There’s no denying that, especially in this day and age, businesses need to do everything possible to raise their profiles and stand out from the competition. Industry awards are an excellent method of exposure and, while some are free to enter, others charge a substantial fee. Claire Robinson, CEO of the Approved Franchise Association, explores the question of whether all awards are created equal and if it’s ever worth paying a fee to enter them.
Whether you’re a franchisor, franchisee or supplier, winning or being nominated for an industry award is generally considered to be an honour. It can hugely benefit your business, increase brand recognition and highlight your expertise and achievements to the wider industry. Winning awards can offer many benefits, from confidence and increased exposure to actual prizes, and can help open doors and create new opportunities for your business.
Specifically for the franchising sector, awards are great for rewarding franchisees and recognising their efforts and commitment, as well as promoting the success of the franchise network as a whole. Everyone needs a boost, and celebrating your team’s achievements can be the biggest motivator of all. In turn, franchisees are also able to show their appreciation for their inspirational franchisors, who have supported them and helped them grow their businesses, by nominating them.
As for suppliers, being nominated for an industry award is always a positive. It shows their expertise within that sector has been recognised, which will build further confidence in their products and services, convince potential clients of their suitability to work within the sector and, hopefully, attract new business.
In view of the above, you may be thinking that, surely, any award is worth entering and, on the surface, you’d be right, depending on what’s involved. It’s always useful to be able to promote the fact that you or your business has been nominated, or has won, an award, and the average member of the public is likely to be impressed, regardless of whether the awards are prestigious or not. However, if your goal is to build genuine respect and admiration within your industry, it’s probably best to stick to well-known industry awards that your target customers have heard of.
In recent years, the commercialisation of awards has made it increasingly difficult to determine which ones are worth spending the time, effort and fees to enter. For example, editorial platforms often create ‘awards’ simply to attract additional revenue streams by appealing to people’s desire to feed their own egos, often referred to as ‘vanity awards’, and these are the award schemes you need to avoid. They are usually ones you’ve never heard of before and probably won’t have heard of the organiser either!
They start by contacting you out of the blue to let you know you’ve been nominated or shortlisted for an award you haven’t entered and know nothing about. Look out for aggressive, spam-like emails and perhaps cold calls as well. Be warned! This type of award scheme is often bogus and, even if they don’t charge you a fee to enter, they’ll try to get money from you in some other way, either by requesting an outrageous fee for the plaque or trophy you ‘win’, or even hinting that buying advertising in their magazine may increase your chances of winning. Most of these organisations do not organise an awards ceremony but, if they do, they may hint that your chances of winning could be increased by sponsoring the event or paying for tables.
If you’re asked to pay a fee to enter an award, it’s also wise to remember that you’re only being judged against other businesses who were also prepared to pay the entry fee, which will be a tiny sub-section of the market in which you operate and, therefore, not a true representation of your competition.
Sadly, this type of award scheme is often nothing more than a money-making exercise. Unless you’re confident that, by being able to promote the fact you’re a nominee, or winner, you’ll definitely attract significant, new business, it will be a waste of time and money that could be better spent elsewhere.
In contrast, there are many, prestigious and well-respected industry awards that are definitely worth entering, and will provide the winners and nominees with valuable media coverage, regardless of how much they spend on sponsorship, awards programme advertising or tickets. Specifically in the franchising sector, these are run by established and highly regarded franchise associations, such as the bfa, the Approved Franchising Association, or other franchising organisations such as EWIF. These awards do not charge a fee to enter, however, you do need to be a member of the bfa to be eligible for nomination for their awards.
Contrastingly, the Approved Franchising Association Awards are open to all active UK franchisors, franchisees and suppliers, regardless of whether they are members. Now in their second year, the AFA Awards were created to recognise and reward the achievements made by the entire franchising community. With categories covering franchisors, franchisees and suppliers, these all-encompassing awards aim to include professionals from every aspect of our rapidly evolving sector.
Entries for the AFA Awards are closed for this year and, unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the association was not able to host the glittering, black-tie ceremony it had originally planned. This year, the awards ceremony will be taking place online, on Thursday, 12th November, and is completely free to attend. There will be award presentations from a number of franchise professionals and prominent organisations, such as NatWest, HSBC Elite Franchise TOP 100 Awards and The Franchise Show and a number of sponsorship opportunities still exist.
When deciding whether to apply for an award or not, you should consider the benefits it will offer your business and whether they are worth the time (and money, if applicable) it will cost you to apply. Are they likely to position your business as an industry leader and raise its credibility? If your answer is yes, my advice is to go for it! Apart from the possibility of winning new business, there’s nothing more effective in boosting the morale of your existing staff and attracting new talent than to be able to say your business offers ‘award-winning’ products or services. An award win is essentially an industry stamp of approval, so pick and choose your awards carefully, aiming for the ones you can realistically compete well in and have at least some chance of winning.
