The Challenge
Elevate Media, a 15-person digital marketing agency, faced a peculiar problem: despite excellent client results and strong referrals, they were completely absent from AI recommendations.
When potential clients asked ChatGPT or Claude about "marketing agencies" or "digital marketing services," larger agencies dominated the responses. Elevate Media didn't exist in the AI ecosystem.
Starting Position
When Elevate Media began working with CiteDeck:
- AI Visibility Score: 8/100
- Total AI mentions: 1 (and it was outdated)
- Lead attribution from AI: 0%
The agency had great SEO rankings for specific service pages but zero AI presence.
The 60-Day Strategy
Week 1-2: Audit and Planning
We identified:
- 12 competitor agencies regularly mentioned in AI responses
- 8 common questions where Elevate could add value
- Gaps in their content that AI could reference
Week 3-4: Content Foundation
Elevate Media published:
- Comprehensive service pages with detailed methodology
- 5 detailed case studies with specific metrics
- A resource hub with marketing guides
Week 5-6: Authority Building
The team focused on:
- Guest posts on marketing publications
- Podcast appearances discussing their expertise
- Industry report contributions
Week 7-8: Amplification
Final push included:
- Client testimonial campaign
- Partnership announcements
- Original research publication
Results
After 60 days:
- AI Visibility Score: 8 → 42 (+425%)
- AI Mentions: 1 → 23
- Leads from AI referrals: 0 → 12/month
- Average deal size from AI leads: 40% higher than other channels
Key Success Factors
1. Specificity Over Generality
Rather than competing with large agencies on general terms, Elevate focused on specific niches: "B2B SaaS marketing" and "startup growth marketing."
2. Results-First Content
Every piece of content included specific metrics and outcomes, not just process descriptions.
3. Speed of Execution
The team committed resources to execute the strategy quickly, seeing compounding returns.
Client Quote
Lisa Thompson, Content Manager at Elevate Media:
"The auto-publish feature saved us 20+ hours per week. Schema markup is handled automatically, and everything just works. But more importantly, we're now showing up in AI recommendations. That's opened up a whole new lead channel."
Advice for Other Agencies
Elevate Media's founder shared three lessons:
1. Start now - AI visibility compounds over time
2. Be specific - Niche expertise beats general claims
3. Track everything - You can't improve what you don't measure
