Struggling to Explain LLM Marketing to Your Directors?
Here is the plain English case and quick wins you need to explain LLM marketing to your C-suite and get their buy-in today.
Why it matters and why the board needs to hear it.
Google switched on AI Mode for every Search user in the United States on 20 May 2025. At the same time, its AI Overviews feature, those ready-made answers that sit above the blue links, has jumped to 200 + countries and 40 + languages. (source:searchengineland.com)
The numbers using these AI-style answers look small today, but adoption curves for search tech are rarely flat for long. Think voice search: almost nobody used it in 2013, yet by 2018 you couldn’t escape “Hey Google” in a TV advert.
Your directors don’t need a crystal ball, just the reminder that early movers grab share and set the rules.
How large-language-model (LLM) search works (put simply)
Think of an LLM as a voracious reader: it scans and devours billions of public web pages, digital books and forums, then writes its best summary when someone asks a question (or gives it a prompt).
Unlike classic SEO, where links pointed to you, LLM answers look to understand the context of the question and look for the data. Its also suggested that they weigh brand mentions heavily. Independent studies show brand mentions correlate far more strongly with appearing in AI answers than traditional link metrics. (Sources: iprospect.com searchengineland.com)
Every time a reputable site talks about you - podcasts, reviews, trade press - you plant a seed the LLM can pick up later.
Translate the opportunity into boardroom language
Competitive edge – A six-month jump on rivals in AI search can compound for years.
Brand reputation – LLMs love brand mentions. Research suggests that the more independent sites talk positively about you, the more frequently AI answers will reference you.
Commercial upside – If even 5% of product discovery journeys now start inside an AI answer, that’s real revenue at stake next quarter, not some distant project to consider down the line.
Content: quality over quantity (and why that matters even more now)
If you ask it to, AI will pump out blog posts at the click of a button. But this shouldn’t be your strategy, and your board doesn’t want a content landfill or strategy that focuses on the high-volume game.
Instead, try this:
Authority pieces – original data, storytelling with that data, case studies, or expert commentary from your knowledgeable experts.
Third-party coverage – guest articles, podcast spots, trade-press quotes. Get others talking about in, mentioning your brand.
Evergreen refreshes – keep signature guides and content pieces up to date so LLMs see them as the definitive answer.
If a real human wouldn’t find it interesting, neither will an LLM. Don’t try and flog bad content.
Language: ditch the jargon, speak like the customer
LLMs are about natural language, real people asking real questions. Sit in any Board or SteerCo meeting and there will be an entire host of industry jargon or terminology that is used for the brand language, or buzzwords to attract a demographic in a marketing campaign.
This won’t work with LLMs - your "war room" might mean the place you make tough decisions, but to an LLM that's military slang and will have an entirely separate context. Don’t confuse the model (or the reader) and swap these buzzwords for plain phrases your customers would actually type or say aloud.
Technical essentials (no computer-science degree required)
Your easy wins to getting ready for LLM and how to position this with the C-suite.
Are you blocking AI crawlers? Only for genuine IP, data concerns or compliance reasons. Otherwise, let them in and show what numbers you can achieve in reach.
Multimodal search is already here
Shoppers photograph a product, ask their smart speaker for stockists, or paste a screenshot into Gemini. That means images, video captions and local inventory all need the same polish as your text pages.
“We’ve continued to push the boundaries of visual search with Google Lens, which more than 1.5 billion people are using to search what they see every month. Now, we’re taking the next step in multimodality by bringing Project Astra’s live capabilities into Search. With Search Live, you can talk back-and-forth with Search about what you see in real-time, using your camera.” - Google.
A one-page action plan you can hand to your boss
Audit index status and crawl permissions this week.
Prioritise a flagship content piece that deserves third-party coverage.
Pitch at least one industry podcast or trade journal per month.
Implement Product & Organisation schema on core pages.
Review brand language, replace buzzwords with buyer language.
Audit your key images, video and content pieces for Alt and descriptive meta content.
Nail those and you’ll walk into the next board meeting with clear answers and a roadmap that keeps your brand front and centre in AI search.
