French SMEs are allocating an increasing share of their budget to digital channels, but most are replicating the same strategies: social media posts, Google Ads campaigns, monthly newsletters. The landscape has changed since the gradual implementation of the European regulation on artificial intelligence and the emergence of generative search engines. Adapting marketing strategies to these two realities is now essential for an SME’s ability to attract a qualified audience.
AI Act and SME Marketing: Regulatory Constraints to Integrate
The European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI Act) does not only concern tech giants. As of February 2, 2025, certain uses deemed unacceptable will be prohibited, even in a commercial context. The transparency obligations outlined in Article 50 will apply starting August 2, 2026: every chatbot must inform the user that they are interacting with an AI.
For an SME using a conversational assistant on its website or in its campaigns, this means reviewing the interface and legal notices before this deadline. Ignoring this obligation exposes the company to sanctions, as well as a loss of trust from clients.
Marketing practices relying on social scoring systems or subliminal manipulation fall into the category of unacceptable risks. Even if these cases seem distant from the daily operations of an SME, some automated behavioral targeting tools could raise questions.
Checking the compliance of each tool used, including those integrated into third-party platforms, becomes a reflex to establish now. Specialized resources, such as those offered on the Cent pour Cent PME website, allow leaders to keep up with these regulatory developments applied to marketing.
Generative Engine Optimization: Visibility Beyond Classic SEO
Natural referencing remains a growth lever, but a new challenge is emerging: appearing in the responses generated by AI-based search engines. France Num describes Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) as the optimization aimed at increasing the likelihood that content will be referenced or cited by these systems.
The difference with classic SEO lies in the nature of the response. A generative engine does not return a list of links; it synthesizes a response by citing (or not) its sources. An SME whose content is structured, factual, and clearly attributed to a field of expertise is more likely to be selected by these systems.
Adapting Content for Generative Engines
Field feedback varies on this point: no one yet has a guaranteed method to consistently appear in the responses of a generative AI. However, a few principles emerge.
- Structure each page around a specific question and answer it within the first few lines, using verifiable data
- Use rigorous semantic markup (hierarchical titles, schema.org structured data) to facilitate automatic extraction
- Publish original and sourced content rather than rephrasing what already exists, as generative models favor informational diversity
GEO does not replace SEO; it complements it. An SME that is already working on its natural referencing can integrate these adjustments without overhauling its entire content strategy.
Adoption of AI in SMEs: Where Do We Stand?
According to the France Num Barometer 2025 and the TIC 2024 survey by Insee, the adoption of AI is progressing rapidly but remains a minority among French micro and small businesses. Among user companies, marketing and sales accounted for 28% of uses.
This figure reveals a gap between the prevailing discourse (AI everywhere, all the time) and the reality on the ground. The majority of SMEs have not yet integrated these tools into their marketing practices.
Concrete Barriers to Overcome
The main obstacle is not just budgetary. Available data points to data privacy as a major barrier. Entrusting customer files, sales histories, or commercial exchanges to a third-party tool raises legitimate questions, especially in the context of the AI Act.
- Team training remains insufficient: using an AI tool without understanding its limitations produces poor results or costly errors
- The choice between integrated solutions (CRM with embedded AI) and specialized tools (content generation, predictive analysis) often lacks strategic framing
- Measuring the return on investment of marketing AI remains unclear for many leaders, due to a lack of indicators suited to modest data volumes
Testing a specific use case before generalizing remains the most cautious approach. Automating email follow-ups or analyzing customer reviews with a natural language processing tool constitutes a measurable starting point.
SME Marketing Budget: Balancing Between Paid Channels and Proprietary Content
With often constrained budgets, SMEs must choose where to concentrate their spending. The temptation of all-paid (social media advertising, Google Ads) produces immediate results but creates dependency: as soon as the budget stops, traffic drops.
In contrast, investing in proprietary content (blog articles, guides, videos hosted on their own site) builds a lasting asset. This content works for both classic SEO and GEO, while enhancing the company’s credibility in its area of expertise.
The decision depends on the digital maturity of the SME. A company that has never published regular content will benefit more from structuring an editorial calendar than from increasing its advertising budget. Conversely, an SME already having a solid content base can use targeted advertising to amplify the reach of its best articles or guides.
SME marketing in 2024 is less about the number of activated channels and more about the coherence between regulatory compliance, content quality, and measured technological choices. Companies that progress are those that test one lever at a time, measure results, and adjust before moving on to the next.
