Why winning awards is good for your business – and how to do it
At Pace we’re proud to count a growing number of award-winning businesses among our clients. Some have had their achievements recognised by industry bodies, while others have been taken the top prize in regional, national or even international business awards programmes.
Currently a number of our clients are shortlisted for upcoming awards, including ones organised by the Yorkshire Post, Hull Live Business as well as specialist interiors magazine Mixology.
There are lots of reasons why winning awards is good for your business.
One of the most compelling is that receiving this type of recognition can help you attract new customers – being award-winning can confer an instant ‘stamp of approval’ on your business, especially if the awards body is your industry’s professional or trade body.
Winning an award – or even being shortlisted for one – also reminds existing customers why you’re deserving of their business, increasing their confidence in your products or services.
And an award win provides an opportunity to promote your business – and, specifically, its success – through PR, social media and on your website and email autosignatures.
Winning awards is great for your people, too – just the act of entering an awards programme demonstrates pride in what your team has achieved; while a win can have a huge morale-boosting impact that drives them on to even greater achievements.
And it can help attract new talent too – after all, who doesn’t want to work for an award-winning organisation?
But entering awards can be difficult and time-consuming – and if, after all your efforts you’re not shortlisted, it can be disheartening too.
So, how can you improve your chances of success?
At Pace we think there are two key ingredients for an award win:
An outstanding product, service, project, team or achievement that’s truly worthy of an award
A well-crafted award entry that tells – and sells – the story of your product, service (or whatever it is) to the judges
You might think just the first ingredient is enough, and that any judges worth their salt will be able to recognise the excellence you’ve achieved.
The reality is that for your entry to make an impact on a judge who may not know the first thing about your company (or your industry, if it’s for a general business award) it needs to be well-structured and tightly written.
Our tips?
Give yourself plenty of time. Before you start, make sure you have a clear understanding of the judging criteria and how entries will be assessed
Provide clear evidence of your success and what you achieved – for example, did you solve a business or customer problem, improve efficiency, increase sales, improve customer satisfaction? Be specific and include numbers
Many awards programmes restrict entries to a very limited wordcount. Even when they don’t, avoid the temptation to provide detail that’s not relevant to the award category
If supporting materials are allowed as part of your entry, make these work for you. Great photography, well-designed visuals and engaging video are all worth spending time on – but ONLY if they back up your written submission and their context is clear
Allow time before the submission deadline to carefully review and refine your entry
Given the potential benefits to your business, it’s well worth seeking support with awards entries from people who know how to tell a story and have a track record of success.
We can help you become an award-winning company, from identifying which awards programmes are most relevant for you, unearthing success stories from across your business and drafting compelling entries that will wow the judges.
Get in touch with us at hello@pacecomms.co.uk to find out more.
