WHAT AWARDS ARE YOU ENTERING?

We are now at the beginning of October and it's the start of Q4 and I'd like to urge you all to do some research around awards you can enter over the next year to highlight you, your business, your organisation and your impact.

The reason this is on my own mind is because I've really entered an awards process personally - and entered another one earlier on in the year and I do this about twice a year, aligned to my business goals.

I'm often shortlisted, however I don't win that often. So why do I do it? For several reasons, awards can bring huge benefits when it comes to credibility and visibility; it shows I believe in what I do and I'm willing to put my performance up for scrutiny; I learn from every failure to be better and do a better application next time; and where possible I ask for feedback which to be honest, I rarely get; I advise my clients to do this so I should be willing to walk my talk. I last won an award at the end of 2021, for 2022, as the UK's Top PR Adviser for SMEs and I'm very proud of that award.

I also sponsor awards, particularly those which celebrate a business owner like me - as they are very rare. In many business-based awards, the criteria is such that solo entrepreneurs are even excluded from entry. Anyone who knows me, knows that this riles me. Most micro businesses are like mine, employing just one person in one street in one community up and down the country x 1000s.

The award I entered earlier this year, I didn't make it to the finalists, I didn't get any feedback. I was disappointed but it doesn't deter me from trying again because if my award entry is good, then there will, perhaps, be other factors I cannot control:

*How I measure up against the other entrants who I don't know?

*Criteria which is not spoken ie. geographical spread for those shortlisted.

*In a national award, did 300,000 PR specialists apply so there were too many of us?

*How close the margins were.

*Did I miss something small but critical (as a creative I am in danger of doing this because it's detail)?

Don't be disheartened by this though as every day in business is a school day and one thing we learn in business is the willingness to try, to fail, to get up, to try, to fail...and then to win.

Another piece of advice is not to enter a ton of awards, and especially to weed out the 'fake' or 'pay to play' awards. This doesn't mean that you won't have to pay but good awards will charge small fees - and the main cost to you will be attending any awards gala dinner to support the awards and that should be your choice, your decision.

Due to those costs, I advise my clients to choose wisely perhaps one or two awards schemes, to support your business goals, and do them well. This could be one local and one sector specific.

Rather than entering 30 awards a year and winning a handful. The truth is you are then taking a moment and turning it into 'boring' news and soon your audience will be tired of it (as will you). They may think 'not another award' and you start to be seen less seriously.

Be smart about awards.

How to spot fake awards:

There are a ton of these around and I put out warnings about them over and over again - and I won't stop because this downgrades true awards.

If you get an email or message to say you've won or been shortlisted for an award you've never heard of, didn't enter, can get no information about who nominated you - then that's a huge red flag and you need to ask some questions.

Only a few weeks ago, a South West based business started to announce various shortlisted finalists for their awards. One of my clients was shortlisted. She had never entered and when she asked who had nominated her, she got no answer. She is not even based in the South West however these awards are listed as 'national' and for business women.

It was the made to clear to her that she would not get her 'award' if she did not pay to attend the 'do'. Now that's a fake award. She took my advice and said 'thanks but no thanks'. Sadly I've seen several local business women touting their 'finalist' status which has absolutely nothing to do with their true impact or success.

Other fake awards will let you use a basic logo to announce your winning 'status' and then seek to charge you for further 'packages' or for a registration 'fee' to claim your 'status'. With clients, I've seen these fees range from ￡120 up to ￡3,000. This is a fake award.

You have not been chosen because you are seen to be among the best. You've been chosen through a data scraping exercise as someone gullible who might part with cash to claim something you haven't won on merit.

And here's the thing - your audience will know it.

They may not say anything but this can drip feed poison down through your reputation in a slow way which causes damage you can't see.

Keep doing it and that poison will keep on spreading as you increasingly appear to be desperate.

I could name some of those awards here but I won't. If any of my clients are tempted, I'll bring them up short however to be fair, they will often ask me first and I'll say avoid, avoid, avoid.

How do you spot the good awards?

The key to this is transparency around the process and any fees involved and also the assurance that those who are shortlisted finalists are not 'bound' to attend an event and buy pricey tickets. Winners are winners and that's it.

Also do some basic research around the awards themselves - what's their history? who is behind it? What's their reputation? This is not difficult research. Even search reviews of their awards to see what's being said.

Some good award schemes do get poor reviews from time to time and that's because they are dealing with a big audience and often people can get very angry when they are not shortlisted or even those who don't win - they can feel the 'deserve' it and get angry when they are not recognised. I do understand this, it's horrible not to 'make the cut' but failing with grace is always better than showing petulance. These kind of bad reviews are easy to spot.

Or it could be about the awards venue, the food, the compere, the entertainment or the process - everyone is at risk of this because it's 100 per cent impossible to please all of the people all of the time.

If you see poor reviews, look at some of last year's winners or the year before and consider are they credible?

Any new awards should clearly state that they are new so that it makes sense if you cannot research much about them. However look at who is running the awards and consider their credibility.

The judging process:

There is some argument around what makes a good judging process but I personally would look for two things - the ability for your audience to nominate and vote for you if relevant or the ability for you to nominate yourself and your organisation and for that entry to be judged by a panel of judges with different status and abilities. You should be able to research these judges and find out a bit about them too.

You may have to pay small amounts to enter to help cover some of the organiser's costs and there will often be sponsors who are involved in the judging process too. Every credible award opportunity will have a different process but these are key general things to look for.

Other costs will be more around any gala 'do' to support the awards which can be seen as a team exercise. Depending on who runs the awards - such as a media outlet which is quite common- you may be asked to purchase an advertising package for an awards leaflet or supplement but this should be voluntary and not tied to you winning. Ever.

What benefits can an award win bring?

There are many but the first thing to say is that it rarely leads to immediate direct sales - it's more about PR than immediate or short term sales.

If you are looking for immediate ROI, then move along as awards are not for you. Get back to your cold calling and putting pressure on your sales team, or buying in lead generation talent.

Here are five benefits of entering, being shortlisted and perhaps winning credible awards:

*It gives people a degree of confidence in your credibility and ability.

*It celebrates success and impact.

*It may give you an extra 'tick' if you are applying for a contract or a grant if you are a charity.

*It will provide evidence when the time comes that you have to prove your sustainability credentials when big companies have to provide their's - which will affect all of those in the supply chain.

*It is the source of positive PR immediately and also in the future when you remind people of your award (timeline of about two years).

*It honours and supports your team, even if your team is freelance - and that can never be underestimated.

What awards are you going to enter?