Award Programs: 4 Reasons To Go for the Gold

With many com­mu­ni­ca­tions and mar­ket­ing teams con­tin­u­al­ly work­ing to keep mul­ti­ple plates spin­ning at the same time, why are award pro­grams worth the time and effort? On the heels of recent award wins for our team and clients, we want­ed to share our thoughts about this question.

Rec­og­nize employees

We know peo­ple are our best assets at orga­ni­za­tions, so it’s impor­tant we lift them up and cel­e­brate their accom­plish­ments. Indi­vid­ual awards can high­light a vari­ety of exper­tise, lead­er­ship and work, help­ing employ­ees feel seen and appre­ci­at­ed. They also offer a chance to shine the spot­light on some­one who is a ded­i­cat­ed team­mate at the office or in the com­mu­ni­ty, and as Moira Rose says, “When one of us shines, all of us shine.”

Recent­ly, we were thrilled to hon­or Assis­tant Account Exec­u­tive Julie Goulette with the Min­neso­ta PRSA Ris­ing Star Award and Account Strate­gist + Pub­lic Affairs Lead Kalli Plump as a Min­neso­ta Ad Fed 32 Under 32. And, we also were proud to see three clients cel­e­brat­ed as Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul Busi­ness Journal’s Women in Busi­ness this past week: Kate Anas­tasi with Radis­son Blu Mall of Amer­i­ca, Susan Bach­man West with Bachman’s, and Meghan Stil­ing with Nerdery. These well-deserved acco­lades pro­vide mean­ing­ful moments for the hon­orees, their loved ones and their organizations.

Receive third-par­ty validation

When it comes to tout­ing exper­tise and qual­i­ty of work, hav­ing val­i­da­tion from an unbi­ased third par­ty can go a long way. While orga­ni­za­tions can show­case expe­ri­ence and share case stud­ies, hav­ing a peer-eval­u­at­ed cam­paign win an award goes the extra mile when it comes to build­ing trust and cred­i­bil­i­ty with clients, part­ners and prospects.

In addi­tion, awards pro­grams can also be a valu­able tool for recruit­ment and reten­tion efforts. Hav­ing best work­place awards that are deter­mined through anony­mous employ­ee sur­veys help prospec­tive employ­ees have con­fi­dence in your cul­ture, and can help retain the tal­ent you already have on your team. Even if com­pa­nies par­tic­i­pate in a best work­place award pro­gram and don’t come away with a win on the first try, there’s a lot to gain from the infor­ma­tion in the sur­veys to work toward earn­ing a win. We are proud to have earned our fourth Inc. Best Work­places award ear­li­er this month and have seen first-hand how these awards have played a role in our abil­i­ty to recruit top-tier tal­ent in this com­pet­i­tive hir­ing mar­ket. 

Ele­vate your brand and work

Align­ing your brand and work with a notable award pro­gram ele­vates all aspects of your com­pa­ny and what you do. Whether it’s a respect­ed out­let, an indus­try asso­ci­a­tion or a com­mu­ni­ty group pro­vid­ing the recog­ni­tion, the val­ue of your work and team gets cen­ter stage. Often, awards pro­grams will also help spread the word far and wide through press releas­es, social media posts and more, mean­ing an even greater audi­ence will see your name asso­ci­at­ed with this accolade.

In addi­tion to help­ing reach exter­nal audi­ences – such as your clients, prospects and oth­er stake­hold­ers – awards pro­grams can be ben­e­fi­cial for inter­nal efforts. Show­ing acco­lades that hon­or the val­ue and cal­iber of the work you and your team are doing can help build cas­es for pro­mo­tions, addi­tion­al bud­get or hir­ing more team mem­bers to con­tin­ue and expand upon the great work.

Cre­ates content

As with any great media hits or news, shar­ing about award wins cre­ates organ­ic con­tent for your owned chan­nels. Whether it’s a para­graph in your newslet­ter, posts for social media or a top­ic of your next pod­cast episode, the awards news is a built-in con­tent generator.

We hope this inspires you to think about what areas of your work and which peo­ple might be poised for suc­cess in an awards pro­gram – and how you might be able to fos­ter their growth to work toward a recog­ni­tion goal. If you have any ques­tions about awards or would like help work­ing on one, please don’t hes­i­tate to reach out to us at info@bellmontpartners.com!