Wondering why your competitor is winning awards, not you? Sick of seeing their name in neon lights, while you struggle to get the recognition you deserve?
If you want your business to be award winning, but you’re not sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place.
Our team of experts have come together to outline the eight most common reasons why your competition is winning business awards, and you aren’t.
1. Entering Multiple Awards
Are you entering the awards you want to win? Many people think that businesses and individuals just randomly get chosen as finalists and winners for business and industry awards, but this is not the case.
Whilst some awards may not require you personally to enter, all awards programs require nominations to define their candidate pool. It’s like people who say they want to win the lottery, yet never buy a ticket. If you want to win, you need to submit an award entry.
If you are entering awards, how many are you entering? Completing submissions for multiple awards increases your chances of winning, as it allows you to tailor your award entries based on the successes of different departments within your business.
Just because you didn’t qualify for the Small Business Champion Award, doesn’t mean you won’t be seen as a promising candidate for the Young Entrepreneur Awards.
2. Great Time Management
The process of entering awards can be quite complex, so if your competitor is winning, they’re likely very organised. Before you begin the application process, ensuring you have an adequate amount of time to complete the awards application is key. This process will almost always take longer than you expect.
What makes it even more difficult is the amount of awards that Australia currently has on offer for businesses large and small, and the varying deadlines that accompany them.
Managing your submission in regard to meeting all these different awards application deadlines, and the fact that you need to plan interviews with key senior executives in time for these dates, all factor into your potential to become award-winning.
3. Clever interviews with Senior Management
Getting the right information is crucial in determining which awards you are most likely to win, so you can secure success. This is why getting interviews with the right people, and asking them the right questions, is crucial.
Your competitor would definitely be interviewing senior management and subject matter experts for their content if they are continuously successful. In depth details about all aspects of your business, both financially and operationally, are needed to set your award entry apart.
These high level executives will also need to provide feedback and approval for the submission, as award submissions often involve confidential financial business information.
4. Compelling Supporting Evidence
If you’ve won a few awards, you’ll know that one of the most important things you need for a successful award entry is evidence. Prepare and collate any evidence that proves why your business deserves to be award-winning.
Creating clever copy, and visually appealing PDF documents work both as a digital pitch for your business, and are a great way to prepare for awards submissions. Attaching photography, videos, testimonials, NPS data and financial reports
Award submissions are a complex process, which is why more Australian businesses are hiring awards agencies to handle their awards applications.
5. Have an Awards Strategy
The awards process can be long and tiring. Spending endless hours trying to match your business to an award which isn’t suited for you will not only waste your time, but it will also waste your money should the award have an entry fee. This will only end in disappointment.
Rather than entering every award you find, research and focus on the awards which are most suited to you and your business. These are the only awards which should have your attention. Entering awards strategically will give you a better chance at becoming a finalist or a winner.
As in the end, a plan without a strategy is just a dream.
6. Showing Innovation, Adaptation & Personality
Many of the awards our clients enter not only ask for financial figures or growth percentages, but request information that proves your business is innovative, resilient and adaptive.
As we recover from an unprecedented global pandemic, it is now more important than ever to expand your stories to include your successes in areas including:
- Employee Satisfaction & Wellbeing
- Community Support or Sponsorship
- Sustainability Programs & Environmental Initiatives
- Promoting Inclusion & Diversity
Exhibiting excellence across these categories is something your competitor will definitely be doing if they’re winning awards regularly.
7. Hiring an Awards Expert
Although anyone can write an awards submission, writing a compelling submission is quite niche, it is an art. You should consider whether your business has the internal resources to complete an awards submission that captures the essence of your business and makes it shine. If not, working with an external provider like Green Door Co will be beneficial.
Award submissions can be quite lengthy, and may include video submissions, long responses and answering multiple questions. Getting help from an award-winning agency like Green Door Co means that the end-to-end process is taken care of, as they will match you with the right awards and will write captivating awards submissions on your behalf.
Not only will partnering with an external provider put your best foot forward, but they will also take the stress of an awards application away.
8. Award-winning Storytelling
To have a chance at becoming a finalist or winning an award, you need to show enough excellence to be recognised, whilst also articulating this in a compelling enough way throughout your application to stand out from the crowd.
Awards applications require a strategic combination of various things. This includes storytelling, hitting the awards criteria, answering the questions in an articulate manner and sharing facts and figures, all within the provided word limit, in a compelling manner. You want to put your best foot forward to give you a chance of recognition.
Not sure where to start?
Get in touch with the team at Green Door Co, as we can handle the process end-to-end for you, from matching you with the right awards through to writing captivating award submissions.
