It is natural for a company to feel proud of its awards, which can also boost business reputation. Awards, especially those from a well-respected independent review organization, show that your company stands out in crucial ways. The award itself gives customers a reason to choose you. Whether the award is for your excellent customer service, the quality of your prices, the value you provide, or other factors, it shows that you are ahead of the competition in some way.
Explore some of the specific ways that awards boost your business reputation.
Awards Boost Credibility
Awards enhance the credibility of your business. They position you as a major player in the game, not an unknown company. If a company has won an award, it gains a reputation as an established and professional organization. People feel they can count on award-winning companies more than those without such recognition.
Awards Highlight Your Industry Knowledge
As part of the credibility they deliver, awards highlight the industry knowledge that your company has. Simply put, you will be seen as an expert in the field, increasing the chances that customers or even other companies will turn to you.
Awards Give You Something to Be Proud About
While you don’t want to be over-the-top with your bragging, every business will want to brag to some extent. Awards give you the perfect opportunity to do so backed by a third party. The most obvious place to brag about your awards is in your marketing materials. You can also highlight your awards on your website, email headings, and more.
Awards Expand Your Reach
Earning awards also boosts your reputation by expanding your company’s reach. After all, every time you win an award, the organization that gave you the honor will list you in at least one place, likely several. This increases the chances that people will see your company’s name.
Remember that the organization that gave the award won’t be the only place your business will be mentioned for free. It will also likely be mentioned in news articles about the award.
If the award has multiple winners, it’s also possible that your company will be included in the press releases or announcements made by other winners. This increases your brand’s exposure.
Other Benefits of Awards
Because of how awards improve your business’s reputation and deliver all of the above benefits, they also help your company in other ways. Let’s go through other specific benefits that come with awards in more detail.
A Competitive Edge
A boost to your reputation and reach means that your company gets a competitive edge after winning awards. Using your competitive edge wisely can help you gain new customers, including those who previously used competitors. It can also help you prevent losing customers.
Increased Sales
Winning awards will almost always lead to an increase in sales. This makes logical sense because not only has your reach expanded, but people also view your business more favorably.
When more people learn about your business because of the award, you instantly get more opportunities for conversions. And those conversions are easier to complete because of your improved reputation.
Potentially Increased Prices
Once your company wins an award or two, you may be able to justify increasing your prices slightly. After all, the award has now confirmed that you deliver high-quality products or services. Restaurants can clearly illustrate this concept. Restaurants with Michelin stars tend to charge more than their competitors because of the added recognition.
Increased Funding
If your company is still growing and looking for investors or other types of funding, awards provide an excellent opportunity to grow your capital. The recognition that comes with awards helps you attract potential investors to your business. This also applies to organizations looking for grants.
Attract Partnerships and Opportunities
Anytime your company has an improved reputation and reach, you will find yourself with more opportunities. Other businesses are more likely to choose you if they want to partner with someone in your niche.
You will also find it easier to attract other opportunities, such as working with micro-influencers, partnering with local support teams, and the like.
Networking Opportunities
Networking opportunities will also increase as your company’s reputation improves. In some cases, you may have direct networking opportunities in the form of invitations to events for award winners.
You can mention your company’s award when introducing yourself at networking events. This jumpstarts a conversation that you can use to grow your business or advance your personal career.
Opportunity to Become an Influencer
We talked about attracting influencers once you have awards, but you can even use those awards to become an industry influencer yourself. You can use the recognition from the award to work your way into influential organizations. From there, you can encourage policies that help your industry. As you work hard and add value to your industry, other companies can start looking up to you as an example to emulate.
Improved SEO
As mentioned, when you win an award, your company’s name and website will appear online much more frequently, at least in content related to the award. This will give you high-quality backlinks and mentions, improving your SEO.
Improve Employee Morale
Attract and Retain Better Talent
The benefits of winning awards extend beyond sales and interactions with customers; it can also help you with employee management. Your employees will be proud to be part of an award-winning company, regardless of the type of award. They are more likely to feel as if their work truly matters.
Your overall employee morale may see tremendous improvement, which will, in itself, lead. to numerous other benefits. After all, happy employees tend to be more productive and deliver better customer service.
Attract and Retain Better Talent
Happy employees are also more likely to stay in your company. This will save you the time and costs associated with employee turnover, from finding new talent to training and onboarding.
When you need to hire new talent, it will also be easier to do so with an award to boost your employer image. When your employees are motivated and feel like they are part of a company they can be proud of, other talents will find it appealing to join your team.
How to Maximize the Benefits of Awards
You may not realize it, but your response to gaining an award can influence how much it improves your business’s reputation and delivers the other benefits mentioned above. Keep the following best practices in mind to maximize your awards and put your bragging rights to good use.
Learn From Applying for Awards
Not all of the benefits of awards come from actually winning them. Even just the process of applying for awards can give you important insights. It can help you identify areas you need to improve, and once you make those improvements, you may notice a boost to your reputation, sales, or employee retention.
Write a Press Release
Create a press release announcing the awards you have received and share a few details about your company. You can send it to local news outlets, which is one of the simplest ways to ensure that they include coverage of your award. With this added exposure, you get an extra boost to your recognition and reputation.
Share Online
Make it a point to share news about your award everywhere your company is public and interacts with clients or potential new customers. Make a post on every social media platform you’re on and include an announcement in your next email newsletter. As a bonus, your newsletter helps you gain backlinks, which boosts SEO.
Don’t forget to add the award logo to your website as well. While you’re at it, update your “About” page to include details about your awards and recognitions.
Write a Blog Post
As you share news of your award online, be sure to write a blog about it. This type of blog post is one of the best opportunities you will ever have to take pride in your recognition without seeming overly pushy.
Make a Video
Written announcements and images featuring the award logo are both incredibly helpful ways to boost your company’s reputation. Making a video is also another great idea, especially given the rise of video-based platforms like TikTok. You can also post videos on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. If you have a video marketing strategy, including a video about your award is a great way to create more content.
Display the Award (or Logo) in Physical Locations
You can also display the award log in physical locations. Include it on business cards or signs in your store. If it is your first award, at least consider adding the phrase “award-winning” to appropriate copies. Of course, don’t forget to physically display the award in your storefront or office.
Conclusion
Winning an award provides your business with a natural opportunity for marketing. Your name will be mentioned in more places, expanding your reach. At the same time, the award will cement your credibility and industry authority. These benefits makes it easier to attract customers, boost sales, and hire and retain qualified employees, further growing your business.
Sources:
https://www.mindtools.com/a62b30k/the-benefits-of-company-awards
https://www.axiapr.com/blog/how-awards-and-recognition-can-boost-your-business
https://www.business.com/articles/do-awards-really-do-anything-for-your-company/
https://allthingsbusiness.co.uk/2022/07/21/business-benefits-from-entering-awards/
https://blog.clover.com/4-reasons-why-winning-awards-is-important-for-your-business/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-reasons-you-should-embrace-business-awards-natalie-woodbridge
