Can winning industry awards help sell products and services? According to the Influencer Marketing book, the answer is no:

“Industry awards are primarily self-congratulatory ‘feel good’ exercises, which have limited marketing value and all but zero influence on the top decision-makers.”

— Nick Hayes and Duncan Brown

They do credit awards with some value in the early stage of a decision process, such as in response to a Request For Proposal.

Is that the practical extent of the value of an industry award?

I agree with them insofar as few industry awards have the impact of the Oscars. However, that seems more a shortcoming of the typical awards organizer than the nature of awards in general.

Every industry has its awards programs that amount to little more than karaoke. It pays to avoid those. Or, bury them.

Likewise, every industry has its awards programs that do matter.

As with all forms of influence, the trick is knowing which is which.