Artichoke’s Sarah Simonds, winner of the 2024 Boutique Star Award for Social Media Strategy of the Year, on the benefits of entering industry competitions…
“We entered last year’s Boutique Star Awards for a couple of reasons. The first was to support Boutique magazine (as an industry, we all need to pull together to prosper; the magazine is an important part of that). The second was because making the shortlist or being chosen by the judges as a winner is a sign of excellence that would help us promote our offer to both existing and potential customers.
“We had a lovely evening at last year’s winners’ party, catching up with friends from the industry. To win an award from our peers for Social Media Strategy of the Year, which we are very proud of (even if our posts aren’t particularly pretty), was very humbling.
“Receiving an award has been very helpful for the business in terms of marketing and promotions. We still have an advert running on our social media channels with a video of myself collecting the trophy on stage and making a speech. In fact, it’s one of our best performing posts! The comments underneath reflect how our customers feel: happy for us and proud to be part of our journey.
“Artichoke is not about one person – we are a team. Everyone within the business – and a lot of customers, too – contribute to our social media success. We were all chuffed to bits to have won the award, although remain slightly amused to have become video stars in our fifties and sixties!
“The entry process for these awards is straightforward. My tip for anyone thinking about taking part comes from one of last year’s judges: don’t get Chat GPT to do the entry for you, however tempting that might be. Your words need to come from the heart.
“We will be entering the Boutique Star Awards again this year. Why? Because we have our sights set on taking home the trophy for Fashion Independent of the Year. I believe that as a business we really do stand out from the crowd and that’s something to celebrate. Good luck to all this year’s entrants!”