Some of you may not have considered local and national awards as a form of PR but it is a great one! In the past I thought that awards were strictly flattery, an excuse for executives to get together and talk about themselves. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
It is in reality another great excuse to talk about yourself, but it stretches beyond the “pat yourself on the back� type of stuff into your business circles and best of all into the community. In the end it strengthens your reputation across the board.
I had been hesitant in the past to get involved with entering awards because I didn’t see it as a good use of my time. I had a million other things on my to-do list, and putting together award applications was not one of the tasks that I reveled in.
In the Spring I entered our local Best of State competition – and we ended up winning the Innovation in Small Business Award – which not only came with honors, but free office space, utilities, legal and accounting counsel, 100 hours of intern work, and more for ONE YEAR. Totally worth my time!
It also gave me another excuse to talk about my business with the media and we got 2 or 3 quick and easy media mentions in business sections and publications in the community. It was also a swanky night out (I hadn’t had to buy a formal dress since Senior Prom) and great networking with members of the business community.
I just recently entered TodaysMama in the Stevie Awards for Women and was just notified that we have been chosen as finalists for the Website of the Year and Best Young Entrepreneur awards. I’ll keep you posted on what happens in Vegas!
With most awards, they give you a standard press release that you can customize and blast to your media lists in addition to logos and honors that you can post on your press page of your website. This not only saves you time putting them together yourself, but gives you another excuse to stay in touch with the media that you wouldn’t have had if you had not gotten involved.
Now of course – I’m giving you my two-cents on the handful of awards we have entered to win, but we plan to continue and find that it has been more than worth our time. The best place to start? In your own backyard – keep an eye out in your community for local business and community awards. Be sure to subscribe to local business email blasts and magazines as you will most frequently get updates, details and deadlines through them. As with most other things, start small, prove it locally, and then branch out nationally.
P.S. As I logged into post – I noticed that this little blog won the Totally Fabulous Award from another blogger – Thanks! ☺
This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 6:54 am and is filed under PR Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “The Value of Awards”
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October 29th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I’m up for this award too! For the Stevie Awards! We should get together in Vegas ! Where are you staying ?