Greg Simpson, founder of Press For Attention PR, shares why businesses should be entering awards.
Picture yourself in the audience at the Bricks Awards next year or at any awards for that matter.
The mystery celeb (or if you’re unlucky, ME) has the envelope clutched tightly. A chance beckons for glory, a whole heap of marketing opportunities, and the kind of positioning and brand boost that only awards can provide.
But you haven’t entered.
You’re there because it’s a great event full of energy, some networking opportunities and great stories and well, you know some of the finalists, so you’ve popped along to show your support.
Well done you!
One question remains…why HAVEN’T you entered?
You know what winning an award could do for your business. Don’t you?
- The immediate photo opportunity with the celeb or the judges.
- A chance to share your story with the audience.
- Then the thousands of readers of the associated media partner who will get to know who you are and your offering.
- The social media campaign kickstarted with a blaze of glory.
- The e-newsletter you can put out again because “I finally have something to say.”
- The newspaper front page mock-up you send to your prospects.
- The blog series that shares how you got to where you are today.
- The interviews you set up with fellow winners that elevate the opportunity for all of you.
- The chance to come back NEXT year perhaps to present the award to the winner and do it all again.
I could go on. If you need me to, just book a call, I’ve got tonnes of these ideas!
As I draft this for Tess and the East Midlands Business Link team, I have 3 awards in the final phases of writing for clients. None of these are the Bricks as they just finished but one is a regional award for a niche finance provider, one is a national industry award, and another is for an MBE – that is pretty involved and is a whole other positioning opportunity!
So plenty of people do enter awards, me included because they see the opportunity, but sadly, many others do not. For many, this is a mental block. They just are not very comfortable in the spotlight. They don’t like to “brag” or show off.
They worry what people will say if they win or even if they don’t!
For others it is a time and resource issue. They find writing a challenge and it is just one more thing that they need to get around to.
On the “bragging” issue, please, don’t feel this way.
The best awards submissions are based on the transformation that has been achieved, either for the customer, the employee, or the wider impact that the business has created.
The human element is in there and indeed the most compelling entries will play this strongly, but there’s a whole heap of difference between showing off vs inspiring others by sharing your journey.
On the time issue, well, you can outsource (hi there!) or you can do what I do which is to do a little bit at a time. Begin just by taking notes. Don’t try and answer the questions on the form immediately.
Go take a walk and have the questions on a scrap of paper. Bring your phone and just start to record your thoughts. You will recall a lot of things you had totally forgotten.
Then go and get them transcribed and you now have loads of raw material to shape your masterpiece from.
Now start answering the questions but please note what they are asking. Many awards forms are pretty specific and need proof. Give it to them. Find it. Show it.
I actually leave the introduction until last.
That is because by then I have a theme and I can set the scene better. Think of it as a trailer for a film. The judges need to be intrigued as they read your entry. Make them want to watch the whole film by whetting their appetite early on with more to be revealed.
My key piece of advice – tell a story. Judges don’t need your entire CV, potted history of the business and your inside leg measurement. They want content. They want a great awards night, and they want some people to come back again next year having told their mates. Give them that fuel and reap the rewards in the process.
A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press for Attention PR in 2008.
He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.
See this column in the November issue of East Midlands Business Link Magazine.
