Congrats, Your Business Just Won A Major Award -- Now What?

By Ioannis Verdelis

culled from:.forbes.com
As an entrepreneur, you’re always trying to find ways to validate your product. Of course, you know that your technology is the best on the market; it’s just a matter of convincing everyone else.
But with limited resources, you can’t outspend your competitors, and most journalists won’t give you free press without a compelling angle. So how can you earn the respect you deserve? One of the most overlooked tools in your bag of marketing strategies is winning an award.
In May, my company set out to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest texting keyboard. We knew we were doing something special with our technology, but with everyone else making the same claim, it was becoming difficult to differentiate ourselves. But after we won, we were able to generate global awareness, boost business, and secure valuable partnerships.
However, winning the award itself won’t earn you new customers and interested investors. In fact, if you fail to capitalize on your shiny new accolade, there won’t be any tangible business benefits to show for it.
Use Your Award as a Vehicle for Success

Pursuing an award can help your company validate its position and generate awareness, but a title and a trophy won’t deliver these benefits by themselves. Instead, you have to use the award as a launching pad to achieve your overarching company goals. Here are five steps you can take to get the most out of your award or record:

1. Pursue awards based on your goals. There are several different awards you can pursue, and some will make more sense for your business than others. For example, if you’re trying to secure consumer mindshare, you should pursue accolades with broad awareness. Prestige and difficulty don’t matter. What’s important is that it’s from a recognizably legitimate source. When you seek accolades with rigorous criteria and few winners, they’ll reflect well on your business’s true value.

With our award, our primary goal was to validate our market position as the world’s fastest keyboard and generate awareness, so we opted for the Guinness World Records because the recognizable brand could fulfill those goals. It wouldn’t have made sense for us to pursue an award about company culture, for example. For the best results, pursue an award that complements your unique goals.
2. Leverage official branding. An award isn’t worth much if you only talk about it behind closed doors. Many award organizations have recognizable brands that cast a halo effect on the winners. Pay the licensing fee to get the rights to use official branding in your marketing channels. Using a recognizable brand is much more likely to catch a journalist’s eye.
3. Talk about it! An accolade can help you connect with new and exciting publications. Most journalists won’t write about you just because you ask them to, but your new record or award may provide them with a compelling story angle. Leverage your internal PR relationships, go to an external PR agency, or announce your achievement on social media. Create a unique angle around the award, and use it as a hook to generate interest among your target audience.
You can also use your company’s achievement to convince talent, investors, and partners that your product is legitimate. The record or award also validates your team’s hard work and boosts morale. Everything you do matters — even if you don’t use it to directly grow your business.
4. Be strategic. Receiving an award is exciting, but you don’t have to announce your win right away. Instead, tie it to a strategic purpose for your business. For example, we timed the announcement of our world record to occur shortly after the launch of iOS 8, and we lowered our prices after the record’s announcement to capitalize on the press.
Coordinate with the awarding organization to agree on timing. If you’re releasing an update several weeks after you receive the award, you should consider bundling the announcements together to boost awareness. In addition to pulling in new customers, you may be able to bring in new partners.
5. Leverage partners to co-market. Strategic partnerships can boost the awareness of your award far and wide. Ask partners to promote your announcement, and if you don’t know any other companies that are willing to spread the word, ask the agency presenting the award if you can use its marketing channels to promote your win.

It’s easy for your competitors to twist their advertising to claim that they sell the top product on the market, but a recognizable award or record can give you the proof you need to refute them — that is, if you use it to your advantage. After all, being the best at something means a lot more when everyone knows it’s the truth.

Ioannis Verdelis is the co-founder and COO of Fleksy, a revolutionary keyboard that makes typing on a touchscreen so easy you can type without even looking. 

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