Communications teams have the incredible responsibility of managing their company reputation across all forms of media. What may appear to be a simple task spans a seemingly infinite number of online outlets, print publications, and social sites with constantly changing discussions.

Not only that, but conversations around your brand can move at algorithmic speed, making it difficult to decipher how your brand is represented and, more importantly, how that representation is shaped by sophisticated machine interpretation. In 2026, reputation management must account for not just what is said, but how it is synthesized, summarized, and surfaced by AI systems before audiences have even seen the original coverage. 

What is Reputation Management?

Reputation management is the act of influencing or controlling public perceptions of a company. Managing your reputation is both active and reactive and is shaped by three types of coverage: earned, paid, and owned media. Paid media relates to advertising, earned media encompasses traditional media coverage and social discussions, and owned media refers to content published by your organization, like your company website, blog, and social media.

What Does Reputation Management Look Like in 2026?

With the increasing shift toward digital media and artificial intelligence, the practice now requires consideration of traditional, online, broadcast, social, and AI-influenced discovery platforms. 

Managing your reputation is both active and reactive, shaped by three types of media: 

• Paid media, which includes advertising and sponsored content. 

• Earned media, encompassing traditional media coverage, online publications, and social discussion. 

• Owned media, referring to content published by your organization, like your website, blog, executive content, and social channels. 

In the AI era, these elements work together in new ways. A piece of earned media may end up summarized in generative AI results; your owned content may be interpreted and surfaced by AI assistants in ways that affect brand perception before a human even sees it.

Why is Reputation Management Important?

In an era when consumers are more informed and skeptical than ever, and younger generations control more purchasing power and influence, staying visible and relevant is crucial. 

But the rules of visibility have changed. In 2026, many people no longer discover brands through traditional search alone; AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and other generative systems summarize information and recommendations in ways that can define your brand before a user ever clicks through.

Because AI systems synthesize and summarize content, any inaccuracies, outdated information, or negative narratives seeded in older content can be amplified. Reputation isn’t just what people read; it’s what machines tell people about your brand. That makes it vital to manage not just the content itself, but how it is interpreted by algorithmic models that power discovery and decision-making.

The factors influencing brand perception now extend far beyond the scope of typical business operations. They include corporate governance, social and environmental responsibility, executive credibility, and now, AI visibility and generative search narratives. Investing in reputation management ensures that your company is represented favorably not only by traditional media but also in the AI-powered experiences that increasingly shape stakeholder views.

Steps to Build a Reputation Management Strategy

Building a reputation management strategy begins with identifying your reputational drivers, the key aspects that construct your brand’s identity. After determining the topics that drive your brand’s coverage, implement a data-based strategy to track your key messages and understand how AI systems are interpreting them. Monitoring competitor coverage can also help your team anticipate trends and develop internal strategies for AI-era crisis response. 

Identify Your Reputational Drivers

Start by identifying the key factors that drive your company’s reputation.. At PublicRelay, we have developed a framework of seven essential reputation drivers that can be applied or adapted to any company: products and services, business strategy, workplace, leadership, corporate social responsibility, financial performance, and government relations.

These drivers work together to help paint a cohesive picture of public perception and should be tailored to represent your company and industry. In the age of AI, reputational drivers should also account for how your organization is represented in machine-generated contexts, not just in human-read narratives. For example, leadership credibility now includes how AI systems portray executives when answering queries about your organization.

Your team may not yet know the full breadth of the drivers that comprise your corporate reputation in this AI era. Tracking key industry competitors and monitoring how narratives about them show up in generative search results are excellent ways to understand the reputational drivers of both competitors and larger organizations. 

Monitor Your Coverage Using Real-Time Data Analytics

One of the most effective methods for ensuring that your messaging and earned media are consistent with your reputational goals is using real-time analytics. Tracking the volume, tone, and sharing of media output that mentions your company can help you determine how often your key messages are discussed, the sentiment surrounding them, and how readers engage with your coverage.

With AI-powered results now influencing discovery and perception, it’s critical to monitor not only traditional media and social platforms but also how your content and third-party mentions are being synthesized by generative search tools. A narrative that appears neutral in raw coverage could be framed negatively when interpreted by AI models.

Real-time analytics allow your team to pivot and adapt messaging in response to public interests, political activity, and global events. However, it’s important to balance automated sentiment analysis with human context and oversight, as AI interpretation can misread nuance or cultural context without careful configuration.

Develop Data-Based Strategies for Crises That Threaten Reputation

Tracking your company messages and those of your peers can also help shape your approach to crisis communications. When negative publicity threatens your brand’s reputation, you can use data from the experiences of competitors faced with similar crises in the past to inform your response. Whether the move is to remain quiet as coverage passes or issue a carefully worded statement, competitive tracking can give you the foresight to deftly maneuver potential challenges.

Identify the Threats Worth Addressing

Negative articles about your brand will inevitably be published from time to time, but not all bad press is worth addressing. Coverage may warrant a response if published by a high-reach outlet or if it garners significant social sharing, as both factors can snowball into additional mentions or amplified AI interpretation. 

Social engagement is especially important, as sharing spreads articles across websites and increases the chance that those narratives will be pulled into AI models’ training data or responses. Predictive analytics can help your team spot topics with high potential virality before they surge, allowing you to prioritize interventions. 

Start Managing Your Reputation Today

Reputation management is one of the greatest responsibilities of PR and communications teams. While paid and owned media are internally controlled, earned media now interacts with AI-driven systems that shape how your organization is understood. A strong reputation strategy in the AI era combines traditional media monitoring with AI-aware analytics, narrative intelligence, and real-time insight. 

With AI tools evolving quickly, communications teams must track how their brand is portrayed across every channel and how generative systems interpret that narrative. Predictive alerts and generative engine optimization (GEO) enable teams to spot risk days or weeks before issues become visible to broader audiences. 

To learn more about how PublicRelay can help manage your reputation in the AI era, click here. 

In today’s always-on media environment, reputation is no longer shaped by a handful of headline moments. It is continuously formed, and reformed, by thousands of stories, posts, and perspectives across traditional and social media. For communications leaders, the challenge is no longer whether reputation matters, but how to measure it in a way that drives smarter decisions and tangible business outcomes.

This is where the next frontier of reputation measurement begins.

From Media Monitoring to Media Reputation

Media reputation is a brand’s standing in the media, driven by both the visibility and significance of coverage and the impact that coverage has on brand credibility. Crucially, recent stories and the perspectives of key stakeholders—employees, investors, policymakers, healthcare providers, customers, the media, and consumers—play an outsized role in shaping that reputation.

Traditional media monitoring tools tell you what was said. But they rarely explain what actually matters. Volume, impressions, and basic sentiment fail to capture how specific stories, outlets, authors, and topics meaningfully influence how a brand is perceived right now, and where that perception is heading next.

Introducing the Media Reputation Score

PublicRelay’s Media Reputation Score is designed to close that gap. It is a proprietary, data-driven metric that quantifies a brand’s media reputation, so communications teams can improve execution and actively influence reputation outcomes.

By leveraging GenAI alongside the expertise of experienced analysts, PublicRelay ingests, enriches, segments, and analyzes millions of traditional and social media articles and posts. This approach surfaces emerging narratives and evaluates their sizing, velocity, and impact at scale and with precision.

The result? Agile insights that moves beyond dashboards and into decision.

What the Media Reputation Score Enables

At its core, the Media Reputation Score provides clarity in complexity. It translates sprawling media ecosystems into insights leaders can act on. Key capabilities include:

• Performance Measurement: A clear, high-level snapshot of current reputation, grounding executive conversations around risk, opportunity, and performance.

• Reputational Driver Analysis: Identification of the specific stories, topics, outlets, and authors that are disproportionately shifting reputation, positively or negatively.

• Stakeholder Opportunity and Risk Identification: A focused view into how different stakeholder groups currently perceive the brand and how those perceptions are changing over time.
• Benchmarking (Peer, Industry, and Aspirational): Contextual understanding of how your reputation compares to competitors and the broader sector, separating company-specific issues from industry-wide dynamics.

• Campaign ROI Calculator: Insight into how campaigns, announcements, or issues moved reputation and what the score would have been without them.

• Tie to Business Outcome Data: Connecting media reputation to broader business objectives, enabling communications to demonstrate strategic value.

Answering the Questions Leaders Actually Ask

What makes the Media Reputation Score especially powerful is how it aligns to real-world leadership questions like:

• What does our current reputation suggest about how we are perceived right now?

• Which stories or outlets are driving week-by-week shifts in perception?

• Which journalists truly influence how we are viewed by investors or policymakers?

• How is sentiment evolving over time and what does that signal about our trajectory?

• Are we closing the reputational gap with peers, or falling behind?

By isolating the stories, authors, outlets, and topics that matter most, communications teams can move from reactive reporting to proactive reputation management.

Why This Matters Now

As scrutiny intensifies and stakeholder expectations rise, reputation risk and opportunity are accelerating. Leaders need more than anecdotal evidence or lagging indicators; they need a forward-looking, defensible way to understand how media is shaping credibility and trust in real time.

The Media Reputation Score represents a shift from measuring noise to measuring impact. It empowers communications leaders to explain why reputation is moving, what is driving it, and how to influence it next.

The Future of Reputation Measurement

The next frontier of reputation measurement isn’t about more data; it’s about better answers. With agile insights at scale, grounded in both advanced AI and human expertise, the Media Reputation Score gives organizations a clearer line of sight between media coverage and reputation outcomes.

For communications leaders tasked with protecting and building trust, that clarity isn’t just valuable; it’s essential.

Want to learn more about the Media Reputation Score? Contact us to learn more.

By Alyson Atwell, Director of Marketing, PublicRelay

March 11th | 12:00pm ET | Virtual

In today’s environment of heightened scrutiny and rapidly evolving expectations, communications teams play a critical role in guiding CEOs through complex decisions about when, and whether, to speak publicly on social and policy issues. Leaders must weigh opportunities to advance their organization’s mission against the risks of misalignment, reputational harm, political consequences or stakeholder backlash. At the same time, newly-appointed CEOs rely heavily on their communications team to help them establish credibility, articulate a clear vision, and define their leadership voice.

Guest hosted by CEO communications pro, Pete Weissman, this virtual roundtable will bring together senior communicators to explore how organizations can navigate this evolving leadership landscape.

This conversation will examine questions like:

• How can comms help leadership determine when to speak up—or stay silent—on social and policy issues?
• What opportunities and pitfalls do leaders face when engaging publicly on sensitive topics?
• How can organizations ensure executive messaging aligns with their values while minimizing reputational risk?
• What strategies can new CEOs use to make their mark and communicate a compelling, credible vision?
• How can communications teams best position executives as trusted voices inside and outside the organization?

This session will give leaders a chance to compare approaches, share challenges, and refine how they guide and support their CEO’s voice in an increasingly complex public landscape.

We welcome CCOs, VPs, and Directors of Communications to request an invitation to join this roundtable discussion.

Upon qualification, you will receive a follow up email from a member of our team confirming your participation.

March 5th | 6:30pm ET | Brooklyn, NY

Join Us During (and after) the 2026 Corporate Communications Brand & Summit: Connect, Reflect, and Activate Your Insights

Are you attending the Corporate Communications & Brand Summit in Brooklyn this year? PublicRelay will be there, and we’d love to connect during the conference or at our dinner once it wraps.

Meet with Us

Our team will be on site throughout the conference, meeting with top communicators to talk strategy, trends, and how leading brands are using smarter media intelligence to navigate today’s communications challenges.

To secure time during the event, connect with us directly!

Dine with Us

We’re also hosting an intimate roundtable dinner following the conference for a select group of senior communications leaders to discuss the topic, “Elevating Corporate Comms as a Strategic Business Partner“.

Starting at 6:30pm, we’ll unpack the day’s biggest moments and key takeaways over a curated 3-course meal, including talking points such as:

• The shift of corporate communications from a support function to a strategic advisor and what it takes to earn a true seat at the leadership table
• Strengthening partnerships with the CEO and executive leadership, and building credibility with senior decision-makers
• How AI is reshaping corporate communications, from efficiency gains to more strategic applications, and where teams are leaning in or holding back
• Proving impact through measurement, crisis readiness, and trust-building across employees, customers, investors, and broader stakeholders

Whether you’re looking to explore new strategies, gain fresh perspective, or simply engage in a thoughtful conversation with peers, this dinner is designed for communicators who want to lead with impact.

You do not need to attend the summit to RSVP.

Request your invite via the form to the right.

We welcome CCOs, VPs, and Directors of Communications to join this roundtable discussion.

Upon qualification, you will receive a follow up email from a member of our team confirming your participation.

February 26th | 6:00pm ET | Washington, D.C.

Brand leaders today are operating in an environment defined by rapid cultural change, splintered media ecosystems, and rising expectations from audiences who want authenticity, relevance, and values they can trust. Reaching new generations, refreshing legacy brands, and expanding beyond traditional media channels are no longer separate challenges. They are deeply connected parts of the same strategic question: how do brands stay meaningful in a constantly shifting landscape?

Guest host, Stephanie Holland, Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing at American Chemical Society, will lead a conversation about how organizations are adapting, and where they’re still struggling, as audience behaviors evolve and influence decentralizes. Rather than focusing on tactics alone, the discussion will explore how leaders are thinking about long-term brand relevance, credibility, and growth.

Together, we’ll dig into questions such as:

• What does it truly take to connect with Gen Z in a way that feels authentic rather than performative?
• How can established brands successfully evolve their identity without losing the equity they’ve spent decades building?
• What does “earned media” mean in a world where podcasters, creators, and influencers shape opinion alongside — or instead of — traditional outlets?
• How should leaders evaluate new platforms and voices while managing brand risk and consistency?
• What organizational shifts are required to keep pace with audiences whose trust and attention are increasingly fragmented?

Over dinner, participants will share candid perspectives, real-world lessons, and emerging best practices, leaving with sharper insight into how brands can adapt, expand their reach, and remain relevant in an ever-changing communications environment.

We welcome CCOs, VPs, and Directors of Communications to request an invitation to join this roundtable discussion.

Upon qualification, you will receive a follow up email from a member of our team confirming your participation.

February 18th | 8:00am CT | Chicago, IL

The pace of change facing communications leaders continues to accelerate. Technology is transforming how work gets done, altering career paths, reshaping team structures, and redefining what effective leadership looks like. At the same time, leaders are being asked to develop talent, maintain stability, and deliver impact amid ongoing uncertainty and evolution.

In this breakfast roundtable hosted by Geoff Curtis, we’ll bring senior communications leaders together for a candid, peer-driven discussion on what it takes to lead communications teams effectively today and in the future. Rather than focusing solely on tools or technology, the conversation will explore broader questions of talent development, leadership adaptability, and long-term capability building.

We’ll explore questions such as:

• How are career paths, team structures, and talent models evolving as technology takes more tactical and executional work?
• How should leaders mentor, coach, and develop professionals whose roles may fundamentally change in the next one to two years?
• Which capabilities truly future proof a communications career, and how should leaders balance technology and tactical mastery with foundational hard and soft skills?
• In an environment of constant change, how can leaders provide stability, direction, and confidence — while remaining transparent about uncertainty?

This conversation is designed for communications leaders looking to thoughtfully prepare the next generation of talent, evolve their leadership approach, and navigate the intersection of people, technology, and change with clarity and intention.

We welcome CCOs, VPs, and Directors of Communications to request an invitation to join this roundtable discussion.

Upon qualification, you will receive a follow up email from a member of our team confirming your participation.

As geopolitical uncertainty and rapid technological change continue to reshape the landscape, communications leaders are being called on to do more than ever before. Chief Communications Officers are increasingly being seen as protectors of their brand and reputation and are earning a bigger seat at the executive table as a result.

Recent industry polling shows many leaders expect their communications and PR budgets to grow next year, but with that comes heightened scrutiny and pressure to prove value. Whether your budget is expanding or tightening, vanity metrics alone will no longer suffice. To make the most of your budget in 2026, communications leaders must rethink how they measure and demonstrate their impact.  

So, what should leaders prioritize in 2026? Here are five key areas to consider during your planning: 

1. Anchor Communications Strategy to Business Objectives

The most effective communications strategies start with business alignment. Leaders should clearly tie PR and communications efforts to organizational priorities such as growth, risk mitigation, regulatory readiness, or brand differentiation. When the function is framed as a driver of business outcomes, not just visibility, it becomes easier to justify investment and defend budgets at the executive level.

2. Embrace Budget Fluidity and Scenario Planning

2026 will demand more flexibility than ever before. Rigid annual budgets are giving way to more fluid models that allow teams to reallocate spend as risks, opportunities, and narratives shift. Communications leaders should plan for multiple scenarios and ensure they can quickly pivot resources toward crisis management, executive visibility, or emerging platforms as needed.

3. Build Business and Data Fluency Across the Function

With greater influence comes greater expectation. Communications leaders must speak the language of the business, using data to explain not just what happened, but why it matters. This includes moving beyond volume-based metrics to insights around audience reach, message penetration, sentiment, and reputational risk, data that resonates with CFOs and CEOs alike.

4. Prepare for AI Search and the Rise of GEO

As AI-driven search and generative engine optimization (GEO) reshape how information is discovered, earned media is becoming even more critical. Credible third-party coverage plays a growing role in how brands show up in AI-generated results, making strategic PR investment essential for long-term visibility and trust.

5. Invest in Reputation and Brand Resilience

In an era of constant scrutiny, reputation management is no longer reactive; it’s foundational. Leaders should use data to identify gaps in audience reach, understand where narratives are forming, and proactively build brand credibility before issues arise.

Driving Real Value in the Year Ahead

As communications leaders head into 2026, the mandate is clear: budgets may be growing, but expectations are growing faster. Increased influence and visibility bring an opportunity to redefine how communications proves its value. By tying strategy to business outcomes, remaining flexible, and investing in smarter measurement, leaders can position themselves to guide their organizations through uncertainty.  

At PublicRelay, we help communications teams turn data into actionable insights that demonstrate real impact. Contact us to learn more.

By Alyson Atwell, Director of Marketing, PublicRelay

In our last post, we covered why Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is a long game: AI assistants are answering questions directly, zero-click behavior is surging (nearly 60% of searches now end without a click!), and PR is finally pulling its weight in search rankings.

Now the question is: What do you actually do about it?

The job is no longer just “drive every query to our site.” It’s to map where answers are coming from and ensure your brand shows up in those “source-of-truth” nodes. Here is a practical, comms-led strategy to stop yelling into the void and start becoming the answer.

1. Start with Intent, Not Channels

Before you debate “Press Release vs. Blog,” ask: What questions must we answer, and where are those answers living today?

We generally see two big intent patterns:

• “What is the best…?” queries: These lean on social proof. AI cites reviews, forums, and communities like Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, and G2.
• “What does this company do?” queries: These lean on authority. AI looks for clear corporate sites, “Top Platforms” lists, and high-authority media.

The Play: Don’t just chase the biggest logo. Target the ecosystem the AI trusts for your specific topic. Interestingly, don’t sleep on press releases. Studies show wires and business media frequently appear in AI citations. Treat them as “source-of-truth nodes” rather than just vanity metrics. A boring, well-structured explainer in a trusted mid-tier outlet is often more valuable for GEO than a flashy, hype-heavy interview.

2. Turn Your Content into “Citation Bait”

AI models love structure. They want evidence, not marketing fluff. You need to treat your comms assets—from press releases to executive quotes—as structured evidence.

Format for the Machine:

• Be Answer-First: Lead with a direct 1–3 sentence answer, then follow with context and example.
• Use Q&A Blocks: Literally write “Q: What is [Category]? A: [Definition]” in your releases and product pages. It makes it easy for bots to lift discrete answers.
• Chunk It: Keep sections to 200–300 words with descriptive subheads like “Why this matters for CISOs”. Models don’t read linearly; they scan for specific intents.

Optimize Your Evidence:

• Scope Your Quotes: Avoid generic praise. Use specific structures: “In 2025, [problem] costs [segment] roughly [impact]”.
• Explicit Data: Make sources linkable and clear (“According to [Firm] 2025 report…”) so the AI can verify the stat.

3. Exploit the “Freshness” Gaps

The biggest domains capture a huge share of citations, but they can’t cover everything. This is your opportunity. Models struggle with emerging topics and niche regulatory nuances.

The Play:

• Find the Gap: Use GEO tools or manual testing to see where current AI answers are thin, generic, or outdated.
• Refresh Aggressively: Brands with steady updates outperform sporadic spikes. Review your core “What we do” pages and explainers quarterly.
• Make Freshness Visible: Add “Last updated: [Month Year]” to key assets and pitch “New 2026 data” to show models you are the current authority.

4. Unify Your Team Around an Intent Map

Orchestration is hard because everyone sits in different silos (Web, Comms, Social), but the questions you need to answer and the outcomes are shared across teams.

Instead of assigning responsibility by channel, build a Shared GEO Intent Map:

1. Identify the 20–30 questions that matter most to your revenue or risk (e.g., “Is [Brand] good at [use case]?”)
2. Audit where you stand today: visible, weak, or nonexistent?
3. Assign levers:

• Comms: Secure quotes and data in AI-trusted outlets.
• Content: Write the deep-dive playbooks and “citation bait”
• Web: Handle the schema, FAQs, and site structure
• Social: Seed the answers in Reddit/LinkedIn threads where the AI looks for consensus

You can download our free GEO Intent Map Template here.

5. Quick Wins to Start Now

You can’t capture all the mindshare overnight, but you can start feeding better evidence into the models immediately. Here is your checklist for the next quarter:

• Rewrite Core Pages: Update 2-3 key product pages and your media kit to be “answer-first”.
• Add FAQ Sections: Put Q&A blocks in every new press release and thought leadership piece.
• Run a GEO Campaign: Focus one PR push specifically on outlets that appear in AI citations for your category.
• Start Tracking: Pilot a simple manual review or use a tool to track your visibility on priority questions.

GEO isn’t a new channel; it’s the infrastructure underneath all your channels. By balancing these quick structural wins with a long-term commitment to authority, you ensure that when the world asks about your category, you are the answer.

By Brendon O’Donovan, SVP of Product Solutions and Innovation, PublicRelay