My approach
Start with the problem. Not a product.
Nothing's set in stone. Every piece of work starts with what's actually going on for your brand, and the work fits that, not the other way round. I'll always tell you exactly what I'm doing and how.
I spend a lot of time telling people to ask GEO agencies how they actually work. So here's mine, in full.
How a piece of work runs
- Understand the problem. A proper conversation first. What are you being asked? What's worrying you? Which markets, competitors and audiences matter? And what will you do with the answer? Sometimes the honest answer is that you don't need research at all.
- Pick the right depth. Anything from a briefing for your team to a full multi-market study. I'll suggest what fits the problem and the budget, and nothing more.
- Write it down. A short scope before anything starts: what I'll do, how, what you'll get, when, and what it costs. No surprises.
- Do the work. Me, not a junior or a dashboard, using the tools that suit the job.
- Turn it into decisions. What to change, what to leave alone, and where to invest for the long term. Practical enough to feed straight into your content and media relations plans.
- Come back when it's worth it. Not a monthly report for the sake of it. When something has changed, or you need to see whether the work landed.
From broad guidance to tailored research
Most work sits somewhere on this range. Plenty of clients use more than one.
Awareness and education
Briefings, workshops and talks for PR, comms and leadership teams. How AI search works, what it means for reputation and coverage, what the evidence says and where the hype runs ahead of it. Good for teams who keep being asked about AI and want a straight answer.
Practical guidance
A review of the things that make your brand easier for AI to find, trust and cite: your own site, your coverage, your spokespeople, and the third-party places AI reads in your sector. You get clear, prioritised recommendations you can act on without buying anything.
Tailored research
A proper look at how your brand actually shows up in AI answers, who's doing better and why, and what to do about it. Built around your categories, competitors and markets. More on what that involves below.
What tailored research looks like
Real questions, asked properly, read by someone who knows PR.
The questions
Asked the way your buyers ask them.
Mostly unbranded questions at the point people are weighing up options, built around realistic personas and the factors that matter in each of your categories. Branded, head-to-head or reputation questions can follow if they're useful.
The run
Repeated, because answers change.
Run across the AI tools your audience uses, typically ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews and Perplexity, over several days rather than once. In every market that matters, in the local language.
What you get
The three things comms teams need.
Your share of voice against named competitors. The sources, outlets and articles AI is citing, and why. The types of content that are shaping the answers. Usually a highlights deck and walkthrough first, then a fuller report.
No score at the end. A clear picture of who owns the conversation in your space, and what you'd change because of it.
Tool-agnostic, not tool-averse
I'm not tied to any platform. That doesn't mean I avoid tools. It means I pick them for the job.
- I have partners I'd choose by default. For large research runs across many questions, tools and countries, I usually use Authoritas, because it handles scale and local languages well.
- I'll happily work with what you already have. If your team uses Muck Rack, Meltwater, Onclusive, Profound or something else, I'll use that data too, and help you get more out of it.
- I'm always looking at new tools. The market moves quickly and some new things are genuinely useful. I'll tell you when I think something is worth a look, and when it isn't.
- I'll always tell you what I used and why. The same openness I expect from anyone on my GEO landscape page.
What I won't do is tell you to sign up to anything that promises to solve AI search for you. Even if it did this week, it wouldn't next week. AI tools change too often for any one product to be the answer.
What you won't get from me
- A score, a band or a "ranking position" in AI.
- A dashboard to log into every morning.
- A long contract or a retainer for the sake of it.
- Recommendations that are really a sales pitch for something else.
- Certainty I don't have.
What it costs
It depends on the brief. A team briefing and an eight-country research study are very different things. Once I understand the problem, I'll send you a short written scope with a fixed price, so you know exactly what you're getting before anything starts.
Get in touch
Tell me the problem.
A short email is fine: what's going on, what you've been asked, and when you need it. I'll give you an honest answer, including if I'm not the right person.