In a competitive industry, such as aesthetics and beauty, brands are constantly fighting for more visibility amongst their target customers and to stand out from their competition. Associating your brand, business or product with a reputable industry award is a great way to differentiate what you do and how you do it and attract new audiences. However, many brands and business owners are unsure how to enter awards, when, and why. In short, awards are an effective PR tool and brands of all sizes are actively competing to win every year!
In this article, we explain the role and benefits of PR awards in the beauty industry, how to enter awards and then leverage them within your PR and marketing strategy.
The role of awards for consumers
Consumers are presented with so much choice when identifying which beauty product, aesthetics clinic or wellness brand is right for them – they are also discerning with high standards so quality, and trust mean a lot to them. When they opt for an award-winning product or service, they can be confident they are investing in the best in the market right now. For example, awards from popular media titles like Glamour or Good Housekeeping are easily recognisable and can give prospective customers a reason to purchase products from brands they may not have considered or even noticed before.
The role of awards for stockists and trade
Beauty product and brand awards can also build trust and confidence within your distribution network. For example, when the buyer at a high street or online retailer is deciding which products to buy and sell, they may be more likely to invest in merchandise with a meaningful industry award versus a similar product with none.
The benefits of being an award-winning brand
‘Award-winning’ is probably one of the most exciting messages that a brand, product or business can attach to itself. It boldly and proudly says we are great at what we do so come take a closer look at us! Below are some of the benefits and real business results you can expect as an award-winning brand in the aesthetics, beauty, and wellness industry:
- Raise awareness of your brand amongst new audiences and prospective customers
- Build brand credibility, trust, and loyalty with consumers and trade
- Gain broader industry recognition and new opportunities for collaboration with other quality brands
- Stand out from the competition – there’s only one winner!
- Draw attention to your ‘award-winning’ products on shop shelves and across your website
- Increase sales of your products or services
How to enter awards successfully in 7 easy steps
To be in with a chance of being shortlisted or winning your awards entry has a vital role to play, it must show that your brand or product meets the set criteria and stand out from the other entries to make the exclusive shortlist. Below we explain how to enter awards in seven steps to help you achieve awards success:
1. Prepare for success: Evidence gathering is vitally important and can take up significant amounts of time, always plan ahead and divide and conquer this mammoth task among your team. Most beauty industry awards give applicants plenty of time to prepare and submit their entry. However, a lot of entries often come in last minute and an experienced judge knows immediately who spent time preparing a thoughtful award submission and who didn’t. Be proactive when it comes to your awards entry!
2. Take a laser approach: Only enter categories that you have the best chance of winning so that you can create a detailed, high-quality entry that will get you on the radar of the judges. When deciding which awards to enter consider the evidence you have to support your win – include compelling data and evidence of great results to bolster your chances. Entering every category and award with low-quality and poorly tailored entries will just be a huge waste of your precious time.
3. Hone your USPs: Many awards entries begin by asking you to describe your brand, product or clinic, your ethos, and your overall approach – this is your opportunity to showcase your brand USPs and differentiate from the other entrants. This information will likely be viewed in promotional platforms among peers and the public so take your time to describe what you do well. If you haven’t done so already now is a good time to develop your USPs!
4. Read the question! Every beauty award has a different focus so never copy and paste one awards entry to another. When entrants ignore the question or fail to address it by attempting to ‘cover up’ with irrelevant information the judges tend to notice and reject that entry! Always read the questions and tailor your entry to answer them. Stay on topic and know the judge will appreciate an answer they can easily grade. When in doubt get a fresh pair of eyes to look over your entry and view it from a judge’s perspective.
5. Showcase the evidence: Winning entries show proof of the claims they are making with key metrics and benchmarks. Judges want to see success through specific measurements so be prepared to quantify your results (boost in sales, media coverage etc.) and provide visual results for treatment-orientated entries. If you are providing images as part of your awards entry ensure they are high-quality, well-lit etc – a dark, grainy, or blurry image will gain you a spot on the no pile.
6. Leverage your advocates: The key principle of PR is the power of third-party endorsements to amplify a brand or product and build a great reputation. Make sure you have a bank of written or video testimonials from patients, partners or press that you can submit as part of your awards entry and when you make it to shortlisted stage. If the awards are subject to a public vote get ready to rally your existing clients and social media community!
7. Polish and prune: Watch out for word and character limits on the awards form and never exceed them, also don’t feel the need to reach the word count as waffled entries make for boring reading. Keep your entry concise and engaging, we love bullet points as they present information in an easy-to-digest way. Before you submit your award entry, we recommend that you read it aloud using your normal speaking voice as this can uncover clumsy sentences and other errors affecting the readability of your submission.
3 ways to leverage/promote the award
So how do you leverage awards to realise these kinds of benefits discussed earlier within your business? When and if you win a prestigious beauty award it will make a great newsworthy story to engage the media and the awards badge can be tagged on each of your marketing materials to boost sales. Here’s our 3 top tips to get you started with promoting your beauty product award:
- Promote every stage: winning is amazing but there’s so much more to entering awards – the build up to the awards party can be very exciting too! Always let your existing customers and social media community know that your brand has made the shortlist and get them behind you as you make your bid for the win!
- Plan to win: create a mini-campaign in advance to take you from the shortlist stage to winning and beyond.A proactive approach will reduce stress and maximise exposure if and when you win. Consider content for your email database, social media, press release, blog, and a special offer to celebrate your win.
- Showcase your award: don’t be shy tell the world of your award-winning status and get that ‘winner’, ‘commended’ or even ‘finalist’ message on your website, marketing materials and packaging.
The key aesthetics and beauty industry awards to consider
The aesthetics and beauty industry is a notoriously competitive and fast-paced industry so it’s no surprise that there are an abundance of awards which celebrate its best products, services, and brands. Most key media titles host their own annual awards from Allure to Glamour, there are also a number of niche independent awards such as The Aesthetics Awards and established websites such as Hip and Healthy also host their own awards.
When identifying the relevant awards for your brand think about the titles which your target audiences read or engage with online – your awards need to resonate with them. We highly recommend consulting with an accomplished PR agency such Kendrick PR, we can help you understand how to enter awards and create a bespoke PR awards strategy for your brand.
We specialise in winning PR strategies
Our expert team consistently create winning formulas of strategic and tactical support for premium beauty aesthetics, beauty, and wellness brands with clear ambitions for growth. Founded in 2015 by award-winning communications expert Julia Kendrick, Kendrick PR are a passionate and experienced agency who thrive on creating tangible success for every client. Please browse our PR services portfolio or do get in touch to book a complimentary discovery call with us!