Business Dev/Sales, CPA Growth Trends, Communications, Marketing
PR Is Now a GEO Strategy: What Accounting Marketers Need to Know
If you still think of press releases as a media relations tool and nothing more, it’s time for a reframe.
In the age of AI-powered search, your earned media strategy has quietly become one of your most important visibility levers and most accounting firms aren’t taking advantage of it yet.
The Way Buyers Search Has Shifted
Prospective clients and referral sources aren’t just Googling your firm anymore. They’re asking AI tools (i.e., ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity) questions like “What are the best CPA firms for healthcare companies near me?” or “Is [firm name] a good place to work?”
Those AI tools don’t just pull from your website. They pull from everywhere — news mentions, award announcements, industry rankings, review sites, and yes, press releases.
In a recent webinar hosted by Hinge, a research-based marketing agency specializing in professional services, the message was direct: earned media is a rising signal for AI visibility. Your owned content still matters, but external validation is increasingly what AI engines use to assess your firm’s credibility and authority.
“…earned media is a rising signal for AI visibility. Your owned content still matters, but external validation is increasingly what AI engines use to assess your firm’s credibility and authority.”
What AI Is Actually Reading About Your Firm
Think of AI search tools as a new kind of selection committee member, quietly doing due diligence on your firm before a prospect ever picks up the phone.
What does that committee member find when they look you up?
- A handful of Glassdoor reviews from disgruntled employees a decade ago? A Google Business profile no one has touched in years?
Or
- A consistent trail of award announcements, thought leadership bylines, and media placements that tell a coherent story about who you are?
The gap between those two scenarios is significant. And increasingly, it shapes whether your firm gets mentioned in an AI-generated shortlist.
Three PR Moves That Improve AI Visibility
1. Pursue awards and publicize them properly. Third-party validation carries real weight with AI engines. When your firm earns a “Best Places to Work” designation or a top industry honor, don’t just post it on your website. Put out a press release. That creates an indexed, external record that AI tools can find and cite. The chain matters: award earned → press release issued → third-party coverage → AI picks it up.
2. Get proactive about client reviews. Accounting marketers often dismiss review platforms as irrelevant; we’re not a restaurant, after all. But AI search doesn’t share that bias. Sites like Google Business, Clutch, and industry-specific directories feed directly into how AI tools describe your firm’s reputation. A proactive review strategy (i.e., reaching out to satisfied clients and making it easy to leave feedback) is now a visibility strategy, not just a nice-to-have.
3. Distribute press releases consistently. Firm milestones, new service offerings, leadership announcements, community involvement are more than just internal communications opportunities. Each one is a chance to build a richer, more authoritative external record of your firm’s story. Press releases remain one of the cleaner signals AI tools can parse and attribute to your firm.
Should You Outsource This?
For many accounting firm marketing teams, the honest answer is: you probably can’t do this alone and you don’t have to.
Most in-house teams are already stretched thin managing proposals, events, internal communications, and whatever urgent thing just landed in their inbox. Building a consistent earned media program on top of that is a real lift. And the GEO monitoring piece (tracking how AI engines are actually describing your firm, identifying gaps, and adjusting your strategy accordingly) requires specialized tools and expertise that most firms don’t have in-house yet.
That’s where an outside agency can add genuine value, particularly one with experience in professional services marketing. A good agency partner can:
- Audit your current AI visibility — benchmarking how you appear across generative engines and identifying where the gaps are
- Build and execute an earned media calendar — award submissions, press release distribution, review solicitation, and media outreach done consistently, not just when someone has bandwidth
- Monitor and report on progress — tracking citation trends over time so you can show leadership that the investment is working
The key word is consistent. A one-time press release or a single award submission won’t move the needle. What AI engines reward is a sustained, credible external record built over time and that requires ongoing attention, not a one-and-done project.
If you’re evaluating agency partners, look for firms that can speak specifically to GEO and AI search monitoring, not just traditional PR or SEO. The discipline is new enough that not everyone has caught up yet, so it’s worth asking pointed questions about how they measure earned media’s impact on AI visibility specifically.
Start Here
You don’t need a massive PR budget or a dedicated communications team to start moving the needle. What you need is intention and a realistic picture of your capacity.
Start by asking: If a prospective client asked an AI tool about our firm today, what would it find? Run the test yourself. Search your firm name in your chosen AI tool. Ask it to compare you to a competitor. The results, whatever they are, tell you where to focus and whether this is something you can manage internally or need outside help to do well.
Then build the habit: make earned media part of your editorial calendar. Every award, every client win, every leadership moment is an opportunity to shape how AI talks about your firm.
The firms that understand this now will have a meaningful head start on those still figuring it out later.
Insights in this article were informed by Hinge’s webinar, “From Traffic to Trust: How GEO Is Changing Search for Professional Services.” Hinge is an AAM sponsor.
About Amanda Maglish
Amanda Maglish is Senior Marketing Manager at Rea, overseeing the firm's external marketing efforts. With 20 years of marketing experience across a range of industries, she's focused on helping the firm navigate how AI is reshaping search and digital marketing.
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