of brand authority through getting customer trust, strategic content optimization alongside implementing visibility strategies in a scenario where generative AI systems are usually the main channel for accessing information and making decisions.
In the AI world, brands that want to stay relevant should not look at GEO as just another feature, but rather as a core element of marketing and communications strategy to achieve visibility, credibility, and long, term competitive advantage.