Chatbots are the new influencers brands must woo

"In late 2024, Stacy Simpson, the chief marketing officer of Athenahealth, a health care software and services provider, started asking artificial intelligence chatbots such as ChatGPT about her company. The results were not ideal. The chatbots did not know about some of Athenahealth's offerings and did not name the company as an option when asked. They pulled details from insidery software websites that had not been updated in years."

"Simpson realized that she had to figure out how to market to AI chatbots. "This is one of the single biggest shifts we've seen in decades," she said in a recent interview. Similar realizations are happening across corporate America as companies grapple with how AI and chatbots are changing not only the way people work but also the way they consume information. That means businesses can no longer simply promote themselves to potential customers -- they have to win over the robots, too."

""There is a new influencer you need to reach, and it's this AI model," said Brian Stempeck, a co-founder of Evertune, an AI startup that helps companies analyze what chatbots are saying about them. Digital marketing has been in flux ever since the first banner ad appeared online in 1994. Each new digital format -- from video to podcasts to social media -- has spawned its own set of tech tools and self-styled gurus promising killer results,"

Stacy Simpson tested AI chatbots and found incomplete, outdated, or missing information about her company, including omitted product listings and stale source material. Companies are recognizing that AI chatbots now shape how customers find and assess offerings, creating a need to adapt marketing strategies to influence those models. Industry voices describe AI models as a new influencer that firms must reach. AI adoption is widespread, with hundreds of millions of users on major chatbots, and digital advertising has grown into a dominant channel, prompting comparisons to search engine optimization and broader shifts in marketing tactics.

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