Best Practices Awards

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2009 Marketing Best Practices Awards

Marketing Best Practices Awards

The 2009 SGA Marketing Best Practices program is now closed for new submissions. The judging took place on February 19th at the SGA Marketing Section Managing Committee meeting in Dallas. Winners were declared in four of the six categories and those winners will be announced at the SGA Management Conference in Austin, Texas on Monday, April 20, 2009.

The Award-Winning sales, marketing, advertising and educational programs will be presented in full detail at the SGA Marketing Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 15-17, 2009. We encourage you to join us for this annual conference, where you will have the unique opportunity to interact with the sales and marketing representatives who created and executed the winning programs.

The SGA Marketing Section Managing Committee is pleased to announce SGA’s Eighth Annual Marketing Best Practices Awards program. We would like to take this opportunity to encourage your company to submit an entry. In keeping with SGA Chairman Bill Cantrell's theme for 2009: Natural Gas - Comfortable. Responsible. we've added a new award category to recognize a best Green Marketing program.

Residential Marketing - This award can be in an area of customer retention, new customer growth, additional burner tips/new technologies, trade ally program and/or residential builder key accounts program.

Commercial Marketing - This award can be in an area of customer retention, new customer growth, additional burner tips/new technologies, trade ally program and/or key accounts program.

Industrial Marketing - This award can be in an area of load retention, new customer growth, additional burner tips/new technologies, energy conservation/efficiency (green), trade ally program and/or key accounts program.

Green Marketing - This award will recognize a specific green program aimed at residential, commercial or industrial customers which demonstrates a commitment by the LDC to work toward a healthier, more energy-conscious environment. This can include the promotion of conservation/efficiency programs or the promotion of increased awareness/reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and reduction of carbon footprint.

Process Improvement - To win this award, your program must have sales and/or marketing touch points. To be considered, you should be able to show dollar savings, cost avoidance, process efficiency improvements and/or customer service improvements.

Advertising/Consumer Education - Entries for this award can be in the area of web, print, radio, TV, billboard, brochures, etc. The focus should be around communication, education and/or advertising. You should show strategies as to target audience, methodology, program goals and measurement metrics.

Only one entry, per category, per company will be accepted for judging. However, companies are welcome to submit an entry for each of the six categories. To assist the judges, you must indicate on your entry form which category your submission goes towards. A maximum of six winners will be awarded in any given year. The decision of the judges will be final.

Absolute Final Deadline for Submitting Your Company’s Entry is January 30, 2009! The entries received will be judged by a committee appointed by the SGA Marketing Section Managing Committee. The awards will be announced at the SGA Management Conference in Austin, Texas, at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort.

Winners will be recognized during a General Session of the 2009 Management Conference. Later, during the Marketing Executives Roundtable, the winners will be asked to give a brief case study on their winning program. Winning programs will also be presented at the SGA Marketing Conference, which will be held July 15-17 at the Don Cesar Hotel in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida.

Two Ways to Submit Your Entry: You may enter by submitting the on-line form below or you may create your own custom entry. Here's what we want to know about your entry:

Define your target market.
Program objectives.
Results and evaluation of program effectiveness.
Brief description of the marketing program (200 word maximum).
Provide supporting documentation, as appropriate.

In offering these two options, our goal has been to keep it simple for your company to submit an entry.

After the winners have been announced at the 2009 SGA Management Conference, the committee will make all of the entries available to SGA member companies. This information is an excellent resource for your company as you plan new marketing programs and strategies for the future. The Managing Committee believes that this type of member recognition program and sharing of information ties directly to SGA’s slogan of “Linking People, Ideas, Information.”

If you have questions regarding the SGA Marketing Best Practices Awards program, please contact Larry Farthing.