In our last blog, we shared the five things to consider when writing an award submission, because we know that having the best product, service, event or marketing campaign doesn’t guarantee you a place among the finalists.
However, before you even get to the point of writing your award, another big key to submission success is planning. Ideally, you should be thinking about your submission one year prior, or at the start of the project, you can then slowly build your pool of resources along the way which will help craft your entire submission.
Set objectives
At the start of the project, set and document the measurable goals you plan to achieve; this will then make success easy to demonstrate. For example, do you want to achieve a percentage increase in ticket sales, secure a certain amount of media coverage clippings, improve your Net Promoter Score by 10 points, or does the individual or team have KPIs to meet?
Document the process
It is far easier to keep a record of the process as you go and add to it on the fly, than try to remember the process after the fact. Did you change or implement new business practices, who was involved along the way, did you recruit staff specifically for a project, do you have document templates you used?
Take photos and videos
The more photos and videos you have the better! You won’t use them all, however you will then have a choice about what photos and videos you submit – remember a picture can tell a thousand words. Progress shots, time lapse video, photos of the final product and the team involved will all make great supporting material for your submission – think of it as the icing on the cake.
Collate documents along the way
Whether you write your submission yourself, or you engage an agency to write it for you, if you gather documents along the way, when it comes time to write the submission you will have a resource library ready to reference or hand over. This might include presentations, proposals, plans, CAD drawings, case studies, stakeholder communications, etc. Consider adding an “Award Resources” folder to your files and dropping things in as you go.
Get Third-Party Feedback and Endorsement
You know what you are submitting is award-winning, however someone else endorsing you carries a lot more weight. Survey results from attendees of an event, testimonials from multiple clients and suppliers, media coverage of your event or organisation or individual, even an informal email singing your praises – these will all help to bolster your award-winning case.
Get involved
Whether you are entering as an organisation or an individual, the more you can demonstrate that you are involved in more than just your own business pursuits, the better. Award judges look for those who go above and beyond; those who contribute to the industry, are active members of relevant associations, are donating their expertise for charitable purposes, are involved in philanthropy. The “extracurricular” will make you stand out.
Writing an award submission is quite the task, however by planning to enter an award and following these tips, by the time you need to write your submission, you will have most of the information you’ll need to reference at your fingertips and be ahead of the game.
If you haven’t already, check out our blog about Five things to consider when writing an award submission – HERE.
The team at Zadro have written and won awards for our own work, as well as on behalf of many clients. Find out more here or feel free to get in touch about your award submission plans and questions, contact us at advice@zadroagency.com.au.
