How I Approach the Work
More than 20 years of testing, planning, implementation and measurement across search, content and digital strategy. The practical aim is unchanged: help the right buyer find, understand, trust and choose a business.
The methods
Planning, search and practical systems.
Marketing engineering
The overarching approach: connect the situation, objectives, strategy, action and measurement.
The GEO playbook
Three layers for identity, technical structure and supporting authority.
SEO OES
A working pilot for applying the search process. Its usefulness is being tested through practical work.
I use structured planning because vague objectives produce vague work. The aim is to connect the business problem to clear priorities, owners, evidence and measures.
The tools have changed, but the core principle has not: base decisions on evidence and check whether the work had the intended effect.
I call that Search Intent Optimization. SEO, GEO and answer-focused work are useful labels for particular tasks, not separate floors in a marketing pyramid.
The Tinbasher
The early lesson was that an industrial company could earn attention by explaining the work honestly, answering real questions and sounding like the people who did the job.
Core Principles
- • Specific subjects beat generic marketing
- • Show the work
- • Learn from people doing the job
- • Answer detailed customer questions
How it worked
Time on the factory floor produced better subjects, examples and explanations than a remote content brief could.
Growth Planning Model
Developed at Adept Marketing. The first formalized framework - turning the Tinbasher insights into a repeatable agency process.
The GAM Phases
SOSTAC® Adaptation
Combining the growth-planning work with the SOSTAC® framework (Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, Control). Applied to The Soccer Business for market research and planning.
SOSTAC® + GAM
GEO and AI-assisted work
Extending the same evidence-led method to AI answers: check what systems say, trace the sources, fix the underlying information and measure changes without confusing correlation with causation.
Three parts of the work
Working principles
These principles have remained useful as the tools changed:
Understand the decision
Know who is searching, what they need to decide and which evidence will help them.
Use clear, supportable claims
Plain language and specific evidence are more useful than corporate slogans.
Learn from the people doing the work
Strategy and content improve when they reflect operational reality.
Specific beats generic
Detailed answers to real problems are more useful than broad claims about expertise.
Measure What Matters
Define the outcome, leading measures and guardrails before judging the work.
Work in reviewable stages
Short planning cycles make priorities, ownership and course correction easier.
Tools and Planning
Planning practices
- ✓Situation analysis and objectives
- ✓Strategy and activity planning
- ✓Clear ownership and implementation
- ✓Evidence review and measurement
Technical Stack
Tell me what you're trying to decide
Bring the current evidence, the claims you need to check and any constraints. Inquiries come to me first. I’ll recommend the right approach and bring in a delivery team where needed. Scope, timing and delivery are agreed before work begins.