This week I’ve been disappointed by the press coverage that we’ve had from our litter of industry awards. It turns out that we’ve won too often and the press no longer want to cover yet another industry win.
So why should we enter awards in the first place? Even if the press haven’t covered the wins, we’ve sent notes out internally celebrating the successes, so this wins will play a critical role in reinforcing the strong intent of the management team to continue to build and grow our network in Africa. It’s a clear signpost to everyone of what we’re here to do. That must be valuable.
The internal sales message is key when it comes to attracting and recruiting the best teams, especially if the award is for a category that can be tough to recruit in, or better still is recognition for investment in staff and the people who work for the company.
Usually it’s for a boost in sales that CEO’s want to win awards. But awards are perhaps overrated as a sales medium. In very competitive markets, an award or peer recognition can often demonstrate that small increment of relative advantage in your category which might make winning new business a little easier, but awards are not a short-cut to fast sales.
So what went wrong with my PR strategy? The role of PR is very sensitive. Recently, we’ve won al lot of awards, and the local press and trade papers quickly get ‘award fatigue’. Yet another award becomes none news, and the journalists will often push back in search of deeper qualifying facts and criteria to justify the flurry of awards.
I reckon that good companies win awards and the growth would have been there regardless of the awards. But a study by the University of Western Ontario and Georgia Institute of Technology, showed that from 600 quality corporate award winners, 37% had more sales and 44% had a higher stock price return than their peers who didn’t win the awards (but does this show a causal relationship – I don’t think so).
To know who will benefit most from any specific award t it depends on the company size and structure. Smaller companies will gain credibility quickly by being put on the same platform as their larger competitors. And larger companies can win ‘big time’ by instilling ‘purpose’ and conviction to their teams, demonstrating their investment in people.
Pick your awards based on what you want to to communicate and recognise that as a small growing company, even if you don’t win the BIG gong, a well written and comprehensive award entry will always be read by judges, and these are often journalists, analysts and category experts – just the people you’ll want to get in front of sooner or later. That's the point, now do it.