How to pitch your work without client references
It can be difficult to get your company covered without a client to vouch for you, but sometimes that’s easier said than done. Here’s how to work around this pesky problem.
How can you pitch your story before clients will back your product?
This is a common issue. Customers don’t often want to reveal the products and services they use, as outside tools are often a company’s competitive advantage, or potential weak link. Nobody wants to reveal their secrets to success or strategic technology partners.
However, it’s essential for a company to have at least one customer willing to go on the record about their experience with you as their vendor. Reporters know the provider of a product is going to say only positive things. A customer’s viewpoint given their own experience is therefore more meaningful and being able to provide such an endorsement proves a business is selling. Happy customers indicate a company’s success, so being able to provide access to a customer is a credibility point.
However, PR pros know it’s difficult and rare for clients to have an active pipeline of customers willing to support—and offer the time—PR. A proactive, assertive PR team will use a few different strategies to get around this, to keep a client in the media until it can provide third-party endorsement.
1. Thought leadership
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