We appreciate that our readers will be at very different stages within the awards process (or, indeed, not yet convinced that the process is for them at all) and we, therefore, thought it might be useful to put together – as much as we can – an idea of what a typical ‘awards journey’ may look like.

So, here goes…

The realisation that awards may be for you;

1. You are proud of your business and you want to shout about it, or you have achieved great things within the last year and feel like these should be recognised
2. You have decided that an award may be a great way to benchmark your operation against that of your peers
3. You have noticed that many of your competitors or business contacts seem to be entering (and perhaps also winning) awards
4. Your current approach to marketing just doesn’t seem to be creating the kind of ‘buzz’ you’d like to see or isn’t providing enough new business leads
5. You are ready to take on a new challenge as part of your own personal development and have never entered awards before

 

The next step;

1. Consider the areas where you believe your / your company excel or what makes you different from others doing what you do
2. Look at the awards calendar for the next 12 months and identify any awards / categories which are of relevance to you and your business. Make a plan including all the awards you’re interested in
3. Give a thought to the awards which may be important to or admired by your target market or the audience you’d like to reach
4. Think about any time commitments you already have to ensure that you choose awards which you can comfortably enter without putting yourself under severe pressure
5. Investigate and consider the costs involved and make sure your award selection for the year ahead doesn’t outstrip your budget

 

The entry form;

1. Make sure you have set aside sufficient time to complete the application; preferably a number of time slots to cover first draft, proof read, amendments and final checking
2. Read the application carefully a number of times and make sure that you understand exactly what they expect to see in your entry – make a list and check against it when you’ve finished
3. Find out what supporting information you may need to send in with your entry and make sure you have it ‘in hand’, be it headshots, videos, testimonials, case studies or brochures
4. Enlist the help of colleagues and friends to remind you of things you or the business have done which might be ‘above and beyond’ the norm
5. Do not ‘skimp’ at the final checking stage and seek a second opinion (or third, or fourth…) to make sure that you’ve nailed the story, mastered the grammar and avoided any jargon (see our previous post all about the dreaded jargon!)

 

The real fun bit;

1. Get excited about being shortlisted – or even winning!
2. Think about who you would take along to the awards event
3. Buy a great outfit which will look fab in the publicity shots
4. Make space on the mantelpiece or in the boardroom for the shiny trophy
5. Draft the amazing social media posts and press releases that you’ll use to tell the world!!

 

Love the idea but struggling with time (or know that awards entries aren’t your thing)?

That’s exactly where awards experts such as The Awards People come in.  From the moment you decide that awards are indeed for you, we can be your support team. Our involvement throughout the awards journey will be tailored to suit what you want and need; from planning to completion we can edit, proof read, sense check or simply take the whole process off your hands completely.  Your brief, our pleasure.

To find our more contact Rachel via email on rachel@theawardspeople.co.uk