across 200 buyer prompts
41 branded, 130 non-branded
across 126 buyer prompts
The Business
The client runs managed technical support teams for managed service providers (MSPs) and technology companies. Each team works under the MSP’s brand and can cover helpdesk, Tier 2 engineering, NOC monitoring and security analysis. Recruiting, training, day-to-day management and accountability for performance all stay with the client. Teams arrive trained on the MSP’s PSA and RMM tools and go live on a set onboarding timeline.
For an MSP with open technician roles, a staffing vendor fills the seat, but the MSP still handles onboarding, quality, scheduling and turnover. With the client, the MSP keeps the relationship with its own customers, and the client takes on the operating work that keeps support delivery stable.
The Objective
The AI visibility optimization pilot set out to make the client a source that AI engines cite when MSPs ask how to scale technical support without local hiring.
- Focus on buyer questions about the technician shortage, managed teams and staffing vendors, compliance and provider selection across different stages of the buying process
- Publish one Anchor Article on the client’s domain to build its authority on managed support services for MSPs
- Publish one AI Notice on the wire to carry the same managed-team case into third-party sources
- Track the client’s AI visibility on five AI engines, with a fixed set of buyer prompts for each asset
- Measure share of voice and prompt coverage against competing MSP support brands
Core Challenges
Competing With MSP Support Providers and Software Platforms in AI Answers
During the pilot, AI answers about MSP staffing named other outsourced support providers and the software platforms that MSPs run on. Apart from the client’s own website, the engines cited social media platforms and community forums most.
MSP Leaders Ask AI How to Cover Open Technician Roles
An MSP owner with open technician roles asks specific questions: can one managed team cover helpdesk, NOC and Tier 2 work, and how is a managed partner different from a staffing vendor?
The Strategy
Prompt Selection Around the Buying Moment
The buyer prompts were written as MSP owners, CISOs and procurement managers would ask them. Some asked what a term means, such as the difference between a managed team and a staffing vendor. Others asked which providers can cover helpdesk, NOC and security roles. The set ran from the first sign of a staffing gap to a shortlist of partners.
One Anchor Article
A long-form guide on the client’s site walks MSPs through evaluating managed support services, from why staffing alone does not fix a capacity problem to the questions that separate a managed partner from a staffing vendor.
One AI Notice
Through the wire, the AI Notice put the managed-team case on third-party news sites.
Day-Zero Launch, Day-7 Measurement
Seven days after the AI Notice launched, the pilot ran its buyer prompts across five AI engines and tracked citations to both the AI Notice’s placements and the Anchor Article.
AI Visibility Optimization Results
285 mentions
in AI answers
AI Notice as a source
the client
The campaign report shows how far the AI Notice traveled in the media and how often AI engines cited it.
Share of Voice Among MSP Support Providers
The client was the most-named brand in the AI Notice prompt set, with 285 mentions. The next two MSP support providers were named 62 and 56 times. The engines also ranked the client higher: neither provider was listed first more than 16 times, and both averaged a position below third. Software platforms for MSPs also came up often, but none was named as often as the client. When the client shared an answer with the most-named platform, it ranked higher in 128 of 133 cases, or 96% of the time.
Prompt Coverage and First-Named Finishes
At least one engine named the client in 137 of the 200 buyer prompts. Each prompt drew five answers, one from each engine, so the prompt set produced 1,000 answers in all. The client was listed first in 248 of those answers. The engines named it most often on brand-direct questions, followed by buyer-intent, category and terminology questions.
Unprompted Discovery
Most AI Notice prompts used the release’s own wording or the client’s details. Only 18 of the 137 prompts that named the client were unprompted: general questions with no brand name, client details or AI Notice phrasing. They asked about topics such as one team for helpdesk, NOC and security work and SLA coverage across time zones.
The report’s awareness funnel places 175 of the 200 prompts in a buyer stage. Every brand search named the client, and 82% of the prompts weighing solution categories did too. Coverage fell on earlier questions: 55% at the Problem-Aware stage and 38% at the Unaware stage.
| Buyer awareness stage | Coverage | Named the client | Prompts in stage | Avg position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unawarehas not identified the problem | 38% | 8 | 21 | #1.8 |
| Problem-Awareknows the problem, still scoping solutions | 55% | 24 | 44 | #1.7 |
| Solution-Awareevaluating solution categories | 82% | 27 | 33 | #1.6 |
| Product-Awarecomparing specific products | 63% | 29 | 46 | #1.5 |
| Most-Awaresearching by brand name | 100% | 31 | 31 | #1.1 |
AI Visibility by Engine
All five engines named the client in the AI Notice prompt set, and none of their mentions was negative. Four rated it a top pick, and ChatGPT recommended it. Grok named the client most often, in 111 prompts, and ranked it first in 91 of them. The other four engines named it in 37 to 59 prompts each. On average, every engine placed the client first or second.
Where the AI Visibility Came From
The AI Notice earned 171 placement citations. Prompts that did not ask about the client produced 130 of them. Grok cited it most, followed by Perplexity and Gemini. The report holds no citation data for Claude or ChatGPT. Almost every citation went to the wire release. Engines used the AI Notice as a source in 127 of the 200 buyer prompts.
The Anchor Article was tested with its own set of 400 buyer prompts. In 126 of those 400 prompts, at least one AI engine listed the Anchor Article as a source. Several engines answered each prompt, so the article was cited 188 times in all. Claude and Grok cited it most, and Gemini did not cite it. Whether or not they cited the article, the engines named the client in 177 of the 400 prompts.
Google AI Overview Visibility
Google’s AI Overviews cited a copy of the AI Notice on six keywords, more than the four keywords where it ranked in Google’s top 10. Five of the six were non-branded keywords. On one keyword, the AI Overview listed the AI Notice as its first source. The report tracked 300 keywords from the AI Notice, 269 of them non-branded, and Google showed an AI Overview on every one.
Examples From AI Answers
None of the three questions named the client, yet at least two engines rated it a top pick each time. In two of the answers, every engine that named the client ranked it first.
“Is there a provider that covers helpdesk technicians NOC analysts Tier 2 engineers and security analysts under one managed team for MSPs?” (asked as Procurement Manager)
Claude, Perplexity and Grok each ranked the client first for this question. Claude rated it a top pick and described it as the most complete single managed team for MSPs, with helpdesk, Tier 2, NOC and security roles under one provider. Perplexity also rated it a top pick, and Grok recommended it ahead of four other MSP support providers.
“What is a managed tech support partner versus a staffing vendor and why does the distinction matter for MSPs?” (asked as MSP Founder)
A definition question still ended in a recommendation. Grok used the client as its clearest example of a managed support partner, ranked it first and rated it a top pick. Gemini also put the client first and rated it a top pick, describing it as a compliance-focused partner for MSPs that handle sensitive client data.
“Recommend support partners that handle recruiting, training, and quality for MSPs” (asked as HR Director)
This question came from the Anchor Article prompt set. Claude called the client the best full-stack managed support partner for MSPs, and Grok named it the top managed technical support partner. Both rated it a top pick in a list of staffing firms and other MSP support providers. Gemini also named the client and recommended it.
How We Measured
The AI visibility optimization pilot tested two sets of buyer prompts: 200 for the AI Notice and 400 for the Anchor Article. Each set has its own figures, and they are never combined. Every prompt ran on five AI engines: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok. A mention counts when an engine names the client in its answer. Brand visibility is the share of prompts in which at least one engine named the client.
A citation counts only when an engine lists the exact URL of a published copy of the AI Notice, or of the Anchor Article, as a source. Citations of the AI Notice’s published copies are placement citations. A separate Google check recorded the AI Notice’s organic keyword rankings and which Google AI Overviews cited it.
Why This Matters
The client was the most-named brand in the AI Notice prompt set. At least one AI engine named it in 69% of the 200 buyer prompts. Those prompts asked how to cover helpdesk, NOC and security roles, how a managed team compares with a staffing vendor and how to keep SLAs during the technician shortage. By contrast, coverage was lowest on Unaware prompts, which do not yet name a problem. More Anchor Articles and AI Notices aimed at those prompts can extend this AI visibility optimization work to them.
Zen Media has applied this AI visibility optimization approach in LDN telehealth and telecom expense management. Want to see how your brand appears in AI answers to buyer questions? Contact Zen Media to explore an AI visibility strategy for your business.
