# More Than Mentions: Why Your Strategy Needs More Than Just Visibility

**Best practices**  
**Feb 20, 2026**  
**5 mins read**

The shift from traditional search to AI-driven discovery requires more than just "showing up." It requires a holistic approach we call Generative Engine Marketing (GEM).

**The shift from traditional search to AI-driven discovery requires more than just "showing up." It requires a holistic approach we call Generative Engine Marketing (GEM).**

Most brands today are focused on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—the tactical "whack-a-mole" of trying to appear in a specific LLM response.

While visibility is important, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. At Share of Model, we’ve moved beyond pure-play GEO to pioneer **Generative Engine Marketing (GEM)**, a framework funded in part by Google to integrate AI insights directly into paid, owned, and earned media.

## Moving Beyond the "Whack-a-Mole" Strategy  
The GEM approach is built on four distinct modules that widen the aperture for marketers:

- **Brand Perception:** Understanding the recurring semantic associations for your brand across models.
- **Search Visibility:** Tracking real-time content visibility and how it overlaps with competitors.
- **Asset Evaluation:** Testing and optimizing creative—including video—for multimodal agents.
- **Activation:** Connecting these insights to platforms like Google Ads and TikTok to find new category entry points.

## The GEM Advantage  
By treating AI insights as a "North Star" for strategy rather than just a search ranking, brands can use semantic associations to diversify their search themes. This allows for the creation of content that makes a brand unique rather than just "optimizing toward the average".