Wagada awards roundup plus… Wagada’s 9 reasons why entering business awards is a good idea
Sophie Skilton - 9 November 2016
Here at Wagada HQ, we’ve been really busy this quarter, attending a number of exciting and high-profile business awards. Some were specific to the local Hertfordshire business community, whilst others attracted companies from across the UK.
In July, we were thrilled to find out that we’d been nominated as a finalist in the mumandworking awards, as Flexible Employer of the Year. We were quite shocked and very chuffed to make it to the final. We attended the awards ceremony on October 11th and were utterly gobsmacked, not to mention completely thrilled, to be named as the winner of the Flexible Employer of the Year award! Fantastic result!
In mid-September, we found out that we’d been named as a finalist in the St Albans Chamber of Commerce Community Business Awards, in the Business Growth category. We got our glad rags on and a group of us went to the awards ceremony at the beautiful Sopwell House, where we met up and networked with hundreds of other Hertfordshire Businesses. The team enjoyed a great night out, knowing they were part of a very special, growing business.
Later in September, we headed to the finals of the Herts Digital Awards where we were thrilled to be nominated as a finalist in the Social Media for Business category. It was great to see our name in lights and to be amongst such inspiring company. Many other marketing agencies from across Hertfordshire were present that evening and it was exciting to be part of the line-up.
In early October, we heard that we’d been shortlisted for the prestigious national Best Business Women Awards, hosted by Debbie Gilbert and her team. So, we booked our tickets and went along to the awards dinner. We were absolutely delighted that our MD, Cheryl Luzet, was named the WINNER of the Best Business Woman in Technology Award.
Finally, at the start of November, we went along to the prestigious Working Mums Top Employers Awards in London, having been nominated as finalists in two categories; SME Award (up to 25 employees) and Working Mums Champion Award. To be honest, we didn’t feel worthy! We felt privileged to have made it there in the first place. We were surrounded by so many large corporate entities, and there we were, St Albans-based Wagada, flying the flag for the SME with flexible working! We felt honoured to be part of the evening and met some amazing people. It was also very inspiring to hear the stories of what other businesses are doing to support working parents.
These days, time and marketing budgets are more precious than ever, so a business owner or a marketing director needs to ensure they utilise their marketing resources as effectively as possible. At Wagada, we firmly believe that entering business awards is a vital element of a successful marketing plan. However, businesses must ensure they select the most appropriate awards to enter.
To help you develop a strong marketing plan, here are Wagada’s 9 reasons why you should incorporate business awards as part of your marketing strategy.
- Entering business awards can be an extremely effective way of supporting a business’s SEO strategy. Whether you are a winner, a finalist or a nominee, you will get backlinks from the award organisers and sponsors as well as associated press, and these will likely be very relevant, authoritative websites that Google will like, so it will improve your rankings.
- Being nominated or shortlisted for an award means you’re receiving independent, industry-leading recognition for all your hard work and dedication. How motivational is that? Plus, it really can make a business shine brighter than its competitors.
- Sometimes, and particularly for small and growing businesses, it can be hard to spare the time to reflect and articulate on your achievements and success. Spending time working on an award submission makes you take a good look at your business, your track record and your processes and allows you to crystallise these achievements on paper.
- Award nominations and wins are fantastic for generating free marketing and PR opportunities. The pre- and post-award marketing and media coverage you can receive, as well as the networking that comes from being at the awards ceremony, can support a marketing strategy in a number of ways. You can leverage your nomination or win across social media and marketing campaigns, generate coverage in the local and regional press, show off your award in your advertising, go to town about it on your website, use it in business proposals, on business cards and email footers, even on the wall of your office.
- Award wins and nominations can help your recruitment and can attract new talent to your business. Who doesn’t want to work for an award-worthy employer?!
- There is nothing quite like being voted as a finalist or a winner to really boost staff motivation. It can create real pride amongst a team and help support staff retention.
- When a business spends time preparing for an award entry, it automatically pushes the business to compare itself to its competitors. It’s the perfect opportunity to think more strategically about how to differentiate yourselves.
- Often award entries ask you to respond to challenging questions, and the process can help you to identify areas for improvement within the business.
- It shows your prospects and customers that you are a serious business, worthy of an award, and this can really drive customer loyalty and retention.
