Several agencies have released AI tools for PR, particularly around AI search. I trialled one that goes beyond purely AI visibility to get a sense of where these tools are early in the AI/PR and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) era.
Background and disclosure
I’ve been covering AI in PR since 2018, when I wrote a piece for London’s City AM on the rise and potential use of AI in public relations. This was four years before large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT hit the market, changing the game entirely and introducing AI as a highly sophisticated and specific search tool.
I’ve been training on AI in PR since 2024, and it’s been really interesting to see several agencies launch their own AI for PR solutions in the last couple of years.
One of those is Agentcy from communications consultancy Resonance. I was introduced to Agentcy by Claire Williamson, Resonance’s CEO and a former colleague of mine. I initially had a free demo trial and then paid for a month to try it for myself.
Here’s what I thought.
About Agentcy
While my priority for this test run was AI search, I found that Agentcy is a fairly comprehensive PR platform. When you log in, you’re met with a home page that delivers news customised to your interests, based on your settings. In my case, that was B2B tech news.
The home page contains windows for four main sections – Monitor, Create, Media, Reports – which all have their own dedicated buttons on the left-hand menu, plus another option, Plan.
In detail, they include:
Monitor: Containing your customised news briefing, coverage reports, proposed newsjacking opportunities and social listening
Create: This space enables users to create press releases, blog posts, op-eds, newsjacks, and proactive pitches to media.
Media: This contains a journalist CRM (Customer Relationship Management), including an extensive suggested media list based on what the tool knows about you.
Reports: Contains AI visibility, competitor insights, and report-creating options.
Plan: Enables users to log notes, meetings and interviews
AI Visibility
The priority for me was testing the AI Visibility tool. I want to improve the AI visibility of this website, EightMoon.co.uk, as it’s my bread and butter. To get started, you need to set your target personas (e.g. chief marketing officers), your detailed prompts, and which stage of the decision-making process (e.g. awareness, consideration, or decision) your target personas are at. Obviously, prompts are unique to users and are way more lengthy and specific than basic terms used on search engines, so you have to speculate somewhat with your prompts or, in my case, I got some further ideas via Claude.
Agentcy’s AI Visibility function is fairly comprehensive, with access to Trends, Analysis, Accuracy, Citations, Brands, Deep Dive, Prompts, Personas, Insights and Content. What I like is that you can explore branded and non-branded searches.
The results can be really quite surprising. As a freelance B2B tech copywriter and content strategist, I majored my prompt queries around the B2B tech copywriting space for three of my specialist fields: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cybersecurity, and FinTech. Agentcy surfaced my competitors and revealed where I enjoyed visibility and where I was nowhere to be seen.
Most usefully, Agentcy recommended remedial activities that I could take to be more competitive. Some of which I have already implemented. It’s too soon to see if they have made an impact.
I will combine Agentcy’s AI Visibility findings with my Google Search Console and GA4 data, where a new ‘AI Assistant’ stream has been added in recent weeks, which is handy, although I am still seeing LLM traffic recorded under ‘Referral’.
Verdict
Personally, I was only interested in the AI search capability of Agentcy, which I did find very useful but would need some assistance from the team there to set up properly once I start running AI visibility projects for clients. There is a comprehensive guide on how to get set up, and once you are, you are away. Plus, Agentcy are very hands-on with help if you need anything.
Of course, you get what you pay for, so it depends on what you want from such a system. I can see agencies finding a use for the tool, with perhaps some overlap with others (e.g. HubSpot on the CRM front). The AI Visibility function was incredibly useful.
On the newsjacking front, I expect many agencies already have daily newsjacking alerts set up already in their LLMs, but it’s handy to have all activity in one place.
Disclosure: I used an initial free trial, then a paid-for version. I have never worked for/with Resonance or Agentcy. This post is 100% human-created with spellchecking conducted in Grammarly.
