What dedicated and vetted mean to us.

Dedicated

Personal Branding Agencies lists one kind of provider: practices whose primary focus is personal branding. Agencies, consultancies, and independent consultants are all eligible, held to the same standard. A directory that also lists general marketing firms is a different kind of resource, and PBA does not try to be one.

• Measured in clients, not revenue. At least 70 percent of a practice’s lifetime clients, across every engagement type, are personal brand clients.
• New practices. A practice with few clients so far qualifies when it is explicitly dedicated to personal brands.
• Pivots. A move into a new market or business model may trigger a new review.

Dedicated describes the directory’s focus. It does not mean PBA is the only specialist resource in the field: earlier practitioner directories exist, and PBA does not claim to be the first.

Vetted

Every listing is reviewed against seven published criteria before it appears, by the process below. Vetting is free. Approval is earned, not purchased.

1. Code of Ethics

   A signed commitment to the PBA Code of Ethics: a standing pledge against the manipulative tactics saturating this industry. Breaking it, or disagreeing with any part of it, ends a listing.

2. AI Disclosure

   A published position on how the practice uses artificial intelligence. Using AI is not disqualifying. Concealing it is, and so is using it to manufacture a perception a client has not earned. The disclosure is published on the listing.

3. Primary Focus: Personal Branding

   Personal branding must account for at least 70 percent of the practice's clients, measured by clients rather than revenue, across its lifetime and every engagement type: at least seven of every ten clients served are personal brand engagements, not incidental to a different business line. A new practice with few clients qualifies when it is explicitly dedicated to personal brands, and a pivot to a new market or business model may trigger a new review. Many listed practices also take on B2B or unrelated work, and that is fine. What is not fine is a practice for which personal branding is a minor offering, listed here on the strength of unrelated work, since this remains a small, specific niche and the directory exists to represent it, not general marketing or business consulting.

4. Specialization

   A defined lane, stated plainly. Practices claiming to serve everyone are asked what they actually do best.

5. Verifiable Website

   A live site that plainly identifies the business and what it does.

6. Verifiable Social Media Footprint

   At least one active, public professional profile that can be independently confirmed to belong to the practice.

7. Legitimate Legal Filing

   A registered business entity, or a properly filed sole practice. Whatever form the practice takes, it must exist on the record somewhere we can check.

The review, step by step

1. Application

   You complete the application form. It asks for your agency name, location, website, founding year, team size, clients served, specialties, your AI disclosure, and a contact. Every figure you give must be one you can substantiate.

2. Agreement to the Code of Ethics

   You read the Code of Ethics in full and formally agree to it. This is not a checkbox exercise. It is the standard your listing is held to for as long as it exists.

3. A call with a PBA representative

   We speak with you directly. The call covers three things: your intent in joining the directory, how your business actually operates, and your perspective on the Code of Ethics. We ask about the Code specifically because agreeing to a document and believing in it are different things, and the difference shows in conversation.

4. Decision

   If the call goes well and your details check out, your listing is created. From there you have a working relationship with PBA: you cannot edit the listing directly, but you can request a change to anything on it at any time: we email a link to your listing's change request form to the address on file, and we apply what you ask.

The founder listing

Mashman Consulting Group operates the directory and holds its permanent first listing, labeled as the founder. That listing is self-vetted against the same criteria as every other practice. A self-review is not an independent one, and PBA does not describe it as one. Read about MCG’s role. Sample listings, where they appear, are labeled as samples, describe no real business, and are kept out of every count and recommendation.

What money can and cannot change

• Directory display. The founder listing first, then labeled paid placement when it is available, then every other practice. Paid plans buy placement and presentation only.
• The PBA Power Ranking. Verified client reviews, by its published method, and nothing else.
• Find Your Match. A visitor’s answers, scored by a published fit rubric. The fit percentage shows alignment with that rubric, not the probability of a successful engagement.

Vetting cannot be bought. Paid placement is always labeled.

After a listing goes live

• Changes are checked. A practice asks for a change on its listing’s Request a Change page, and a person reviews it before it goes live.
• Reports are investigated. Anyone can report a listing. Both sides are heard before any action, and a confirmed breach of PBA's Code of Ethics ends a listing.
• A practice can leave. A listing is removed on the practice’s request.