How NestSTEPS™ Went From Zero AI Citations to Named First in Ten Weeks
A generation of working adults cannot save a down payment fast enough to catch a market that keeps moving. NestSTEPS™, a Provo startup founded by Larry Salazar, thinks employers are the missing piece, and built a home savings benefit that works the way a 401(k) does. But the company was trying to create a category, not compete in one, and be searchable.
Benefits leaders increasingly research new categories by asking an AI assistant, and whoever the engines name is obviously where they will start their vetting process. So GEO visibility was crucial to NestSTEPS™ PR strategy. XL PR ran a baseline: 17 questions a benefits leader would likely ask, across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google’s AI answers. NestSTEPS™ appeared in zero of 68 possible answers. To make matters worse, when asked to compare NestSTEPS™ to a competitor, Google confused the company with an unrelated field-service software firm.
Over the next ten weeks XL PR sequenced four things: advising on the original survey research NestSTEPS™ commissioned, structuring those findings for the way AI engines actually retrieve, writing and distributing the wire releases, and pitching the research to Employee Benefit News, where the buyers already read. Then we ran the same 17 questions again.
In May, nobody had heard of them. In August, ChatGPT named them first.
Results
- Appeared in 8.8% of answers across the four selected LLMs.
- Named first by ChatGPT when asked which homeownership benefit vendors a 500-person company should consider
- 6 earned media placements, including a feature in Employee Benefit News
- 414 AI retrieval hits in a single day, up from near zero, five days after the trade feature published
- Accurately described across all four AI surfaces, after May results confused the company with an unrelated software firm
“PR is our tip of the spear. Most marketers push it to the back of the line. I don’t, and here’s why.
At NestSTEPS™ we’re building a category that didn’t exist. That takes education. Topic authority. Trust before transaction. PR isn’t support staff for that job. It’s the front line.
Even some PR professionals told me it was “Too soon,” “Wait until you’re more established.”
When we approached Erynn Kerrigan and Rachelle Peterson at XL PR, they understood the mission from day one and Kylie Jackson Burgener and Dara Anderson Johnson put that strategy into motion. From specialized podcasts to webinars and trade news articles, the roadmap is clear and it’s helping us prompt the discussions and shape the narrative in the market.”
Larry Salazar
Co-founder, NestSTEPS™
