- Owner
- Owner or marketing lead
- Cadence
- Monthly outreach block
- Time box
- Four hours a month
- Output
- Target list and outreach log
Why outside mentions move answers
A business's own pages say what it does. A mention on a site it does not own says someone else agrees. Assistants weigh third-party mentions in local press, guides, directories and associations as outside confirmation, and when they name two or three businesses for a question, those are usually the businesses that appear in the sources they trust for that place. Bay Area AEO's citations service covers this: mentions in local press, guides and directories AI trusts.
The Bay Area has a dense layer of these sources. On its San Francisco page, Bay Area AEO notes that customers ask detailed, neighborhood-specific questions and the assistant names two or three businesses, and that businesses earn those spots partly through coverage in the local guides and publications AI cites.
Find the sources assistants already cite
Do not start from a list of famous outlets. Start from the audit. The capture sheet records every source each assistant cited for the panel questions. Sort it by how often each source appears. For a restaurant in Oakland the list might be dominated by food roundups and neighborhood guides; for a contractor in Santa Rosa, by local news coverage of rebuilding and by trade association directories. That sorted list is the target list.
| Source | Times cited in the audit | Who writes it | Angle that fits | Owner | Next step and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Angles that earn local coverage
Local editors cover things that are new, useful or particular to their area. A pitch works when it gives them one of those. A tasting room adding a dog-friendly patio is useful to a wine-country guide. A Fremont dentist whose staff speaks Hindi is useful to a community roundup. A Berkeley architect who designs ADUs under the city's rules is useful to a home section. Each angle is a fact the business can prove, which matters because the mention will be read by assistants as a fact about the business.
Associations and community organizations count too. Chamber of commerce member directories, neighborhood merchant associations, trade groups and regional tourism boards all publish lists that assistants read. The agency's winery page names regional tourism boards, wine guides and travel writers as top AI sources for wine country.
Procedure
- Build the list from the audit
Sort cited sources by frequency and keep the top ten that cover the business's city and category.
- Find the writer
For each source, find who writes the relevant list or section and how they take suggestions.
- Match an angle
Write one line per source: the fact about the business that fits what that source covers.
- Pitch briefly
Send a short note with the fact, a photo and a contact. One follow-up after a week.
- Join the associations
Make sure the business is listed in the chamber and merchant association directories for its city, with fact-sheet details.
- Log and check
Record every pitch and every published mention. Check each mention for the correct name, city and link.
Done when
How long mentions take
Outside mentions are part of the slower group in Bay Area AEO's timeline: content, reviews and third-party mentions build over two to four months. Keep the outreach block on the calendar every month and judge it at the quarter, when the re-test shows whether new sources are being cited.
Checking a mention once it runs
A mention helps only if an assistant can connect it to the right business. Read each published mention and check four things: the business name matches the fact sheet; the city or neighborhood is right; any phone, hours or address details match; and the link, if there is one, goes to the canonical site. Ask the writer for a correction promptly if something is off; editors usually fix factual details quickly.
Sources differ by city
The sources that matter change across the region. Peninsula and South Bay questions often surface city guides and community news alongside the big regional outlets. North Bay questions about visiting surface tourism boards and travel writers, while North Bay questions about home services surface local news and trade associations. San Francisco questions surface neighborhood-level guides. That is why the target list is rebuilt from the audit for each city slice and not copied from the last one.
Events, sponsorships and podcasts
Community events and local sponsorships produce listings on event pages and organizer sites, which are mentions too. Local podcasts and newsletters that interview business owners publish show notes that assistants can read. Add each of these to the target list with the same columns.
Paid placements
Some lists sell spots. Treat a paid listing like any directory entry: it is fine if it is clearly labeled and the facts are right, and it goes in the register with its cost. The mentions that carry the most weight with assistants are the ones an editor chose to write, which is why the procedure spends its time on angles and writers. Log every paid placement separately so the quarterly review can see what was earned and what was bought.