July Newsletter



Bridal Shows, Inc. Newsletter		July Edition July 30, 2007

Greetings!

What a month! I am sure July has been a busy month for all, which is good because that means business is good! From
07-07-07 to the Dallas Bridal Show and Fort Worth Bridal Show, not to mention the many summer weddings, July has been sure to keep the wedding industry on its toes. We hope everyone has had a successful month and continues to succeed through the rest of the year.

With only one more show to go this year, the Plano Bridal Show on September 16, the 2007 bridal show season is coming to an end and we are already full steam ahead on the next great round of shows in 2008. Booking early guarantees you a spot in your category as well as time to make payments so contact us today to reserve your booth in one of our 2008 bridal shows.

in this issue

	Why Track Your Leads? Dallas and Fort Worth Bridal Shows were a success! Job Opening: Sheraton Grand Hotel Plano Bridal Show, Closing out Soon! Naomi's Notes: "What Do You Do When Your 'To-Do' List is Way Too Long?" by:Naomi Hulme Vendor Spotlight: Just For You Custom Creations

Dallas and Fort Worth Bridal Shows were a success!

All the fun, mayhem, and hysteria of back to back Dallas and Fort Worth Bridal Shows has come to an end but the success to be found from the shows is just beginning.

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful exhibitors that made these events possible and especially those that went two weekends in a row to receive the benefits from both the Dallas Bridal Show and Fort Worth Bridal Show!

At the Dallas Bridal Show on July 14-15, located at Dallas Market Hall, nearly 300 companies joined together to meet face to face with almost 2,000 brides (out of which over 1,300 registered) to promote their services and book future events. We heard from many long-time customers that this was the best July show they had ever had. Every year we work hard to grow each show through aggressive marketing campaigns and we plan for next July to be even better. Once again we want to thank 106.1 Kiss FM for sponsoring the show.

The following weekend the Fort Worth Bridal Show, held on July 21-22 at the Amon Carter Exhibit Hall, over 120 businesses had the opportunity to talk with nearly 1,000 brides (out of which over 700 registered) about how they could help to achieve the perfect wedding. We were proud to have with us our sponsors, Fort Worth, Texas Magazine and 103.7 lite fm, as well as CBS 11.

We are very blessed to receive positive feedback from our customers, verbally and sometimes written. Below are two testimonials given to us last weekend.

To Bridal Shows, Inc.

Thank you for well organized shows in Fort Worth and Dallas. It is obvious that you strive to establish and maintain good relationships with your vendors as evidenced from the prompt helpers at the loading docks and staff "walk throughs" during the show.

See you again in six months.

Best Regards,
Heartsong Productions

I attended my first Bridal Show as an exhibitor in July of 2006 and from February of 2007 through July of 2007 I did more business from that show than from my entire year last year. As a home based business I can't imagine how great the benefits would be if I had a store front. I would highly recommend the Fort Worth Bridal Show to any wedding vendor.

Gayle Myers, The Paper Kutt

If you would like to submit a testimonial please email news@bridalshowsinc.com with "Testimonial" in the subject line.

Stay tuned to the following websites for pictures to be updated in the near future. We are working on putting photographs up from the recent shows.

www.dallasbridalshow.net

www.fortworthbridalshow.net

Job Opening: Sheraton Grand Hotel

Please take a moment to pass this job opening, submitted by Teri Kinsey, along to your network of contacts.

Position: Catering Sales Manager
Company: Sheraton Grand Hotel

Requirements:

50% outside sales

Warm, outgoing personality

Self-starter, very detail oriented

Some hotel experience necessary

Must be proficient in Delphi and Microsoft Office

Days/Hours: Typically Monday-Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm Must be flexible to work some nights and weekends.

Benefits: Meals, Mileage, Vacation, Medical, 401k etc.

Apply: Send resume to cday@sheratongranddfw.com

Plano Bridal Show, Closing out Soon!

Time is running out to reserve your booth at the Plano Bridal Show on September 16! Unlike our other bridal shows, our space is very limited at the Plano Centre and we are forced to close out booth space for the show every time. Many categories are already closed but there is some space availability left at the time of this newsletter.

The Plano Bridal Show is our smallest bridal show of the year but has gained a lot of popularity from being located in a high-end market and also allowing for more one-on-one time with each attendee.

If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor, please call us today at 972-713-9920 to find out if your category is still open.

Click here to see photos from the last Plano Bridal Show

Naomi's Notes: "What Do You Do When Your 'To-Do' List is Way Too Long?"
by:Naomi Hulme

Throw it away? No, sorry, that's not going to magically make it all go away.

Sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed that we would like to tear the list up, but then we would stress over what we can't remember that we wrote down.

Even though it is a good idea to have a "Master List," which keeps growing every day, it is helpful to take each day and look at your main three to five priorities. Write these on a small list and work on each item until you have finished those few main priorities.

Those daily accomplishments help you to feel great and give you more confidence in adding a few smaller to-do items to finish in that same day.

You know that you cannot get everything done in one day that you need to anyway, so accept the fact that there will be a new "next day" list to work on tomorrow, and so on.

Be thankful that you have so much to do--that's a good thing. The alternative is having nothing to do and being bored--who wants that kind of situation? Okay, maybe once a year when you take that yearly vacation!

We all work so hard to build our business, and in doing so, it creates more things to do and more things to do better. The list goes on and on. Let's be glad we have a lengthy "to-do" list.

You can now cross off "Read Bridal Shows, Inc. Newsletter." Now go do one other thing on your list and cross it off too!

Have fun doing!

Vendor Spotlight: Just For You Custom Creations

Judy McAlvey, owner of Just For You Custom Creations, has been a constant at all of our bridal shows for over 15 years. Not only has Judy participated as an exhibitor to promote her business but has also delighted our attendees with her fashion shows.

Judy has won many awards for her designs over the years but most recently won first place in the category of "Most Interesting Wardrobe" at the American Sewing Guild Creativity Contest sponsored by Simplicity Patterns. Our congratulations go out to Judy who accepted her award in Sacramento, California last Saturday, July 28.

Located in DeSoto, Texas, Just For You Custom Creations designs bridal apparel to create the dream dress for brides, bridesmaids, flower girls, mother of the bride, and more!

Dear Reader,

I have over 30 years of experience designing and custom making wedding attire. I started sewing when I was five years old and made my first wedding gown at the age of 18. I have won several awards for my creative sewing. In the past few years I won Best of Show at the Texas State Fair twice, plus the Special Merit Award. I have also won the American Sewing Guild Creativity Contest in 2004 and 2005.

I don't need patterns and can design any wedding gown, bridesmaid, flower girl, mother's dress, or theme attire to suit your wedding attire needs. To me fabric is like clay you can shape and mold to fit each clients shape and personality. I love seeing a bride's face light up when we have created her dream gown.

Judy McAlvey
JFYCreations.com

We want to take this opportunity to thank Judy and the entire Just For You team for their many years of support and for helping us to create a beautiful fashion show for thousands of brides.

We appreciate you!

See photos from Just For You's fashion shows over the past two years!

Why Track Your Leads?

How do you know if a marketing strategy is working? By tracking every lead that contacts your business and every customer you work with!

"Easier said than done!" some might say. Well it's true, tracking business can be tedious and difficult but it is essential in helping business owners determine where their marketing dollars should be spent. Many companies have well thought out campaigns to help in this effort. If you are still fine tuning your system listed below are a few ideas that might help.

Ask. The first step in the process is to simply ask everyone you come in contact with, "how did you hear about us?" Train all of your employees to ask this question with every phone call, walk-in, email, etc. One idea is to tape a sign to the phone with the question typed out. This way every time an associate answers the phone they will be reminded to ask!

Write it Down. With so many phone calls, emails, and meetings, it's difficult to remember anything if it is not written down. To get an accurate count of what marketing is working keep a tally of answers from the above mentioned question. There are several ways of doing this, here are a couple of suggestions:

When using a database, create a field for "Referred By" and note if they were referred by a friend, business, magazine, newspaper, radio ad, billboard, walk-in, bridal show, etc. In all of these be specific. Which publication? Where was the billboard? When did you hear it on the radio? What day did you go to the bridal show?
Keep a tally book near the telephone. On the left hand side of the page list all forms of advertising that you invested in plus room for referrals and walk-ins. Every time you ask the question, make a tally mark next to the answer.

Combine Results. At the end of each day/week/month compile your answers to see what traffic different advertising methods have brought you over time. Again be specific. It is helpful to know if newspaper ads are bringing you business, it is even more helpful to know which sections of the paper are bringing the most business and what days those ads were run.

Be Patient. Advertising can be unpredictable, so be sure to give your results plenty of time to see what is really working and what is not. Consistent marketing always yields better results. Doing a print ad here, bridal show there, billboard over there, and so on and so on is never going to be as successful as consistently doing the same thing over and over. The more consistent you are the more name recognition you will receive. Be careful not to jump to conclusions after a month of tallying results. It sometimes takes several months (even years) for an advertising mode to turn to dollars in the bank.

Coupons. This is one method that has worked very well for us at Bridal Shows, Inc. We offer coupons in every print ad, website ad, as well as handouts. Each coupon is tagged with a code to indicate where it came from. Hence if we receive 100 coupons marked "A" we know that at least 100 brides learned about us through marketing avenue "A." Obviously Marketing through "A" is working and we should continue to use it.

These are just a few ideas to help get the wheels turning on ways to track your business. The bottom line is to do something; try something. Make sure your marketing dollars are wisely spent through the process of tracking. Happy Hunting!

By Bonnie Crumpton

Special Thanks to...

The following companies for donating prizes to our brides at the Dallas Bridal Show on July 14-15:

Dallas Gold & Silver -- diamond ring

Alfred Angelo Bridal -- bridal gown up to $599 value

Century 21� Mike Bowman -- $65 value wedding gifts to first 100 brides each day

Nearlyweds! -- $75 value free wedding website to first 50 brides each day

Bridal Show Schedule