"Congratulations, XYZ Organization is pleased to announce that you and ABC Company are being honored as the 2005 Company of the Year in your industry."

After you've popped the champagne cork, take some time to figure out how this award can mean business for your company. Or better yet, think about the marketing value on the front end—as you're selecting which award applications to submit.

"If it doesn't better everybody in the firm, then it's just an ego trip," says Karen Love, director of practice growth at PKF Texas, a Leading Edge Alliance firm.

Love knows what she is talking about. PKF Texas won 18 marketing awards in 2004. In addition, the firm sponsors and founded several prestigious awards, and Love has served as a business contest judge and has spoken on the subject to industry groups.

Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards and an organizer of the American Business Awards, says companies enter business awards competitions for several reasons. Some feel they do not receive enough local, regional, national or international acclaim. Others enter competitions as a cost-efficient employee retention tool.

"The very process of entering a competition rewards the individual," Gallagher says. "It says, 'we think you've done a good job, your work is worthy of an award.' It's gravy on top of that.

"Companies who want the recognition then should merchandise the award everywhere they can," he says.

American Business Awards, Gallagher says, helps the finalists and winners handle the merchandising. It provides templates for public relations tools such as news releases as well as ABA logos to include on the finalists' Web sites, collateral pieces and business cards.

Making your company name connected to the award is important. A few years ago, PKF Texas entered and was named one of the Best Places to Work in a contest sponsored by the Houston Business Journal. Love says that PKF Texas uses that honor in its recruiting and retention efforts. But PKF Texas also points to that recognition when prospective clients question what PKF Texas is doing to attract and maintain team members who will be working on client engagements—eliminating the need to re-educate the accountant or auditor each year.

Love says PKF's Texas three-year victory in that contest led to the firm's decision to sponsor the Summit Award in the Best Places to Work—that way the PKF Texas name is an ongoing connection with Best Places to Work.

Sponsoring awards is another way to connect your company with a particular niche market or area, organizers and participants say. For example, PKF Texas is the founder of the Fast Tech 50 Awards in Houston, along with the Houston Business Journal, establishing PKF Texas as a professional services firm that understands technology based businesses.

Winning allows PKF Texas to spread the word about specific programs and services when they are honored. For example, one of the four total Innovative Firm Awards bestowed by Practical Accountant was for the firm's Healthy Start program. It works with growing businesses who need professional accounting services but have "fee anxiety." So PKF Texas "incubates" the company—offering monthly service, including all e-mails and phone calls, for a modest fixed fee.

Being named as an Innovative Firm offers PKF Texas the "news" opportunity to get the word out about the Healthy Start program and reach potential clients.

Gallagher says companies should feel free to nominate themselves, not to wait for someone else to recognize you as a possible contender. "Don't be afraid to self nominate. That's what most people do," he says.

Putting together a winning application

Companies all take varying approaches when it comes time to enter competitions. But for those that understand the true value in such honors, they understand the importance of carefully crafting their nominations.

Before the company applies for an award, it should:

• Subscribe to the sponsoring organizations' newsletters (e-mail and print) to keep up on deadlines, requirements and understand what the organization wants.
• Obtain a complete nomination form. Do not assume that you know what to submit. Most competitions have specific forms and unique requirements.
• Review all categories. Check the rules to see if you can put a particular project or individual in more than one category. "If you're strategy is to win an award, make as many nominations as possible," Gallagher says.
• Examine the categories to see if one might have a lot more competition than another. In some competitions, 20 percent of the categories receive 80 percent of the nominations.
• Review past winners' nominations or at least check to see what the companies did to win.
• Meet all entry deadlines and follow the appropriate submission process. If it says the application must be e-mailed, do not send it through the U.S. Postal Service.

Gallagher says the American Business Awards requires an essay on the accomplishments of the individual or company, depending on the category as well as supporting documents and links, and a biography. He advises that the essay is the most important component of the application because it distinguishes one company from the other. Here's some advice from Gallagher:

• Consider using a professional writer (PR agency or in-house person) to craft the nomination.
• Prepare a well-written, succinct application.
• Take the time to tell a good story.
• Do not create a laundry list of accomplishments.
• Think extraordinary, world-changing or industry-changing accomplishments.
• Focus on one or two accomplishments and go into detail.
• Create an emotional appeal.
• Forego fluff and hyperbole.

Remember, Gallagher notes, that most judges spend three minutes at most per nomination so the entrant must distinguish itself quickly.

Love has seen the process of judging through her role at Houston's Society of Marketing Professional Services. She used the process as an illustrative and teaching tool for marketing manager, Raissa Evans. They were able to observe both sides of an entry, and judging, to assist in future entries for PKF Texas.

Going even further

Part of merchandising the award includes spreading the word to clients and prospects—with or without the help of the mass media. For example, consider reprinting the award as a collateral piece to include in proposals or mail to interested clients with a note such as, "thought you might like to know," Love says.

Then share your winning strategy with firms in any organization or alliance of which you are a member. But it all boils down to thinking beyond the congratulatory stage.

"Any time we win something, we think about how we are going to use it in the education of our marketplace, both internally and externally," Love says. e