Winning corporate awards, part I: 6 reasons why awards are essential to your marketing mix

The most innovative. The fastest growing. The biggest. The smartest. The best. When it comes to business awards, there’s no shortage of opportunities to compete with other companies for a spot on an elite list of industry leaders – however that may be defined.

If your marketing efforts haven’t included the pursuit of awards, you can’t afford to wait any longer. In Part I of this blog on business awards and other honors, we’ll cover why they are more critical than ever.  In Part II, we’ll cover different types of awards and what it takes to win.

6 benefits of corporate awards

Let’s get right to it: from brand recognition to employee retention, the payoff of a corporate awards program can be significant and tangible to your business. Award logos splashed on your website may be the reason you clinch the best possible candidate for a critical role, or close a deal with a new client.

Awards signal strength, credibility, and expertise to customers, investors, and employees. Whether it’s your industry expertise, revenue growth, or leadership, an award gives the market an added level of confidence that you’re the right partner or employer. 

Here are six definitive reasons why your corporate or technology marketing program isn’t complete without awards:

#1. Exposure.

Awards sponsors promote winners heavily through their publications and social media. Bloggers and other third-party publications will often report on awards as well. For example, if you make the Inc. 5000, your local paper may include a writeup of area companies that made the list.  You can issue your own press release, too, that leads to media coverage.

#2. Attracting new talent.

Job candidates look for every reason to validate their final choice among prospective employers. Imagine that your company wants to hire a top-notch data scientist who is deciding between you and a competitor. You explain to the candidate the many reasons to work with you vs. the “other guy,” and you can bet your competitor has done the same.  But your competitor lands on the “Best Places to Work” list yet again, with the award logo prominently displayed on their website. Which employer has the edge in this scenario?

#3.  Employee retention.

Awards offer a great reason to celebrate with your team. In turn, these moments of celebratory reflection boost morale and build culture – all leading to increased retention. Studies show that corporate awards, won from third parties or organized internally to recognize individual contributors and teams, can measurably impact employee satisfaction. 

#4.  Winning new business. 

When a prospective client is deciding between multiple tech or business partners, it requires a stellar RFP response from you – the product or service provider. But your prospect’s vetting process also might include reading online reviews from B2B platform review sites such as G2 and also digesting every single page of your website.  Trust us when we say that displaying business award logos on your home or careers pages can significantly support and validate a decision to choose one company over another, when all other variables are relatively constant.

#5.  Investor confidence. 

You probably have a go-to list of topics, from sales and revenue to product updates, to cover when communicating to investors. Wouldn’t it be nice to lead with a headline that you were included on Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” award list?  Your investors will be congratulatory – and perhaps a bit more swayed to invest in your next round.

#6. SEO. 

If you’re an award winner or even a finalist, inbound links to your company from third-parties can improve your search rankings. If they (or you) issue a press release, even better ­– they generate more backlinks! Winning an award is an SEO boosting event that can have a positive effect on your search visibility over time.

Hopefully you are convinced that it’s worth your time to pursue awards in your industry or local business area. If not, your competitors are sure to “out-win” you, one way or another.

Read “Winning corporate awards, part II: award types and how to get started”