Winning awards has traditionally been just another duty for the marketing department. Well, that’s understandable, awards do clearly fit into the ‘marketing and advertising’ remit.
So every year, marketeers were charged with finding, entering, and hopefully winning the awards that would shine a light on the brand. The sales department didn’t really get involved unless it was to recognise their internal achievements inside the business.
But nowadays, the savviest, fastest-growing, most forward-thinking companies are putting awards front and centre of their SALES strategy.
Why?
Because over the last few years, customer expectations have changed, and the need to show that you’re an award-winning business has skyrocketed. Awards are no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ they are a ‘need-to-have’ for anyone who wants to survive and thrive in a competitive marketplace.
There’s a simple reason for this, and just like laughter, it’s highly contagious:
Certainty breeds certainty and uncertainty breeds uncertainty.
Let me explain how this works…
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You hope to buy a product or sign up to a new service, but how do you know you are making the right choice? What’s going to convince you to buy?
- How do you know your money is safe, and that company is valid and credible?
- How do you know that you will get great service and not have your time wasted?
- How do you know that the product you get will be the quality you expected?
- How do you know that the product or service is really as good as it says it is?
- What will it take to convince you that you’re making the right choice and press ‘buy’?
Now more than ever, customers want extra reassurance that they are making the best decision before they buy. That’s why we’ve seen the rise of review sites like Trustpilot, TripAdvisor and Google reviews. The more stars, the better when it comes to pulling the trigger on the sale.
Well, now it’s the same for awards.
The Emma mattress, website pictured below, is a perfect example of how to use awards in your online sales strategy.
Emma has worked hard to win numerous great awards for their mattress and now leads their advertising, marketing and sales strategy with being “The no.1 most-awarded mattress” in the UK and across Europe. They have a dedicated awards page that substantiates what they are saying and reassures customers of their credentials.
Together, this awards effort has the positive impact of triggering the purchase, and Emma shows perfectly that more awards = more customers = more sales = faster growth = more opportunities!
And another thing…
Award-winning brands not only make more sales, but they can also charge more if they want to as well! Customers of award-winning brands perceive their value to be higher than competitors, and they’re willing to pay more for a product or service that has a badge saying it’s the best.
Together, the impact is that award-winning businesses are on average 63% more profitable than their non-award winning competitors. After all, why would you buy from a brand that hasn’t won awards, when there's an alternative brand you can buy from that DOES have the credibility, certainty and reassurance that a list of awards brings?
Customers are now laser-focused on your awards – or lack of them. And so should you be.
There is no doubt about it, displaying high-quality awards logos on your website, social channels, email sign off, vans, stores, and everywhere you display your brand name, will result in faster buying decisions and more sales than ever before.
Don’t take my word for it. Look around you.
How many adverts do you see that say a brand is ‘award-winning’?
How many social media posts do you see sharing award wins?
How many online and offline award logos have you seen on your travels, both virtual and real?
So if you don’t have any awards to display, you’re not shouting about being an ‘award-winning’ brand, or your awards logos are more than a year out of date, your potential customers will not have the certainty they need to buy and it’s time to think about your 2021 Awards Strategy.
But how are you going to use awards to drive more sales? Which awards should you pick? And how do you know if you can win?
Join my next FREE Awards Strategy session to find out what, how, and why you need to win in 2021.
Places are limited. Click here to book your place now, or contact us to find out more.
It’s time to stop waiting, and start winning!
