The media release is dead. Long live the media release.
For years, earned media was the gold standard in communications. You pitched a story, a journalist ran it, and your organisation’s credibility went up a notch. The process was straightforward and the results were measurable. Then the algorithm ate the newsroom, AI ate the algorithm and suddenly nobody is quite sure where authority comes from anymore.
Welcome to AEO and GEO or Answer Engine Optimisation and Generative Engine Optimisation to the uninitiated. The new frontier where your content if done well gets scraped, packaged and served as fact by an AI.
Here is what we have learned about getting on top in this game.
Own the conversation your members are already having
Industry associations and membership bodies carry real weight with both search engines and AI platforms. Their domain authority is built over years and their content is trusted by the engines that matter. The problem is that most of them are not using it anywhere near as effectively as they could.
Members and committees are out there producing original thinking, navigating real challenges and forming views worth hearing. That is exactly the kind of content that earns credibility with AI and search engines. It needs to be specific, credible and grounded in genuine expertise. Yet most associations are still publishing quarterly newsletters and event recaps while that opportunity sits untapped.
The organisations that figure this out first will own the industry conversation. Not just for their own visibility, but on behalf of every member who benefits when the sector is seen as authoritative, current and worth listening to.
Get your technical foundations right
This is the part most organisations skip and it costs them. Two things matter here.
The first is schema markup: invisible code sitting in the backend of your website that tells search engines and AI crawlers exactly what your content is about. Without it, AI is guessing. With it, AI knows who you are, what you do, and why you are relevant to the question being asked. It is a small investment with a great return.
The second is meta data: the titles, descriptions and keyword signals attached to every page on your site. These need regular attention. It’s very possible that the phrases that drove traffic eighteen months ago may now be invisible. A periodic audit can identify the gaps and keep your content working as hard as it should.
Revive content that still holds up
Well-written content from two or three years ago is an asset most organisations are leaving on the table. If the thinking still stands, refresh it, re-date it and republish it. Search engines reward signals of continued relevance and so do the AI engines trawling for authoritative sources. You do not always need to create from scratch. Sometimes you just need to demonstrate that you are still paying attention.
The distribution play most people overlook
Earlier this year we ran an experiment. We submitted a media release to Scoop, the New Zealand wire site that has become a quiet but significant content clearing house. Within hours of it going live, an AI search on the relevant organisation returned our release, packaged neatly as established fact.
It’s because Scoop carries the kind of domain authority that AI engines trust, which means a well-crafted release published there is no longer a consolation prize for a story that didn’t get picked up by mainstream media. It is a direct line into the information layer that AI draws from and when used deliberately and consistently, it is one of the most effective tools available to communications teams right now.
On quality, and the great AI reckoning
The irony of the past two years is almost too neat. Some organisations and business leaders convinced themselves that communications professionals might be replaceable by AI, that a well-constructed prompt could do the work of an experienced practitioner. Now those same organisations are discovering that AI-generated content is recognisable at ten paces, that audiences distrust it instinctively and that the communications function is in fact the critical bridge between being seen and being invisible. We have come full circle in roughly eighteen months.
The New Zealand media landscape has contracted, there is no doubt about that. But the outlets that remain are producing serious work on lean resources, and the profession is sharper for the pressure. Outside of traditional media, podcasting continues to grow, and the ceiling is high for organisations willing to own a niche with genuine conviction, therefore creating more valuable content for AI to scrape. The standout examples got there through real passion long before anyone packaged it up as a content strategy.
I guess that is still the edge. Original thinking with a clear point of view and the craft to communicate it in a way that gets maximum coverage. No AI can hallucinate that, because it has to be genuinely yours. The tools have changed considerably, whereas actually the fundamentals haven’t moved at all.