It seems like there’s a different public relations awards program deadline every week, representing another chance to get recognized for your work and results. The process and possibilities can be overwhelming.
So how can you make the most of your time and resources when it comes to submitting entries, while giving yourself the best chance at success? Here are five tips for turning your top public relations programs and tactics into award entries that stand out from the crowd.
1. Define your motivation for pursuing awards. Your answer will help determine what programs to strategically enter and why you’re making the investment. For example, if your agency is trying to build its social media practice and presence, competing for industry-leading awards in that area could help promote your expertise, and the entry summaries could be repurposed as case studies. Awards competitions are also a chance to benchmark against other PR firms and organizations since entries are usually judged by industry peers.
2. Be selective about your best work. You may have planned and executed a laundry list of successful campaigns and tactics throughout the year. But which will rise to the top of a judge’s scoring sheet? To pick your best work, carefully evaluate your programs against key criteria that are important to judges and are foundational to an effective entry. Ask yourself if your program features: relevant primary and secondary research that supports your communications strategies; measurable objectives and corresponding quantitative results that go beyond media impressions to deliver tangible outcomes; smart, creative execution of tactics; an impactful story to address a business challenge; and backup documents for all of the above. If you can answer yes to all of these questions, you’ve got a promising award entry. Just as you’re picky about what you enter, be selective about who writes the submission. The task shouldn’t be delegated to the intern or the most junior person on your team.
3. Tell a story with your entry. For judges, the required summaries are the most important component of an entry. They also read a lot of them—up to 100 entries per judge in some competitions—to find a winner. Consider these 3 C’s to help weave a great story and get your summary to rise to the top of a judge’s stack of entries:
• Compelling: Define the business issue or opportunity up front—and use the rest of the entry to show and tell how the program succeeded. In addition, PR programs that influence behavior changes and/or directly reinforce business goals can be more impressive to judges than those that simply generate publicity for a product, service or organization.
• Cohesive: Link all the parts and pieces of the entry together. If your research section indicates that stay-at-home moms are a target audience, make sure your strategies and tactics address these influencers. If you state that one of the campaign objectives is to help drive sales by 10%, your results section should share exactly how you did against this goal.
• Clear: Avoid industry jargon. While the judges reviewing your entry are senior-level professionals, don’t assume they’re well versed in your specific industry or its acronyms. Clarity also means following the entry guidelines closely, including putting the relevant information in the summary and saving the right amount of supporting detail for the binder.
4. Get a second opinion. Establish an internal review process to ensure the entry is understandable and error-free. Since you may be too close to the work, find someone who hasn’t been involved in your campaign or tactic to review your entry. Ask the reviewer to identify any information gaps, as well as ensure the entry is a good match for the category you’ve selected. A common mistake is picking or trying to fit your work into the wrong category, which leaves the judges either overwhelmed or underwhelmed. If you have questions about a category, ask the awards program coordinator for guidance.
5. Think beyond awards. Of course, there are more benefits than just winning an award. You can use the awards criteria—research, meaningful business metrics, top-notch execution and measurable results with a clear return on investment—to help guide the development of all your PR programs and tactics. PRN
CONTACT:
Kelly Womer is a VP at Linhart Public Relations in Denver, Colo. She can be reached at [email protected].
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