Aug 19, 2026 · 9 min · 7 segments
Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media, talks to Gerard LaFond, Managing Director of North America at The Hoffman Agency, about what it takes for tech brands to get noticed by…
Gerard LaFondGuestDoug SimonHost
I'm going to answer that question by mentioning one thing that hasn't changed, and that is strong referrals.
People sharing word of mouth is still a part of this equation, but the big thing that's changing today is people are using AI to discover resources, vendors, products, and opportunities.
And obviously one of my top areas is earned media and earned media seems to have the pendulum swing back to the power, holding the power.
So like years ago, when we were first talking about search engine optimization and the correlation between earned media, owned media and you know, the copy on your website, the blog that you created.
We're also having similar conversations today on how your content and your story is finding itself in these large language models.
And that obviously plays into discoverability because people are going there to find out answers.
And there's been a tremendous increase in the percentage of searches, if you will, that are being done through the large language models.
And it also has a growing role in business to business where a number of the tech companies play these days.
And, you know, oftentimes when people reach out to us asking about our services, I ask them, how did you hear about us? And I will tell you, over the last six to 12 months, over half of the people I've asked that question have told me, I went to AI.
I used ChatGPT or I went to Claude and I asked it, give me the top 10 tech PR agencies in Silicon Valley or in the United States or in Asia.
And back to your earlier point, Doug, it's often earned media that is informing these large language models.
I'm going to answer that question by mentioning one thing that hasn't changed, and that is strong referrals.
People sharing word of mouth is still a part of this equation, but the big thing that's changing today is people are using AI to discover resources, vendors, products, and opportunities.
And obviously one of my top areas is earned media and earned media seems to have the pendulum swing back to the power, holding the power.
So like years ago, when we were first talking about search engine optimization and the correlation between earned media, owned media and you know, the copy on your website, the blog that you created.
We're also having similar conversations today on how your content and your story is finding itself in these large language models.
And that obviously plays into discoverability because people are going there to find out answers.
And there's been a tremendous increase in the percentage of searches, if you will, that are being done through the large language models.
And it also has a growing role in business to business where a number of the tech companies play these days.
And, you know, oftentimes when people reach out to us asking about our services, I ask them, how did you hear about us? And I will tell you, over the last six to 12 months, over half of the people I've asked that question have told me, I went to AI.
I used ChatGPT or I went to Claude and I asked it, give me the top 10 tech PR agencies in Silicon Valley or in the United States or in Asia.
And back to your earlier point, Doug, it's often earned media that is informing these large language models.
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