Own achievements make for easy PR

However, something that always baffles me is the number of companies that win big name clients (after plenty of blood, sweat and tears) and then do nothing to advertise the fact. It's mind boggling – a reputable company has chosen YOU above all the other competitors to provide a product or service, and you are not singing and dancing about the fact.

Most people know that if you have a reputable client base the chances of you getting more business is greatly improved. If ABC Logistics can win a contract to manage the supply chain of a highly recognisable multi-national pharmaceutical manufacturer, then the chances of them being able to do a good job for other companies is greatly improved.

“But my client will get grumpy with the ‘secondary press' that my PR activities will generate” is something that a lot of people worry about.

Absolutely this is something you need to consider but this could play out in two ways:

1. If the client is being reflected in a good light, it will probably want you to work with its in-house PR/marketing team to get some mileage out of the activities. Maybe you've made its plant safer or its staff better educated. Things like that make for good PR activities.

2. If your client doesn't want the secondary press, it's very easy for you to still convey the facts without disclosing who your client is.
   

For instance, recently we won a contract to supply some wellness-related work to a multinational aerospace company. It doesn't want the secondary press on it but there is nothing to stop me running a short release along these lines:

BEGINS
A multi-national aerospace supplier has selected Rival Industrials' Wellness division to manage various components of its corporate wellness initiatives.

BODY TEXT
ENDS

Easy as that. Short and sweet and you have not stepped on anyone's toes but you have got the message across. Most trade journals or industry mags tend to have a column dedicated to New Accounts or Business Won – use these to your advantage.

Look back over your recent successes and decide whether or not you could have gotten more out of them by some follow-up PR activities. It seems silly to get the client and not get some of the glory that goes with the hard work...