Being an award-winning business is great for both your marketing and heightening customer confidence.
But many business owners shy away from entering business awards.
Why not enter?
Imposter syndrome sets in…
Are you and your business good enough to win an award?
Where do you find business award entries to enter?
And when you do find the hundreds on offer, how do you select the right ones?
Then, of course, what do you actually include in the award entry?
Is your business interesting enough?
Has it achieved enough?
Is it special enough?
Do you do anything that your competitors for the award don’t?
What are the judges looking for?
Or if it’s an open vote, do you know enough people to vote for you?
Most business owners think all of the above. And that’s exactly why most business owners don’t enter.
You’d be surprised, particularly for small business awards, just how few entries there are.
How to find business awards to enter
If you are a member of an organisation such as a local Chamber of Commerce, you can bet they hold annual business awards. Some local councils and regions also run awards.
Industry specific organisations will also hold awards.
There are awards run by national organisations – some of which have regional categories.
There are companies who compile lists of awards on their websites (with the hope you’ll engage them to create your award entry for you).
Then, of course, there’s good old Google (other search engines are available!)
Whichever way you decide to look for awards, be prepared to spend some time sifting through.
It’s not a quick exercise unless an organisation lets you directly know about them.
In many cases, you can register for information and join the mailing list. This will help to save time after your initial search.
How do you choose which business awards to enter
Once you’ve found awards which look like they might be suitable, dig deeper.
How is judging going to work? If it’s a panel of judges, who are they and what do they do (LinkedIn stalking is always good here!)?
What does the actual award description say it’s looking for?
It’s no good thinking you satisfy some of the criteria specified.
You need to satisfy it all. Otherwise, quite frankly, you’re wasting your time and money entering.
If you can answer each part of the award entry and provide evidence, then don’t get scared off at this point.
It’s very, very, easy to talk yourself out of entering at this stage – that imposter syndrome sets in again!
If you ‘more or less’ meet the criteria but another year would make all the difference to the strength of your entry, then consider whether it would be better to wait until the next round.
What to include in an awards entry
It’s really useful here to have an outsider gather the information to include.
I know you will be saying here, “well you would say that Claire, you write business award entries”…
But hear me out.
You are very close to your business.
What you do each day is routine to you.
But it may be incredibly innovative in your industry and you just don’t realise.
Let me give you an example…
I was asked by an accountancy practice to prepare an award entry for them. I went in and was asking questions of the MD.
We got on to innovative practice.
They talked about all the things you’d expect an accountant to talk about…
Cloud software, training clients on the cloud software, monthly review calls with clients…
Then, I’m not sure what I asked, but they started explaining all about how if a member of the team was busy working and didn’t want disturbing, they’d put their earphones in as a sign to the others that they wanted to be left alone.
Now that to me was a real innovative way of working together.
From that, the conversation developed into even more unique ways they worked.
Let’s just leave it by saying they won that award, and many, many more following.
You don’t have to have someone like me to prepare the business award entry for you, but it is useful to get an impartial pair of eyes to look at the award criteria and ask you lots of questions – you’ll be amazed at what you find yourself discussing.
Evidence
Often you can include evidence in your award entry.
This could be customer testimonials, extracts from your business plan, details of increased turnover or staff numbers, to name just a few.
If you can fit customer testimonials in within the wordcount, then always do. Judges love them.
The closing date is too close
Never assume the awards will close on the published date.
Always ask the question.
I know several companies who’ve won awards after enquiring if they could submit a late entry!
Reusing award entries you’ve prepared before
My advice on this would always be to repurpose not reuse!
No two business awards are exactly the same. In requirements or format of entry.
Look at each award fresh, make notes, and then look at your previous drafted entries and see if anything is appropriate.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but make sure it’s the right size and fit for the new vehicle.
Using a third party to prepare your business award entries
The first thing to note is that having business award entries prepared will involve a cost.
Obvious… I hear you say…
Well, yes, it is. But some companies who prepare awards, charge (in my humble opinion) extortionate rates.
I’ll tell you how I work.
I quote per award.
The reason for this is that every application form is different, and each will require a different amount of time writing the entry.
Some application forms have one question and a wordcount of say 500-1000 words.
Others have multiple questions with wordcounts for each of between 150-500 words.
Some forms require evidence within the answers, others require it attaching as appendices.
Interview
Even with clients I know well, I still set up a meeting for me to interview them about the award.
It would be too easy for either party to miss something that could tip the balance if included otherwise.
I ask lots and lots (and lots) of questions.
I gather much more information than I need to include, but it all helps me prepare.
Draft form
I then draft the entry for the client to review.
Sometimes this sparks even further information they’d not thought about including before.
There can be multiple revisions until we’re satisfied it’s the best possible entry we could compile.
Time
The process of preparing a business award entry needs time built in.
The initial interview meeting has to be scheduled into busy diaries. Then after the first draft there needs to be reflection time.
If at all possible, a month is required – although I have managed to turn award winning entries around in just two weeks for existing clients.
Cost
So, what does it cost, I hear you ask.
I can only provide rough guidance here for my service. A fairly straight forward award will cost approx. £250 to prepare for you. These things should never be rushed!
More information on my service can be found on my business award entry preparation page. Or just get in touch by Whatsapp message by scanning the QR code below.
The author
Claire Taylor Foster is the founder of Raspberry Flamingo Copywriting and Content Marketing.
She started her copywriting and marketing after leaving school way too long ago to mention! Direct Response Copy is her passion. Read more on Claire here.
As far as Claire’s concerned, if copy and content doesn’t contain ‘on-page’ SEO, then it’s pointless publishing it! (Unless of course, paid advertising is going to drive the traffic.)
