Top Tips for engagement from last year’s National Public Champions

With just under two weeks to go until the deadline of the first phase of the public vote – and before many companies move to the second phase - we thought it would be useful to get some additional advice from those companies that did well last year.

Below are the key things that our Public Champions from 2013/14 would recommend to this year’s National Champions – advice that could also be useful for anyone wanting to engage people through online campaigns:

SDL Leuven, National Public Champion for Belgium

What key activities do you recommend to drive engagement?

1) Create a buzz - you have to try to create an internal and external buzz to your visibility. We organized a marketing campaign and other promotional activities via our website and social media channels to enhance our promotional activity.

2) Use any opportunity to promote yourself – our staff from the Belgian office would advertise our campaign on client visits and road shows, we also created an email signature for all Belgium employees.

3) Use the video - the creation and promotion of a professional video added a competitive edge enabling us to gain the buy-in of our customers, partners and business leaders.

What advice would you give to companies this year?

For companies up for the award this year, distinguish yourself from the competition and create a unique, fun and engaging campaign; create a selling factor and include this in your campaign. Finally promote your campaign to internal staff, customers, partners and business leaders to increase your chances of winning.

FCS Global, National Public Champion for Ireland

What key activities do you recommend to drive engagement?

1) Do a local campaign - while we are a global company working in over 170 countries, we still maintain an important local support base in our EMEA headquarters in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon. With the support of our local media, we gained a groundswell of endorsements from local business and individuals who wanted to see a local company advancing in a European competition.

2) Use Political/Business contacts - our day to day activities brings us into contact with influential individuals in all sectors. Key political and business individuals from the West of Ireland promoted our campaign for the European Business Awards through social and traditional media.

3) Engage staff - following the announcement that FCS Global were finalists for the European Business Awards, we observed a keen sense of pride from our employees whose work had been recognised from the business community. With offices based throughout Europe, all FCS Global staff felt part of the award and proceeded to share the voting process on their own social networks.

What advice would you give to companies this year?

At FCS Global, we felt that becoming a finalist in the European Business Awards was the equivalent of a significant budget outlay in a marketing/advertising campaign. Use every opportunity to promote your nomination through consistent email signatures, presentations and business pitches. A European Business Award nomination will speak for itself and set you aside from the competition.

Doga Koleji, National Public Champion from Turkey

What key activities do you recommend to drive engagement?

1) Concentrate on social media – through both personal social media and the company’s social media accounts: facebook, linkedin, twitter, blog pages; company website, sub-departments’ websites, etc.

2) Keep at it – don’t just announce it once; keep reminding everyone at least a couple of times a week. Get other deparments within your company involved such as HR, IT, Academics, Business Development etc and of course your customers.

3) To the Point - be concise and have clear instructions as to what is expected of them to do in order to support the company in this contest. And most of all make everyone feel proud to be part of it.

What advice would you give to companies this year?

It is important to portray the excitment and vision of being granted such an award to others. You should constantly share this news with your employees, customers, partners, and the general public, so that the importance of this is felt accross the board.

About the companies:

SDL (LSE: SDL) allows companies to optimize their customers’ experience across the entire buyer journey. It has a global infrastructure of 70 offices in 38 countries. www.sdl.com.

FCS Global (Flexible Contact Solutions) provides communications solutions including voice, data and networking services to a variety of corporate clients worldwide. www.fcs-global.com

Doga Koleji is a key player in the private schooling sector in Turkey and an award winning institution that has been recognised internationally for its quality and as a pioneer in the field of education. www.dogakoleji.com