Audience research
Part of Judges read the entries or the market does, business awards audience research
How to research a business awards target audience
A step-by-step guide to researching a business awards target audience: segments, named sources, PECR consent rules and a quarterly list review.
What to take away
- The Office for National Statistics puts UK private sector businesses at 5.7 million, so a generic awards mailing list holds far more names than one category can serve.
- Audience research turns that national figure into a shortlist of named firms, trade bodies and media outlets.
- Start with the decision you want the audience to make, then work back to the segment that holds it.
- Record where each contact came from, because PECR sets consent and soft opt-in rules for electronic marketing.
- Review the shortlist quarterly, since company names, job titles and category relevance drift.
Why does a business awards target audience need defining at all?
Most entries come from people who already know the awards exist. The rest come from outreach, which only works when you know why the reader would care.
Without a definition the audience becomes anyone with a company number. That wastes effort on firms that never enter and leaves winnable entrants untouched. A category that draws three entries usually has a targeting problem rather than a demand problem. Check whether the firms you wanted ever heard of it before you rewrite the category.
Use the gov.uk public bodies list of departments, agencies and public bodies when a category touches a regulated sector. Knowing which regulator oversees a sector tells you which trade press to approach, and which public register to mine for named firms. Widen the same research cycle to further categories and regions once the first shortlist is working.
Who should sit in your primary audience?
Split the audience into three groups and size each honestly.
For a regional category, a workable primary audience might be 120 named firms, perhaps 30 of which have entered a comparable award before. Those counts are illustrative examples. The entrant role shifts with category size. A small firm sends its founder, while a larger one sends whoever owns the relevant numbers.
What does good audience data look like before and after?
The table shows the shift from a purchased list to a researched one. Figures are illustrative examples.
Bought list versus researched list
Before
- Source
- Bought list
- Segment
- Titles mixed
- Consent basis
- Unclear
- Size
- 5,000 records
- Review cycle
- Annual
- Owner
- No named owner
After
- Source
- Trade directories
- Segment
- Three groups
- Consent basis
- Recorded per contact
- Size
- 120 firms
- Review cycle
- Quarterly
- Owner
- One named owner
Read the table as a sequence, not a wish list. The source row comes first, because segment, consent basis and size all follow from how each contact was found.
How do you research the audience without breaking marketing rules?
Start with published data. Companies House, sector regulator registers such as the FCA register or the Charity Commission's register of charities, and trade body member lists are all legitimate sources, because the organisation chose to be listed. The Federation of Small Businesses, Make UK and the British Chambers of Commerce are the largest member bodies to start from.
A panel of past winners works best when it mirrors a trade body's advisory board: a small group of senior figures, a written remit, fixed terms and a named chair.
Email is different. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) cover consent, soft opt-in and the right to object, and award promoters sending bulk entry invitations fall inside them. The ICO's guide to PECR sets out what a compliant record must show, so note the basis for every contact before you send.
Which channels reach each group best?
Entrants respond to direct email and peer recommendation. Influencers respond to relationship contact through a professional body. Amplifiers need a story, so send shortlist data rather than entry forms.
Match the channel to the group, then check the response after each send. Two weak cycles on one channel is enough evidence to change approach. Before you finalise segments, check which rival schemes already own each audience: the King's Awards for Enterprise at national level, and chamber of commerce and trade body awards in the regions.
How do you keep the audience list current?
Set a quarterly review: check that named contacts still hold their roles, that firms still trade and that segments still match the category structure.
Keep the list in one place with a named owner, and note why each firm was added, so a new colleague can judge whether a contact still belongs. Track three numbers: contacts added, contacts removed and entries attributed to each segment. If a segment produces no entries across two cycles, retire it or rework the message.
Common questions
How many contacts do I need for a new awards category?
Enough to fill the category twice over. If a category has 20 finalist places, aim for 40 to 60 reachable firms, as an illustrative example.
Can I email past entrants about next year's awards?
Often yes, under the soft opt-in rules in the PECR guide, provided you collected the address during an earlier entry and offered an opt-out at the time.
Should the audience include journalists and trade bodies?
Yes, as separate amplifier and influencer segments. They rarely enter, but they shape whether shortlisted firms treat the award as worth winning.
