An Earned-first Integrated Media Strategy Built for AI-Driven Discovery for AI, IoT, Mobile, Wireless, Satellite and Telecom Audiences

Brand visibility is no longer controlled by paid placement alone. As AI-powered searches reshape how buyers discover and evaluate vendors, a new market segment has emerged. In addition to B2B, marketing and PR professionals must also address B2AI. In doing so, they should understand the increasing role that third-party validation plays in how brands create awareness, demonstrate credibility, and ultimately earn trust.

Today, where your brand is referenced matters, not just what you publish and promote. While paid, shared, and owned media still have their place in the (PESO) marketing mix, an earned-first integrated media strategy is now pivotal within B2B and B2AI marketing and PR.

Why Earned Media Matters in the Age of AI Search

AI agents rarely surface the messaging you own and control; instead, they prioritize content from trusted, independent sources. Owned and syndicated news items, including press releases, get the fewest citations.  As buyers conduct more self-directed research during their journey, the importance of earned media in B2B and B2AI marketing and PR strategies increases.

Large language models (LLMs) powering AI-agents are trained on vast amounts of publicly available data, with a strong bias toward reputable editorial sources and independent coverage. As a result, a Muck Rack study found that:

• 95% of AI citations come from unpaid media coverage
• 85% of those citations come from earned sources.

People, too, rate earned media higher in the mix as a PR Week study discovered:

• 78% of marketing leaders believe earned media is more effective than traditional advertising.

What This Means for Brands

AI-powered agents such as ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity saw significant year-on-year traffic growth between 1H24 and 1H25. This shift is redefining how buyers discover and evaluate brands.

If your brand isn’t featured in credible third-party coverage, it is now significantly less likely to appear in AI-generated search results. Today, approximately 60% of searches are fulfilled at the AI-generated summary, yielding no clickthrough.

89% of buyers admit to using AI-powered searches at every stage of their journey. If your brand isn’t surfaced and cited by these AI agents, it may never be discovered, let alone considered.

The Calysto Approach: An Earned-First Integrated Media Strategy

Calysto’s earned-first integrated media strategy aligns earned, owned, paid, and shared media around how AI agents and B2B buyers discover and evaluate brands. We prioritize earned media through credible third-party coverage for our AI, IoT, mobile, wireless, satellite, and telecom clients and leverage a unique mix of channels to amplify and extend their messaging authentically.

We don’t treat channels as standalone services. We bring together positioning, content, analyst relations, PR and social media, leveraging our industry expertise, into a tailored, earned-first strategy designed to drive engagement and results within any given target audience.

Earned Media: The Foundation of Visibility

Through strategic storytelling and relationships built over the past 27+ years, we secure credible third-party media coverage that drives discovery and builds credibility and trust. Every piece of content created is designed to shape how human audiences and AI-driven search engines understand, interpret and cite your brand.

As AI-powered search capabilities evolve, and as media and analyst contacts shift, we pay close attention. In doing so, we always interact with outlets that resonate with your target audiences, and those most often cited by AI-powered agents.

Owned Media: Turning Attention into Action

We leverage owned media to ensure that visibility generated through earned channels translates into meaningful engagement and conversion. We develop structured, high-quality content and use consistent messaging that expands on your core narratives, making it easy for humans and AI-powered assistants to navigate, understand, interpret, surface, and cite them.

From thought leadership and campaign assets to always-on content hubs, we optimize content for traditional web search (SEO), generative search (GEO) and AI-generated search engine summaries (AEO), and ensure message consistency across all channels.

Paid Media: Amplifying What Matters

We know that paid media can play a targeted role in increasing brand awareness, ensuring stories reach the right audience at the right time. In fact, paid video social ads can be highly effective, particularly when used to amplify narratives already established through earned and owned channels.

However, properly executing a paid media strategy requires a clear understanding of the industry, including the media outlets and analysts that resonate with your target markets and their influence within the mix.

Social and Shared Media: Sustaining Momentum

Social and shared channels extend the lifecycle of your stories, creating ongoing awareness and reinforcing earned credibility, helping to ensure your brand remains visible. We optimize storytelling across social platforms, using images, videos, infographics, blogs, articles and more to drive engagement, conversations, and reach.

Calysto Services: Supporting the Integrated Media Strategy

Discover more about the services we employ within our earned-first integrated media strategy by visiting the links below:

• Positioning and Messaging
• Content Marketing
• Influencer/Analyst Relations
• Public Relations
• Social Media Strategy
• Vertical Marketing Strategies
• Trade Show Marketing

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an earned-first media strategy?

An earned-first media strategy is a PR-led approach that prioritizes credible, third-party coverage as the primary driver of brand awareness and visibility. It uses owned, paid and shared channels to amplify and extend its impact.

This strategy relies on the experience of PR professionals who have built strong relationships with industry influencers and media. Leveraging those relationships, journalists understand that stories pitched to them will stand up to scrutiny, and brands can be trusted.

Why is earned media important for AI search?

Earned media is important to address the new marketing segment, B2AI, because AI agents prioritize citations from trusted, independent sources over brand-controlled content.

While paid or sponsored content has its place in the media mix, today’s AI-powered searches predominantly cite earned content from reputable independent outlets. In fact, research shows that more than 95% of AI citations come from unpaid media coverage.

What is an integrated media strategy?

An integrated media strategy is a coordinated approach to leveraging paid, earned, shared and owned (PESO) channels to maximize brand visibility and reach. Messaging is strengthened through alignment across all channels.

How does AI change SEO strategy?

AI changes search engine optimization (SEO) strategy by extending visibility beyond keyword ranking alone. It introduces B2AI marketing, meaning content must also be searchable and citable by AI agents. SEO remains relevant as search engines aren’t going away, but content must also be optimized with these AI engines in mind, leveraging both generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO)

Why Tech Brands Choose Calysto

• No retainers, EVER. We adjust strategies, activities and fees to meet the
  changing needs of your business.
• Strategic PR that boosts your bottom line. Our PR and social media
  campaigns produce real results – like increasing sales, increasing lead
  generation, boosting website traffic and building brand awareness, credibility and
  trust (as well as market share) through strategic thought leadership.
• Industry specialists. Each Calysto team member has 20+ years of PR and
  industry experience. We know your market, your challenges and your customers
  – so we can craft a message that explains exactly why your company is different.
• Intelligent use of AI. Calysto uses AI to create efficiencies – but relies on
  humans to create content and strategy. Our team is packed with former
  journalists who are uniquely qualified to develop messages and stories that break
  through the noise.
• Personalized messages for each unique audience. Calysto’s vertical
  marketing strategies and buyer persona profiles allow you to better target and
  track your best customers.
• Influencer connections. Calysto has built relationships with media, analysts and
  other influencers for 27+ years – and when we reach out, they respond.
• Exit expertise. Calysto has helped clients secure more than $9.8 billion in
  publicly reported valuations in the last 27+ years.

That’s why hundreds of leading communications industry companies have trusted
Calysto to help them build buzz, brands and business results since 1999.
Ready to grow? We’d love to talk with you! Contact us here.