We regularly discuss the merits of entering awards with our clients, and we find that the benefits are often overlooked until pointed out. Finding relevant awards and then entering is often seen as something that is time consuming and expensive with a huge risk that you might enter and, gosh, not win. We have routinely argued that there are multiple rewards for even just entering local, regional and national competitions. Here are just a few:
1. Brand awareness – award entries are a very useful platform to increase brand awareness and visibility within your sector, as well as helping businesses piggyback into new unexplored areas.
2. Values – award entries positively support company values and are a good way of demonstrating them internally and externally.
3. Employee Comms – award entries are brilliant for employee comms. Recognising and rewarding a great pieces of work, as well as championing outstanding employees, does wonders for morale within the team itself, and across all other departments.
4. Networking – awards are a fantastic networking opportunity in a relaxed and informal setting, particularly useful if you are looking to grow your business or establish yourself as a significant voice in your industry.
6. Content – award entries create great content and news for your website and social feeds. This in turn helps to bolster your SEO rankings. The positive PR that you can generate from a single entry is also extremely significant and should not be overlooked.
4. Winning – many awards have very few entries (you’d be surprised) so by entering you may well become a finalist, with next to no effort. And should you go on to win? Then points 1-6 kick in all over again.
So even if you have a small business, have a look around and hunt out those awards. Create a strategy around those entries and capitalise on all the wonderful feel-good that comes with the small amount of work you’ll have to do to enter.
If you’d like any help with writing awards entries and all of the above, do contact us