While the process of participating in business awards may take considerable time, effort and, in some cases, financial commitment, the potential benefits are also plentiful.
Some businesses, and individuals, hesitate to submit an awards program application because they doubt their chances of winning.
Of course, winning a prestigious business award comes with significant value. However, simply participating can also be rewarding.
The benefits of entering an award, even if you don’t win, shouldn’t be underestimated.
If your business is new, or not particularly large, you may be struggling to generate awareness of your brand in the eyes of your target audiences.
This is a typical situation in which participating in an awards program can help. The program’s organisers and sponsors will have processes in place for promoting the finalists and winners. When you add your own marketing and public relations activities to this, you can achieve exponential promotional results.
Simply being a finalist in an award category that includes established brands among the other finalists can almost instantly increase the accepted status of your business. It gets your name in front of audiences that count. It’s something worth telling the world about. The potential exposure is priceless.
Winning, or even just entering, a prestigious awards program can position your brand and your business – in the eyes of customers, prospects and other stakeholders – as an industry leader.
It can give you an immediate competitive advantage over those competitors who fail to participate. The third-party endorsement of an awards program gives you a credibility that they lack. When an independent arbiter – in the form of an awards judging panel – has reviewed, assessed and approved your work, other stakeholders (including customers and prospective customers) are likely to view it as a seal of authority.
The higher the prestige of the awards you enter, the more status you will attain in the process. This builds your target audiences’ trust and confidence in your ability to deliver the products and services you sell. They will see your business as a leader in your industry or profession.
Positioning is also an important consideration in terms of the award categories you enter. For example, if you’re in a technology company that wants to promote its capabilities in the mobile application space, it would make sense to enter the ‘mobile’ categories of an IT awards program rather than others.
Whether the strength of your business lies in customer service standards, product quality, innovation, sustainable practices or employee welfare, there’s an awards program and category that will enable you to position your company accordingly and stand out from your competitors.
The process of positioning your business in the market can also help your internal strategic alignment and direction. Once you articulate your company’s strategic vision in your award submission, it becomes easier for you and your people to believe in, and act on, that vision.
An award submission will require you to explain what you do in a clear, concise, logical way within a specific framework. It gives you a clearer perception of your company’s strengths and perhaps even weaknesses. It reveals your achievements from the previous year and helps you to set new goals for the coming year.
The result (whether you win or not) can also be enlightening in terms of confirming or questioning your overall strategic direction.
The ultimate benefit of entering an awards program, generating brand awareness and enhancing your brand positioning, is the potential boost to sales, customer acquisition, customer retention, revenue and profit.
In an era in which most buyers devote considerable time to detailed comparison shopping online, your business’ association with a prestigious award may be the factor that tips their purchasing decision in your favour.
Winning an award (or even being a finalist) offers social proof to prospective customers that your business can deliver everything it promises. Prospects are attracted by the leading companies in any industry.
This should make it much easier for your sales people to create new connections, build effective business relationships and win more business.
Existing customers are also likely to be reassured that their original choice of supplier is justified. If you receive an award, they tend to feel they have also been awarded for a wise choice of supplier. They may be almost as proud as you are. The process reinforces their trust in you, your products and/or your services.
This should make it easier for your account managers to fulfil the expectations of the customers they currently serve.
With increased customer acquisition and retention comes increased revenue and, potentially, profit. In fact, a research study of over 600 quality corporate award winners showed they had 37 per cent higher sales growth and a 44 per cent higher stock price return than their peers.
Awards participation can, therefore, translate directly to an improvement in bottom line results.
Whether you win or not, simply participating in an awards program can be justified by the networking benefits.
For a start, your application will be seen by at least one awards judge, who is likely to be senior industry practitioner. This judge will get to know your company and its achievements in detail.
If you are an award finalist and can attend the presentation event, you have a further chance to network with the judges (who also usually attend) and with other leading companies and individuals. This can be a great opportunity to establish relationships and forge invaluable alliances.
It also enables you to observe your competitors at close quarters. And the better you get to know them, the less intimidating they are likely to appear.
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1. Darrell Zahorsky, ‘The value of corporate awards’, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service website, http://stevieawards.com/sales/value-corporate-awards.
In addition, many awards events attract the most influential industry journalists, bloggers and other influencers. Developing a productive relationship with these individuals can prove invaluable for your business’ reputation and success.
It’s one thing to contact people online. It’s another to meet the same people, face-to-face, at an awards event where you and/or your business are among the stars.
Not many marketing or promotional tactics are as cost-effective as participating in an awards program.
Paid advertising may require an outlay of many thousands of dollars. Media relations requires a long-term commitment to building relationships with journalists – or an expensive payment to a specialist PR firm. Content marketing and social media marketing take time to achieve the results you desire.
Awards program participation, however, can be relatively inexpensive – if you choose the right awards to enter. They also potentially offer a big return within a relatively short time period, especially if you win.
Another cost-efficiency to be derived from entering awards is that the content of your application can be repurposed in other marketing collateral, such as your website, articles, case studies, brochures, emails, newsletters and social media updates.
If your business has ever had problems in attracting the best candidates for advertised positions, the recognition of an award win can help. In your job advertisements, it doesn’t hurt to promote your company as an ‘award-winning enterprise’.
The best people generally want to work with the best organisations. It looks impressive on their resumes. One way for them to identify the best potential employer is by seeing the awards they have won or have been in contention for.
Not only will a better quality of candidate apply for your advertised positions, but outstanding candidates may begin approaching your business even when no position is formally available.
Specific award category participation can also help you attract the types of candidates you value most. For example, winning an innovation award can help you attract innovation-minded candidates, or winning a diversity award can help you attract candidates from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds.
When your company wins an award, your existing employees are also likely to experience a surge of pride and increased loyalty.
Even the process of entering an awards program is a great team-building exercise. Writing your submission may require brainstorming among a group of internal stakeholders. Promoting your participating will involve input from your marketing and PR staff. You might also take some of your people along to the awards presentation event.
Then, especially if you win a team-based award, the shared elation is likely to be more valuable than any motivational meeting you could otherwise arrange. Co-workers will feel a sense of shared achievement and camaraderie. They are also likely to have a renewed respect for the contribution of the other team members.
The ultimate internal result of an award win – and the recognition this may bring – is happier employees. And happier employees are known to be more productive. They can also serve as effective advocates of your brand.
It’s all part of building a winning company culture and an engaged work force.
Once you’ve been through the process of crafting a winning submission for an awards program, you and your team are likely to be inspired to focus even more on the quality of your product or service offering described in the submission.
When you describe the attributes of your brand and business in glowing terms, you’ll thereafter want to live up to that description – through enhanced quality, greater innovation, a more intense attention to detail, improved service standards and better value.
You’ll be forced to compare your products and services directly with those of your competitors. This, in turn, will encourage you to continually improve all aspects of your business.