Five mistakes to avoid when entering comms awards

Following on from last week’s blog, I thought I’d share some advice on how to make the most of your communications award entry – internal, consumer, B2B, digital, print, marketing, PR or otherwise.

For the last three years, I’ve had the privilege to judge the IoIC awards alongside some very talented people in the wider comms world – real game-changers at agencies, in-house and across all kinds of sectors.

‘Nerve-wracking’ is the how I’d best describe judging. Joining fellow judges in reviewing and scoring nominations is always tough. We’ve all been there – entering our beloved project or campaign, pressing send and hoping that we get recognised.

But I’ve noticed a few mistakes that – I feel – should be avoided to give your entry the best chance of success. Some may seem obvious to comms folk, but you’d be surprised – “do as I say, not as I do…”

Five mistakes to avoid when entering comms awards

  1. Set objectives – Choose clear KPIs. Lay out what it is you want to achieve in non-emotive language. Facts and figures are the flavour of the day. Yes, it could be about staff retention or fewer accidents across production sites, but lay it out in black and white. Surprising how often this is missed/too watered down (i.e. ‘lower staff turnover’ alone isn’t sufficient).

  2. Measure first – Whichever metric you’re measuring, do it before you begin any work. When judging, we’re always shocked at how little this is done. It can be anything – a spot survey of employee morale, dwell time on webpages, or amount of feedback to a printed magazine through to current staff turnover or health and safety mistakes at work. Whatever your objectives are, MEASURE FIRST.

  3. Make it unique – Consider the judges. They could be reading dozens of entries in one day. Why should yours stand out? You’ve already (probably) done a good job of adapting your content, tone of voice and deliverables to your initial project audience; why not do it with your nomination…? One thing you could do is…

  4. Get someone else to write it – Not the account manager or project lead. They may be too close to it, speaking in too much detail, and missing other parts of the story. Also, create a new angle depending on the type of award you’re going for. You can enter for different categories, but make the story suitably different. Copy & paste doesn’t cut it.

  5. Evidence your results – Anecdotal is good, and adds to the narrative, but look back at your objectives. What did you say you were going to do? Did you do it? Even if you only went some way towards hitting your KPIs, then say so. Any tangible results are better than none.

Good luck with the next entry, and I hope the above helps.

Let me know what your thoughts are – do you agree or disagree with the five pieces of advice? Do you already do some of the above? Anything you’d add to the list?