It’s awards time again for B2B marketers, with brands and agencies getting ready to submit their best work for glory at the glittering gala dinner in the Autumn. But with competition extremely tough, what can you do to give your entries the best possible chance of success? Having been involved in organising judging sessions for the past ten years, and listened to judges rant about the good the bad and the ugly of awards submissions, here are my tips for glory and the ultimate B2B accolade.
1. Don’t leave your submission to the last minute
One thousand words may not seem like much, but when you need to double-check all your figures and get sign off, it may take longer than you think. The deadline for entries is June 12th – if you think you’ll miss this deadline, but still want to submit, please contact my collague Agnes on the email address below.
2. Read the guidelines
They contain crucial information about what the judges are looking for in each category and how to compile your entry. Entering without reading the guidelines first, thoroughly, will be a waste of your time and money.
3. Include results
Results are crucial to the judging process, but they can be kept strictly confidential and will only seen by our judges. Simply state which figures are confidential in the submission. So where possible, please don’t withhold results – give us as much detail as possible to make your entry shine.
4. Present it well
Submissions will be judged on content, not appearance, but that doesn’t mean you can’t aim to impress! Including campaign imagery and illustrative graphs can greatly help the judges digest the information. Use the free templates to ensure you are presenting the information in the correct structure.
5. Don’t be too clever
The judges will be poring over hundreds of entries, so get to the point quickly and stick to it. Flowery or over-elaborate prose won’t help your chances. Clarity and conciseness will.
Good luck to everyone entering the B2B Awards 2014. We hope to see you amongst the top performers grabbing the limelight at the ceremony in November – for more on the ceremony and entry proceedure, see our awards homepage. If you have any further questions about entries, please email my colleague Agnes at [email protected]
