Written by Andrew Thornton, AMI Chair

Entries for the AMI’s Awards for Marketing Excellence close soon. Don’t miss your chance to have your work rewarded and recognised by your peers.

If you haven’t entered already, there is still time for you and your organisation to do so.

But why enter the awards?

Well, there are many reasons why you should submit an entry to this year’s awards. Here’s a reminder of the key benefits:

Firstly, Benchmarking. Preparing an award entry forces you to look at your business from a different perspective and compare yourself to your competitors. This helps you think about ways you could do things better and identify areas for future improvement. It is one of the ways your business could benefit – which could be more valuable than winning an award itself.

Brand differentiation. Becoming a finalist or an award-winning organisation is a great way to set your business – and you and your team – apart from the competition. By carefully selecting the category you enter, you can create a niche to make you stand out from your competitors.

Raising credibility. Entering the Awards will put your brand in the company of industry excellence. Being a finalist or winning an award builds recognition for the work that you and your team have been doing and certifies your place within the industry, especially if the award has been judged by industry leaders and experts in their field, as is the case with the AMI Marketing Excellence Awards.

Marketing and PR. Being associated with the Awards, and winning, provides excellent PR and marketing opportunities that can be leveraged. Awards celebrate hard work and success and provide an opportunity to put your organisation in the spotlight.

Awards can be an overlooked tool in your marketing toolbox. Just being a finalist can improve brand awareness and promote your business to new customers. Make sure you maximise PR exposure and update your marketing materials with the award logo including website, literature, email, and social media. Awards celebrate hard work and success and are great PR opportunities. It’s fantastic to be recognised, so it’s important to make sure that people know what your organisation has achieved.

Winning an industry award can open doors to getting new business, finding new supply channels, and breaking into new markets. According to Performance Marketing UK, on average, winning an industry award can see over a 37% growth in revenue, putting your brand in the spotlight.

Boosting morale. Being a finalist – and winning an award – is a very public way of recognising the hard work and achievements of your team. And awards remind employees what’s good about the organisation they work for and why they are proud to be part of it – and success should be celebrated as a team.

Attracting talent. If you’re the best – the best will want to work with you. Being recognised as the ‘best in class’ and building your organisation’s brand helps attract new talent to your business – as

well as engage with stakeholders. And, let’s face it, if you are part of an award-winning team or an individual winner, it adds kudos to your credentials as a professional marketer.

The AMI Marketing Excellence Awards culminates with an awards gala dinner…which is more like a celebratory party!

Attending the dinner not only provides the opportunity for you, your team, and your colleagues to celebrate your success but provides the opportunity to profile your achievements as an industry or category leader in front of the industry peers. And you get to see what others have achieved.

As the saying goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” and the importance of professional networking should not be underestimated. Attending the dinner provides an excellent opportunity to ‘rub shoulders’ with the best talent in the industry. Consider using social channels to tag other finalists to congratulate them, and make appointments to meet up with new contacts and prospects you’ve met at the dinner.

Also, think about sponsoring a relevant category to help raise awareness of your brand. It’s one way to associate your brand with a category winner.

So, there is still time to get your entry in…entries close 31 May.

I understand that resources are often stretched and that entering the awards is not always the top of the agenda. But the benefits of entering the Awards certainly make it worth the effort…and, who knows, you may walk away a National Awards winner.

For more information on the AMI Marketing Excellence Awards, or to submit an entry, please go here.