Happy Wednesday! Below, you’ll find:

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There’s a land grab happening inside companies right now — and a lot of communications teams don’t realize they’re in it. (And because of that, they’re missing the chance to lead.)

As generative search reshapes how information is discovered, someone inside every organization is going to end up “owning” generative engine optimization (GEO). It might be SEO teams. It might be product marketing. It might be growth.

But it could — and in my view, should — be communications.

I recently spoke with Noah Greenberg, CEO of Stacker, who’s been thinking a lot about how ideas travel inside AI systems. His view: communicators have a real opportunity here, but only if they move quickly.

Let’s jump in.

💬 Noah’s take: Two things:

🔑 Key idea: Early GEO wins come from expertise and quick proof points.

💬 Noah’s take: There seems to be consensus around this concept of share of voice — where all of these different AI analytics tools are showing you, for a range of prompts, how often your brand is being mentioned compared to a set of your competitors. This seems to be the best proxy for the question of "are we winning in AI search", but beyond that, you bring up a great point that it's not about clicks. It's about building influence and just showing up and being part of the conversation. 

🔑 Key idea: Share of voice in AI results may become the new visibility metric.

💬 Noah’s take: The lowest hanging fruit here is to make sure that your content is unique, and the easiest way to do that is by making sure that it has data in it. LLMs are citing content that is different and unique, and so content that brings in statistics and data seems to be content that is getting cited the most.

🔑 Key idea: Unique content with original data is more likely to be cited.

💬 Noah’s take: Distribution is the most important. Brands that create content are quickly finding out that the field of dreams is not true. Just because you build it does not mean that they will come. You need to be thinking about distribution across lots of surface areas. And as for how do you make sure that you're being mentioned in AI search — or how do you find readers if they are not coming to your website? — content distribution, through programs like Stacker and others, has been a great way to do this.

🔑 Key idea: If your content isn’t distributed widely, AI systems may never see it.

💡 My thoughts: Noah’s advice points to a shift in how communicators should think about their role. In an AI-mediated world, discovery isn’t just about publishing good content — it’s about making sure the right ideas surface when AI systems synthesize answers. That means understanding how these systems work, measuring influence differently, creating information-rich content, and making sure it’s distributed widely enough to be seen.

And it means comms teams should have to have an outsized role when it comes to GEO. More on that in the next week or two — stay tuned!

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Professionally speaking, the beginning of the AI era is the scariest moment of my lifetime. I’m not someone who avoids change — but this feels different. The fear is palpable.

Most communicators I talk to right now are reacting to AI like it’s a threat. But the people who are winning with it are treating it like a construction kit.

I've spoken with dozens of communicators over the last few months about AI adoption and the through-line is clear: their teams are afraid. Afraid of being replaced, afraid of falling behind, afraid of being obsolete.

On the other hand, I’ve also seen a spark. While that fear is still kind of there, the through-line is excitement. They're overwhelmed — in a good way! — by all the stuff they can do now that they simply couldn't before. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella keeps talking about how “now anyone can be a software developer” with AI tools and vibe coding. The Wall Street Journal passes along a story about how a plant manager for Colgate Palmolive built an AI-powered tool that gave line workers — who only spoke Greek — access to documentation in their native tongue that explained how to maintain the machinery. And last week, I saw this first-hand when I judged my local high school’s “Start Up” pitch day competition. We are seeing a shift — people aren’t just doing their jobs as written in the job description. They’re creating new solutions that didn’t exist before.

They're thinking like builders.
Ideas no longer have to wait for someone else’s roadmap — they can be prototyped immediately. And every new creation sparks a dozen more ideas.

It’s imperative, as communicators, we do the same. Not because our jobs depend on it — that’s the wrong framing. Our role isn’t to just write great copy, place a story, or manage a channel. Our role is to drive business outcomes by building trust with core audiences, shaping how our organizations are understood, and moving people to act. What do we want them to think, feel, and do? With the tools now available to us, we can build solutions that get us there.

The funny thing is that this — despite the fear many of you are feeling — might actually be the best moment ever to be a communicator. The distance between “I have an idea” and “I built something that works” has collapsed. AI gives us the ability to prototype tools, workflows, and experiments ourselves — without waiting for someone else’s roadmap. That’s why the real shift isn’t technological. It’s mental: communicators have to start thinking like builders. It’s time to embrace that — not the fear.

Here are a few things I’ve been building while experimenting with this mindset — and hope to share soon.

None of these are close to perfect. But that’s the point — the barrier to building things is now so low that communicators can start creating solutions themselves. Even if it’s just to get the ideas moving faster.

🌎 Why this matters: AI doesn’t just change how communications work gets done — it changes who gets to build solutions.

For decades, communicators had ideas for better tools, workflows, and ways to reach audiences but needed engineers or product teams to make them real. That barrier has largely collapsed. The communicators who thrive in the AI era won’t just use AI tools — they’ll build systems that help ideas travel, shape narratives, and drive real outcomes.

↗ Your next step: Start acting like a builder.
Find one friction point in your communications workflow and prototype a fix using AI tools. It doesn’t have to be perfect — it just has to exist. The skill communicators need to develop now isn’t just writing prompts. It’s building repeatable systems.

Ensuring that our content is cited by LLMs is increasingly important. And Sarah Evans of Zen Media (and author of PR@ctical) is definitely thinking like a builder! Recently, she put together a free custom GPT that scores your content and makes recommendations, helping it show up better in AI search results — it will help the bots find, trust, and cite your content.

Give it a try — just hit the button below, paste in your content, and let Sarah’s tool work its magic!

Have a prompt, workflow, or other creation to share? Reply to this email and I’ll consider it for a future issue!

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In the spirit of “thinking like a builder,” here are things I’ve built while figuring out how communicators can use AI well. I’m sharing them here so you can experiment with them too — and more are on the way.

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Quick question: how can I help?

What workflows are you struggling with? Where does AI still feel mysterious or overwhelming? What’s worked that you’d like to share with others?

I’m a builder, and I’d love to help you and the rest of The Comms Stack community find great new ways to use AI.

Reply and tell me.
I read every response.

Even a one-sentence reply helps. For example:
“I wish AI could help me with ______.”

Until next Wednesday,

Dan

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