---
id: "action-invest-in-problem-literacy"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Start with a Simple Diagnostic"]
tags: ["consumer-education", "content-strategy"]
related: ["concept-problem-literacy", "framework-ai-brand-diagnostic"]
action: "Teach consumers specific, technical vocabulary to articulate their problems."
outcome: "Shapes user queries to favor your brand before recommendations are generated."
speakers: ["John Gale", "Luca Cian", "Luc Wathieu"]
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-new-25-get-ai-to-surface-your-brand"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-to-get-ai-to-surface-your-brand"
sourceTitle: "How to Get AI to Surface Your Brand"
---
# Invest in problem literacy

Identify the specific, technical terms for the conditions your product addresses (e.g., "overpronation" instead of "foot pain"). Invest in content and community education to teach consumers to use these exact terms. By shaping the vocabulary consumers use in their AI prompts, you create a query landscape mathematically biased toward your brand.

- **Action:** Teach consumers specific, technical vocabulary to articulate their problems.
- **Outcome:** Shapes user queries to favor your brand before recommendations are generated.

Builds [[concept-problem-literacy|problem literacy]] and exploits the finding that [[claim-query-determines-competitive-set|the user's query determines the competitive set]]. It is step 4 of [[framework-ai-brand-diagnostic|the Simple Diagnostic]].