From Sheet Metal to AI Strategy
Twenty years ago, I accidentally invented content marketing for a sheet metal factory in Lancashire. The blog tripled the company's revenue. I've been refining that approach ever since.
The Tinbasher Origin Story
In 2004, my brother-in-law John Butler ran a small sheet metal fabrication business in Colne, Lancashire. He needed a website but didn't want to pay much for it. So I built him a blog instead. Or a blob as they affectionately referred to it.
I called it The Tinbasher - IYKYK. The idea was simple: instead of a static brochure site listing machinery and phone numbers, I'd write about what actually happened in the factory. The welding. The problem-solving. The human effort behind every stainless steel planter and industrial duct.
The conventional wisdom said:
How more dull can you get than sheet metal?
My thesis was different: the product might be boring, but the process of creation was fascinating.
The Results
Within a week, traffic quadrupled. Within months, we were getting 50,000 unique visitors per month to a sheet metal blog written from the electricity cupboard of an old Victorian-era foundry.
The Guardian featured us. The Times named us one of the Top 50 Business Blogs in Britain - the only industrial company on the list. The British Library archived the site as a significant artifact of UK digital history.
More importantly: 30-40% of all sales were directly attributed to the blog. The company grew from 3 employees to 5. A 66% increase in human capital, driven entirely by content.
The Lesson That Stuck
Butler Sheetmetal didn't triple revenue because it had a better benchpress. It tripled revenue because it had a better story. The barriers to B2B marketing aren't technical, they're psychological.
You're trying to present yourself as the company you are, as opposed to the company you want other people to think you are.
— Me, talking to The Guardian, 2005
What I Do Now
I emigrated to the United States in 2006. I've spent the years since helping businesses apply the same principles - authenticity, radical transparency, niche dominance - across industries.
Currently, I'm Co-Founder of The Soccer Business, where we apply these principles to sports business intelligence. We've built a platform combining 30 years of Reuters journalism contacts with data-driven digital strategy.
But something new is happening. The same revolution I saw in 2004 - when markets became conversations - is happening again. This time, the conversations are between AI agents. And most businesses are as unprepared for this shift as sheet metal shops were for blogging.
That's why I'm now focused on Generative Engine Optimization. Helping businesses become machine-readable. Making sure that when an AI agent is asked "who can help me with X?" - my clients are the answer.
The Career Arc
Recognition & Credentials
Ready to become machine-readable?
Let's talk about how to apply the Tinbasher Protocol to your business - for the AI age.
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