How to Win Your First UK Logos

Do You Need UK References to Be Taken Seriously?

Eventually, yes. But not to get started.

You will be asked early, though, and it’s worth having an answer ready.

Inpulse was hit with that question straight away: prospects wanted to know which UK clients it worked with, and being a market leader in France wasn’t what they were looking for.

Reassuringly, being foreign matters less than most companies fear. UK buyers aren’t especially loyal to legacy providers, and recognizable international logos genuinely help.

How Do You Win the First One?

By taking a small piece of a big client instead of waiting to win a big piece.

A recognizable name on a minor contract can be worth more than an unknown one on a major contract. 

Take Mollie, which got into Gymshark by supplying payment methods for other markets. That modest deal opened a door worth considerably more than the contract itself.

“Being able to put in every deck that you work with Gymshark is a game changer.” – Adrien Dupuis, Country Manager France @ Mollie

Budget for those “modest deals”. Your first 2 or 3 UK references will be hard-won and expensive: custom work, free services, priority support. That’s customer acquisition cost, not discounting, and it’s better planned as a line item.

How Do You Turn a Client Into an Advocate?

Give them a reason to talk about you, and somewhere easy to do it.

A satisfied customer isn’t automatically an advocate, and the gap between the 2 is often just deliberate effort. Most companies stop before they’ve closed it and miss out on the advocacy their product deserves.

Malt’s approach? To find the clients with an internal champion, then go well beyond the contract to support them, including producing video content at Malt’s own expense for the client to use internally.

The reason it’s worth the investment is simple: a client saying something positive about your brand carries far more weight than you saying it. So line up the stages in advance – the events, the panels, and the case studies – so a happy customer has somewhere ready to speak for you.

What Else Builds Credibility Quickly?

Reviews and the website you already have.

Automated review collection is one of the easiest ways to build credibility.

UK buyers check the scores, and a strong one works quietly in the background. iBanFirst rolled out automated review collection in the UK before anywhere else and now scores 4.8 on Trustpilot.

Your website can reinforce the same credibility before a call. UK or internationally recognized client logos, local social proof, and messaging built around ROI all help.