Most people love awards and small business owners are no exception. Winning an award is a great way to advertise your enterprise. It is highly recommended that small businesses enter the various reputed award contests. Let’s take a look at the advantages of participating and perhaps winning award contests.
Evaluate the reputation of the business award
Do your research and find out about the credibility of the award. Is it fair, reputed , how many businesses take part in it and the quality of the participants it allows are some of the important criteria to judge the worth of the award(s).
The Benefits of bagging coveted business awards
Remember just participating too counts – Your small business may not win in the first attempt but will get valuable feedback on its strengths and drawbacks. This also gives you a chance to become familiar with the criteria for winning. Next time, these lessons will enable you to have a better chance of winning. Participating and not winning is better than not participating at all. Take this as an opportunity to learn more about your competitors and make your presence known in the industry.
Free publicity and brand building – Small businesses may be limited to a financial budget, so getting the most out of the free publicity is best. The overall cost of participating in a select and reputed business award contest is well worth it. Winning a business award will give the small business free publicity and greatly enhances the credibility of the company brand.
Impressing Venture Capitalists – If your small business is not well known, it would be difficult to get funding from Venture Capitalists. However, if your small business wins a business award, it will testify to the quality and value of the enterprise. Small businesses will gain the faith of venture capitalists and attract more investments.
Boosting morale – Winning a quality business award will definitely boost the morale of the entire team involved. This will translate into enhancing self esteem and significantly improved productivity.
Tips for Winning
Talk to people who have won previous awards; you will surely benefit from the wealth of their experience. Also brainstorm with your team to come up with novel ideas and effective winning strategies. Ask yourself why your firm should win the prize? Why is your product/service better and different from the other competitors? Is the firm doing something extraordinary or battling against great odds to emerge successful? Discuss with the award organizers to get a better understanding of the criteria for winning the award(s).
Some of the top small business awards to look into are the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and The Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service .
Finally remember to start applying early, shortlist the competitions to participate in and don’t give up participating even if you fail to win the first few times. Remember, the harder you try the luckier you get. Visualize a mental image of winning and persevere.
