We have won a Queen’s award for innovation. Of course we can’t tell anyone until the official announcement and I wondered if you might have a few ideas as to how we could maximise the marketing opportunities that such an award brings.

Fantastic news and being able to prepare in advance is very helpful! Action you can take now:

1 – Quotes; you could with lots of ready-made quotes, from your MD, long-established customers, staff involved in the process.

2 – New stationery [e-stationery or the usual stuff] will need to be prepared to maximise the award.

3 – Press releases; prepare lots of your own versions. A story about the product, its development, the team, any new orders, why it was created.

4 – Photos; some ready made photos will be useful [such as the team around the product – ideally all wearing shirts with the company logo], but there will also be a ceremony where the award is handed over and more photos will be taken.

5 – Web pages; prepare items for the web pages such as changes to the ‘about us’ sections.

6 – More news; Prepare other news releases for any distributors or overseas branches to issue.

7 – Staff involvement; The MD needs to think about who goes to the Ceremony – usually it’s 3 people [perhaps there could be an internal draw?]

8 – Newsletter; Prepare a statement / internal newsletter for all the staff explaining how many companies entered and why your company has won and what this means.

There are also helpful notes from the Award’s website http://www.queensawards.org.uk/business/Benefits_of_Winning/Index.html