Orange Marketing
Ask ChatGPT to recommend a HubSpot partner who has command of AEO and standing out in front of LLMs, and its answer won't be built from your website alone. LLMs draw heavily on what others say about you: articles, directories, reviews, and mentions in publications your marketing team may never have considered.
Those third-party signals carry real weight. But here's what a lot of marketers overlook: you 👏 can👏 buy 👏 a lot of these signals. Paid placements in industry publications are a legitimate way to build that presence.
We recently put this to work with a feature in CIO Times. Here's why it belongs in your strategy, where else to look, and how to choose the right opportunity.
Why Paid Placements Belong in Your AEO Strategy
LLMs favor brands that show up in many credible places and with various inbound links. Earned media and organic reach are part of that picture. Paid placements are too.
Paid is simply a mechanism, the same as organic. If there's an industry publication your buyers read and you can pay to appear there, it deserves a spot on your marketing to-do list.
Most paid budgets go almost entirely to Google pay-per-click and LinkedIn ads. Those cover search and social, but they do little to insert your brand in the publications LLMs draw on. Explore everything available in your industry. It's all fair game.
Third Party Validation Gold
Over the past year, we've used a range of inexpensive third-party placements, and each gave our brand another credible place to show up:
- Industry and association publications. So the CIO Times is one example. Look for trade magazines and association publications your buyers read, and ask whether they offer paid features or member spotlights.
- Podcasts. We participated in a number of podcasts this year, including Supered's Fast and Tierious, Unfinished Business, The Growth Machine, and Marketing School with Neil Patel & Eric Siu, among others.
- Third-party webinars. Co-hosting webinars with partners like ZeroBounce, AI Trust Signals, and Red Banyan puts you in front of their audiences.
- Press releases. We aim for one press release a month (or as close to that as we can manage!), covering partner badges, awards, new guides/resources, upcoming webinars, and more!
- Case studies and reviews. These aren't paid, but publishing case studies regularly and asking clients for reviews creates more third-party signals. We aim to publish a few case studies a quarter (even if anonymous) and are diligent about requesting reviews from clients.
- Business validation and awards: Independent recognition shows LLMs, buyers, and answer engines that someone else checked your claims. This year we earned an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, HubSpot's Manufacturing and Software Industry Specialist badges, and a Platinum Pinnacle Award for AI-powered marketing innovation. These are all things we opted in for.
None of these cost much time and money. Together, they put Orange Marketing in far more places than search and social ads alone.
How to Choose the Right Placement
Once you appear in one publication, expect more offers. We now hear from other paid "magazine" opportunities daily, and not all of them are worth it. Here's the checklist we used to choose CIO Times:
- A substantial story you write. We wrote our CIO Times article, so it said exactly what we wanted it to say.
- Art you control. The visuals were ours, which is why the images selected are eye-catching.
- Social media links. The placement should come with social promotion, not just a page buried on a website.
- A recognizable brand name. The publication should mean something to the audience you want to reach.
- A reasonable price. More on that below.
If an offer doesn't meet most of these criteria, pass.
What We Saw
As Rebecca noted in a post, the CIO Times’ LinkedIn post about the Orange Marketing feature earned 71 likes, 12 comments, and 3 reposts. The feature also brought a steady stream of congratulations from clients and longtime colleagues.
The cost was extremely reasonable, but also, do not neglect trying to negotiate pricing. We're not publishing the exact number for the CIO Times, but if you're curious, message Rebecca on LinkedIn and she'll share it.
What's Next for AI Visibility
Paid placements are one part of a strong AEO strategy. The tools for building and measuring AI visibility are changing quickly, including inside HubSpot.
AI took center stage at HubSpot's UNBOUND 2026. To see what was announced and what it means for your marketing and sales teams, watch our session recap.
