The true truth about B2B industry awards and how to win one easily
This article was first published in 2019, and in an act of defiance against the rising tide of AI slop, I’m reposting it to showcase what real, human-crafted content looks like!
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Welcome truthers, I guess you’ve come here for the truth, to which I reply, can you ever really know the truth about anything? It’s true, to experience true truth, one must possess absolute knowledge of everything. Only then can one make a logical assumption on what is true and what is not.
What was this article about again? Industrial alarms? Injury forwards? Hmm... yes, industry awards!
Right then, it's time to remove your tin foil hat and sit back and relax as we take a deep dive into the shallow waters of B2B industry awards. Intrigued yet? You should be.
Snagging an industry award for your business can do a lot more than make your CEO’s dream, as of this morning, come true. Alongside a happy boss, there’s increased media visibility, boosted customer credibility and some serious office high fives to be had.?
Perhaps most importantly though, an industry award will give your business a glowing third-party endorsement that new customers really take note of when making their decision to buy. What could be more important than that?
Let's crack on.
Step 1: Make an awards calendar
The point here is to get yourself organised as there’s literally an industry award for everything these days. For example, does your business care about social responsibility and provide rural connectivity in hard to reach places? Perhaps you’ve got a fantastic key case study or provide great customer service to a partner? There’s an award you can enter for each of those (vote for us!).
But whilst having lots of awards to enter may sound good, in practice it tends to complicate things, especially if you’re not seeing the bigger picture. Imagine eating a spicy burrito just because it was the closest food joint to your office, chances are at 4pm you’re going to have some serious lunch regret. Gross analogy aside, the point here is to know all your options before using your finite resource as you can never go back to that crucial time before shi**ing yourself.
So, take a holistic approach and map out all the relevant awards and deadlines across the next year and store them in a little Excel file. You can then match up your company sweet spots with the right awards and pragmatically increase your chance of winning.
Myth buster: Mo’ money, less problems?
Interesting question, I suppose what you’re asking me is, ‘how do you remain so intelligently inquisitive yet so embarrassingly humble and good looking?’ To which I say I’m an enigma and you will never understand even 1% of me.?
The truth is, is that industry awards, like anything else, are a business and whilst money can’t hand you the award on a plate, it can certainly get you to the front of the queue when placing your order.?
All I’m saying is don’t be surprised if you win more during the year you decide to pump thousands into the award committees. Capitalism will eat your soul!
Step 2: Tell a story
Listen, I know you’re absolutely dying to copy and paste your way to the FA Cup final (see AI in 2025), but there’s a reason that Steven Spielberg doesn’t use old footage in his films and it’s the same reason you shouldn’t employ the same method in your award entries.
You need to tell a tailored story for a specific audience and avoid doing a Neil ‘here’s one I made earlier’ Buchanan.
Can you imagine if Spielberg had re-used Jaws the Shark in E.T? Having E.T mauled to death in a film for 5-year olds just doesn't make sense, so please ensure you’re not shoehorning in content just for the sake of it.
Speaking of which:
“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts.” – Scout Finch
Remember, some awards get thousands of entries and judges will skim them, this means that you should use clear, basic language that gets your point across efficiently - no fluffy adjectives plumping up the word count.
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What about if you is rubbish at writing nice sentences like I is? Just bullet point your way out if it:??
Text as dry as the Sahara Desert (your boilerplate text) will leave the judges gasping for water. Tell a specific story for a specific cause; cut out boilerplate text and clearly define the problem, solution and outcome and you will achieve success.
Step 3: Quantifiable evidence wins awards
So, you have your calendar and you’re confident you can tell a pretty good story, you should enter, right? Probably not. To win an award you’ll need quantifiable evidence and ROI numbers that sell your stories’ narrative. There’s no point saying ‘oh look at us aren’t we brilliant’ without customer feedback and actual figures to back it up.
The point here is that anecdotal chat simply won’t cut it anymore and you should confirm your evidence before deciding to enter an award in the first place. If you don’t have anything then it probably isn’t worth your time and effort.
Step 4: Celebrate your victories, even nominations
So, you've won the award, well done. Should you just sit back and bask in the eternal glory of being a champion? False!
It’s weird how many people forget this part, but you need to tell people! Ensure you extract as much exposure out of the win/nominations as possible and get the award logos on your website, sales collateral and social media banners.
Don’t stop there either, spam your customers endlessly with emails about your winnings, everyone wants to know they’ve chosen the best supplier after all. Good news stories are a perfect way to re-engage with existing customers and new prospects.
When it comes to free PR, repetition is usually the key to success. With this in mind, make sure post the news on social media platforms 500 times a week (or twice a day if you’re not insane). Basically, everyone should be sick to death of hearing your good news if you want to successfully get the point across.
Why stop there? Awards don't just affect your sales pipeline and/or back pocket, why not buy the office a slice of pizza and couple of shandies and hold an internal celebration? Stick the pictures all over social media and watch as the world declares you the best company to work for.
Holy sh*t I think you just completed business.
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Right, I have to stop typing the word awards or they’ll lock me away with that bloke out of The Shining who writes Red Rum in blood all over the walls. I'd get a thesaurus but I'm scared of dinosaurs and to be honest, I think you get the gist by now. Please thank me later.
Our credentials:
Why listen to us? Excell has recently been nominated for 3 industry awards in a short space of time:
If you’ve learned anything from this lecture, please show you appreciation by voting for Excell!