We’ve all seen the award or accreditation stickers being boasted in storefront windows - local business gold winner, rated 5 stars for hygiene, eco certified or TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice awardee.
These accolades not only go a long way towards building credibility and trust with consumers, but also attract new talent to your business. With the Australian marketplace currently a battlefield for talent, it’s a great time to gain the attention of high calibre candidates.
So, what are some of the awards or accreditations your business might be viable for, and how do you put your hat in the ring?
Regardless of industry, there’s a huge array of awards to contend for, and your business could make some serious gains by winning or even just being announced as a finalist. It’s a tremendous promotional opportunity.
Applying for all the awards your business is eligible for would be a full time job and could set you back financially as some charge an entry fee, so it’s important to be strategic and choose the ones where you’d gain the most return.
A quick Google search of business awards in Australia is a great place to begin, or research which awards some of your key competitors have won. There’s nothing like going head to head with the competition.
Local business awards are a solid starting point, it’s free to list your business, with finalists selected based on the number of nominations received. These awards carry a lot of weight within the local community, many of whom may be your core customer base. Once you’ve entered, make sure you promote this within your premises and across socials – encouraging customers to support your business and take a moment to nominate.
Next stop, industry awards – what is the leading award in your industry? Your business should vie for any core industry awards on offer, whether that be tourism awards, small business awards or the like.
Then there are product, innovation and entrepreneur awards, some quite prestigious and highly regarded in the market. Also consider some of the international awards on offer if your business is seeking to expand its footprint offshore. Global brand recognition can greatly help in making a successful start in the international realm.
Although award applications can appear lengthy and time intensive, all the information they are seeking is at your fingertips. Most of the statistics and information would already be housed on your website, so it can be a quick copy and paste in many instances.
Award applications that stand out, are always the ones which are written concisely, with passion and authenticity. Don’t make your responses bland, it’s about storytelling, set the scene of your business, the struggles and triumphs. As at the end of the day, there are a panel of humans reading application after application, a tedious job in many ways, so you want to wow the judges and wake them from their slumber with a powerful entry.
Always think about the audience you are writing for, if you do that, you’ll soon be putting a gold sticker on your shopfront window.