The AI CMO’s Guide to Scaling an AI Business

AI brands are being born into the fastest‑moving market in modern history. New models launch weekly. Big tech changes its roadmap quarterly. Buyers are skeptical, regulators are circling, and AI‑powered answer engines are quietly rewriting how prospects discover, vet, and choose vendors.

For chief marketing officers and growth leaders at AI companies, the playbook can’t just be “do SaaS marketing but louder.” You need:

• A narrative that differentiates your model or platform from hundreds of others.
• Authority signals, media, content, and proof that answer engines and humans both trust.
• A go‑to‑market engine that treats Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), PR, content, and performance media as one system.

This guide takes patterns from Avenue Z’s work with AI, fintech, and technology clients, plus our AEO / AI Visibility research, into a practical roadmap you can put to work immediately.

1. The New Reality for AI CMOs

According to the Pew Research Center, 46% of U.S. adults interact with AI daily. So, you’re selling into an answer‑engine market, which requires new approaches outside of search engine optimization. The three shifts that matter most are:

1. Discovery is moving from links to answers. Buyers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews “Who are the best X for Y?” rather than clicking through pages of search results.
2. Authority is a zero‑sum game. In AI answers, a handful of brands are cited; the rest are invisible. There’s no “page 2.”
3. Noise is at an all‑time high. Every AI startup claims to be “category‑defining,” “agentic,” or “full‑stack.” Reporters and buyers are both exhausted.

Your job as CMO is to build a system that makes it easy for answer engines, media, and decision‑makers to pick you(and hard to ignore you).

2. Nail the Narrative: Positioning Your AI Company to Be Chosen

To ensure your AI company stands out in the crowded market, you need to start with the basics. Do the following to establish your narrative before finding ways to grow.

Define a category you can own

Most AI companies default to “We’re an AI platform for X” or “We’re the Copilot for Y.” That language doesn’t help search engines, answer engines, or humans understand why you matter.

Instead, determine the following:

• What problem do you uniquely solve? For example, “We reduce fraud in real‑time payments,” not “We’re an AI risk platform.”
• What’s the critical moment of value? The one workflow or customer outcome where you’re 10x better.
• Which category do we want to lead, not just participate in? “AI settlement network,” “AI‑driven shopping infrastructure,” “AI identity graph,” etc.

Build a narrative stack

Next, think in layers to cover every part of your narrative. Start with a one-line thesis with a high-level promise like “We Help [audience] with an AI engine built for [constraint].”

Once you have a solid thesis, ask yourself the following to build a stronger brand image:

• Problem (what’s broken)
• Solution (what you do)
• Proof (why you can do it)
• Stakes (what happens if buyers wait)
• Vision (what you’re building toward)

As you’re coming up with these details, vary your message based on the audience. Investors, enterprise buyers, media, and talent are all looking for something different, so craft a unique messaging set for each group.

Your narrative becomes the source of truth for PR, AEO‑optimized content, website copy, and sales. Avenue Z routinely unifies narrative and positioning for AI before launching AEO, PR, and performance programs. That way, the story, entities, keywords, and media angles all reinforce each other across channels.

3. Own Answer Engines: From SEO to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Traditional SEO still matters, but AEO is essential. 37% of consumers now start searches with AI rather than Google, relying on AI-generated responses instead of articles. 

AEO is the discipline of making sure answer engines, LLM‑powered systems, and AI tools can understand, trust, and recommend your brand.

Understand how answer engines “see” your brand

Answer engines pull from:

• Your website and blog
• High‑authority media (TechCrunch, WSJ, niche vertical outlets, etc.)
• Structured data (schema, knowledge graphs, product feeds)
• Third‑party profiles, docs, and reviews

With that information in mind, here are some key questions to ask as an AI CMO:

• If someone asks ChatGPT “Who are the leading companies in [your space]?”, do we appear?
• If we appear, what description and messaging does the model use?
• Which competitors are mentioned more often, and why?

For more insight, you can use an AI / Answer‑Engine Visibility Audit (or AI Share of Voice dashboard) to highlight where and how you’re cited across major AI platforms, along with where gaps exist.

AEO fundamentals for AI companies

Avenue Z’s AEO approach focuses on three main pillars:

1. Strategic content development – Focus on the content that connects your brand to the concepts that answer engines care about, such as problems. To do this, write long-form explainers on your core category and create Q&A style content.
2. Technical answer‑engine optimization – Work on clean, semantic elements like internal linking and schema. Your information should be answer-engine-friendly, using meta logic, data, and files where appropriate for crawling and indexing.
3. Media & citation authority – Achieve high-quality coverage on publications that LLMs trust and use as sources. Appear in the types of websites that AI often cites, such as product recommendation media and customer review platforms. While doing this, keep descriptions of your products consistent and accurate across various sites so AI knows what information to share.

Avenue Z’s AEO program combines answer-engine-optimized content, technical LLM optimization and high-impact media placements so brands show up correctly across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews. 

4. Build an AI‑Savvy Communications Engine

For AI founders, PR is not just coverage; it’s infrastructure for trust and answer‑engine visibility. Here’s how to create that infrastructure.

Design an “Announcement Engine”

Most AI brands have the same high‑stakes milestones:

• Seed / Series rounds
• Major product or model launches
• New regions, partnerships, or regulatory approvals

Instead of treating each as a one‑off, do the following.

1. Pre‑plan your 12 to 18-month announcement roadmap. Align with product, fundraising, and GTM.
2. For each milestone, define your business objective, primary audience, and narrative angle.
3. For every announcement, include founder POV pieces, owned content that explains “why now” in depth, and AEO-ready content that uses the entities and structure answer engines look for.

Thought leadership that earns trust

Buyers and journalists are wary of AI hype. AI CMOs must find effective ways to earn their trust, such as leading with insight instead of features, acknowledging the risks and limitations, and connecting to real-world outcomes. With these approaches, honesty and impact will lead the conversation to gain trust in your audience.

Avenue Z runs PR and content programs for AI and fintech brands that bridge media, answer engines, and revenue. This includes everything from funding announcements to ongoing executive platforms and policy‑adjacent storytelling.

5. Architect the Growth Engine: Performance Media, Content, and Social

Once the narrative and visibility foundations are in place, it’s time to focus on demand.

Map your demand paths (B2B, PLG, or hybrid)

AI businesses usually fall into one or more of these motions:

• Enterprise / B2B sales‑led – Long cycles, multiple stakeholders, heavy content/PR influence.
• Product‑led growth (PLG) – Free tier, sandbox, or usage‑based entry.
• Ecosystem‑driven – Marketplaces, app stores, or platform partnerships.

For each, define:

• Entry points – Where awareness typically starts (press, AEO content, word of mouth, events).
• Activation moments – Trials, demos, workshops, or assessments that correlate with the pipeline.
• Conversion triggers – Proof points that accelerate deals (case studies, reference customers, benchmarks).

Performance media tuned for AI‑era behavior

In channels like search, social, and AI‑native surfaces, your media strategy should:

• Prioritize high‑intent queries and audiences rather than vanity metrics.
• Use performance creative and UGC that explains complex AI value props simply, including “before/after” and workflow visuals.
• Treat AI‑powered optimization on platforms like Meta and Google as an advantage but not a substitute for strategy or differentiation.

Avenue Z’s media practice blends answer‑engine‑informed media buying, performance creative, and commerce integration to turn attention into revenue across search, social, and emerging AI‑native platforms.

6. Metrics That Matter for AI CMOs

In early‑ and growth‑stage AI companies, it’s easy to swim in metrics that don’t move the business. The key metrics to focus on are visibility & authority, pipeline & revenue, and product & narrative fit.

Visibility & authority

• AI / Answer‑Engine Share of Voice – Frequency and quality of your brand’s mentions across AI tools vs. key competitors.
• Search & content performance – Organic, referral, and AI‑driven traffic to strategic landing pages, model and solution hubs, and thought leadership.
• Media & sentiment – Number and quality of placements in authoritative outlets answer engines actually use as sources.

Pipeline & revenue

• Qualified opportunities – Sourced or influenced by PR/thought leadership, AEO/SEO content, and paid media.
• Velocity and win‑rate – By segment, such as industry, company size, and use case.
• Customer acquisition cost and payback period – By motion, including direct, partner, and PLG.

Product & narrative fit

• Message pull‑through – The same 2-3 concepts should show up in sales calls, press coverage, and AI-generated summaries.
• Feature‑led vs. outcome‑led conversations – Track how often buyers cite business outcomes you’ve seeded vs. commodity AI language.

7. Operating Model: How AI CMOs Should Build Their Teams

You can’t do everything in‑house, and you shouldn’t outsource everything either. It’s best to find a balance between what aspects should be handled internally and through partnerships.

Own internally

• Product & customer insight – User research, product roadmaps, customer advisory loops.
• Core narrative & category POV – C‑suite alignment on who you are and where you’re going.
• First‑party data & experimentation – Conversion data, cohort analysis, and creative testing.

Partner strategically

• Answer Engine Optimization & technical search – Keeping pace with AI search and answer‑engine changes, schema, and entity work at scale.
• PR and media for AI – Relationships and instincts across AI, fintech, and tech verticals; understanding what reporters and analysts will actually pick up.
• Performance media & creative – Cross‑channel optimization, AI‑powered targeting, creator and influencer strategy in AI‑native ecosystems.

Avenue Z operates at the intersection of Answer Engine Optimization, PR, SEO, and performance media, specifically for AI, fintech, and technology brands. We plug into your internal team as a strategic growth layer, not just a campaign vendor.

8. A Practical Checklist for AI CMOs

Now that you know all the basics, use this checklist to ensure you cover every aspect when scaling an AI business.

Narrative & positioning

• We can explain our category, problem, and value in one clear sentence.
• We have a narrative stack (thesis + 3–5 planks) agreed on by founders, product, and sales.
• Our website, pitch decks, and media language all tell the same story.

Answer‑engine visibility & search

• We have an AI / Answer‑Engine Visibility / Share of Voice audit across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Overviews.
• We know which competitors are over‑represented in AI answers for our space.
• Our site is structured and marked up for answer‑engine comprehension (schema, entities, internal links, answer‑friendly content).

PR & communications

• We have a 12 to 18-month announcement roadmap (funding, product, expansion, partnerships).
• Our founders and executives have a clear, differentiated point of view on the market.
• We’re present in the right mix of tier‑one and specialist outlets that answer engines treat as sources.

Growth engine

• We’ve mapped our core demand paths (enterprise/PLG/ecosystem) and key activation moments.
• Performance media, content, AEO, and PR share a single set of pipeline and revenue goals.
• We have clear, repeatableoffers (workshops, audits, sandboxes) that turn interest into qualified opportunities.

Measurement & operations

• We track AI / answer‑engine visibility, media authority, and digital performance in one dashboard.
• We review closed‑won deals quarterly to refine our ICP, messaging, and channel mix.
• We have the right balance of in‑house capabilities and specialist partners across AEO, PR, and media.

Where to Go from Here

If you’re an AI CMO or founder, it’s time to control your story while making it easy for answer engines and humans to find and trust you. Tie every initiative back to pipeline and revenue for best success. Use this guide as your blueprint and adapt it to your own category, product, and stage. The AI era rewards first movers who build visibility and influence with intention.

When you’re ready to turn this framework into a concrete roadmap for your brand, Avenue Z is happy to help with AI Optimization, Media Relations, and Strategic Communications for AI and fintech companies.