3 reasons to enter small-business awards

As you may have seen from our excitement on social media, we’ve recently been listed as finalists for AccountingWeb’s Medium sized Practice of the year for 2016, an important industry award designed to showcase the firms and individuals who are driving standards of excellence ever higher. Not too long ago, we were thrilled to come 90^th in the top 100 School and College Leavers Awards, sitting in the list amongst some top nationwide businesses and household names. Our sister company, A4G Amherst were winners of the 2015 Customer Choice award at the Sevenoaks Business Awards just last September.

Stay with me…

We’re not writing this post to brag. Rather to share our reasons for entering these kinds of awards. Why do we do it? Is it worth our time? And what are the benefits?

Here’s our top three:

1. Stand out from your competitorsWinning (or even being shortlisted for) a business award will set you apart from your competitors and increase brand awareness. It can force you to take a good look at your competition and work out where you can set yourself apart. It might even allow you to analyse your processes against your competitors and make improvements to your operations.It’s not usually time consuming to enter the awards, in most cases you can nominate yourself through an online application, providing a short background about your business and your success. Writing this information out might even alert you to a unique selling point, or element of your brand message that needs better marketing.
2. Prizes and PublicityAwards are often sponsored and promoted by local press, providing a great route for publicity. Local councils and chambers often organise business awards allowing you to interact with a prime business audience. This kind of publicity is not only great for potential customers, but can also improve relationships with existing customers and suppliers, as well as boosting staff morale.
3. You might win!Winning an award brings a further tide of opportunities, it provides a great message for promoting your business that can be used in all aspects of your marketing. It sends a strong, positive message out to customers and potential customers and will set you above your competitors, all of which are likely to be more valuable to your business than any prize on offer. Winning businesses also often receive obtain opportunities for sponsoring future awards.

Why not give it a try!

For more tips and advice on running your business, have a peek at the A4G blog. We have a team of professionals with experience in many industries and all sorts of topics if you’d to have a chat about anything you’ve read on our website.