ADVERTISER REMINDERS
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Boost your online listing views with USER REVIEWS - new Syndication Widget available for your website.
Go to your listing page on PWG click "embed reviews on your website" on the top right to get the html code.
March 30 & 31 | 1:30-2pm
Learn the "Secret" to Targeting Today's Bride: FREE Webinar from PerfectWeddingGuide.com and Susan Southerland.
Contact Jaime@pwg.com for webinar registration details. Open to advertisers only. |
| PWG ADVERTISER
MARCH
BIRTHDAYS |
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3/6 John Sluck
Croasdaile Country Club
3/11 Andy Karras
A Special Event
3/12 Kevin Mundy
On Occasion
3/18 Kelly Parker
Bella Wedding & Event Planning
3/25 Betsy Goforth
Goforth Travel
3/29 Michael Isley
On Occasion
3/31 Ashley W. Bodenhimer
B' Sweet Events
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12 MONTHS!
12 WINNERS!  |
Perfect Wedding Guide is joining with several of our advertisers to provide some great giveaways to brides in 2010. A bride will be chosen to win a prize each month. Share this with your brides! |
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| KIND WORDS |
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*The panel idea is wonderful, and including a past bride, three coming-up brides and a mom was smart. Based on their comments @ websites & what they look for, I am changing the order of my own website info. And I am ordering more thank-you follow-up cards! As always, you did a great job.
Rev. Dr. Susan Kennedy
Perfect Circle Weddings
*I learned a lot this time. Lets keep doing this. Thanks.
Vivian Sweatt
Alamance Party Rentals
*I loved the event today. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed the entire event. The decor, food music etc. was great.
Thank you for putting these events together.
Doris Peay
Premier Designs Jewelry
*I loved being able to participate and also learning from other brides and especially mothers
Tricia Kirby
Bridal Board speaker
*I love PWG shows...quality brides at a quality show.
Julia Denton
tie the knot Weddings
I want to thank you for such a wonderful luncheon. I had the opportunity to meet and network with several vendors. It was a very organized, and pleasant atmosphere. All the questions asked were very helpful and the food and cake were delicious as well. I look forward to another luncheon some time soon as well as attending the bridal shows in the future.
Thank you,
Pamela Willoughby
Cherish The Day Event Consultant
Gail this was one of the best gatherings ever! Excellent job.
Most Sincerely,
Rev. Barbara Lodge
Officiant
*[In reference to recent bridal show scam] That's why we only sign up for PWG shows!
Jonathan McCardell
McCardell Photography |
*as seen on facebook
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| SALES TIP |
| Listen, Listen, Listen! From the moment your conversation with your prospect begins, pay attention! By asking open-ended questions and listening carefully to the answers, you'll find out everything necessary to increase value in a presentation.
For example, you'll learn what is most important to them, who they have already met with and who they plan to meet with. Knowing which of your competitors you are up against gives you insight into how to position your services and products in a better light. |
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| CONTACT US |
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Greetings!
Happy almost Spring! I bet you are anxious for warmer weather, greener grass, flowers blooming and lots of weddings. At Perfect Wedding Guide we have been in and continue to be in several local bridal shows getting PWGs into bride's hands. We are also busy preparing for our first PWG bridal show of the season on Sunday, April 11th at the Marriott Crabtree Valley in Raleigh. Last year over 230 brides attended this show and to date over 40 brides and 110 attendees have made reservations. This is great especially since the show is over a month away.
In early April we will start laying out the Summer issue. On the cover we will feature reality star Melissa Rycroft. Melissa was on The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars and most recently joined Entertainment Tonight as a Special Coorespondent.
During our recent Professional Wedding Guild luncheons in the Triad and Triangle we had bridal boards. Both of these luncheons were hits with the attendees and gave us wonderful insights to what today's bride wants and expects from wedding professionals.
The Perfect Wedding Guide is in the business of helping you grow your wedding business. Our 3 Part Marketing Program can put you in contact with qualified brides. If you are looking for more weddings this year we can help. Please let us know if you would like to learn how.
If you are already a PWG advertiser and need a refresher course on the leads program or any other assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at anytime. We're invested in your success and we're here to help!
Gail Galloway
Publisher
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| Educate Yourself |
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 Our industry is made up of major corporations and companies that have departments for all of their needs. If an ad is needed, they go to their marketing departments or ad agencies. If someone needs to be hired, they go to the Human Resources department. If the web site needs updating, they go to their IT department. But what about all of the small businesses that make up our local wedding industry? Oftentimes, if you're the business owner, you are each and every department. All of your business decisions are up to YOU! That's great, right? Sometimes it is fantastic to call all of the shots and sometimes it's not! As I've stated before, people often make decisions based on how they feel about something rather than on what they know. Why are some businesses advertising in the same place and some are so successful while others fail? Why do some businesses do better at bridal shows than others when they're targeting the exact same brides?
What does your web site look like? Is it selling you properly? How does your ad look? Does it stand out and have a call to action? Are you using professional logos, images, and marketing materials? Are you educated on HOW to perform EFFECTIVE email or direct mail marketing campaigns? Is your online listing(s) optimized for results? When a bride does reach out to you, how is your customer service? Do you relate and respond to that bride? Do you say yes more than you say no? Your advertising and marketing is your opportunity to connect with brides. A bride may take notice of you, but if there is a breakdown between your ad, marketing, web site, customer service or more, you may lose that connection before it begins.
Educate yourself on how brides are shopping and what they're looking for. Understand that advertising and marketing is a long term investment that when paired with other options such as networking, bridal shows, working leads, Internet presence and more will yield you the best results!
Many business owners are not informed of the reality of our marketplace. How many weddings take place in our area each year? How much does the average bride spend? How many "high quality" brides are out there? Where are brides shopping? How do I earn her business?
In order to make the best decisions possible for your company, you need to be informed of the facts! Advertisers of Perfect Wedding Guide have access to The Wedding Report. This third party service works to inform us of the actual facts so we can make the best decisions. If you're not an advertiser of Perfect Wedding Guide, you can purchase a subscription to stay on top of the facts! If you would like to know the facts, you can always call us and schedule an appointment. We would be happy to give you the information you may be looking for!
What are ways that you can stay educated about your market?
- Attend educational events for new information and ideas to grow your business.
- Join seminars and webinars to get information.
- Attend national and local conferences like the Wedding MBA in Vegas in September, CaterSource and more.
- Read newsletters.
- Research online.
- Talk to people in your line of work and get new ideas and information (as long as it is a reliable resource).
- Ask for facts when you're making business decisions and check those facts!
- Talk to your brides.
There are many places to get information. Just as in life, don't do just one thing or research one resource and take it for fact. Make educating yourself a daily practice and compare your notes. When you hear certain things over and over, you know you have good information!
Making educated decisions based on what you KNOW instead of how you FEEL could be the difference between running a successful business and a struggling business. Good luck in YOUR decision making!
Becki Dickinson Photography
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| Check Out Our New Website |
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We just released a major update to our national and market home pages, featuring a simplified user interface and streamlined navigation. The results are encouraging, as noted below.
When reviewing some of the most recent changes we made to the website, it is easy to recognize that the emphasis is on improving the way we connect more brides to more vendors. The first 500 pixels of the viewable area gives brides several options to locate vendors without scrolling or having to second guess the intent of the available options.
The chart below illustrates our 10,000+ daily total listing views starting from the Monday following the 2/12 release. (Note: This upward trend is not consistent with analysis during the same time period for 2008 and 2009).
How quickly can I find local vendors?
(1) Find Vendors Menu.
(2) Promotion Widget. The first tab of the promotion widget displays an advertisement that links to the complete vendor category list
(3) Find Vendors Near You Search. Just select a vendor category and enter a geo (i.e. city/state or zip code), and you are on the vendor category page in one click. We simply return all vendors in a respective market regardless of the zip code or city/state entered.
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| Why Should I Put A Perfect Wedding Guide Badge On My Website? |
| 1. When you pay to advertise, your return works both ways! We promote your company, but you should also promote that you are a professional business that advertises! It helps build your credibility.
2. Whether you are an advertiser or not, there are tools on our website to help brides plan their wedding. From room layouts to budget calculators to tips and photos, brides can use our tools to make their planning easier. Send her a wedding planning gift by allowing her access to free planning tools!
3. If you are participating in a PWG promotion, event, bridal show, and more, use these badges to drive traffic to the promotion or event and show you are participating with the nation's #1 local resource for brides. Give yourself some credit!
4. You can improve your search engine rankings by adding more links. Links help - but solid, robust ones with lots of "link juice" like ours - can help even more. Even if you have lots of links currently, when was the last time you added more? Don't let your site become stagnant, which deteriorates your rankings.
Simply click here to access the HTML tags you can use on your website.
If you have any questions please contact Jaime. |
| Tip: Shortcut to Better Google Results |
By Randolph Hock, author of The Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook
To Find: PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint Presentations Use: filetype:pdf, filetype:xls, or filetype:ppt Example: Canon manual filetype:pdf Why: If you include the file type in your search, Google will turn up only relevant files. For example, entering filetype:pdf will find all the PDFs that have to do with operating your new camera. (For Excel files, use filetype:xls; for PowerPoint presentations, filetype:ppt.) Things You Can Do Directly in the Google Search FieldPerform calculations: To figure out what 15 percent off that $78 shirt amounts to, just enter "78 x .15" into the search field, click "Search," and the answer will show up at the top of the results page. No clicking on a second link required. Convert measurements: How many cups equal a liter? Simply type "cups in liter." You can also find out currency conversions ("15 dollars in euros"). Locate packages: Hunt down an MIA delivery by entering "track" plus the tracking number for a direct link to the status page. Find movie showtimes: Enter "movies" plus your city or ZIP code to see theaters and showtimes for the next three days.
Find more tips in the full article here.
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| Looking for Bridal Leads? |
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We added 189 new leads into the Triad/Triangle Perfect Wedding Guide database since January.
Do you have access to the most sophisticated database in the area? When you use Perfect Wedding Guide's lead program to market your company, your email will receive inbox deliverability! What does this mean? We work with Exact Target and they work to make sure emails that go through the PWG system get to in boxes and out of junk boxes! Can your email or leads program do that?Send emails, postcards, flyers or letters to brides across the Triad and Triangle each week. Perfect Wedding Guide gives you unparalleled access to bridal leads for you to earn business! For more information, contact gail@pwg.com. |
| Happenings in the Industry |
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Edie Lutz of Culinary Visions was chosen as one of the Business Leaders Women Extraordinaire for 2009. Culinary Visions is also a 2010 pick for The Knot Best of Weddings, as voted by brides for their favorite wedding professional.
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