Your biggest trade show of the year is here, but when the product and solutions awards are announced, your company is nowhere to be found. Ironically, your biggest competitor has to figure out how to get two enormous trophies and plaques back to headquarters without breaking them. What do they know that you don’t?
They either have superior products OR they have a crack team working on their awards entries. Sometimes it’s the former, but oftentimes it’s the latter.
So how can you get into the winner’s circle? Get started with these six tips. Some sound like absolute no-brainers … until you forget to include the URL, or a product shot, or …
1) Plan ahead. You know from last year’s awards the general guidelines and approximate deadlines. Trust me, they won’t change too much year to year. So start thinking about your award entry well in advance—at least a month before the deadline and even earlier, if you can. You know, for example, that they’re going to ask for a product URL for a product award. Set one up in advance (and hide it if you’re announcing AT the show). Get little things, like your company boilerplate, taken care of. Everything that you can do early should be done early.
2) Keep materials in the same folder. This isn’t the only award you’re going to be entering, right? Keeping materials that every awards program requires—company logo, company description, etc.—together means you can assemble your entry that much more quickly.
3) Define your audience. Make sure you tell the judges who your target market is. Hint: For B2B companies, it’s unlikely “everyone.” You figured that out in alpha and refined the market in beta. Now you know exactly who you’re targeting. Make sure that’s crystal clear to the judges.
4) Make the value proposition clear. Right out of the gate, tell the judges what the benefit is to your end users. Don’t bury it under piles of corporate speak. If your product can reduce time to market by 30 percent, tell them that. If it can reduce costs by 25 percent, tell them that too. The more value you can show for the end user, the stronger your entry.
5) Cut way back on the jargon. You know what I’m talking about. It’s annoying to read (and probably annoying to write over and over, too!)
6) Pick the right PR partner. A partner that can help you manage, submit … and WIN awards.
P.S. Congratulations to the three Calysto clients that were named finalists in four categories at the upcoming Super Mobility Week conference hosted by CTIA. RacoWireless, BeQuick Software and Spireon, we’re very proud of your accomplishments!
[Photo courtesy 2013.igem.org]