Sure, we get it: your employees are happy, the product is exciting and business is booming. These facts are self-evident, and there is no need to argue that point, right? Actually, there is! Awards aren’t simply an opportunity for your marketing team to pat themselves on the back, winning them has far-reaching effects both in and out of the office. Not only can just the nomination process benefit company pride and employee engagement but winning one can solidify your stake as the leading company in a busy ecosystem.
Haven’t yet dipped your toes in the competitive arena of B2B awards? Keep these opportunities on your radar and be sure to put your best foot forward.
Let your employees prove that your company is one of the best places to work
The Best Place to Work Award is an ideal opportunity for companies seeking real, actionable data on what’s working (and what’s not) within their company culture. The nomination process includes surveys for all employees to candidly share and ranks the successes or struggles of their role, hen offers that data anonymously to an executive team. Additionally, the data for each company is compared to others the same industry or city, so that a clear hierarchy is provided.
But this isn’t just about coming out on top of a popularity game, as decades of research from BPW shows, “workplaces with high-trust cultures see higher levels of revenues, innovation, customer and patient satisfaction, employee engagement, and organizational agility.” Interested in applying? The BPW award has multiple lists with different deadlines. Check this calendar to see what upcoming Best Places Work list works best for you.
Shine a spotlight on the worthy leaders
Awards don’t have to solely focus on the product or solution that a company is offering — they can also emphasize leadership that paved the way to success. The Business Times in your local area, like the Silicon Valley Business Times, offers a variety of opportunities to shine a spotlight on the employees committed to excellence. Each Business Times network will have different deadlines, like the Silicon Valley C-Suite awards or the Women in Tech awards from Dallas, so be sure to keep an eye on your local paper to find what’s the best fit.
Follow in the footsteps of heroes from the past
The Edison Awards, named after (you guessed it!) Thomas Edison, is an annual competition of top-tier technology companies. This one is not just limited to B2B, but overall honoring excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design, and innovation. The award offers a vast array of categories for worthy solutions with nominations like “applied technology,” “collective disruption” and “social innovation” to name a few. Keep this on your radar — awards will open in summer 2018.
Or, take the path less followed…
Maybe comparing yourself to the past isn’t your style. If you are known to color outside the lines and are far from “square,” the Tech Trailblazers award may be your perfect fit. Focused on enterprise technology startups only, and with categories in AI, big data, blockchain, cloud, infosecurity, high-performance computing, mobile, networking, storage, and virtualization, the Trailblazer award is a premier opportunity to light up within the tech scene. Further, younger, (pre-VC) startups are also encouraged to enter as Firestarters if they are under 2 years old. The Trailblazer Tech Trailblazer nominations also open up in summer 2018.
Hungry for more wins?
There are plenty of awards available, so being diligent and organized is key. One way to do this is to keep tabs on what your competitors are doing. Did they win an award that you think you deserved? You now have the opportunity to strut your stuff and prove your value. Don’t worry too much about missing a deadline — keep track of all the awards you want to enter, even if the nomination deadline is past, as it will most likely open up again in 2019!
Save your nominations in an index or centralized location and be sure to review ways that you can improve for next year. Speaking of, are you attending any trade shows or conferences? These events often have awards and can potentially put the spotlight right on your solution (not to mention, fill up your booth with new leads!).
Oh, and — good luck!
