Trophies for Trailblazers: 6-Steps to Winning Awards with Less Effort

Running a business is pretty hectic. You wear a lot of hats and your to-do list is never-ending. So, when it comes to applying for awards, I'd forgive you for seeing them as a "nice to have" rather than a critical activity.

Hear me out: Awards can be pivotal to your business growth.

For Compass IoT, awards are a pillar in my marketing strategy. In the last 24 months, we've won 8 different awards and received finalist nominations for a handful of others. This includes some heavy-hitters, like our Global Google Cloud award and WID's Innovator of the Year wins. They've led to inbound leads, new partnerships, media opportunities, and revenue.

More recently, I've also been on the other side of the fence as a judge and seen what actually gets considered in your applications.

So, why should you include awards as part of your marketing?

One of the biggest problems for startups is getting in front of customers. If customers don't know you exist, they can't engage with you. In my experience, entering awards builds 3 things:

1. Brand awareness
2. Authority and third-party credibility through earned media
3. SEO

Entering awards lets you leverage the PR and media channels of bigger companies that already have established networks, larger audiences, and greater reach. Consider it 'outsourcing' your PR, without paying for someone else to post about you. This also contributes to SEO building. Often, winning an award (or even being a finalist) results in your company being advertised by the organisation hosting the awards, with backlinks to your social media channels or website.

Awards can also function as a soft sales channel. Many larger companies sponsor awards to align with their internal KPIs or values; entering a category or award they sponsor is an easy way to get their attention and make contact.

So, what does it take to put together an awards strategy that gets results?

1. Setting your Goals

Like any good strategy, you need goals and intent.

In the beginning, entering awards takes a lot of time and effort. By figuring out your 'why', you can identify which awards and categories are going to benefit you, and how you can best leverage wins. Ideally, these link back to your broader marketing goals.

One of our marketing goals was to build Compass' persona as a thought leader in vehicle-generated data and Intelligent Transport Systems. So, we specifically targeted industry-related awards that focus on best-practice or innovation, in spaces where potential customers hang out.

2. Finding and Entering Awards

Now that you know your 'why', you can focus on finding awards that align with your goals. I'm a big fan of self-nomination and I actively encourage startups and founders to submit their own applications.

Depending on your goals, here are some examples of award categories you could search for and enter:

• General startup awards
• Digital Innovation
• Industry-related awards
• Awards for underrepresented groups within your industry (e.g., Female founders)
• Small business awards
• Growth or value-based awards (e.g., awards that rank winners based on revenue growth; value-based goals such as 'best place to work').

Where to find appropriate awards will depend on the goals you set yourself in step 1, your industry, and eligibility criteria. There are a few lists that keep track of the different kinds of awards you can enter. Here's a great list of opportunities within Australia and abroad.

Other places to check out:

• Startup Hubs or Community-hosted awards (e.g., Sydney Startup Hub)
• University Programs and Accelerators (e.g., UTS Startups, Genesis (USYD) and INCUBATE programs, UNSW Founders)
• Non-University Accelerators and programs (e.g., Startmate)
• Industry Associations (e.g., the iAwards, ITS Australia)
• Government Grants and Awards (e.g., NSW Business Awards)
• Private Companies or Publications (e.g., Deloitte Fast 50, Google Cloud or AWS Startups)

3. Writing Winning Applications

Written communication is one of - if not the most - important bit to get right. The winner is almost always the one with the best-written application. Why?

While awards are about the recognition of great ideas, good written communication will often trump innovation. No matter how mind-blowing your innovation/product is, if you cannot communicate its value and why you should win, the award will go to someone who can.

Brevity, clarity, and ability to communicate value are often the difference between a finalist and a category winner.

So, how can you improve your copywriting?

Accessible Language

• Remove unnecessary industry jargon. Would someone outside your industry be able to understand why your innovation/product is valuable? Does the judge need a PhD to read your application? You can't assume that whoever is reading your application works in your industry. It's best to cater to the lowest common denominator and simplify language where possible.
• Complex ideas don't need complex language. If you're struggling to explain your idea simply to someone outside of your industry, you might need to revisit your pitch.
• In most instances, dot points are great to help readers to skim. Let's face it - they’re probably reading 10+ other applications. If you can make that job easier for them, you’ve got an edge over someone who has very long-winded and hard-to-read paragraphs.
• Short, active sentences are your friend.

Clear Demonstration of Value

• Be super specific about what value you are creating and for whom. Tell them HOW your product or innovation creates value, not just that it simply ‘does’.
• A useful value prop structure is "We use [your underlying innovation or tech] to help [Customer] to do [benefit]." An example of what that might look like in practice is: "We use AI to help high school teachers improve engagement in the classroom."
• One of the best tools we have is a list of headline metrics that demonstrate value very easily, regardless of whether someone is in our industry. They are quick 1-sentence sound bites that are easy to remember and quickly communicate value. We keep a list of these in our media kit. An example of how you might structure your own 1-sentence sound bite is: "Our data helped [Customer] reduce costs by XX%"
• Include numbers and measurable metrics where possible

Answer the Questions

• Awards are a bit of a comprehension exercise. So many people don't read the questions properly, resulting in answers that don't align with the judging criteria. If the question asks for a short pitch, do not write 4 paragraphs about your business. If the question asks to provide examples of how your product provides value, then give specific measurable examples of how the value was generated.
• There’s nothing wrong with repeating part of the question to make it easier for the reader to understand your application.

E.g., “What makes your business different to others in the industry?” There are 3 things that make our business different to others in the XX industry:

1. XXXXXX
2. XXXXX
3. XXXXX

4. Building Repeatable Processes

Writing (good) award applications can take heaps of time. There are 2 things you can do to make this process scalable, repeatable, and easier:

1. Build a table of awards

Include key info, like the name of the award, the website, submission dates, whether there is an entry fee, and notes.

2. Build a question bank + your answers

There's a surprising amount of repetition in award application questions. Create a list of questions from the applications you enter and a copy of your answers to each. This will save you from having to write up answers from scratch every single time and will make it easier to update older answers. Even better, download a copy of your application after it's submitted to keep on file.

5. Acceptance speeches that don't suck

Congrats! You won an award! But now you have to get up and speak for 60-90 seconds. What do you do?

People often forget to plan what happens AFTER you win an award. Acceptance speeches are a great way to practice your short key messages for media. I always recommend a few things in the structure of an award acceptance speech. Always have something prepared, even if you don't think you'll win:

1. A thank you (even better if it aligns with a key message of the awards)
2. [optional] Your elevator pitch or examples of where you’ve provided value or key message (Not always needed or appropriate - this is where having a short pitch memorised and key value messages off the top of your head REALLY help).
3. A catchy sound-bite or key message - A 1-2 sentence response that would sound great in media. Even better if you can attribute a quote to someone you know is in the audience.
4. A CTA - everyone forgets to use the moment on stage to put in a sneaky call to action. My favourite one to include is “If you’re interested in learning more about X, I’m sitting on Table 3.”

What might this look like when you put it all together?

“Thank you this is a really exciting moment for the team. [Optional pitch - My name is XXX, and I’m one of the founders of XX. We use XXX to help XXX do XXXX.]. I’d like to share one of the most important pieces of advice I’ve received while building this business [picked depending on the audience and event appropriateness]:

• “Don’t drop the ladder behind you”
• “Innovation does not equal acceptance”
• “When in doubt, do something”

[some kind of explanation of the quote if necessary]. This award is a great example of this message and what this awards night stands for. And If you’d like to learn more about XXX, come have a chat - I’m sitting at table 15 at the front of the stage”

Want an unconventional example of someone clearly communicating key messages to media? Try re-watching snippets of Gladys Berejiklian's daily reports during the 2021 lockdown.

What not to do

Don't play dumb. It’s great to be excited, but this is a media opportunity to represent your company. The worst thing to do is get up on stage and speak without any intent or focus. Your behaviour on stage can impact the likelihood that other media or your customers approach you. Take your time in your response.

6. Leveraging Wins

You've won the award or been named as a finalist and the event is over. How can you leverage the win?

• Use the win for your own media pitches - build on previous articles you've posted via media, create a press release, or use as a way to create a new relationship with media contacts. E.g., are most winners from the awards night all alumni from the same university or from the same startup hub as you? Why not contact your uni about it and pitch the story?
• Create long and short-form social media content that tags the companies, finalists, and organisation; or repost content created by the event organiser
• Add wins to email signatures
• Use them to bolster future applications for awards, tenders, or jobs with clients
• Collect any collateral made about the awards to include in said applications and include them in your media kit (news reports, photos, videos, etc)
• Use them as an excuse to email your customers. Reconnect with the old and reach out to new ones.

Other useful resources to have to make entering awards super easy:

I highly recommend a media kit.

What is a media kit? It’s a central resource you can use to store pictures, documents, media collateral, and biographies - anything that you’re going to need to send for either the award itself or any following media. A basic media kit includes:

• A short bio of key stakeholders in your team (i.e., founders; team leads)
• A few photos of the team, products and headshots. Both vertical and horizontal options if possible.
• A written version of your elevator pitch and/or a boilerplate.

Final Thoughts

This strategy is not a silver bullet. You aren't going to win every award that you enter (and neither does Compass). But, it's hopefully provided you with tools and insights that will help you create a repeatable and scalable process.

If you play your cards right, awards can be an incredibly valuable (and pretty fun) pillar in your marketing strategy. They're a great way to network, build credibility, and create sales opportunities.

This approach is not without a few cons:

• Not all awards are free. While there are plenty of free programs, you want to make a decision if part of your marketing budget should be allocated to awards, how much, and to which initiatives.
• Long lead times. You often need to enter awards months in advance meaning it takes a long time to see results.
• Because the organisation hosting the award does most of the PR and media outreach for you, this means you often don't control the narrative of any media they push, and they hold any journalist contacts. There are less opportunities for you to build direct relationships with journalists
• In the early stages, there is a time cost in setting up the strategy, finding awards, and writing applications.
• No award = no recognition

Emily is a founding director of Compass IoT - a multi-award-winning Road Intelligence startup based in Sydney, Australia. Compass uses connected vehicle data to help transport professionals build better, safer cities.