Crisis communications and reputation management get sold as the same service and they are opposites. One is about what you say while a story is running. The other is about what exists after it has stopped.
Confusing them is expensive in both directions: a firm that writes excellent statements and cannot touch your search results leaves you with a well-handled crisis that still ranks first for your name in three years, and a search firm brought in during week one will spend the retainer building assets nobody looks at while the story is still moving.
Eleven firms here. Our main guide sorts the market by outcome. This page is the live phase, and where it hands over.
The three phases, because different firms own each
Live, day zero to roughly week two. The story is moving, journalists are calling, and every decision is about what to say and to whom. Media relations work.
Settling, weeks two to eight. Coverage has peaked. The work shifts to corrections, update notes and clearing syndicated copies while editors still consider it a live matter.
Residual, month two onward. Nobody is writing anymore and the coverage is now a permanent search result. This is search work and it runs six to twelve months.
Most crisis engagements are sold for the first phase and most of the damage lives in the third. Ask any firm which phases they cover before signing, because almost none cover all three well.
What a communications firm can and cannot do
Can: prepare statements, manage journalist relationships, coordinate timing, advise on what not to say, and prevent the second-day story that is usually worse than the first.
Cannot: remove the article, change what ranks, or undo a quote. A firm promising the coverage will disappear is describing the third phase and charging first phase rates.
The most valuable thing a good crisis firm does is stop you making the situation worse, and that is genuinely worth paying for. It is just not the same purchase as fixing what remains.
The eleven
| Firm | Live phase | Settling | Residual | Reported entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status Labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Quote |
| Igniyte | Yes | Yes | Yes | Quote |
| TheBestReputation | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1,000 minimum |
| WebiMax | Yes | Some | Yes | 1,000 to 3,500 a month |
| Reputation911 | Yes | Yes | Yes | From about 500 |
| Reputation Resolutions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Pay for performance on removals |
| Reputation X | Some | Some | Yes | 3,000 a month |
| Terakeet | No | No | Yes | 100,000 minimum |
| Victorious PR | Yes | No | No | Near 10,000 |
| Minc Law | Some | Yes | Yes | Retainer |
| Reputation Flare | No | Yes | Yes | Quote |
Status Labs
Austin, founded 2012, four Inc. 5000 rankings, working with C-suite executives, corporate crisis and institutions facing reputational risk. One of the few firms genuinely staffed across all three phases, which matters because handovers between vendors are where crises get worse.
Wall Street Journal reporting has covered past practices involving fake news content. During a live crisis a firm may be publishing on your behalf under time pressure, which makes what they will and will not put out the most important question you can ask, not a footnote.
Igniyte
York, United Kingdom, since 2009, working internationally on crisis and suppression for FTSE 100 corporates, high net worth individuals and executives. The choice where coverage crosses jurisdictions, because media relationships are regional. No Clutch or G2 reviews exist, so verification rests on their own case studies, and they operate outside US time zones, which is a real constraint on a live story.
Reputation911
Massachusetts, since 2010 under the same founder, BBB accredited with a 5.0 across its Clutch reviews, covering crisis management alongside removal and suppression. Work starts around 500 dollars with crisis engagements quoted up to about 50,000.
The relevant strength for a crisis is reachability. Clients consistently praise direct phone access, and during a live story getting a decision made at nine in the evening matters more than platform depth. Team of under ten, which is also the constraint at scale.
Reputation Resolutions
Colorado, founded 2013, BBB accredited since 2014 with a reported clean complaint history, offering crisis management with 24/7 phone answering and removal billed pay for performance.
The billing structure is unusually sensible for a crisis, because the removal work that follows the live phase carries genuine uncertainty and paying on outcomes for that part is fairer than a blended retainer. Independent review volume is thin.
TheBestReputation
Williamsburg, Virginia, founded 2017, 5.0 across 27 verified Clutch reviews and ranked 201 on the 2025 Inc. 5000, pairing PR with SEO and content removal. Covers all three phases in one firm, at a 1,000 dollar minimum with typical projects from 10,000 to 49,000 dollars.
WebiMax
Marlton, New Jersey, since 2008, offering crisis response alongside SEO and paid media with a named project manager. Reported ORM budgets 1,000 to 3,500 a month. The 30 day written cancellation requirement has produced disputed charges, and Clutch scores are strong while Trustpilot sits at 3.0 with a majority of one star ratings.
Victorious PR
Las Vegas, founded around 2019, 4.8 across 27 verified Clutch reviews, delivering placements in Forbes, Entrepreneur and Business Insider. Include with a clear boundary: they provide proactive publicity only and do not offer suppression or negative content work, so they are a poor fit for reputation repair and a good fit for the positive coverage that follows a resolved crisis. Reported minimum near 10,000 dollars.
Minc Law
Cleveland, founded 2018, litigating in 26 states and 5 countries. Belongs in any crisis conversation for one reason: the first forty-eight hours are evidentiary. Content gets edited, accounts get deleted, and a claim you cannot document is a claim you cannot bring. They run online investigations to identify anonymous sources alongside removal work, and that capability expires fastest.
Reputation X
Mill Valley, since 2005, A plus BBB rating with accreditation since 2016, strongest in the residual phase with Wikipedia and Knowledge Panel work that most firms cannot do. Most engagements reported from 3,000 dollars a month.
Terakeet
Syracuse, since 2001, residual phase only, building owned-asset programmes for Fortune 1000 brands. Reported minimum around 100,000 dollars, with three rounds of layoffs across 2023 and 2024 on record.
Reputation Flare
Ours, and we do not do the live phase. We are not a communications firm, we will not manage journalist calls or draft your statement, and hiring us in week one would be a mistake.
We work the settling and residual phases: corrections and update notes while editors still consider it live, clearing syndicated copies, and building what outranks whatever stays. Against us: no published pricing and a thin independent review record.
The handover is where this goes wrong
If you use a communications firm for the live phase, agree at the outset what happens at week three. The common failure is that the crisis firm withdraws when calls stop, everyone exhales, and nobody addresses the coverage until it has been ranking for six months and become far harder to move.
Ask two questions in the first meeting. Who owns the search result in month three? And what do we do about corrections while editors still care?
Both are cheap to answer early and expensive to answer late. The guides cover the syndication audit and the correction request, both of which belong in the settling phase, and send us the coverage when the phones stop rather than when the ranking settles.
Last updated on September 8, 2026