Gartner predicted two years ago that traditional search engine volume would fall 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots – and virtual agents – took over more of the asking.
That prediction has proved prescient, as the clicks today are indeed… thinning out.
Pew Research in fact, reported that when Google serves up an AI summary, audiences click through to a website only about half as often. More frequently, AI agents are accomplishing much of that search – comparing and shortlisting – before a human ever lands on a homepage.
Fewer clicks have made PR more important. Getting found, after all, is not the same as being understood.
Even the machines favor a good story.
Fewer Clicks… More Credibility
Think about how an architect, builder or dealer researches a product or solution. More frequently, the first answer doesn’t come from a list of blue links. It is instead, arriving from an AI assistant… that has already ranked which brands are worth mentioning.
So how does it decide?
Much like the rest of us, digital platforms look for credible voices. Which might be a trade editor’s coverage. Or an installer’s review from the jobsite… delivered as clear, well-organized content.
One recent analysis of AI-generated answers found that earned media – the claims others publish about a brand – made up 84% of the citations. Yes, what credible sources say about a building product solution… carries far more weight than what a manufacturer says about itself.
A brand can’t declare itself the category leader. And expect a machine to believe it.
Authority must be earned – then repeated and confirmed – by others.
That’s PR. It always has been.
But visibility is only the first step. An AI answer can mention a brand and still miss what makes it different. Showing up is certainly important. Being described accurately – in a way that makes a designer or architect want to specify a solution – is another.
Claims Only Work When The Message Holds
Marketing breaks down quickly when the message changes from channel to channel. Consider when a website promises “premium”… while sales literature leans on “value.”
A human buyer may forgive that. Machines just get confused. Leaving out the answer entirely.
There’s a lot of talk about optimization these days… from schema and structured data to AI share of voice and GEO alongside SEO. All of it has a place.
Yet, editors don’t cover a brand because its meta-data is clean.
And contractors don’t remember a product, only when a keyword shows up on a landing page.
Audiences remember stories. And the narratives people repeat, are the ones AI engines keep favoring.
Recent research found 87% of consumers believe brands leverage at least some AI-generated content… yet only 13% feel very confident they can tell the difference. When everyone assumes the content is machine-made, authentic user-case stories rank near the top of what constitutes trust.
Authenticity is no longer an advantage. It’s the price of admission.
Start From The Jobsite
Picture a manufacturer launching a new outdoor living solution. The traditional sales and marketing alignment path is to lead the messaging… with spec sheets, ratings and warranties.
All those matters. But none of it is a story.
The better path starts inside the deck builder’s world. It’s the phone call they’re navigating, three years after the installation. When a homeowner’s boards have faded and the contractor’s reputation is on the line. While thin margins continue to disappear on every callback.
Open there, and the product stops being the headline.
It becomes the answer.
That builder is the best storyteller a brand has. Creating a short video – of a crew walking through an install – carries more weight than what the manufacturer says about itself. And so does a dealer explaining why the line continues to earn its shelf space.
Those voices are hard to fake. And easy to trust.
They’re exactly the kind of proof that both – buyers and machines – go looking for.
Keep Narrative And Spec In Separate Lanes
There’s another discipline… and it’s where many building product brands get tangled.
Both brand narrative and technical truth matter. But blending them weakens each.
The story belongs in its own lane, where it can carry emotion and purpose.
While performance data, test results, code approvals and warranty details are better suited in another lane. Keeping those clean and factual… and avoiding marketing adjectives sneaking into that language.
An architect reading a spec sheet doesn’t want to be sold. Neither does a code official. And an AI engine seeking to answer a technical question will trust the source that keeps its facts straight.
Separate the two… and each one does its job better. When narrative and evidence reinforce each other, the entire brand story becomes more credible.
Strategy Before Volume
AI has made it easier than ever to publish more. But volume without strategy, just adds noise.
And that friction is exactly what AI engines are built to filter out.
The building product brands that will “own” the answers in 2027… will be the ones with a well-formed brand strategy for PR. That means a clear story – and a short set of messaging – repeated with discipline.
It means credible third parties who will carry those messages further in product integration programs. And it means paid, earned, shared and owned content… working as one plan.
Instead of four separate sets of responsibilities.
This is exactly where storytelling becomes commercialization. The goal has never been simply to be found. It’s to be understood, trusted, specified and chosen. A story that “does that work” moves an innovation – from a press release – to a purchase order.
It takes highly relevant human judgment from experience, who know the channel influencers and editors. Who understands how an architect evaluates a product. And who can narrate the story that a dealer will repeat…
From one they’ll ignore.
That’s why for four decades, building products has been the exclusive industry our K&A team serves.
One Last Thought
Gartner’s prediction and the resulting direction is clear.
Fewer people will click. More of them will ask.
When they do, the answer will be built from the claims being made about your brand – by your customers – and by the voices audiences trust.
Being found is only the beginning of the story.
The branded solutions that win will give both people and machines… a clear, credible reason to choose them.
Here’s a question worth asking: If an architect, builder or dealer asked AI why they should pick your brand over a competitor… would you be confident in the answer?
As your team’s planning process is rethinking how its story shows up at Deck Expo and IBS/KBIS next year in an increasingly AI-driven world, let’s review best-practice and process. Email me at sk@kleberandassociates.com to compare notes together.
