Entering a business award can be a strategic move for small businesses, offering a range of benefits that can significantly enhance your marketing and PR efforts. One of the primary benefits is the enhanced credibility and reputation that comes with winning or even being nominated for an award. This recognition signals to potential customers, investors, and partners that your business is reputable, trustworthy, and stands out in its field.
Moreover, awards provide valuable publicity, putting your business in the spotlight and increasing its visibility. This increased exposure can attract new customers, partners, and opportunities, helping you expand your reach and grow your business. Winning awards also validate your expertise, excellence, and commitment to quality, serving as external recognition of your achievements and reinforcing trust and confidence in your products or services.
Stand Out From the Competition
In a crowded marketplace, awards can help you differentiate your business from competitors by highlighting what sets you apart and why customers should choose you over others. Additionally, awards recognition boosts employee morale and engagement by fostering a sense of pride and accomplishment among your team. It motivates employees to strive for excellence, driving engagement and loyalty within the organization. An evening out at an awards ceremony or the rewards that can come from a win can really provide a boost in many ways.
Furthermore, awards ceremonies and events offer excellent networking opportunities. They allow you to connect with industry leaders, potential collaborators, and like-minded professionals, expanding your network and opening doors to new opportunities. Winning or being nominated for awards also provides valuable content for your marketing collateral, which can be showcased on your website, social media, and promotional materials, reinforcing your brand message and value proposition. Lets be honest having something to shout about other than the normal stuff like reviews, your offers and latest blog can be really useful if you struggle for content inspiration.
Plan for Business Award Success
When incorporating awards into your marketing and PR plans, it’s essential to strategically select awards that align with your business objectives, target audience, and industry niche. Consider both local, regional, and national awards, as well as industry-specific awards and customer-nominated awards. Invest time and effort in preparing compelling award submissions that highlight your unique selling points, key achievements, and impact on customers or the community.
If you’re shortlisted or win an award, capitalize on the opportunity to maximize exposure by issuing press releases, updating your website and social media profiles, and engaging with local media outlets to share the news. Encourage your employees, customers, and partners to support your nomination or celebrate your win, as their testimonials and endorsements can strengthen your submission and amplify your success.
Shout About Your Business Award
Incorporate awards into your marketing campaigns and content calendar by creating dedicated blog posts, case studies, or videos highlighting your award journey and its significance to your business. Attend awards ceremonies and events to network with peers, industry influencers, and potential customers, build relationships, share insights, and explore collaboration opportunities that can further enhance your business growth. Finally, use awards as a benchmark for continuous improvement by evaluating feedback from judges or organizers and identifying areas for enhancement to leverage your award wins as springboards for future success.
Looking for Some Extra Inspiration?
Now if you are looking for some extra inspiration we can personally recommend a couple of books for you read. Winner by Denise O’Leary is a real winner and Win! by Donna O’Toole both offer hundreds of insights, tips and insider secrets for entering businesses. The other thing we always recommend our clients to do is start a folder (either physical or digital) of all your entries, sample entry forms and the answers to standardised questions. This will really help you to optimise your answers, save time and eventually as you enter more awards you can improve on each entry over time.