Outsourcing comms in the age of AI.
For many small and medium businesses, a communications strategy is anything but strategic. Rather, it’s something that happens reactively: a press release when there’s big news, a social post when someone remembers, and perhaps an all-out scramble when something goes wrong.
We get it. For many SMEs, marketing teams are stretched across multiple priorities, and senior leadership is caught juggling media enquiries alongside every other business demand. The strategic stuff – the good oil when it comes to building brand reputation – quietly gets pushed to the bottom of the list.
The “when we get around to it” approach has a cost
The problem is that reputation doesn’t wait, and in this new era of AI search, reputation matters more than ever. When someone wants to know about your company, there’s a good chance they will skip Google and go directly to ChatGPT or Perplexity, or use Google’s AI overview, which pulls out a summary before they ever click on a single link. A 2025 report by McKinsey & Company estimated that more than 50 percent of global consumers are now using AI-powered search.
What they find about your business will be shaped almost entirely by what already exists online about you: from your website, third party articles and media coverage. The global public relations and media intelligence platform, Muck Rack, recently took a deep dive into the sources most commonly cited in results from three of the world’s most popular generative AI systems (ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini). The resulting report revealed that almost 99 percent of links cited in search results came from non-paid media. Journalistic sources and corporate blogs and content accounted for 51 percent, whereas paid and advertorial content made up just 1.4 percent.
Your reputation feeds the machine, but if you are not actively building that reputation via a strategic communications plan, the machine has very little to work with. This is the context in which every SME should be thinking about communications in 2026. And it’s where outsourcing to an external communications & PR partner can make all the difference.
What outsourcing actually gives you
An external communications partner brings specialist expertise that’s difficult and time-consuming to build internally: media relationships, strategic instinct, crisis experience, and a deep understanding of how to build your reputation over time.
Not all agencies, freelancers and fractional leaders operate in the same way. Some focus on media relations or specialise in social media, while others provide broader strategic communications support but may not handle implementation. For most SMEs, the best partner is one that acts as a genuine extension of your team, understands your kaupapa and business goals, then executes a communications plan that fits.
What to look for
Industry experience is useful, but curiosity, adaptability, strategic thinking and the ability to gently challenge your assumptions are more valuable. The right partner will measure success as it relates to your business objectives and will feel like an extension of your team rather than just another supplier.
The reputation you build today is the one that protects you tomorrow
AI search has made one thing very clear: credibility compounds.
Businesses with a consistent, well-earned presence in media and online conversation are more likely to show up in AI-generated answers, get the benefit of the doubt in a crisis, and attract the right attention when it counts. Earned media coverage has always mattered, but in 2026 it has become a trust signal for the tools your customers and stakeholders are already using to research you.
Building that presence takes time, which means the best moment to start was a year ago, and the second-best moment is now. If you’re wondering whether outsourcing your communications makes sense for your business, we’d love to have that conversation.