What are the benefits of winning awards as a small business?
Have you considered entering your business into an award? If not, then why not? As the phrase goes ‘you have to be in it to win it’!
There are many different types of awards from international industry awards to local business awards. Some awards can be expensive to enter, whilst others are free so it is always worth asking before you commit. You can save money through taking advantage of early bird entries too.
If you're considering entering your business into an award, then do some research first. Have a look to see what awards you can enter on a national and industry level and make a note of the deadlines. Look through ALL the award categories and read the entry criteria to check you're eligible to participate.
Here are 5 reasons to enter your business into awards:
1. Credibility
Awards provide instant credibility. They provide proof to the outside world that you have excelled in an area and are a trusted pair of hands. You can use the award win as an official stamp or sign off on your stationery and email signature.
2. Increase awareness of your business
Awards bring publicity and increased exposure to your business. They provide an invaluable free marketing tool to introduce new people to your brand.
3. Can improve customer loyalty
Awards can aid customer loyalty. They can act as a reminder to your existing customers that you are a successful and high-quality business. They also provide a case study outlining your strengths and service capabilities that your existing customer base may not be aware of. This may lead to cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
4. Content for your blog and social media
Being nominated or winning an award, is an opportunity to create some valuable content for blog posts. You can extend the reach of winning the award by publicising it further on your website and create blog articles for social media, which in turn will help with your search engine optimisation (SEO).
5. Boost staff morale
No one can disagree that awards are great for business. We shouldn't forget they can aid internally with employee motivation and morale. Plus, they can help with recruitment.
Some winning tips
Here are a few pointers to help prepare your entry form:
Perfect your pitch – don’t underestimate how long it takes to prepare and write the entry form. Word limits are often imposed, making it trickier to perfect that winning paragraph. Take the time to craft every sentence.
Tell a story - list out the key points. What is the beginning, middle and end.
Tone - ensure the tone is upbeat and captures the readers imagination.
Think about results – results are fundamental. Write a long list of all your achievements you could include from website traffic to turnover and profit, projected ROI and social media engagement. You could include customer testimonials as well.
Be creative with your supporting material – ensure you read all the small print to see what you are allowed to send alongside the written entry and use this as an opportunity to impress the judges.
Proofread - get others to proofread and give you some feedback. Colleagues, members of staff and even friends and family can all help ensuring it is succinct, easy to understand and free of any grammatical errors.
Get repurposing
Good luck! Don't be disheartened if you don't win. There is always next year and writing award entry forms takes practice. The written submission can be reused and repurposed so it is never a waste of time. You can turn the entry into a case study and and reslice some of the content into copy for your website and for your marketing collateral.
For more marketing tips, have a look at our Sharp End blog. Or if you would like to discuss any element of your marketing, then please do get in touch.