TALK P U B L I C RE L AT I O N S
AWARD
CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS Entering awards is often something many businesses feel they ‘should’ do, but beyond a shiny trophy and a moment in the spotlight, do they actually help your business? Journalist and PR consultant Ellen Manning, creator of the award-winning blog Eat with Ellen and one of the organisers behind the Foodie Awards for Coventry and Warwickshire, explains how winning an award really can help your business. Business awards come in all shapes and sizes - from global recognition to locally organised programmes designed to promote a region’s businesses or a specific sector. Either way, you’ll hear lots of people tell you, you should enter them. After all, you get a nice trophy or certificate and a bit of time in the spotlight - not to mention a swanky awards ceremony too. But beyond a night of glitz and glamour and an ornament to either put in a display cabinet or gather some dust, what do awards do for your business? Given the amount of time and effort you might put into entering some awards, it’s important to ask whether you’ll get some real value out of those awards and the answer in most cases, is yes. In fact, there is a whole raft of reasons for why and how awards can help your
business. Using the Foodie Awards as an example, here are just some of the ways that an award really can add value to your business.
AWARDS GET YOU NOTICED
Growing your business is often about standing out from the crowd and the recognition from winning an award goes beyond that particular moment in time. Awards programmes like the Foodie Awards are about shouting about entrants, finalists and winners - and not just on one day. For many similar awards programmes, the whole process can be used by you to raise awareness of what you do. From being nominated or entering, to becoming a finalist and even winning, the extent of the awareness you can get in some ways can go as far as you take it. Winning an award is likely to get you some great PR, as well as recognition from your peers and competitors, not to mention all the potential customers who want to buy your product. Increased awareness might also get you noticed by suppliers, vendors, and investors - all of whom could help you grow your business and take that next step.
