Eight ways to use an award win to your advantage - Women's Agenda

Eight ways to use an award win to your advantage

Winning an award is a fantastic achievement you should share with your customers, clients, colleagues and your social media followers.

By sharing your success you can promote yourself and kick-start a whole public relations campaign.

Promoting your award win is a great way to stand out from competitors, boost credibility and reputation, gain media coverage and attract new clients and career opportunities.
Here are some PR strategies you can use to leverage your new award win and promote yourself or your business.

1. Send out a media release
Take advantage of the news value of your achievement and send out a media release to the key journalists in your industry within 24 hours of winning your award. This will give you the opportunity to inform key influencers and promote your achievement.

Some things you should include in the media release:
• Make sure the headline states you won a particular award.
• The first paragraph should contain all the key facts of your award win.
• Include the most important information at the top of the release because a journalist may have limited space.
• Include quotes from yourself or an award judge to discuss the award win.
• Include your contact details at the bottom.

2. Social it
You should announce your award win on all your social media platforms. You could upload the media release to your website and link your social media posts back to it. Try to include lots of pictures from the event because they will grab attention.

3. Make an announcement on your website
Announce your achievement on your website. You can include a description of how you won the award, the award logo and some pictures from the event. You should also include a paragraph about the award win on your website ‘About’ section. This helps to raise your credibility and demonstrate your success.

4. Include it in your company eNewsletter
If you send out a regular company eNewsletter make sure you include the award logo and information about your win.
If you don’t have an eNewsletter you can email your customers and clients detailing your award win. This is a great way to communicate directly with your clients and customers and raise their brand awareness and trust in you.

5. Use the award logo
Make sure you include the award logo on your website and all of your marketing material such as email signature, letterhead, advertisements, articles and brochures. This will help to inform potential customers and clients of your success and remind your existing customers of your win.

6. Display your award
Whether you received a trophy or a certificate you should display your award in a prominent position in your office. You could put it in your reception area or meeting room. This will grab your visitors’ attention and show you are an award winning, credible person.

7. Use the award to raise your profile
Include the award win in your bio and speaker profile. You could then offer yourself to relevant conferences or events as an expert speaker in the area you won the award. You could also write an article on this topic and pitch it to a journalist.

8. Send the media coverage to your clients
Many award organisations publish a list of the winners in a relevant industry magazine. You could obtain a few copies of this magazine and send it to your clients or potential clients as a free gift. This is an indirect strategy to promote yourself but also provide your clients with something of value to them.

Don’t let your award collect dust in the cupboard. Use it to your advantage and promote yourself. There are many PR strategies you can implement after winning an award, which can help to raise your credibility and reputation, attract new potential customers and give you an edge over your competition.

Entries for the NAB Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards close January 7.

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