Why I don’t promote my clients, and why that matters in crisis PR

The industry norm I’ve never been comfortable with

If you spend time around PR agencies, you quickly notice a pattern. Office walls lined with client logos. Reception boards printed with brand names. Carefully staged photographs of clients standing beside agency signage. Social posts announcing new partnerships with visible enthusiasm.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Agencies need credibility. Prospective clients want reassurance. Visibility is part of business development.

But crisis PR is not standard PR.

And I have never been comfortable treating crisis clients as promotional assets.

Crisis PR works best when it is invisible

The entire premise of crisis communications is that the response feels authentic and internally owned. The moment a third party publicly claims authorship, that authenticity becomes fragile.

If a public figure issues a carefully structured statement and I am simultaneously broadcasting that I drafted it, I have undermined the very thing I was hired to protect. The strength of a crisis response lies in the perception that it is deliberate and controlled by the individual or organisation at its centre.

For that reason, I do not plaster clients across my website. I do not turn difficult situations into case studies. I do not expect public acknowledgements.

In fact, I do not even follow most of my clients on social media.

That sometimes surprises people, but it is deliberate. My own bio makes my role clear. If a celebrity, executive or brand suddenly follows an account labelled “Crisis PR expert,” it can raise unnecessary eyebrows. I do not want to create optics that force someone to explain why they are connected to me. Discretion should not be selective.

The strange nature of the work

Crisis PR is a peculiar profession. Some of your best work can be seen by millions of people, and no one knows you were involved. In my case, that has happened many times.

You watch something unfold publicly, knowing how much thought went into each line, how carefully wording was weighed, how close a situation was to escalating in a completely different direction. If it goes well, it looks effortless. That is precisely the point.

And then you move on.

There is no public applause. No visible credit. No moment where someone says, “That was handled brilliantly.” If you are fortunate, you receive a private thank you. I have received flowers, handwritten notes and thoughtful messages. Those gestures mean more than any public endorsement.

But if you need a visible pat on the back, crisis PR would be difficult to sustain. You may see your work performing exactly as intended, hopefully, and there will be no acknowledgement beyond the quiet outcome itself. It is one of the only professions involving public figures where you are deliberately not shown off.

That requires a particular temperament.

You cannot be ego-driven in this line of work

I am naturally private, which makes this easier for me. I am not motivated by proximity to celebrity culture. I do not particularly care who is sitting in front of me. Quite often I research individuals before meeting them because I do not follow entertainment closely enough to recognise everyone immediately.

What interests me is the situation. The psychology behind how something escalated. The mechanics of how it can be stabilised. The discipline required to remove emotion from communication and rebuild control. That is the part of the job I enjoy.

That distance is useful. If you are driven by visibility, status or association, this profession would likely be frustrating. Watching a public figure benefit from a carefully navigated response while you remain invisible requires comfort with not being seen.

I actively tell clients not to follow me. More often than not, after an initial meeting, they instinctively press follow. I have to explain that it is better not to create a visible link. That boundary protects them. It also protects the integrity of the work.

How word of mouth really works in this world

The vast majority of my clients come through word of mouth. It is rare that I am approached by someone who does not already know a person I have worked with before or who has not been introduced through a trusted intermediary.

The celebrity and media world appears vast from the outside, but in reality it is relatively small. Circles overlap. Teams talk. Lawyers recommend. Managers ask each other who handled what. Once you navigate a situation well within one network, your name travels quietly within that group. When something goes wrong for someone else in the same ecosystem, introductions are often made discreetly.

That is how trust circulates in crisis PR.

Public promotion is not what builds longevity in this space. Consistent discretion does.

The marketing balance

I am fully aware that this approach limits certain types of growth. There will always be potential clients who prefer visible portfolios and published case studies. That is a trade-off I accept.

Fortunately, credibility can be reinforced in other ways. Being regularly invited to comment on crisis situations on national and international television provides independent validation without compromising client privacy. Appearing on platforms such as the BBC involves scrutiny and vetting. You are invited back because you have demonstrated competence. That builds reassurance in a way that does not rely on naming clients.

Global coverage also allows visibility without breaching discretion. For me, that is far more powerful than attaching my name to someone else’s crisis.

Finally

Crisis PR is, by nature, confidential. I have signed more non-disclosure agreements than I could realistically count. Much of the work I am proudest of will never be attributed publicly and it doesn’t frustrate me.

If anything, it confirms that the strategy worked.

For anyone considering this line of work, it is important to understand that you are unlikely to receive public recognition. You may receive private gratitude. You may see something you structured reach millions of people and then quietly step away from it. If that absence of visible credit would bother you, this profession would be challenging.

For me, it suits my temperament entirely. I am not interested in being seen. I am interested in resolving the problem.

In crisis communications, invisibility is not a drawback. It is often the clearest sign that the job was done properly.