With AI shaking up the digital landscape, using media to grow your client list requires a new strategy
By Danielle Blustein Hass Lawyers have long managed their digital footprint to market their practices. But as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more pervasive, they need to start rethinking their approach. In part, that’s because search results from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, and other AI tools don’t rely on traditional search engine algorithms alone. To be sure, AI’s emergence doesn’t mean traditional search is going away any time soon. It still matters. But now, so does making it into sources that AI systems draw from and are trained on. Lawyers who don’t appreciate and lean into this change risk becoming less visible to potential clients.
Scoring points with AI
When a chatbot answers a query—about, say, a definition of a complex legal term or rankings of the best trial lawyers—it draws from a variety of sources on the internet. That’s why an attorney’s media footprint matters more than ever. To capitalize on these changes, it can be helpful to think of each internet appearance as a potential “point” for AI. For every quote you give, award you win, and blog post you write, you can add to your credibility in the AI ecosystem. Strong, credible mentions increase the chances AI will reference you in its responses. Advancing the metaphor, these “points” fluctuate in value based on the user’s prompt and with each update to the chatbot. Not all news sites are weighted equally by AI. Depending on a searcher’s question, it may pull from a niche trade publication with less circulation than a large national news source. A healthcare lawyer who regularly publishes in more niche outlets like Fierce Healthcare may surface more prominently in AI answers around technical subjects than the same attorney with a single quote in a national newspaper. This doesn’t mean your media relations strategies should only prize depth over breadth. It should contain both. There is value in appearances in well-regarded outlets as well as getting quoted in specialized, high-authority outlets that potential clients and AI alike treat as authoritative.Profile maintenance more important than ever
In this new era of the internet, credibility is a currency. To capitalize, it’s crucial to make sure your website profile accurately reflects your practice and highlights your strengths. In addition to your experience, your bio should include your latest awards, speaking engagements, accolades, quotes in the media, client testimonials, big cases or deals, and other highlights. An accurate firm bio gives AI more important data “points” to consider when it summarizes your accomplishments and expertise. It also helps counter potentially misleading information about your practice; a March 2025 study by Columbia Journalism Review shows AI “provided incorrect answers to more than 60% of queries around news content.”Original, authentic, and consistent on social media
Social media is another area to collect “points” with AI. Media mentions can be amplified across these channels, ensuring that credibility is both earned externally and reinforced internally. To be effective and maximize AI “points,” your social media presence must be original, authentic, and consistent.- Original: Social media is being overrun with AI-generated posts. According to a November 2024 report conducted by AI detection startup Originality AI, 54% of LinkedIn posts over 100 words are AI-generated. If your post sounds like all the others out there, how will it cut through the noise? It likely won’t help you with AI systems, which can indirectly pick up engagement signals.
- Authentic: Your online persona must be true to yourself, including everything from your tone and word choice to accurately representing your practice group and legal abilities.
- Consistent: It’s a cardinal rule: to gain traction on social media, it’s imperative to post regularly. Showing up repeatedly and topically in online conversations about your field is how you become the go-to voice for future news. Writing about topics outside your practice area can generate buzz on a platform, as well as display a more personal side, but it won’t give you the same boost for AI or online authority on a subject matter.
Personalized media plan
The value calculation for if and what type of media to engage with is dynamic and continually evolving—and requires ongoing maintenance. Start with these steps:- Spend some time playing with different chatbots. Notice how AI responds to queries about yourself, your firm, your peers and competitors. Note the sites that AI is quoting in its responses.
- Look at your online footprint. Are your social media and firm profiles up to date with accurate information about your practice? Are you connected to the full breadth of your network on professional networking sites? Where is relevant conversation happening online, and are you consistently engaging with or leading that dialogue?
- Determine where your clients and potential clients spend their time. What are they reading, listening to, or looking at?
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