This podcast is brought to you by Podpro Australia. Winning awards is easier than you think. In this episode, I'm going to show you how.
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Welcome to another episode of the meaningful marketing podcast. I'm your host, Chantal Gerardy from online business marketing. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you how to. Enter, win, and use awards in your marketing to increase your online credibility. One of my biggest, most rewarding accomplishments has been to get to the point where I could enter awards and win them by myself.
In fact, they have been one of the best opportunities to learn about my business just through learning how to do them myself. So firstly, where do you find awards? Well, you can simply search on Google or check industry notice boards, find awards that have a category or a name that is going to give you the credibility that you can use in order to enhance your online visibility and get more customers online.
So why should you enter awards? Well, businesses who regularly into awards report increased sales in income against other businesses who don't. As I mentioned earlier, though, one of the best things I ever did was learn how to enter them myselves. Mostly because I learned so much about what I thought I knew about my business and didn't.
It pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me to explore other areas inside my business that I needed to look at in order to get better at. So for example, something like your finances. If they ask you a financial question like, how much is your turnover or your gross income or your goals, your profit over the last year.
When I first entered awards, I was like, eh. I don't know how to do this and it encouraged me to then go and spend more time getting to understand all the important facets within my business. So why enter awards? Well, it gives you recognition of achievements, which can boost your morale and give you confidence in yourself, but also confidence in your audience online.
It instills trust and worthiness and strengthen your brand. It helps to increase your online visibility, increases your credibility and strengthens your brand in the marketplace. It also gives you the opportunity to review your business model against the industry standard. And it helps you to position yourself as a more professional business and business owner.
Research data notes that award winning companies generate 30 percent more sales to those who didn't win. So what does that mean? When people are making a decision on who they're going to go with, they're more likely to choose a business that has won an award. I'd like to start with a story. The first award I ever entered, I engaged the services of a PR company.
Now, this PR company was absolutely amazing. It cost me a couple thousand dollars and they entered the award on my behalf. I was so excited about the award and the money that I invested. I took my three daughters. We went to a very expensive dress store. I bought a very expensive dress and I said to my girls, This is the dress that I'm going to wear when I win this award, uh, in the hopes and manifesting that this award I was going to win because I'd invested so much money into a PR company to enter the award for me.
And then I didn't win. So after throwing a two minute tanty, I was like, what do I do now? And I thought the best example I can set to my daughters. Is to show them that life isn't fair. You don't always win, but you need to pick yourself up and you need to try again. And that's when I made the decision that I was going to learn how to enter awards myself.
So that I didn't have to continually invest in entering awards. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't engage the services of a PR company. Um, in fact, I'm saying you should, if you have the money to do it, but I do know that me being able to enter them myself became a very good skill that I developed in my business.
So how to get started? Well, firstly, you need to gather information. So what I encourage you to do is to start an awards folder and put all the information into that folder. So when you go and apply for other awards, you can simply go back to that folder. You're going to need a detailed business overview, your personal biography and resume, financial statements and performance metrics, customer testimonials and case studies, any media coverage and press release you may have, proof of impact that you've had in the community.
How many years in business you've been in, your revenue thresholds, how you sit in the industry, any achievements and milestones that you may have. And also in the last couple of years, there has been a huge focus on your contribution to sustainability in the workplace, along with how you support your team.
In leadership and wellbeing. So firstly, you need to find the right award for you. Now there are many paid or free awards for you to enter. I highly recommend that you find the free ones when you're getting started and nominate yourself. Yes, you can nominate yourself for award. But your entry should speak specifically to what you're wanting to leverage in the marketplace.
So for example, I will go out and look for one in customer service. Then I'll go out and I'll look for one for marketing business of the year. Then I'll go and look for one on out of the box thinking then for social media coaching so that I have a wide range of awards that are going to help me stand out in my industry.
When you are preparing your award application, make sure that you read between the lines of each question and answer using all the word counts that they give you. So, for example, if they say, in a 500 words, answer this question, make sure that you take advantage of the entire word count. Include all the details that you have.
Now, this can be difficult for business owners because when they're in their business, they often forget the impact that they have or the special things that they do. So this is going to challenge you to look really deeply inside your business and look for the things that you probably taking advantage of right now.
So for example, I hold a networking group and when I put this inside one of my awards applications, um, I did very well and when I got feedback, they said to me it was because as a marketing agency, I was prioritizing. Networking and walking. I also hold online breathwork sessions for my community in order to help them de stress and gain better clarity and confidence through improving their mental wellbeing.
Adding these types of things in my mind, these are just things that I do. I don't see them as being, I mean, I know they're massively important, but I wouldn't think that they would be something worth putting into an application. However, they could be the difference between you winning or not winning.
When you write your application, it is important that you communicate as if you were writing to a stranger, because the judges will be strangers. At the end of the day, they don't know who you are, and you cannot expect that they have seen you online, run into your website, or have been watching you over the years, which means you really need to communicate as if, as if it were to a stranger, and you need to make sure that your messages are memorable and you stay on topic.
At the end of the day, it's all about your point of difference. What is it that you do that's different to everyone else? And that is what you need to sprinkle throughout that award application. When they ask you to share your stories, it is important that you share your stories right from the very beginning, showing all the challenges and obstacles that you've been through and the learning and successes that you've had.
Do not take your hero story for granted. This is a great opportunity for you to connect with the person who's judging your application. Now, I also want to let you know that it's absolutely okay if you get a no. So for example, when I didn't win that woman in business award, I was absolutely devastated, especially after having invested the money with a PR company.
However, I went on to win multiple awards. Um, after that. So it was an absolutely valuable skill for me to continue applying for them. Not only that, but just saying that you were nominated for an award, even if you don't win, it can still give you credibility. It is super important that you allocate time to apply for your awards.
It is a process. Something like a Telstra Business Award, literally you would have to take 30 days off your business just to be able to complete that application because it's so complicated. Where I've got strung up in the past is I've gone, Oh, it needs to be in at five o'clock today. So at four o'clock I'll start working on the application only to know that there is no way that I'm going to get that application done in an hour.
So it's really important that you work backwards from the due date and make sure that you allow yourself enough time to go through. Apply and also proofread, proofread, proofread. It's also good for you to note that you can include your personality into your award application, as long as it remains professional and relevant.
So let's talk about leveraging your nominations or leveraging an award that you have won. You can put it on your website. You can put it in your email signature, post it across your social media, put it in your social media banners, included in your bios, included in all your online presentations or webinars that you hold.
You can mention them when introducing yourself or speaking. They can be in the bottom of your email newsletters. You can add them to your business cards, put them on your brochures or books, add the award badges and logos. Or even get a press release. Thank you for listening today's episode on how to win and leverage awards.
This is your host Chantal Gerardy. If you have enjoyed today's episode, please make sure that you like subscribe, follow, and rate. And if you'd like to take advantage of some free resources that we have on our website to support you with this, go and check out onlinebusinessmarketing. com. au. There are over seven resources that you can download.
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