During this weekend’s snow storm and with the help of a few carafes of coffee, I completed my fourth annual BMA B2 Awards volunteer judging stint. This got me to thinking that it would be helpful to share the collected insights with my fellow B2B marketers.

As a global awards program, the B2s recognize excellence and innovation in business-to-business (B2B) marketing efforts such as global brand strategy, customer marketing strategy, integrated marketing communications, new media strategy (like social), and successful new product and service launches. The whole effort takes me about 6-10 hours, depending on which of the 80+ categories I’m assigned and the number of total entries within those sections. This year, I judged in social and blogging categories, which were new to me.

Why do I love spending my off-work time judging these awards? Perhaps it’s genetic: I’m descended from a deep bench of judges and lawyers (the gavel above was my grandfather’s). More likely is the fact that I totally geek out on the insider exposure I get to the exceptional marketing efforts of a diverse group of businesses and organizations. I learn something positive from each entry, and you know who gets to review 20+ FREE case studies? I do.

My Five Recommendations For Presenting Your Nomination

Looking back over the past four years of B2s, I can recognize patterns in the entries – both helpful and harmful – that are worth noting. Since it’s fresh on my mind, I thought I’d take a minute to reflect on these trends and lay out five general tips for those who are considering nominating a marketing campaign, strategy or asset to any local (e.g., Colorado BMA’s Gold Key Awards) or global awards program.

#1 – Tell a Story to Remember

We marketers excel at telling stories, and judges prefer these over the dry recitation of facts. So why don’t more entries take this approach? While your judges are probably know-it-all marketers (like me), they are also human beings. They can be swayed by your charisma and by the riveting plot line of your B2B marketing drama. Er, I mean marketing project. We never have drama in our line of work.

Start writing your nomination early and take the time to be just as creative as you were on the marketing campaign or asset or person you’re nominating. You must stand apart from your competition: make the story memorable, project enthusiasm and character and don’t shy away from descriptive language. Does your entry answer some or all of these:

• Why did this matter to the company?
• What were your company / department struggles?
• How many people were involved?
• What obstacles did you encounter? (no campaign is seamless)
• To what did you attribute your victory?
• What do the results mean beyond just the metrics themselves?
• Did this have wider, longer, or unexpected impact on the organization?

I also suggest gathering an outsider’s point of view. Sit down with your spouse or a non-marketing friend or three over coffee or a craft beer and tell them your story. Avoiding business jargon, describe what you did, why you did it and how you succeeded.

Note the questions your audience asks and what grabs their attention. Then practice saying what you want to write, so it’s more accessible. Give yourself time to reflect on your story as you read, exercise, or brush the dog. Make sure to incorporate all of these ideas into your draft entry. Then, when you’re ready, approach a tougher, marketing-savvy audience to make sure your story covers the salient, professional facts.

#2 – Frame It Out First to Keep on Point

Please, please, please: do not write your nomination while in the actual online (or paper) form on the day it’s due. You’ve just wasted your entry fee, and it leaves the false impression that you don’t really care. Of course, you care! Even if yours is an amazing entry, when it feels rushed or presents a weak narrative, it can’t defend itself against a well crafted and perhaps less deserving competitor. Rest assured that the lion’s share of all entries will be well written and yours must be, too.

So as soon as you decide to apply, take time to read the qualifications and questions. They usually follow a logical flow from objectives to results. Copy and paste them into a document and over the next week or two build out the outline / framework in Word, PowerPoint, stickies or whatever tool you find works best. Start writing as many notes into each section as you can. If you’re feeling disconnected from the details, host a brown bag with a few of your team members or the customer (if you’re an agency) to recapture the whole story.

Time dedicated to framing matters because your final nomination has to be brief, focused and complete. Some tips:

• Start big and then edit fiercely.
• Pay attention to the balance between the right kind of details and too much detail. If you’re not sure, enlist your biggest critic to review your draft.
• Your overall summary should never be more than two paragraphs and should highlight the best aspects of the whole nomination.
• Just like you do with your best marketing content, focus on readability (bullets are good, as are short paragraphs). Some judges may skim if they have 10-20 entries in the category.
• And don’t repeat facts. I’ve seen entries that use the exact same words in multiple sections, despite that one calls for objectives and the other calls for execution details. It’s sloppy, boring and detracts from your story.
• Don’t repeat facts. Really. Unless you do it for emphasis like I just did.
• And make sure you have strong results / metrics that you tie back to your original objectives. For some awards, like branding, that can be a challenge, but you should still take extra time to focus on this section. Rest assured that hte judges will.

#3 – Use Visuals to Transport the Judge

Most of us are visual learners, and abstract campaigns do not inspire. They aren’t dull when you actually do them, so why reduce them for the awards? When the nomination form asks for uploads of examples, videos, URLs, or overviews, make the most of it. Show the judge the banner ads of which you are justifiably proud. Let them see the video that garnered a 35% email open and clickthrough rate. Give them examples of your humorous nurturing emails. Share openly, but only if you want to win.

Some of the best work I’ve seen so far was done by the agencies that are seasoned pros of the award circuit. Several have a standard format PPT-based PDF that repeats the entire story in stylish images and text. Granted, when the same agency submits four awards in your category, and all of them start to look the same, that tactic can work against itself. But still, if you move the judge with your words and then compliment those with a set of informative visuals, it’s the best possible differentiator. I am still saddened by otherwise interesting entries that ignore this critical asset.

#4 – Double-check Before You Hit Submit

This may seem like a minor point, but it’s always the smallest things that trip you up, especially if you’re running up against the deadline. For example, if you’re cutting and pasting from a document into an online form, make sure you’re pasting as plain text. Rich text like apostrophes will more often come across as unreadable symbols, and you may never even see this because it won’t have been translated to the final format until after you’ve submitted.

Readability and polish can count just as much as the content, and you don’t want to make the judge struggle to get your point. One entry that I saw just this year was dominated by all sorts of styles and fonts that made it into an unnecessary eye test. It also included about ten ghostly rectangles that I can only assume were images that could not be stored but were still defined in the underlying HTML coding.

You never know what you’ll get, so stay conservative. Remember that most of these online tools, while handy, lack adequate spell checking. If you type as well as I do, that’s going to be a problem. It pays to check your grammar prior to inputting your responses. If you have the time, get a colleague to review the final version.

#5 – Make Sure to Have Fun with It

Probably an obvious recommendation, but you’d be surprised how serious some of the entries can feel. You – the nominator – have probably been tasked with this job above and beyond your usual responsibilities. No time, few resources and the mandate to make this entry outshine all the others. So, no pressure.

I say relax. It’s just an award. Sure, that shiny piece of glass can justify marketing’s continued fanfare within the company, but let’s face it, you’re going to get more mileage out of the successful asset, campaign or person that you’re writing about in the first place. This is more like the final bound thesis than the oral exam you just aced. You’ve already done the hard work of actual marketing, so approach the award nomination process with some pleasure. Do your best and see what happens. The world smiles back when you smile first.

And bonus tip #6: Once you have written and submitted the nomination, create a second visual, company-friendly version. Post it on your intranet, share it with a list of inside influencers and managers or feature it in the internal newsletter. Let the rest of your business know the good work you’ve been doing!