When you choose the right awards for yourself and your business, along with entering the right category, the benefits they bring to raising your profile, opening doors, and boosting sales are unmatched.
The right approach to awards
We’ve all had the email saying we’ve won an award, and we’re invited to pay for a seat. Or how about the one where there isn’t even an award ceremony, but you’ve won some obscure accolade and just need to pay two grand for a special trophy and a half page advert in a magazine you’ve never heard of? Avoid being seduced by this approach, they’re just trying to get your hard-earned cash with an ego stroke.
Instead, to get the right value from awards, you need to take a more focused approach.
The awards that are worth it are the ones that will get you seen by the right people in your industry – the ones that are respected and open doors. It’s worth taking your time to do some research: find out if there’s any awards your competitors have been recognised for, or what that impressive entrepreneur you’re always stalking on LinkedIn has been shortlisted in. If you come across any you’re unsure about, taking a look at some of the previous years’ winners can be a good way to suss out the calibre of the award and if it’s the right fit for you.
Why are awards worth it?
Awards can seem like a lot of work (especially when you’ve got a million other things to do), but these six benefits should convince you that they’re worth it.
External validation for your business
When you win or get shortlisted for an award, not only does it feel amazing, it also
instantly ‘validates’ your business externally. Potential customers, clients – or prospective partners – are likely to be far more impressed by someone else saying that you’re good at what you do (rather than sounding like you’re just ‘blowing your own trumpet’).
Reputation and credibility
To win a business award – or to even be shortlisted – you need to demonstrate excellence. Therefore ‘award winning’ businesses typically have unique qualities or experiences that make them stand out in their industry which demonstrates professional and/or industry recognition when they win an award.
Awards can also help you to attract and retain the best people – as being ‘award winning’ suggests your company values excellence and is a great place to work.
A (literal) badge of success
When you win awards you (literally) get a ‘digital’ badge to add to your website, email signatures and social channel. This is ‘social proof’ of your credibility – and shows that you’re the ‘real deal’.
Increase sales
Awards are also a great way to generate leads – and new business – and not just because awards success can help you get ‘found’ more easily via search engines.
For example, last year I was at an award ceremony and sat next to the owner of an advertising agency based in Wales. A few months down the line, they had become a client – something that would never have happened had we not been at that awards ceremony (we’re based in Newcastle).
Expand your network
Awards also give you access to a community of business owners and like-minded people you can collaborate with. It also creates fun PR and content opportunities for social media and other content platforms (we’ll cover more on this later in the training).
And you just never know what opportunities might arise as a result of the relationship
you make. For example, I was at a winners’ drinks party for category winners at the Best Women’s Business Awards. I met a lawyer at the bar who was working for a popular Channel 4 lunchtime TV show at the time – Steph’s Packed Lunch. This led to multiple TV appearances for me as she introduced me to the producer.
Another time, I was at an awards ceremony in London when I met a fellow entrepreneur that led to a Joint Venture for a digital product – something that likely wouldn’t have happened had we not met at the awards.
Evaluate and improve
The awards entry process provides an opportunity to take a step back and evaluate your own business – so you can improve performance and set future goals.
For example, one client we worked with – a successful HR company – shared that entering business awards encouraged her to gather testimonials and feedback (via a client survey). This was something she’d never done before – and opened her eyes to how this type of content can be repurposed in other ways in her business – for client proposals, social media posts and LinkedIn recommendations, for example.
I hope I’ve convinced you to give awards a go. If you need help coming up with an excellent awards strategy that targets the best awards for you or some help writing a compelling entry, check out how Moja can help.
