Marketing 24/7, Inc., of Birmingham, Alabama, USA, received the Gold Stevie® Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in the PR awards categories of the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. (Entries for the 2013 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives and the organizations they run, will open in May. Request an entry kit for the 2013 awards and it will be emailed to you when entries open.) Here Marketing 24/7, Inc's CEO, Ruwena Healy, shares her tips for winning Stevie Awards.
What are your top tips for winning business awards in the Stevie Awards?
The opportunity to be recognized as a Stevie Awards-winner has me thinking about the importance of pursing these kinds of business awards and honors. What does it take to always push yourself to be an award winner in your business? Obviously, it takes a great deal more than just applying for them.
For years, I have employed a variety of good business practices that have helped my company succeed:
- Keep focused on what’s to come in your business.
Look forward at least 12 months and have a plan for each of those months and what you want to have accomplished two years from now. - Always execute work with perfection.
- Deliver “creative” results for clients or customers.
Don’t do only what is expected. Focus on the unexpected, what’s unique and how you can make that happen in a successful way. - Give your work 110 percent always and then some.
100 percent or less doesn’t make one an award winner. - Discover the awards process from the inside out.
Becoming a judge for a variety of awards opportunities helps you learn more about the process and exactly what is expected from winners. - Benchmark your business against people who are winning awards.
Get familiar with the winners’ circle and observe what they do. Why did they win? What are they doing differently? Use business award winners as the companies to benchmark your staff and customer processes.
What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
A recent article on FastCompany.com focused on why good writing is essential for business. In this age of social media driven communication, we all strive to deliver strong messages in 140 characters or less. But the true art of writing can get left behind. Good business requires good communication. I think it is crucial that we continue to stress the importance of proper pros to the young professionals coming up behind us.
If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
If I had to choose another profession, I would want to be a physician. As I’ve aged, I realized the importance of health and our family’s health. If I were a doctor, I would know more about the basics of good medical care and be in a better position to help family and friends when important health issues arise.
As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I have always been driven to achieve perfection. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t quite as driven. But I like being successful at whatever I set my sights on. This allows me to maintain my focus and hit the ground running every day.
About Ruwena Healy:
Ruwena Healy is the CEO of Marketing 24/7, Inc., a full-service marketing firm that specializes in developing marketing plans and executing the details of them. Founded seven years ago, Marketing 24/7, Inc. has become one of Birmingham’s Top 10 PR firms. Healy and Marketing 24/7 are the recipients of numerous national and international awards for excellence including most recently the Gold Stevie Award in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women In Business. Earlier in 2012, Healy was honored with the Bronze Stevie Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Low Budget in The American Business Awards and named 1st runner up in the Birmingham Business Journal’s Social Madness competition.
Healy maintains a blog at www.mastermarketing247.com and has authored numerous published articles that have appeared in PR News’ 2011 Crisis Management Guidebook, Birmingham Business Journal, The Birmingham News, Alabama Business News and al.com. Healy is a sought after speaker and trainer covering topics on marketing, branding, social media and public relations.
About Marketing 24/7:
Marketing 24/7, Inc. celebrated its 7th anniversary in 2012 of providing professionals with marketing and business development solutions. CEO Ruwena Healy founded the firm with the mission of providing high-level marketing and business development consulting; marketing plan development and execution; and strategic planning services to companies, entrepreneurs and professionals. Marketing 24/7 offers unique expertise in personal branding and company branding as well as improving marketing and business development effectiveness for the purpose of increasing revenues. Marketing 24/7 has a diverse client base and is currently ranked as Birmingham’s 11th largest PR firm. For more information, visit www.marketing247.net.
