Notes for owners · Branding and communication
What a professional should post and what to keep private
A rule for deciding what an advocate, adviser or consultant can share online: methods, mistakes and client-safe stories, never confidences. Includes a pre-post test and a note on your council's code.
The GullySales team · Updated 17 Oct 2026 · 5 min read
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Share how you think, what you got wrong and stories that nobody could trace to a client. Keep to yourself anything a client told you in confidence, anything that identifies them, and anything your professional body's code limits. That is the whole rule. For an advocate, accountant, doctor or architect, the second half matters more than the first, because the code you signed up to usually decides what you may say publicly. Rules differ by state and body and change, so check with your own council or adviser before you post anything about a case.
What is lower risk to share
Three kinds of post carry little risk and build real trust.
Methods. The steps you follow, the checks you make, the questions you ask on a first call. "Before I look at a lease I read the exit clause first, and here is why" shows how you work without touching any client.
Your own mistakes. A slip of yours, told plainly, with what you changed. Buyers read this as honesty, and no client is involved.
Client-safe stories. A composite or heavily disguised situation that shows a kind of problem. Mark it as a composite if it is one. Do not present it as a real matter.
A fourth kind is sometimes safe: public information explained. A change in a notified procedure, a new form, a deadline everyone already knows. Explain what it means for your type of client. Say plainly that people should check the current position with their adviser, because these things change.
What to keep private
- Anything told in confidence. Even after the matter closes.
- Anything that identifies a client, including combinations of town, trade, amount and date.
- Results presented as promises. "Won every case of this kind" is a claim, not a story, and regulated bodies often restrict it.
- Opinions about named people or firms, including competitors and opposing parties.
- Screenshots of messages, documents or reports that contain someone else's details.
- Anything you would not want read out in front of the client.
Post ideas by profession, sorted
Use this as a starting list. The right column is a prompt for you to check, not a ruling.
| Profession | Post idea | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advocate | The three documents I ask for before a first meeting | Lower risk, check the code | Method, no client |
| Advocate | "Won a stay for a client against a landlord" | Ask first | Outcome claim, client may be identifiable |
| Chartered accountant | A filing date that people tend to miss, explained | Lower risk if the date is current | Check the date again before you post |
| Chartered accountant | A client's tax saving, with the amount | Do not post | Confidential, and reads as a promise |
| Doctor | How to prepare for a first consultation | Lower risk, check the code | General information |
| Doctor | A patient's before and after picture | Check your council first | Consent and advertising rules differ by body |
| Architect | Why I walk a site before drawing | Lower risk, check the code | Method |
| Architect | A client's house, finished, with the address visible | Ask first | Client's home and privacy |
A test to run before you post
Ask these in order. Stop at the first no.
- Could the client, reading this, recognise themselves? If yes, do not post.
- Could anyone else recognise them from a detail? Town, trade, amount, timing, a phrase they use.
- Does it teach a method, a mistake or a general point?
- Would your professional body's code allow this wording? If you have not read the relevant section lately, read it or ask.
- Would you say it in front of the next client?
The fifth is the plain test, and the one that catches what the others miss. If you would hesitate to say it aloud to a client, the post is wrong.
An advocate in Kochi, and the post not written
Take an invented advocate in Kochi who handles tenancy disputes for small shop owners. The advocate wants to post about a case where a landlord's notice was defective.
The tempting post: "Won an eviction stay for a Mattancherry spice shop owner against a landlord who gave notice on the wrong form." Spice shop owners in that lane know each other. The landlord would recognise the case, and the shop owner never agreed to be public. The line "won" also reads as a promise.
The fix is to write about the pattern. The draft ran:
Three things I check on any tenancy notice before I advise a shop owner: who signed it, what it says it is for, and whether it reached the right address. This is general information, not advice on your notice. Tenancy rules differ by state and change, so show your own papers to your own lawyer.
It gives no town, no trade, no result and no name. The disclaimer sits inside the post, not in a footnote nobody reads. The advocate also read the section of the bar council's rules on advertising before posting, because what an advocate may say in public is the council's call. The post went up a week later than planned, after that reading.
The second post is less dramatic and draws far fewer comments. It also cannot hurt a client, and a shop owner who needs a lawyer can see what is checked. Run the tempting post through the test above and it fails at question 1: the shop owner would see themselves in it at once.
When not to post at all
If you are in the middle of a matter, wait. If you feel angry at a client, wait. If your council has recently changed its guidance and you have not read it, wait. If a post can only be written by naming a client, it is not a post, it is a case study, and it needs the written consent of that client and a check against your code.
Staying quiet about client work does not mean staying quiet about your craft. A practice with ten posts about method and mistakes may look more trustworthy than one with a single boast.
Where to go from here
The personal branding hub collects the guides on profiles and voice. If you are a doctor, see personal branding for doctors and other regulated professionals.
Draft one post today
Write down five methods you use without thinking. Pick one, run the test above, and draft the post in plain words. If you want help setting a voice that fits your council's code, see personal branding or tell us what you need.
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