How to get more benefit from your tourism award
You’ve won! What a feeling!
Now, how to leverage your award to get the most benefit out of it?
You earned it; be proud and tell people.
Announce your success on social media
Others will enjoy celebrating with you and congratulating you, so share photos or a video from the award ceremony, of your team, or your award at your business via your social media accounts, including LinkedIn.
Remember to thank the people that helped your business get to this pinnacle – everyone loves a shout out! Be sure to leverage (tag!) your local, regional, and state tourism organisations. (Hopefully those you thank with a tag will share your post).
Update your profile or cover photo by adding an overlay of the tourism award logo with Canva.
2. Add your win to your collateral
Add the awards logo to your email signature, website, voicemail message, confirmation emails, printed collateral, brochures, letterhead, ads, invoices, and so on.
Using the logo is more powerful than saying ‘award-winning’ - it adds credibility without having to use words.
3. Send out a media release
Write a brief media release and send it to local and relevant media and influencers. Tell them not just about the win but the bigger story behind your mission and how your company is impacting your industry. Don't make it a sales pitch – tell a story.
Travel agents also love to hear about tourism award winners so they can recommend award-winning businesses to their customers.
Once media have had a chance to publish your media release, reuse the content as a blog article on your website. Tell the behind-the-scenes story about the hard work that led to the win, and share it on your social media and to your email database. This news might prompt past visitors to plan a trip to return or share it with their friends.
4. Celebrate with your team
Hold a celebration for your staff to thank them. Use the opportunity to build team spirit, and recognise their efforts. Hopefully, this will also encourage them to share the news in their own networks. Remember to share photos on your social media of the special people behind the award.
5. Plan for next year
The only thing cooler than winning an award is winning more awards!
Set up a system to gather the evidence that will support your award submission next year - and remember to do the one thing that will make writing your award submission easier next year: take a couple of hours to plan the coming year: set business goals, plan key marketing tactics to attract your key target markets, and plan for improvements as a responsible business in environmental and social sustainability.
Over to you
What creative or successful ideas to celebrate an award have you done or seen?
Please share in the comments!