The very beginning of the process for many of our new clients is an Awards Plan.  It’s not for everyone as seasoned awards entrants will already be very familiar with the awards calendar and then others will, of course, have already decided exactly which awards they want to go for.  That said, it’s a great starting point for those businesses who know they have something special going on but don’t, as yet, know how to tell everyone about it.

Now, for the purposes of transparency – and to make this blog more than just an unashamed sales plug – let’s assume that when we say ‘Awards Plan’ we could be speaking about the bespoke one which we at The Awards People lovingly put together or we could be referring to an in-depth piece of research laboriously carried out in-house (although the latter requires serious amounts of time to be applied and that can be something of a barrier…).  What we essentially mean is:

 ‘Why start with jolly good planning before making your first award entry?’

We would say it’s simply about reward.  We all know that there is effort involved in award entry; time and energy must be applied to do oneself justice on the page. There may even be an element of cost if there is an entry fee, if video is required or if new headshots are desperately needed, or even if a knockout presentation pack is called for.  It is, therefore, imperative that the maximum return is achieved from every single application completed.

A good Awards Plan considers every bona fide awards event on the calendar and whittles out those which are best suited and potentially most beneficial.  Some may be directly related to the industry of the business entering, some will undoubtedly be totally detached from that arena and relating more to individual characteristics or stand-alone achievements.  Taking the time to step back and seriously consider overall objectives will identify which direction could be most fruitful and which awards would achieve the most desirable end result.

A few examples of what might be considered as part of the plan:

• • Future plans – in which direction is the business heading e.g. expansion, diversification, maybe even sale?
  • Target market preferences – what would be of most value to the audience who you are trying to impress and attract?
  • Challenges within the business – be they retention of valuable employees, attraction of new talent, exporting difficulties, even breaking into new markets
  • Profile-raising potential – which are simply the ‘biggest hitters’ when it comes to awards titles that will attract the maximum amount of attention

The truth is that a win in one particular award could mean so much more than a win elsewhere and without an Awards Plan valuable resources may be thrown at something which is ultimately the option of least value.

At The Awards People we argue that every award (provided it is a recognised, bona-fide event) has value in terms of raising profile, boosting confidence, providing valuable networking opportunities and the like, but it is also true to say that NOT ALL AWRADS ARE EQUAL and to find the real gems for your own particular circumstances you may have to take a really good look at the whole range on offer.

If you would like to chat to us to see what we can do for you – be it the completion of an Awards Plan or just a push in the right direction to start your own – then please do get in touch via theawardspeople.co.uk/contact/