Let’s set the scene…
You’ve put in all the extra hard work for a few months get your award entry ready, you’ve pressed the submit button, found out you were announced as a finalist, then the awards night arrives, and the judges call your name as the winner!
So, what happens when you win a business award? Aside from popping the bubbly!
What Should I Do When I’ve Won?
Celebrate
One of the first things we recommend you to do is organise a big celebration with your team. It’s true what they say about awards bringing a heightened sense of camaraderie within a company, and that’s because it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to prepare the entry, often from many team members throughout.
After you’ve won, you and your team deserve to relax, have fun, and soak up all the goodness that comes with winning. Not only it will solidify your team bonding, but also help to excel the hard work you’ve put in and keep it going long after the award has been given.
Post on social media
The next most important step after you have won a business award is to shout out about your success across all your social media channels. Make everyone aware that you are now an ‘award-winning business!’.
Social media is such a powerful marketing tool, and a lot of people will be happy to share your success. The more that people know about your award-winning status, the more you will increase your business profile and as a result, your sales turnover.
Make sure you are posting several times on all platforms for the few weeks that follow the awards night.
Add it to your marketing materials
Similar to your social media posts, you need to add your award-winning status onto all of your marketing materials. This includes your website (specifically the home page, but it’s worth adding a banner to all of your pages so that it has a higher chance of getting seen), your email footer, any workwear or uniform, any flyers or physical promotional materials you use and any forms of transport such as work vans or company cars.
The more you use your award-winning status within your marketing, the more it will start to show in your business credibility.
Send out a Press Release
Again, ensuring that you use your award win to it’s full potential, you should send out a press release to any local newspapers and magazines that are relevant to the area you are based in, or the industry field in which you operate. This will help to further get your name out in front of more potential customers and clients within your local area.
Events and Interviews
Now that you have been awarded a winning title within your industry, you should be open to the invitation to speak at future events and be willing to take part in interviews. People will now see you as somewhat of an expert within your field and it is a really positive thing to be able to pass on your knowledge to others who are aspiring to be where you are in the future. By taking part in interviews, it will help to form and nourish bonds with other companies and allow you to build a network of like-minded and inspiring people.
Articles
With you being awarded the extra status you could also start writing articles for your website to sit on an info section, or again write for magazines within your industry. People will respect the knowledge you have to share and will often want to collaborate with an award-winning business.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, all the above are important steps to take in order to help enhance the benefits you will receive after winning an award and can help to increase sales and turnover in the following 12 months after the win (British Quality Foundation Report).
One of the worst things you can do, which happens more often than you think, is to just sit back and do nothing and tell no-one. This won’t get you anywhere and is often doing a major disservice to yourself and your employees after all the hard work it has taken to prepare and complete the award entry.
The hard work doesn’t stop after you’ve won the award and sales won’t just pick up magically overnight by you staring at your trophy! You need to shout out about your win and make it known within the community and the industry.
If you’ve recently won an award but need a little extra help with things such as article writing, and press releases then get in touch with us!
