Why enter the Queen’s Awards?
It’s always an exciting time when we enter the Queen’s Awards in conjunction with one of our clients. And we’ve had some great successes recently, with President Engineering Group winning a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in 2015 and technology company 3Squared achieving it in 2016.
Over the past 15 years, we have been entering and securing Queen’s Awards for our clients ranging from technology, manufacturing, construction and renewable energy companies. In this week’s blog, we look at some of the reasons why it really is worth the effort of entering the Queen’s Awards.
- They are the most highly sought after awards in the UK
There are no more than 250 winners of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise every year. This in itself makes it more desirable and prestigious. The awards are very clearly focused on businesses that have achieved extremely high growth, world-beating export or innovation in their particular sector. They are recognised not just in the UK, but also throughout the world. A Queen’s Award gives added credibility to a business and reinforces its expertise, growth and innovation. It is no wonder they are the most highly sought after awards in the UK!
- Endless PR opportunities for the next 12 months
Winning a Queen’s Awards gives you endless opportunities to tell your customers how good your products or services really are – for at least the next eight months anyway! When one of our clients wins an award, we plan a full campaign of PR and social media activity until the end of the year. This includes such activities as writing press releases for the trade and local press, securing media interviews and networking in the Queen’s Awards’ Linkedin group. Our role is to maximise our client’s PR opportunities through winning the Queen’s Award – and not just when it is announced. There are a number of opportunities, not least when the client is invited to visit the palace to accept the award and when the Lord Lieutenant presents the glassware back at the business. We ensure that we have consistent activities planned every month and can build a whole campaign around the Queen’s Award.
- Exciting opportunities to engage via social media
The Queen’s Awards presents many opportunities to engage with people and increase your following through social media. For example, our client 3Squared organised a palace-style tea party with buns and cakes available when staff arrived at work in the morning. This provided a great opportunity to tweet about this and share on Facebook, with lots of engagement as a result. We obviously use the #QueensAwards hashtag wherever we can, which gets lots of engagement for clients.
We create Linkedin posts that all our client’s team can share on their own Linkedin – linking back to the story about the Queen’s Awards win on their website.
It’s a good idea to write a blog about the fact that you have won a Queens Award, thanking all staff for the part they played and giving the human interest angle – eg what happened when the company heard the news, what does it mean to the team, how do you decide who goes to the palace? Make sure you tweet regularly to your blogs and news stories about the Queen’s Awards win.
- Morale and motivation from the QA events
Winning a Queen’s Awards is not just about the management of the company celebrating. The visit by the Lord Lieutenant is a great opportunity for the whole of your staff to get involved. Some of our clients have combined this with a staff/family fun day, again opening up many opportunities for employees to share the great news with family and friends. Ask any Queens’ Awards winner and it is likely they will say that the best thing about winning the award was how it motivated and improved the morale of staff. With the Queen’s Awards, it’s not about a small team of people going to Buckingham Palace to collect the award, it’s about the whole company being able to celebrate how well they work as a team. Many people choose to produce Queens Awards lapel badges and to run it on their stationery and on small commemorative gift items, such as pens and cups for staff – a great way to recognise employees’ hard work.
- Chance to meet Royalty
Obviously the chance to visit Buckingham Palace and meet royalty is the highlight of winning the awards. As only two members of the company are allowed to attend the palace, it can be difficult deciding who should go. However, this is a great opportunity for PR and the palace provides some great photos that you can use in your publicity.
So, if you are thinking about entering for a Queen’s Award, please get in touch with us and we will discuss the criteria and whether it is the right time for you. By working with Dragonfly PR, you are giving your company the very best chance of success.
For more information, contact our team on 01709 300130 or email hello@dragonflypr.co.uk.