Your first thought on reading this, is why should I even consider entering a Business Award?
Essentially, they are a marketing tool and a way to tell your clients how fantastic you are. They can be great for growing your business and valuable for customer trust. Below are 7 reasons to enter Business Awards, where to find them and how
to make the most of them.
1. The hard figures
If you’re still not convinced, let the hard figures do the convincing. The British Quality Foundation and the European Foundation for Quality Management have carried out studies that have put these benefits into cold, hard numbers. Their major finding: award-winning companies outperformed comparison companies by an average of 17% for sales and 36% for share value after just 3 years. The British Quality Foundation followed 120 awardwinning and 120 non-award-winning companies over 11 years. The results were that the awardwinning companies outperformed the others by 77%.
2. Maximise visibility of your brand
The marketing opportunities that come with making an awards shortlist, or a win, mean your business will be in the spotlight for all the right reasons. Reputable business awards can generate significant publicity across local and national press and social media, and with the award process running across several weeks, or even months, you’ve a constant source of traffic to your website and social pages. Make sure you share your involvement on social media using any hashtags associated with the awards, connect with other businesses involved and include news on your website and in your newsletters. Take advantage of this exposure to promote your business to new customers, as well as increasing respect from your existing client base.
3. The opportunity to evaluate your current business model
The application process gives you an opportunity to reassess your business from a different perspective. You will need to ensure that you stand out from the competition. Winning the award is a great validation that you’re moving in the right direction, but even if you didn’t win, you can use the experience to assess what you are doing and improve, which may be more useful than the winning the award itself.
4. Networking
Business awards are often judged by successful business owners and being judged gives you the opportunity to discuss your business with leaders in the industry. Don’t forget too, that business awards attract other entrants and give you the opportunity to network and build relationships too.
5. Increased credibility
A business award win, short-listing or nomination acts as a third party endorsement for your business, increasing your credibility and positioning you as an expert within your industry. Winning a business award clearly differentiates you from your competitors, and can provide a real competitive advantage when seeking or retaining customers, or speaking to suppliers. If you’re seeking investment, such an award brings recognition as the best or most promising firm in your field can really help your case.
6. Boosts staff morale & attracts new talent
The impact internally on your company on entering awards can’t be underestimated. It tells your employees that you value them, their work and their commitment to the company highly. The positivity generated among them will transfer to the work they do for you: better customer service to outside customers, a better work environment internally and better recruitment. Business awards will also help attract and retain new recruits. Who doesn’t want to be associated with an awardwinning company?
7. Creates a point of differentiation
Award entries allow you to benchmark yourself against others and truly stand out from the crowd. It showcases your expertise in a particular area. This translates into marketing opportunities, on your website, business cards, leaflets, trade show banners and more. 80% of buyers are influenced by such awards.
So where do you find out about what the right business award is for your company?
There are companies that can guide you through the process – at a cost, of course, but they can take some of the hard work off you and guide you to find the right award. They may be worth looking at, but you can enter yourself.
There is a comprehensive list of awards at https://awards-list.co.uk/uk-awards/
Don’t forget too, the Federation of Small Business runs both regional and national awards as well:
https://www.fsbawards.co.uk/
and lastly, Google is your friend: spend some time researching local business awards: Muddy Stiletto, British Chambers of Commerce, SME News, Rural Business Awards and many, many more.
The process in entering can take time away from your core business, but if you think of this as an opportunity to assess your company’s direction in a particular area, as well as a marketing opportunity, you will see the value in doing so. Even while waiting for results, you can blog about entering, tweet about finalising your entry, and more.
Finally: Don’t forget that as your Association too, we can support you too. Remember to let us know how you get on and we can highlight it on social media too, bringing an even broader media presence to your company. We’re proud of what you do and delighted to support you.
Good luck!
The ARPAS-Ops Team
October 2019