Congratulations! You’ve won a business award or at the very least, you’re a runner up or finalist. Either way, now is when the real work starts. Submitting the award application is just the first step. Now that your efforts have been rewarded, it’s time to start milking it for everything it’s worth!Â
I’ve also been listed in the Who’s Who of Australian Women four times and I’ve won a number of business awards over my 25 years of entrepreneurship. It’s not an easy thing to do and after putting so much effort into the submission and then being rewarded for it, this is when I’ve made the most of it. Unfortunately many people do hardly anything with it apart from a social media post or adding the award on their website. My suggestions is that you create a promotional plan for your win. This will take a bit of work, but if you do it well, it will have a secondary, long tail effect that will extend the life of the award.Â
In this article I give you my complete plan on how I do it. I’ve not held anything back. It begins with taking the time to map out what you have access to online, friends and supporters who can help you and what resources you might need to promote it.
What assets do you have available?
Assets can be people, software, digital or even tangible. Making a list of what you have access to, will make it easier to implement your promotional plan.
Friends and Family
Make a list of everyone you know who has said for years that if there’s anything you need help with to ask. Set up a google spreadsheet, add their names, email, phone number and work that list. This is your most valuable asset to begin with.
Social MediaÂ
Create a list of the social media platforms that you’re on. Add any Facebook groups that you’re a part of and the days when you’re allowed to openly promote things in them. If you’re not a member of many Facebook groups, now is the time to join the ones that are relevant to your award.
Create a bunch of social media posts that are ideal for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram. Each have their own style and post length. Also create a list of hashtags that are related to the win. eg: #businessaward #award #nameofaward #trophy etc. Do some research. If the award is already using a specific hashtag, use that as well.
Graphics
Use an online creative program such as Canva. I swear by it! It’s like Photoshop for dummies! Create some graphics of you holding the award, the award on its own and the company who provided the award. Make sure you get a few versions (jpg and png) of the award from the company hosting it.
Videos
No doubt someone took some video footage of you winning. Gather all the footage that you and your friends have and get that into a folder. You can use a program like Promo.com to import your videos, add music and titles.
Article and/or Press Release
Write an article or a press release about winning the award.Â
LET’S START PROMOTING!
Article on your blog or website
Start here. Write an article that is conversational and shows your excitement and enthusiasm for the win. This is where you want to link everything back to.
In the media banner including your award
If you have also been featured in the media, gather up all the logos of the publications along with an image of your award/s and create a graphic to feature on your website homepage.
Write another version of the article that is slightly different in the heading, banner image and subtitles and add it to Linkedin about three days after you’ve posted it on your website. This gives Google enough time to index it on your website first. Making the slight changes I suggested for Linkedin, will mean that you’re less likely to be penalised by Google for duplicating content. This is where you want to send all your Linkedin people to.Â
Search for people on Linkedin you’d like to connect with who are considered influencers in your space Send them a connect request with a personal message. Once they’ve accepted it, then send them a link to the article on Linkedin. Say something like ‘thanks for connecting. BTW, I just one this award. Check it out.Â
Also add the article in the ‘Featured’ section as it will be more visible.
Update your Linkedin bio to reflect that you’re an award winning business.
Instagram is very visual so make sure you add images that are from the awards night and the trophy. In your bio, add your Linktree account link and make sure you add the blog post to your Linktree.
Post in Facebook groups you’re a part of on the days when you’re allowed to self promote.
Do a Facebook live video if you’re confident in front of a camera. Send messages to friends inviting them to read the blog post.
Email your database
Send an email to your database with an interesting and visual email. You can use a free program like Mailchimp that makes it easy to do so. You can also add a Mailchimp form to your Facebook page to capture people who want to stay connected.
Podcasts
Make a list of some podcast shows that would be interested in what you have to say. There are so many podcast shows now that getting on them is quite easy. It’s the low hanging fruit and it also gives you good quality backlinks to your website, cross promotional outcomes and even more credibility. Make sure you write a blog post about being on the podcast, add it to you social media accounts and update your bios.
Email signature
Add it to your email signature with a link to your blog post. You send out dozens of emails a day so you may as well use the real estate to toot your horn!
Banners
Update all your banners on your website and social media to add ‘award winning business’ and an image of the trophy.
In closing…
It’s a bit of work to do all of this, so before you get overwhelmed, pick the top 5 you can do easily and start there. But remember, once you’ve got everything in place, your most important asset are your friends and family. Ask them to help cross promote on their social media as well.
I’d love to hear from you once you’ve applied these ideas. You can contact me directly here.
Or connect with me on social media and send me a message. All my social links are below.
Bye for now!
Ludwina x
You are Amazing! Now go and unashamedly promote your win!
***Some of the links in my articles might be affiliate links. I do not endorse or promote anything that I don’t use. Therefore, any referral fee will simply reduce my monthly subscription fees to these services. Thank you in advance.