Tuesday 24, May 2022

6 benefits of entering our local business awards   

Geelong loves a grand victory. Celebrating the Cats or watching the Festival of Sails – we’re supporters with our whole heart.
Our local businesses love a good win, too. Whether it’s for their outstanding customer service, digital engagement, or corporate social responsibility. Local business awards celebrate local talent and their business operations. This is where the Geelong Business Excellence Awards come in.

Sponsored by LBW Business + Wealth Advisors, the Geelong Business Excellence Awards are a yearly business award ceremony that celebrates clever, creative and connected local business across 20 categories. Entering the awards program is free and benefits your business in multiple ways. If you’ve made an impact in your industry and can demonstrate how you’ve been clever, creative and stayed connected, we highly encourage you to enter in.

Entries are now open until 4pm on the 15th of July 2022.

Here are six benefits of entering our local business awards:

  1. Gaining valuable business insights

No need to be disappointed if you don’t make it as a finalist as you will have received a valuable insight into your business. When completing the entry questions, you’ll notice that you are diving deep into business reflection and will come out with great ideas to improve your business.

Finalists and winners receive written feedback from our judges on what stood out in their application and areas they have identified for growth. Overall, an award entry will enable you to gain valuable insights and identify key business improvements for your business – the biggest take-away from entering in the awards!

  1. Celebrating your business and your key partners

Celebrating your business and your staff at an award’s presentation event is a one-of-a-kind experience that will give you and your team a buzz for the rest of the year. It’s a night to remember, even if you don’t win. Get dressed up, have a night out and be recognised as one of Geelong’s top businesses. Going out to the business awards ceremony with your team means that everyone gets to be a part of the awards and experience the glitz and glamour of the night.

  1. Gaining excellent exposure

Stand out from the crowd, promote your business as Finalist or Winner of the awards. A hard-earnt trophy standing in your foyer and a plaque on your website shows clients credibility and lets you differentiate yourself from your competitors. Plus, the organisers will market your business on their platform, too. Giving you further exposure across their socials and the extensive PR opportunities available, you’re sure to gain an array of invaluable promotion opportunities.

  1. Stand out to employees

Potential, high-profile employees are drawn to businesses that have become finalists or have won a business award. It shows that you are one of the top players in your industry and that you are a great steppingstone for their career.

Moreover, entering a business award shows your current staff that you believe in your people. Let your team know that you have entered in the awards so you can cross your fingers and get excited together for when the finalists and winners are announced.

  1. Meet local business players and make new connections

The awards presentation is an evening showcasing the best in business that Geelong has to offer. It’s about giving our local business heroes a red carpet to stroll across. It’s also an excellent opportunity to meet the big players. During the awards ceremony, connect with our local, outstanding businesses and network with other finalists and winners.

  1. Go on to greater things

Business award winners go on to doing greater things. They are able to improve profitability, growth and better their efficiency.
A research paper on Business Excellence by Kevin B Hendricks and Vinod R Singhal from the Richard Ivey School of Business and DuPree College of Management found that business award winners do better than their benchmark counterparts.

In their paper from 2000, they state that “Winners increased sales by 69% (compared to 32% for the benchmarks), increased total assets by 79% (compared to 37% for the benchmarks), and increased the number of employees by 23% (compared to 7% for the benchmarks). Winners also showed higher improvement in productivity and efficiency measures.” The researchers also pointed out that the most significant results came from smaller firms that won awards.

Summary

There’s a common misconception that business awards are only for large corporations that have big budgets and impressive marketing campaigns. On the contrary, business awards are for those businesses that have shown creativity and grit. That they can stand out from the crowd and make an impact within their means.

If you’re a business in the Greater Geelong region that has made an impact within your industry, then we highly encourage you to enter this year’s Geelong Business Excellence Awards. Entries are free and taking part in the awards benefits your business in multiple ways, so get your entries in before the 15th of July 2022!