There’s a PR strategy way too many small business leaders are sleeping on: earned media through awards.
Nearly every magazine and Chamber of Commerce under the sun hosts some kind of award—Best Places to Work, 10 for the Next 10, Small Business Award, etc. Not only can you nominate yourself (usually for free), but, done right, it can bring you, your business, and your leaders a crazy amount of credibility and buzz.
Example: Free promotion through Biz417’s Best Places to Work
In 2020, I helped a Springfield-based MSP apply for Biz417’s Best Places to Work award. The application process included:
A survey breaking down the benefits, compensation, and workplace culture of the organization
A survey to all locally-based employees of the organization
The result? This organization was ranked in the top 5 “Best Places to Work.” That meant they got a full page profile in the print magazine, an article on the digital magazine, and countless social media posts from the publication’s platforms. For. Free.
But that’s not all. Every other publication in town did their own profiles on the top 20 organizations, generating even more free publicity locally. Add a press release that went out to the top 5 industry magazines across the country, and our local buzz turned national.
The cost? About $100. All it took was a little time (about 24 business hours over the course of 3-6 weeks), and the paper / toner costs to make a few flyers. Much better than $4K+ in ads in my opinion.
How to build an earned media strategy for local, regional, and national awards?
This is a process I’ve replicated over and over for business and individual awards. What I’ve come to find is that most of these awards ask some of the same questions:
Why is your company a great place to work for your employees?
What makes you stand out from your competition?
Why do your customers want to work with you over your competition?
What’s one big win from the last year?
Which means, once you’ve got the bones on paper, it's easy to copy, paste, tweak, and nominate your organization in a matter of minutes. So how do you build your earned media strategy and get yourself nominated?
4 steps to boost your earned media strategy with business awards
When it comes to adding business awards to your earned media strategy, create processes to help you systematize your ability to nominate your business or leaders for awards and monetize the promotion once you win. You can break it down into four steps:
1. Find the right awards to nominate yourself for
Nominating your business just to nominate won’t drive buzz, leads, or business. Your target audience has to know, trust, and engage with the host of the award. If your target is local business owners, check out the Chambers of Commerce around you. Most of the time, you don’t even need to be a member to apply for any competitions they host. If your target is VCs or other industry bigwigs, try national industry publications.
Do you have a business journal or magazine in your area? Look for business awards talking about economic impact or some sort of “Best Place to Work” competition.
But don’t stop at nominating just your business.
Promoting your leaders is a great way to generate interest in your business in a non-salesy way that creates trust with your prospective buyers. So look at those same organizations for individual awards that highlight your leaders’ expertise or community involvement!
2. Know when to pay and when to walk away
While most of your local publications will offer nominations at no charge, your Inc.com’s and Forbes magazines will charge a nomination fee. If you’re just starting on your strategy, I wouldn’t recommend paying a nomination fee. First, get a few wins under your belt, understand how the process works and develop your internal processes for this kind of earned media strategy. Make sure to give yourself every opportunity to make the shot before you bet on it.
Most small businesses won’t ever stand a chance at the national awards (and could spend that nomination fee on more lucrative marketing channels anyway). But there are a few scenarios that could give you an edge:
Did you 10X+ your revenue in the last three years?
Did you come up with a crazy innovative product or way to do business?
If you shoot your shot without a yes (or maybe) to either of those questions, your success rate is probably going to be low.
3. Don’t just answer the questions, sell yourself!
The biggest mistake I see businesses make on nomination forms is answering only the question that was asked. You want to make it easy for the editors or judges to pick your application. So put on your salesperson hat and make your pitch.
Just like you sell yourself to prospective buyers, your nomination form is selling yourself to a panel of judges. Don’t tell them only what happened, tell them why, how it was impactful to your audience, and how it benefits their target audience.
The trick is to understand your host’s target audience. Their goal is to sell memberships, subscriptions, or magazines. What about your answer will help them do that?
Did you double your headcount in a year giving more people in your community stable income that boosts the local economy? Was your product / service launch so successful that it generated three times the revenue you expected and helped your customers realize X, Y, or Z goal? Does your HR team have programs that promote the hiring of veterans, those with disabilities, or those in the LGBTQIA+ community?
What can the competition host point to from your application that helps it achieve its goals too? When you answer nomination forms from this angle, your answers become more in-depth, engaging, and likely to win.
4. Proudly show off your win to the world
This strategy isn’t just about the win. It’s about what comes after the win. These awards are like badges of honor that you should wear proudly. They’re also a way for you to talk about how amazing your business is without sounding slimy.
You can say you have the best people because you were a “Best Place to Work.”
You can say your leaders have the most expertise because a magazine called them innovators.
You can say your product is better because that’s what a reporter said in their magazine.
You’re validated by trusted, third-parties that validate what you’re saying without your prospective buyer having to do their own research.
So how do you get the word out? This is the exact formula I’ve used for three years:
Write your own press release
Send it to as many news outlets as you can
Tell your partners, manufacturers, and other industry leaders in your network
Get quotes from them about why you deserved your win and what it means for buyers
Create a blog post on your website about your win and why it’s great
Develop an enablement plan for your employees so they can talk about it on their own
Share the blog post on your social media accounts
Tell your customers about your win in your next eblast
You should take pride in the award you win. But you should also use it to establish credibility and trust with your prospective buyers so they want to work with you instead of your competitors.
Comments