Skip to content
LET’S WORK TOGETHER

3 Ways to Rethink Your Award Programs to Generate Revenue

How to Supercharge Your Award Programs for Recognition and Revenue

Award programs and “best of lists” are powerful ways for publications to engage consumers, but also to generate additional income for their brands. When you attribute awards or accolades, your publication can develop a branded badge or special logo to denote “best of” categories. From beauty and travel to consumer technology and restaurants, there’s no end to the awards a publication can generate.

At Wright’s Media, we navigate the process of content licensing, helping publications sell these logos and other intellectual property for winners to use commercially. This strategy creates a more sustainable source of income that lives on long after you hit “publish.”

But how should you, as a publication or content creator, be thinking about leveraging awards and accolades to generate revenue?

1. Think Through a Content Licensing Lens

Wright’s Media has more than twenty years of industry experience, but the content licensing process has remained consistent. The publication first identifies nominees and products before selecting winners. Wright’s Media then contacts winners to discuss licensing deals.

So think strategically about who might be best served by your accolades, and also who might be most likely to engage with a content license. While it’s important to serve your editorial bottom line first and foremost, it’s key to envision winners that might have the resources for and interest in a content licensing agreement.

2. Think Scale of Winners to Maximize Potential

While quality matters, so does quantity when it comes to licensing your awards. A woman's lifestyle brand might run beauty, fitness, and travel awards for their readers and generate a list of 500 winners—or more—in one year. That means more than 500 potential content licenses to earn revenue.

Every winner wants bragging rights in their particular field or industry. Winning an award is a huge marketing opportunity for them, and the resulting activity can create substantial new revenue streams for your publication. Imagine a list of both digital and print products available to winners, including:

  • Product packaging
  • In-store displays, self-talkers, endcaps, etc.
  • Media – print, billboards and broadcast
  • Ecommerce – digital use of logos on product pages
  • Company email signatures
  • Website homepage or award page
  • Social media
  • Company stationery
  • Company shirts and other promotional items
  • Job listings
  • Other digital uses (ex. press releases)

3. Think How Consumers Drive Licensing Success

Once the awards start generating revenue through a content license, the benefits keep coming. What’s powerful about this strategy is its snowball effect, rolled forward largely by consumers.

Publishers and content creators collect licensing fees while the brand is seen by thousands (or millions) more people because it is plastered on all sorts of packaging, print and online ads, displays and countless promotional items. So yes, a brand is paying your publication to use your logo, but then that logo is getting in front of new eyeballs that may have never seen it before.

The highly scientific industry term for that is a “total win-win.” The award winner gains credibility by displaying the publication’s name, and the publication generates more exposure.

By thinking strategically about awards and accolades through a content licensing lens, publications can boost their revenue even more.

Sounds interesting? We think so. Wright’s Media has more than twenty years as the industry’s leader in content licensing. Get in touch to request a free licensing review and let’s see how we can generate new revenue for your publication.

Read On