Launch your next awards program in under an hour with Evalato’s pre-made templates and intuitive design.
Awards have always been popular, but nowadays more so than ever. It’s all about being superior in sport, quality, activity, industry, etc. If attracting lots of people towards your brand is important for you, starting an award program or contest can be a real game-changer and quite beneficial for everyone associated, including the organizer, sponsors, program judges, everyone recognized with a nomination, and of course the worthy winners.
Ever asked yourself what exactly do you stand to gain from creating an awards competition? Here are some compelling answers...
Obviously, if you have a database with existing contacts you’d get in touch with them first. But an awards contest always has high potential for bringing many new business leads as well.
Awards you organize are a good way to bring some attention to your brand. This can also have long-term benefits – the more the program grows, the more you strengthen and improve your brand image.
Not saying here you’ll automatically get free publicity simply because you’re organizing an awards competition. But awards are the darlings in any industry and as such generate more online buzz, media coverage, shares, likes and commentary across all channels.
Because everyone’s fascinated by awards competitions, there’s great potential for negotiating new business partnerships, even with companies that aren’t part of the industry you operate in. Awards are great for branching out.
An awards competition can serve a good cause, like distinguishing excellence in science, supporting environmental efforts, pushing innovations, etc. A good cause is something that people are usually happy to get behind.
If you are organizing awards, you need to understand what makes participation compelling to people. What is the first thing that pops into your head, when you hear the word “awards”? Is it a gold-plated trophy, the red carpet at the Oscars, flashing lights, celebrities in tuxedos and designer dresses? Doesn’t matter if it’s the Emmys, or your local squash league, аwards are all about prestige and recognition.People like having their efforts, work, and accomplishments acknowledged. In business awards it’s also about comparing against the rest, being recognized as one of the best, celebrating with your team, and impressing your current and potential clients.
Companies understand the strategic value of awards as a means to be more competitive in today’s business climate.
“Think of it as building the foundation for massively scalable word-of-mouth.”
Aileen Lee, famous venture capitalist and blogger
That’s enough for companies nowadays to set a part of their budget specifically for awards and jump at the chance to participate.
One of the great things about awards competitions is that all parties involved benefit from it, including judges, partners and sponsors. It helps if you understand all the potential benefits they stand to gain from this, so you can communicate it better. These can include their name and company:
And that’s on top of the opportunity to further establish that person or company as a leader in the industry. If you have an in-person award ceremony or event, you have tons of additional opportunities to entice both your sponsors and judges with additional strategic brand positioning (such as banners, booths, branded lanyards or other material, etc.), extra perks and benefits (such as speaker opportunities, special passes, etc.), and so on.
If you need a ‘partner in crime’ with your next awards program, check out awards management software Evalato - it will help you every step of the way and will streamline the experience of all parties involved.
