A Practical Guide to AIO for SMEs

Published: 17th August 2025

How to make sure your business gets noticed when people ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot for help.

Why this matters now

If you run a small business, you’ve probably noticed how quickly people have started turning to AI tools for answers. Instead of “Googling it,” they’ll just ask ChatGPT or Gemini and get a straight reply. No list of links. Just one or two sentences.

That’s exciting but also a little worrying. Because if you’re not the source of the answer, you don’t even appear on the radar.

This is where AIO – AI Optimisation – comes in. Think of it as the next step after SEO. The idea is simple: make your content so clear, structured, and trustworthy that AI assistants can confidently lift it into their responses.

And before you worry about budgets – no, you don’t need to spend a fortune. A lot of this is about how you write and present what you already have.

The mindset shift

Here’s the golden rule I’ve found works best:

Write as though your customer has just asked you a direct question – because that’s exactly what AI will copy.

So you lead with the answer, keep it plain, and avoid burying the useful bit in layers of fluff.

Quick wins you can action this month

I’ll keep this practical. These are the things you can do right now, even if you’re the only person working on marketing.

• Make your pages answer-friendly. Start the home page with a single clear line: who you are, who you help, and how. Do the same on service pages.

Example: “Epitomise is a UK marketing consultancy helping SMEs grow through strategy, fractional leadership and mentoring.”

• Add FAQs to your main pages. Think of the five questions you’re asked most often and put the answers, in two or three sentences each, right there on the page.
• Tidy up your headings. Instead of a heading that says “Mentoring”, try “How does marketing mentoring help SMEs?”. That’s exactly the kind of query an AI assistant sees.
• Update what you already have. Most SMEs already have blogs or guides gathering dust. Refresh them. Put a short summary up top, add a couple of fresh examples, and mark the date you updated it.
• Link things together. If you’ve got a post about AI in marketing, link it naturally to your strategy service page. It helps people and it helps AI see the connection.
• Don’t forget the basics. A slow website on a phone is still a problem. Compress big images, keep it clean, and check your Google Business Profile details are right.

Medium-term: building trust and depth

Once you’ve done the quick tidy-ups, the next step is to show a bit of depth.

• Create a “hub” page per topic. For example, a “Marketing Strategy for SMEs” page that introduces the subject and links to every relevant blog post and service you offer. It shows you cover the ground properly.
• Write one or two bigger guides. Something like “The SME Marketing Strategy Checklist” or “When to Hire a Fractional Marketing Leader”. Proper detail, step-by-step, structured in plain language.
• Get your name out there. A guest article on a local business site, or even a quote in a trade magazine, gives you a backlink and an extra layer of credibility.
• Encourage detailed reviews. Ask your clients to mention the problem they had, what you did, and the result. AI engines love “lived experience”.

Longer term: staying relevant

A few habits will help you keep ahead:

• Refresh content regularly. Even if it’s just updating stats or adding a new example, freshness counts.
• Try different formats. Short explainer videos with transcripts, or an infographic with clear captions. AI picks these up too.
• Publish something original. Even a small survey of SMEs or a piece of proprietary data can set you apart. AI assistants often go looking for stats to quote.
• Check how you appear. Every so often, literally ask ChatGPT or Bing Chat the kind of questions your customers would. See if you show up. If not, ask yourself why your content isn’t the obvious answer.

A final thought

AI search isn’t replacing people’s questions. It’s just changing how those questions are answered. For SMEs, this is a chance to stand out – not by producing more content, but by producing better answers.

Start small: tweak your headings, add FAQs, refresh a couple of your best posts. You’ll be surprised how quickly your site feels clearer, both for people and for machines.

And if you ever want another pair of eyes on a page before you publish, or a straight-talking review of your website, I’d be glad to help. Sometimes a half-hour of honest feedback is all it takes to turn “just another page” into something AI – and your customers – trust enough to quote.