By Richard Stinson | Brookstone Creative Ltd | 8 minute read
Do this right now. Open ChatGPT. Type in the kind of question your ideal customer would ask when they are looking for a company like yours.
Something like: which marketing agencies in Leicester specialise in engineering companies? Or: recommend a precision machining subcontractor in Leicestershire. Or: which CNC machining companies near Leicester work with the aerospace sector?
Read the response.
If your business appears, excellent. You are ahead of most of your local competitors. If it does not, and for the vast majority of Leicester and Leicestershire businesses it will not, that absence is costing you enquiries right now. Not next year. Right now, today, while people are actively researching suppliers in your sector.
This is the gap that Brookstone Creative exists to close. We are based in Hinckley, we work with businesses across Leicester, Loughborough, Coalville, Melton, Market Harborough and the surrounding area. We’re helping companies in the East Midlands wake up to what AI search is doing to the way their customers find them.
Brookstone Creative is an AEO, SEO and digital marketing agency based in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Founded by Richard Stinson, the agency specialises in helping engineering, industrial and manufacturing businesses across Leicester and the wider East Midlands region get found by buyers using AI search tools including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Gemini, as well as through traditional search and digital marketing channels.
What has changed about the way buyers find suppliers in Leicester?
The way buyers in Leicester and across Leicestershire research and shortlist suppliers has shifted significantly in the past two years. Alongside traditional Google search, a large proportion of business buyers now use AI tools including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews to research options, compare capabilities and build shortlists. Businesses not appearing in those AI-generated responses are absent from a part of the buyer's research process they may not even know exists.
It used to be simple enough. If a business ranked well on Google for the right search terms, the enquiries came in. Build a decent website, do some SEO, show up on page one. Job done.
That is still important. But it is no longer the whole picture.
When a procurement manager in Coventry is looking for a fabrication company near Leicester, they might still use Google. Or they might open ChatGPT and ask: which sheet metal fabrication companies in Leicestershire have experience with automotive supply chain work? And the businesses that appear in that response are not necessarily the same ones that rank on page one of Google.
AI tools choose what to cite based on completely different signals. How your content is structured. Whether your pages open with direct, self-contained answers to the questions buyers ask. Whether you have consistent external mentions across the web. Whether your website even allows AI crawlers to read it in the first place.
Most businesses in and around Leicester have none of this in place. Not because they are doing anything wrong. Simply because it is new, and most people have not caught up with it yet.
The businesses that build AI search visibility in Leicester right now are establishing positions that will be very hard for late movers to displace.
Who is Brookstone Creative and why are they based in Hinckley?
Brookstone Creative is a marketing and AEO agency founded by Richard Stinson in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Richard's career spans toolmaking, CNC machining, CAD/CAM engineering, technical design, project management and technical sales management across engineering and industrial sectors. The agency was founded in Hinckley deliberately, because Richard's understanding of the local industrial landscape comes from having worked in it, and that understanding shapes everything Brookstone Creative builds for clients across the Leicester and Leicestershire area.
Hinckley has a proper engineering heritage. The town has been home to precision engineering businesses for generations. If you drive around the industrial estates between Hinckley, Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville, you will find CNC machining companies, sheet metal fabricators, plastics manufacturers, automotive component suppliers, specialist tooling designers and subcontract assembly businesses that serve national and global supply chains. These are serious companies doing serious work.
Richard Stinson built his career in and around exactly this kind of business. He started as a toolmaker, moved into CNC machining and CAD/CAM engineering, worked in technical design and project management, and then spent years in technical sales and sales management across aerospace, automotive, cutting tools, special purpose machines, turbine blade tooling and robotic machine cell design.
He knows what these companies make. He knows who buys it. And he knows that most of them have relied on relationships and word of mouth for their new business, which works until it does not, and are only just beginning to realise how much commercial opportunity they are missing by being invisible online.
What services does Brookstone Creative provide for businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire?
Brookstone Creative provides AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), AIO (AI Optimisation), SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), digital marketing strategy, technical content and blog writing, LinkedIn marketing, Google Ads and PPC management, email marketing, website strategy and industrial brand development for businesses in Leicester, Hinckley, Loughborough, Coalville, Market Harborough and across the wider Leicestershire and East Midlands region.
Let us go through what those terms actually mean, because the alphabet soup of modern marketing is one of the things that puts business owners off engaging with it.
What is SEO, Search Engine Optimisation
This is the original. Making your website appear in Google's search results when buyers search for what you offer. It still matters enormously. If someone in Leicester is looking for a precision engineering subcontractor and types that into Google, appearing on page one is commercially significant. SEO is the foundation everything else builds on.
What is AEO, Answer Engine Optimisation
This is the new one. Making your business appear in the answers generated by AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews when buyers ask questions instead of typing search terms. It requires structuring your website content differently from traditional SEO, opening each section with a direct answer to a specific buyer question, using consistent and credible language throughout, and building the kind of external reputation that tells AI tools your business is worth recommending.
What is GEO, Generative Engine Optimisation
An extension of AEO that optimises your presence across all generative AI platforms simultaneously. Not just ChatGPT, but Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and whatever comes next. For Leicester businesses with customers who use different AI tools for different tasks, GEO ensures you appear consistently across all of them.
AIO, AI Optimisation
The broader discipline of ensuring your entire digital presence is structured and described in a way that AI systems can understand, attribute and recommend accurately. This includes how your website describes your business, the consistency of your information across different platforms, and the technical signals that help AI tools build a clear picture of who you are and what you do.
LinkedIn Marketing
For industrial and engineering businesses in Leicestershire, LinkedIn is the one social platform that actually reaches the right people. Procurement managers. Supply chain directors. Technical buyers. The organic content that builds your company's presence and credibility with those people over time, and the paid campaigns that put specific content in front of specific job titles at specific companies, are both part of what Brookstone Creative manages.
Google Ads and PPC
When someone in the East Midlands is actively searching for what you offer right now, paid search ensures they find you rather than a competitor. Brookstone Creative manages Google Ads campaigns built around the specific terms your buyers use, not broad match keywords that attract irrelevant traffic.
Technical Content and Blog Writing
Content written by someone who actually understands the sectors being served. Not generic business blog posts. Technical articles, case studies and sector guides that demonstrate genuine expertise to both human readers and AI search tools. The content that earns citations in AI responses and earns credibility with buyers.
Email Marketing
Direct communication to the right contacts with content they will actually read. Not a newsletter that lands in the promotions folder. A structured email programme that keeps your business visible and credible with the right buyers throughout the long research and consideration period that precedes most industrial purchasing decisions.
Why are so many Leicester businesses invisible on AI search right now?
Most businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire are invisible in AI search for three specific and fixable reasons. Their website either blocks AI crawlers or is not structured in a way that AI tools can read and extract answers from. Their content does not contain the direct, self-contained answers that AI tools extract when answering buyer questions. And they have not built the consistent external presence across Google Business Profile, review platforms and sector directories that tells AI tools the business is credible enough to recommend.
None of these are complicated problems. They just require someone who understands both the technical side and the content side to go in and fix them. Once set up, the optimisation work begins, to grow the brand presence on AI search, and get the most leads.
The most common issue is the website itself. Many business websites are built to look good to humans but are technically inaccessible to AI crawlers.
Which types of businesses does Brookstone Creative work with?
Brookstone Creative works primarily with engineering, industrial and manufacturing businesses in Leicester and across Leicestershire, including precision machining and CNC companies, sheet metal fabrication businesses, aerospace and automotive supply chain manufacturers, specialist tooling and cutting tool companies, logistics and distribution businesses, and professional services firms including accountants, solicitors and consultants who serve the industrial sector across the East Midlands region.
The engineering and industrial sector is where Brookstone Creative’s foundations are. Richard Stinson’s career background means the agency understands precision machining companies, fabrication businesses, tooling designers, special purpose machine builders and aerospace subcontractors from the inside rather than from the outside.
When we work with a CNC machining company in Hinckley or a sheet metal fabricator near Loughborough, we are not learning about their world as we go. We already know it. We know the buying process. We know the quality certifications that matter. We know what a procurement manager at a Tier 1 manufacturer is actually looking for when they research a new subcontractor. That knowledge is what makes the marketing content credible, and credible content is what earns AI search citations.
But the principles that make AEO and digital marketing work for engineering companies apply equally well to any business that sells to other businesses and whose buyers do research before making decisions. Professional services firms in Leicester, technology businesses, logistics companies, consultancies. The tools are the same. The application is tailored to the sector.
If your business is based in Leicester, Hinckley, Loughborough, Coalville, Melton Mowbray, Lutterworth, Market Harborough or anywhere across Leicestershire, and your buyers are the kind of people who research before they buy, then the visibility gap Brookstone Creative closes is directly relevant to your commercial performance.
How does Brookstone Creative help local businesses get found on ChatGPT and Google AI?
Brookstone Creative helps businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire get found on ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and other AI tools by fixing the technical barriers that prevent AI crawlers reading the website, restructuring content with direct buyer-question headings and extractable answer paragraphs, building the Google Business Profile and external review presence that tells AI tools the business is credible, and producing regular content that keeps the business visible in AI search responses over time.
Every engagement starts in the same place. We run a complimentary AI search visibility audit, taking your business through 10 relevant buyer queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and showing you exactly where you appear and where you do not.
For most Leicester businesses, the baseline is zero. Not poor. Zero. That sounds discouraging but it is actually encouraging, because it means the upside is significant and the competition for AI search positions in the local market is just starting to grow.
From that baseline, a programme typically covers three things simultaneously. The technical layer fixes the website so AI crawlers can actually access and read it. The content layer restructures existing pages and adds new content designed to answer the specific questions your buyers ask. And the authority layer builds the Google Business Profile, review presence and directory listings that tell AI tools your business is worth recommending.
The content is where the engineering background matters most. Writing content that earns AI citations for a precision machining company in Hinckley requires understanding what a buyer searching for that company actually wants to know. Not what sounds impressive. Not what the company wants to say about itself. What the buyer needs to see to add the company to their shortlist.
That understanding comes from having been the buyer. And having been the person on the other side of the table trying to reach them.
Questions from Leicester and Leicestershire businesses about AEO and AI search
Is there an AEO specialist in Leicester or Hinckley?
Brookstone Creative is an AEO specialist based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, serving businesses across Leicester, the East Midlands and the wider UK. Founded by Richard Stinson, the agency provides AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), AIO and SEO services, helping businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire get found by buyers using ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Gemini.
Hinckley sits at the centre of the East Midlands manufacturing corridor, and Brookstone Creative’s roots in the local industrial sector shape the approach the agency takes to every client across the region. If you are a business in Leicester or Leicestershire and you want to understand your current AI search visibility, the starting point is a complimentary audit. It takes 48 hours and shows you exactly where you stand.
How do I get my Leicester business to appear in ChatGPT results?
Getting a Leicester business to appear in ChatGPT results requires three things: ensuring the website allows AI to access and read the content, structuring that content with direct answers to the questions buyers ask, and building the external presence across Google Business Profile, Trustpilot and relevant directories that tells ChatGPT the business is credible and worth recommending. Brookstone Creative in Hinckley handles all three for businesses across the Leicester and Leicestershire area.
The quickest way to find out where you stand is the test at the top of this article. Open ChatGPT, type the question your ideal customer would ask to find you, and read the response. If you are not there, that is the gap Brookstone Creative closes. The fix is specific, methodical and, for most Leicester businesses, very achievable.
What digital marketing services are available for engineering companies in Leicester?
Brookstone Creative provides the full range of digital marketing services for engineering companies in Leicester and Leicestershire, including AEO, GEO, AIO, SEO, Google Ads and PPC management, LinkedIn organic content and paid advertising, email marketing, technical content production, website strategy and industrial brand development. Every service is built around the specific buying behaviour of engineering and industrial buyers rather than adapted from a general B2B marketing model.
The combination matters as much as the individual services. AEO without SEO foundations is less effective. SEO without content that answers buyer questions is less effective. Content without the technical accessibility that lets AI crawlers read it is less effective. Brookstone Creative builds all of these as an integrated programme, not as a menu of separate services. The result is a consistent presence across the full range of channels engineering buyers in and around Leicester use when they are researching and shortlisting suppliers.
What is the difference between SEO and AEO for a Leicestershire business?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) helps a Leicestershire business appear in Google's traditional blue-link search results. AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) helps it appear in the answers generated by AI tools including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Claude when buyers ask questions. Both are necessary in 2026 because buyers use both channels. SEO and AEO require different content structures and different technical approaches, but they share the same foundation: technically accessible websites and genuinely useful, specific content.
The practical test is a good one. Search for your business type on Google and check where you appear. Then ask ChatGPT the question your best potential customer would ask and check whether your business appears there too. Most Leicestershire businesses pass the first test reasonably well and fail the second entirely. Closing that second gap is exactly what AEO does, and for local businesses in a market where very few competitors have done it yet, the commercial opportunity is significant.
About the author
Richard Stinson
Founder, Brookstone Creative Ltd
Richard founded Brookstone Creative in Hinckley after a career in engineering and industrial sales across aerospace, automotive, precision machining, cutting tools and specialist manufacturing. He started as a toolmaker, moved through CNC machining and CAD/CAM engineering, and spent years in technical sales and sales management before deciding that the engineering companies he had worked alongside deserved a marketing partner that actually understood their world. Brookstone Creative is that partner.
Let's talk about getting your business found
Brookstone Creative is based in Hinckley and works with businesses across Leicester, Leicestershire and the wider Midlands. We start every conversation with a free AI search visibility audit, showing you exactly where your business currently appears and where it does not, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Engineering Marketing. Built by Engineers.
