CPG founders: AI is Your New Category Maker
And most brands aren’t ready.
I follow the same advice I give founders: Repurpose your content. Watch your analytics like a hawk.
This morning I checked my website analytics and saw something wild: a referral hit from ChatGPT.
No, ChatGPT didn’t magically “discover” my site. Someone asked it a question, it used my content in its answer, and the user clicked the source link pointing back to my site.
That’s where marketing is headed: AI Search Optimization (AEO).
AI isn’t a search engine, it’s an influence engine. It reads your entire digital footprint: your positioning, messaging, product story, PR presence, partner mentions, retail content, and whether your brand shows up consistently across every channel. This is brand + growth strategy.
And here’s the blind spot: Buyers, reporters, consumers, and investors are already asking AI for recommendations. (No, OpenAI doesn’t offer ads or paid placements yet. But it will.)
If your content is thin, confusing, or overly pretty instead of useful? You won’t show up anywhere.
Here’s what AI actually pulls into its answers:
Clear positioning — who you’re for, what you solve, why you’re different, use cases
Clarity over creativity — plain language beats cute copy every time
Clean, scannable site — real text, clear headers, simple navigation
A real brand story — context, proof, traction, credibility
Authoritative content — frameworks, how-tos, benchmark education, comparisons, education
Helpful answers — direct responses to customer questions
But here’s where growth comes in: Multichannel amplification is now a ranking signal. PR hits, affiliate mentions, reviews, podcasts, blogs, retail media, newsletters — AI treats all of this as validation. If the outside world isn’t talking about you consistently, AI won’t trust you either.
Visibility isn’t luck. It’s clarity + consistency + amplification.
If you want help turning your brand into something AI and humans consistently surface, DM me. It’s an offering I provide for founders who want to understand how their brand is truly showing up.
That’s the new bar now.
