Building a Digital PR & AEO Program From Zero
Objective:
Build the authority infrastructure for Product.ai from scratch — the systems, content, and distribution to make proprietary commerce data visible to both journalists and AI systems. There was no digital PR program, no data journalism motion, and no measurement for how the brand appeared in AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Key Results:
Vibe coded Story Machine — a proprietary data journalism engine built in Claude Code that automates the pipeline from proprietary dataset → story candidate → media-ready pitch
Built digital PR program from zero to 151 media placements across 92 outlets in 22 states in under 3 months
Earned a Scripps News TV interview syndicated to 46 broadcast stations nationwide
Secured 49 backlinks at avg DA 70.5, including 9 placements at DA 80+ (Mercury News, NewsBreak, Grokipedia)
Secured Fast Company Executive Board paid byline for CEO (6–8 columns in 2026)
Led blog rebrand to journalist-facing PR resource (Shopping, Decoded)
Doubled Bing AI citations from ~20K to 42K+/day; grew AI-cited pages 59%
Key Links:
Scripps News: Retailers Cutting Back on Discount Codes (https://www.scrippsnews.com/dont-waste-your-money/retailers-cutting-back-on-discount-codes-how-shoppers-can-still-save-money)
Promo Code Decline Analysis (https://simplycodes.com/blog/promo-code-decline-analysis)
Top 100 Retailers Promo Codes 2026 (https://simplycodes.com/blog/top-100-retailers-promo-codes-2026)
Product.ai Research Hub (https://product.ai/research/)
GitHub: Product-AI-Protocol (https://github.com/Product-AI-Protocol/axiomatic-intelligence)
B2B Marketers on the Move feature (https://www.toprankmarketing.com/blog/managing-change-b2b-marketing/)
