Hampshire’s premier annual business awards event extended the date for entries. INSPIRE Business Awards announced the extension a few days ago to 31 October 2020. The move, a logical one, gives Hampshire businesses a little more time to finalise their entries. With so much else to think about e.g. furlough scheme, its replacement, business loans and day-to-day management awards entries are not the number one priority.
However Hampshire businesses know that marketing is more important now than ever. A business needs to market itself out of the current situation and he INSPIRE Business Awards provide that opportunity.
The awards are open to any business that pays business rates to Rushmoor, Hart, Basingstoke or Test Councils. That’s an area covering mid and north Hampshire. The cost to prepare an entry is just time spent writing it. The complete list of categories to enter can be found on the INSPIRE Business Awards website.
Tips for Hampshire businesses preparing an awards entry
- Put yourself in the shoes of the busy person who will be reading not just your entry but the others as well. Ask yourself, what would make my entry stand out?
- Your opening statement must stand out and have impact
- The summary at the beginning should lay out why you think you should win and under three or four headlines, crystalise why that is.
- Everytime you make a claim in your entry, be sure to back it up with evidence
- Present figures to prove business performance improvement
- Use testimonials from clients and referrers
- If you are sharing information that is confidential, be sure to mark it up as such
- Do not deviate from advice given on preparing the entry e.g. do not excess the word count
- Get someone to proof read the entry before you send it in
Our own business has benefited greatly from the association with INSPIRE Business Awards having been Finalist in the new business category in 2017. The PR was excellent and we enjoyed a greater profile, far more quickly than anything we could have achieved ourselves.
Good luck!
