What ChatGPT Reveals About Your Brand & Why It Matters
▼ Summary
– ChatGPT gained 100 million users within two months of its November 2022 launch and now handles over 2 billion daily queries from more than 190 million users.
– It has evolved from a chat interface into a trusted assistant and search engine, with 77% of users leveraging it for search and 30% trusting it over other search engines.
– Brands risk losing narrative control to ChatGPT, as it pulls from web content and can propagate misinformation or negative coverage if their digital footprint is weak.
– To maintain visibility, brands must optimize owned assets, invest in credible third-party sources, and implement proactive AI-inclusive reputation management.
– The growth of ChatGPT forces marketers to adopt new strategies for AI platforms, as brands need influence in AI to build trust and authority online.
The rapid ascent of ChatGPT has fundamentally altered how consumers interact with information, making it essential for brands to understand and adapt to this new reality. Since its launch in late 2022, the conversational AI platform has attracted an astonishing 190 million daily users, handling over two billion queries. With more than twenty updates expanding its functionality, ChatGPT now generates everything from written content and computer code to images and video, moving far beyond its original purpose as a simple chat interface.
Today, it serves as a primary research tool for individuals comparing products, evaluating services, and making purchasing decisions. This dramatic shift in user behavior signals that conventional marketing and visibility strategies are no longer sufficient. To remain relevant, companies must evolve their approach to engage audiences who increasingly rely on AI for discovery.
ChatGPT’s expanding influence in search is undeniable. Over the past few years, it has transformed from a productivity aid into a trusted daily assistant. Recent studies indicate that 77% of users treat it as a search engine, and nearly a third trust its responses more than those from established search providers like Google. This means ChatGPT significantly shapes the narratives that consumers, employees, and investors encounter about companies. Brands failing to incorporate AI platforms into their marketing strategy risk having their story defined by these tools rather than guiding it themselves.
A major challenge lies in narrative control. Because ChatGPT draws from live web content, organizations with a minimal or poorly managed digital presence are often excluded from influencing its answers. When brands do not actively manage their narrative, the void may be filled by competitors, negative press, outdated information, or misleading reviews. This leaves companies vulnerable to misrepresentation and potential crises. Executive reputation is equally at stake, as leaders’ names frequently appear alongside brand-related queries. Without a resilient and positively optimized digital footprint for both the brand and its leadership, consumer trust and market value can quickly erode.
Developing a winning strategy requires a proactive and structured approach. Research conducted over several years shows that brands can exert greater influence over their ChatGPT visibility by first optimizing their owned digital assets. This includes corporate websites, social media channels, thought leadership publications, and executive profiles. Another vital component involves cultivating authoritative third-party sources that ChatGPT values. To maintain preferred visibility, all content related to the brand and its leaders must be accurate, consistent across platforms, and structured for AI discoverability.
Ongoing monitoring is non-negotiable. Proactive, AI-inclusive reputation management allows brands to detect and counteract misinformation whether it concerns the company or its executives. Continuous risk monitoring within AI environments, combined with regular content optimization, helps minimize emerging threats and strengthens narrative control.
Looking ahead, the continued expansion of ChatGPT into 2026 and beyond will reshape digital marketing and search as we know them. Upcoming updates and the emergence of agentic AI will further embed these tools into daily life. This new paradigm, where audiences use AI for brand research, compels marketers to adopt innovative tactics to connect with consumers directly within AI platforms. As adoption rates climb, establishing a presence in these environments is crucial for influencing audience perception, sentiment, and overall reputation.
While maintaining visibility in traditional search and other channels remains important, a lack of control and influence within AI will make it progressively harder for brands to build and sustain trust and authority online. In this new era, the organizations that actively defend, monitor, and optimize their brand and executive visibility will be the ones that endure. The alternative is surrendering their narrative to AI platforms, external content, and critics.
(Source: MarTech)
