Listing Guidelines

Who can apply

Anyone can apply. There is no invitation, no waiting list, and no fee. Every application is measured against the same seven criteria every listed practice is held to for as long as it is listed:

• 01. 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.
• 02. 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.
• 03. Primary Focus: Personal Branding Personal branding must account for at least 70 percent of the practice's work: at least seven of every ten clients served are personal brand engagements, not incidental to a different business line. 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.
• 04. Specialization A defined lane, stated plainly. Practices claiming to serve everyone are asked what they actually do best.
• 05. Verifiable Website A live site that plainly identifies the business and what it does.
• 06. Verifiable Social Media Footprint At least one active, public professional profile that can be independently confirmed to belong to the practice.
• 07. 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.

This directory is not agency-only. Agencies, consultancies, and independent consultants are all listed on identical terms, vetted against the same seven criteria, and filterable by type so clients can find the shape of help they actually want. A one-person practice is as eligible as a twenty-person agency. What matters is that you are a real, findable, accountable business.

The process

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 through your listing's change request form, and we apply it.

About the AI disclosure

Your AI disclosure is required at application and is published on your listing in your own words. It is a permanent part of that listing: you can revise it whenever your practice changes, but it cannot be removed while you are listed.

Using AI will not count against your application. This directory takes the view that artificial intelligence is a tool, closer to a spotter in a gym than a replacement for the lifter. Agencies that use it well and say so plainly meet this criterion comfortably.

What fails the criterion is concealment, and using AI to manufacture a perception a client has not earned. Write what you actually do. An honest disclosure that describes heavy AI use is worth more here than a vague one implying none.

Automatic disqualification

Breaking any part of the Code of Ethics, or disagreeing with any part of it during the call, is an automatic disqualification. There is no partial agreement and no negotiated exception.

This is deliberate. The Code is the only thing this directory actually promises a visitor, so an agency that does not stand behind all of it cannot be listed while that promise stays true. An agency that disagrees with the Code is not necessarily a bad business, but it is not a fit for this directory.

An application will also be declined where information cannot be verified, where figures cannot be substantiated, or where the business cannot be confirmed as legitimately filed.

What happens after you are listed

You do not edit your listing directly. Instead you have a working relationship with PBA: request a change to your bio, specialties, services, contact details, or logo at any time through your listing's change request form, and we apply it. Vetting is free and stays free. Optional paid plans affect placement and presentation only.

Your listing is reviewed again if your details change materially, if a report is filed about you, or periodically at our discretion. Staying listed depends on continuing to meet the standard you were admitted under.

Removal

A confirmed Code of Ethics violation ends the listing permanently. Any paid subscription ends with it, and there is no refund where removal follows a confirmed violation.

You can also ask to be delisted at any time, for any reason, and we will do it.

Ready to apply

Start with the application form, or read the Code of Ethics and the vetting standard first.