PR vs. Marketing: Who is Winning the Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) Race?
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Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is shifting from a futuristic concept to an everyday operational reality as buyers increasingly ask LLMs and AI bots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude for recommendations before ever touching a website. Establishing brand visibility within AI responses has become essential.
A global study by Collectivist surveyed 100 in-house leaders to reveal how organisations are adapting to AI-driven discovery. While 85% of respondents consider LLM visibility important or very important to their 12-month strategy, the data reveals a stark divide in execution: PR professionals are outpacing traditional marketing teams in taking high-value tactical action.
Key Industry Takeaways
- Universal Strategic Priority: 66% of surveyed leaders view LLM visibility as “very important” over the next 12 months, with an additional 19% rating it “important”. Only 1% call it “not important”.
- The Operational Divide: PR teams lead marketing when it comes to high-value GEO execution. 66.7% of PR professionals target LLM citation/source opportunities compared to just 41.9% of marketing teams—a massive 24.8% execution gap.
- Planning vs. Measurement Gap: While 83% of organizations factor LLMs into strategic planning, only 48% currently measure performance or impact.
- The United States Leads Execution: 100% of US respondents factor LLMs into strategic planning, with 87.5% actively creating adapted content and 75.0% tracking brand inclusion.
PR & Comms vs. Marketing: Tactical Comparison
While marketing departments frequently approach LLMs through a traditional content-creation lens, PR professionals view LLMs as authoritative media opportunities. Because AI models rely heavily on third-party trust, earned media, and domain authority to verify facts, PR’s focus on credible citations aligns naturally with how LLMs source answers.
| Metric / Activity | PR & Comms | Marketing | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Strategic Importance | 90.0% [1] | 74.2% [1] | +15.8% (PR Higher) |
| Advanced / Embedded Strategy | 21.7% [1] | 9.7% [1] | +12.0% (PR Higher) |
| Actively Executing Activity | 26.7% [1] | 35.5% [1] | +8.8% (Marketing Higher) |
| Factoring LLMs into Planning | 83.3% [1] | 77.4% [1] | +5.9% (PR Higher) |
| Creating / Adapting Content | 73.3% [1] | 74.2% [1] | Equal |
| Studying Citation Opportunities | 66.7% [1] | 41.9% [1] | +24.8% (PR Higher) |
| Tracking Brand Inclusion | 60.0% [1] | 45.2% [1] | +14.8% (PR Higher) |
| Measuring Performance & Impact | 48.3% [1] | 45.2% [1] | +3.1% (PR Higher) |
Regional Breakdown: Maturity Around the World
- United States: Highest maturity globally. Respondents from the US lead every measured execution metric, including 75.0% tracking brand inclusion and 62.5% measuring impact,
- United Kingdom: Strong strategic awareness with 95.2% factoring LLMs into planning, but shows a source management gap with only 42.9% targeting citation opportunities.
- Asia-Pacific: Driven heavily by India, APAC shows proactive execution—outpacing Europe in ROI measurement (53.8%).
- Continental Europe: A fragmented landscape. Germany excels in targeting digital citations (83.3%), while Spain leads in content adaptation (100%) but lags in formal tracking.
Actionable Steps for Leadership
- Unify PR and Marketing Workflows: Combine marketing’s technical search and analytics toolsets with PR’s authority-building and media relations strengths.
- Prioritise Earned Media Citations: AI models favour authoritative, third-party publications to verify information. Securing credible earned endorsement remains the single strongest lever for LLM inclusion.
- Standardise Metrics: Move past initial planning and establish tracking for prompt share of voice, brand recommendation rates, and citation frequencies across key AI platforms.
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