PR for AI Companies: How to Build a Strategy That Earns Trust and Media Coverage

PR for AI companies helps businesses that develop AI products explain what they do, who their technology is for and why their products actually deserve attention. It covers positioning, media relations, expert commentary and the management of a company’s public reputation.

For AI startup founders and marketing teams, the objective is to turn technical knowledge into an enticing narrative that will be useful for buyers, journalists, and other audiences. To achieve this, there must be preliminary preparation. It means that the team needs evidence, knowledgeable spokespeople and a compelling reason for the market to pay attention.

In this article, we break down how to build a PR strategy for an AI company, select the right opportunities and assess whether the work supports your goals.

Key Takeaways

• Positioning comes first. Define who the product is for, what problem it solves, what distinguishes it and where its limits are before you reach the media.
• Every public claim needs evidence. Record how accuracy, performance or security statements were tested, and narrow or remove claims that cannot be supported.
• Pitch to the beat. Choose publications and angles based on what each journalist covers and what their readers need.
• Use the right spokesperson. Match each subject to the person who knows it first-hand, and prepare them for difficult questions.
• Measure against your goals. Review relevance, accuracy and expert mentions, and track AI search visibility separately with a repeatable set of checks.

What Makes PR for AI Companies Different?

PR for companies that provide AI services differs from PR for other businesses mainly in how much has to be explained and proven. The basics are the same. The message must be clear, there must be an idea worth sharing, and the right people must be chosen to do it.

Yet there are three differences. It’s harder to describe AI products, claims made by AI service providers meet more scepticism and, moreover, using AI is not news in itself, even though some companies treat it as if it were.

1. The product is harder to explain. Different people want to know different things about the same AI product. A technology journalist may want to understand how it works, a financial outlet may ask how it works inside established workflows and where human oversight is needed. A buyer primarily strives to figure out how safely and reliably they can use it.
2. Claims are checked more thoroughly. Statements about accuracy, autonomy or security usually give rise to questions about how the product was tested and if it has limits. Say a spokesperson cannot answer them. In that case, an interview about a promising launch can quickly turn into a discussion about what the company cannot substantiate.
3. Using AI is not news in itself. Any story a firm shares must give readers a reason to care about it. For instance, it can be a relevant development, evidence, or a perspective from an authoritative person on the issue they study.

These are exactly the challenges that also affect AI infrastructure founders, whose products are naturally difficult to explain without relying on technical language.

How to Build a PR Strategy for an AI Company

Building a PR strategy for an AI company should start with identifying the audience you need to reach and the goals you want your communications to achieve. From there, agree on the product’s positioning, verify the claims you plan to make, and select stories and spokespeople suited to the publications your audience reads.

Define Your Audience and Positioning

Positioning explains the value of a product feature to a particular audience as well as how the product differs from available alternatives in the market.

To develop it, define: who is the product for, what problem does it solve, what distinguishes it, which results can be demonstrated and where are its limits?

The answers to these five questions should determine how you describe it on the website, in press materials and in executive interviews. If different teams describe autonomy or performance differently, the company risks creating confusion before a buyer or journalist has had a chance to assess the product.

Finally, assign someone to approve the core messages, keep the latest version accessible to relevant teams and update it when the product changes. This is part of building a consistent PR strategy and positioning.

Prepare and Verify Product Claims

Before a claim is in a journalist’s hands, document what it means and what supports it:

1. Record the evidence. For a statement about accuracy or performance, note the testing method, conditions, data set, product version and date. Don’t forget to include an independent assessment if one exists.
2. Check the limits of the claim. Confirm that the evidence supports how you plan to use the claim, and keep any important limitations in the wording.
3. Approve the wording. Ask a product or technical specialist to review it, with legal input where needed. If a statement cannot be supported, don’t say it. You won’t be able to unring a bell.
4. Keep materials consistent. Use the approved language in press materials and spokesperson briefings, and revisit it each time the product changes.

PR teams need direct access to technical colleagues to do this work well and answer questions without unnecessary delays.

Choose Stories and Media

Choose publications based on the audience they’re aimed at and the subjects they cover. A technology outlet, a business publication and a specialist finance title may all be relevant to the same company, but they will not necessarily be interested in the same story shared from the same angle.

A product launch needs enough substance to explain what has changed, who it affects and what evidence supports the announcement. Other opportunities may include original research, expert comments, interviews or contributed articles.

So, before pitching, read the journalist’s recent work and check whether the subject fits their beat. Offer an angle that matters to their readers. Sharing just a description of the company is a failed tactic. Even though good media relations can improve the results, the final decision to publish belongs to the editor.

Develop Thought Leadership

A spokesperson is most useful when they discuss a subject they know first-hand. A CEO might address buyer expectations or strategic decisions. A CTO may be better placed to explain development choices and technical limitations. Other specialists can contribute insights from their own work.

Prepare each speaker for interviews with agreed messages, supporting evidence and difficult questions. They should also know when a question falls outside their expertise and needs to be referred to a colleague. This preparation is part of effective executive communications.

Between product announcements, executives can comment on relevant industry developments, discuss recurring questions from customers or contribute an informed view to a debate. There is no need to respond to every story. A considered contribution, deliberate one, is more useful than an opinion offered just to maintain visibility.

If you would like a second opinion on your messages, claims and media plan before outreach begins, talk to Drofa Comms about how we help AI startups.