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ADVERTISER REMINDERS
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Make sure you are requesting reviews from past brides.
We have
completely removed the registration requirement for writing reviews. This
should now make it easier for newlyweds to submit their reviews without
being derailed by a registration process. All fields are required in order
to complete a vendor review, and we have also introduced the "screen name"
field to alleviate any privacy concerns while still capturing enough
information just in case the legitimacy of a review comes into question. | |
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| PWG ADVERTISER
JUNE
BIRTHDAYS |  | |
6/10 Karen Doughlas
Castle McCulloch
6/16 Jonathan Deaton
Magnet America
6/18 Jaime Gilliam
Perfect Wedding Guide
If you are a PWG Advertiser and do not think we have your Birthday please send it to Jaime@pwg.com. Date and month only.
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| KIND WORDS | |
Yesterday's PWG Bridal Show was fantastic as always!! I liked that everything was ready when we arrived and in perfect order. The turnout was perfect!
V.F. Behind The Scenes, Greensboro
We liked the quality of brides and selection of vendors. We'll definitely participate again.
S.A., A Way To Go Travel, Greensboro
We loved the show! We had plenty of space, and a lot of one on one time with the brides. We were VERY thankful for all the space we had. It allowed us to really offer / display a wide variety of options to the brides. I really prefer the setup and ease of this show compared to others I have done in the past. AND, we have already been receiving requests from the brides we met with. Thanks so much! Don't change a thing!
A.P., Bib's Downtown, Winston-Salem
The show was fantastic! I've done many bridal shows, but I enjoyed the vendor meeting in the beginning, the set up in the room was very spacious and gave us room to come from around the table and talk to the brides and bridal party. Traffic was great for this time of year! Booth size was excellent! Our booth was booking brides on the spot!
S.B., Passion Parties by Shy, Knightdale
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PWG LEADS
| | Perfect Wedding Guide has added 145 brides to our database JUST in MAY!
Want access to hot new leads? Be the first to reach out to the newest engaged brides. How? Join Perfect Wedding Guide and get 24/7 access to our bridal leads! |
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WORKING HARD FOR OUR ADVERTISERS
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The last week of May the new Summer Issue of the Perfect Wedding Guide arrived. So far we have handed out over seven thousand of copies to many of our 280 plus distribution sites. If you have not received your copies yet you will soon. We have also delivered your information to brides and wedding professionals during the following events:
5/5 Professional Wedding Guild Luncheon - Painted Plate, Greensboro
5/23 PWG Bridal Show - Embassy Suites, Winston
5-25 The Castle McCulloch Bridal Show - Jamestown
5/26 Professional Wedding Guild Luncheon - A Step To Gold Ballroom, Raleigh
Were you able to make it to all these places? If you are a PWG advertiser, you were there! Not only do we work diligently Monday through Friday for you, but we also give our time on nights and weekends to keep you, our advertisers in front of brides at every turn. |
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About PWG
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Perfect Wedding Guide (perfectweddingguide.com), the leader in wedding media resources, is the oldest and most reliable wedding planning company in the United States. For almost 20 years, they have been dedicated to creating innovative wedding planning solutions for brides of all budgets. Their company offers couples a number of fun, useful, and FREE products to help make wedding planning less of a chore and more of a treat. Their local guides and bridal shows are available coast-to-coast in over 60 markets, showcasing some of the country's top wedding vendors who work right in the bride's backyard. Their national Website, PerfectWeddingGuide.com, is full of fresh planning tips and wedding ideas, an extensive photo gallery for inspiration, easy-to-use wedding planning tools, as well as a wedding blog community hosted by their national wedding planning expert.
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| CONTACT US |
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Greetings!
I hope you all are having a good Wedding Season! Many of the wedding professionals I have spoken to say their bookings are up from last year, but are not quite where they would like them to be. From everything I have read, more Triad/Triangle weddings will be taking place this year and in the coming years. Bride's budgets are on the increase too. This is Great News!
How is your wedding business? Have you thought about how brides are finding you and how you are going to get your name and message in front of them? The Perfect Wedding Guide is in the business of helping you grow your wedding business. We are Pros at bringing brides and wedding professionals together.
One example is during our May 23rd PWG Bridal Show, 170 brides and their guests met local wedding professionals and had the chance to see 37 wedding booths. Many of these vendors have already booked business from the show. Special thanks to Ron Stephens, Kim Davis and the entire team at the Embassy Suites, Winston-Salem for allowing us to host our show in this beautiful facility. Also thank you to the wedding professionals who participated in the show. You did a wonderful job! We appreciate Wade with Wade Alexander Photography who took fabulous pictures of this show.
If you are interested in details for these upcoming shows please contact jaime@pwg.com ~July 18, A&T Alumni Foundation Event Center, Greensboro EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT EXPIRES 6/18 ~September 12, Marriott Convention Center, Durham
~November 7, Empire/Regency Room, Greensboro
BOOTHS BECOME AVAILABLE TOMORROW. WATCH INBOX.
Another way PWG can help get your word out is through our 3 Part Marketing Program. This program offers Print - Leads - Internet. To learn more about this program and our new pricing packages please contact me at gail@pwg.com.
We love bringing Wedding Professionals together to network. If you have not attended one of our Professional Wedding Guild luncheons lately you are truly missing out on business. To read about upcoming luncheons and watch new vendor testimonies please go to www.pwgnc.com.
Remember we are here for you so please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to learn how PWG can help you grow your wedding business.
If you are already a PWG advertiser and need a refresher course on the leads program or any other assistance please contact us at anytime. We're invested in your success and we're here to help!
All the best!
Gail Galloway
Publisher |
Why Is Networking Vital to Your Business?
| By Brandi Zrallack, Perfect Wedding Guide Market Manager
 "I must admit that coming to the luncheon today reminded me why it is so very important to keep your name and face in front of fellow industry professionals. I got to sit with some that I knew and also had an opportunity to meet some new contacts during the pre-reception...and that's the best part, fostering those established relationships and building new ones. The amount of people that I was able to reach out and touch today would have taken me weeks or longer to do with individual sales calls or one-on-one meetings. Thanks for getting me back in the "networking spirit!" -Melissa Jones, Bohemian Hotel Celebration, Orlando PWG
Networking. A supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest (dictionary.com)
It's amazing to me over the past few years to watch the trend associated with networking land how it's changing and evolving. There are those that network at every turn. You will see them at every luncheon, every party, every evening event and more. They believe faithfully in the power of networking. I see others that try it, become afraid of it, and discontinue it immediately due to a lack of confidence in the ability to talk with strangers. I also see a group of wedding professionals that have risen above the strength of networking. They have their own network of individuals and they've shut themselves off from meeting new people and opening themselves up to new opportunities.
Why?
Most businesses that have made it past the first two to five years of business have endured due to effective networking. So, if networking is so effective, why do so few business owners do it?
If you are a new business: Networking can be the difference between a quick or slow rise in your early revenue stream. When done effectively and consistently, networking can put you in front of already established businesses that can refer business to you.
If you are an existing business: There are always new business owners in the marketplace. In order to stay on top of your game, you have to be top of mind! Get out there and get in front of the people that will continue to refer you and the new businesses that don't know who you are.
If you're an oldie, but goody: Many businesses that see themselves as established for 10, 20, 30 years feel that everyone knows them. Guess what? They don't. Again, there are new businesses in our market everyday and just because they're not as experienced or have as many weddings on the books doesn't mean that they're not going to be the market's leaders in the coming years. If you're not in front of them when they're putting their preferred vendors together, you will lose in the future!
If you consider yourself too high end to network: You should know that no business stays in business forever. Most catering mangers don't keep their position at your favorite hotel for more than a few years. People make changes. Businesses go out of business. If you limit your exposure to the same people for a long time, what happens when those changes begin to happen? They're change in business could mean a BIG change in YOUR future revenue.
It's NEVER a bad idea to keep your face and your name in front of the entire industry. Just because you're new, don't be afraid. Just because you're existing, don't rest on your current business. Just because you've been in it a long time and you think people know you, they lforget. Just because you're high end doesn't mean that someone with a more budget bride can't refer you.
Last week, a prominent DJ attended our luncheon. He knew ONLY three people in the room of nearly 100. He's lost touch with who is in our industry and those business owners, that are some of the busiest wedding professionals in our market, didn't know who he was. But, by the end of the luncheon a handful of them did. Now, if he doesn't continue to show up, they'll again forget. If he does continue to network, he'll have a new group of wedding professionals ready to begin referring him.
It's a small investment in your business, but networking is a great opportunity to stay top of mind consistently throughout the year. Get out there and meet new people who can in turn refer your business for future revenue. It's up to YOU to be top of mind. Happy networking!
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| PWG Triad & Triangle Luncheons | Professional Wedding Guild luncheons are the Triad & Triangle wedding professional's best place to see and be seen. Networking is a critical part of your complete marketing campaign and with PWG luncheons, you can network with the industry's finest wedding professionals!
TRIAD:
Wednesday, July 7 - Café Pasta, Greensboro
Wednesday, August 4 - Level 2, Greensboro
TRIANGLE:
Wednesday, June 30 - Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club, Durham
Wednesday, July 28 - The King's Daughters Inn, Durham
Make a reservation here.
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| Press Release - Seeking Bloggers | LAKE MARY, FL -- 05/25/10 -- The Perfect Wedding Guide, a wedding media resource that offers wedding ideas and connects brides with wedding vendors, is looking for bridal bloggers across the country to contribute to their daily Wedding Blog.
The Wedding Blog was created to offer wedding-related tips and information with readers on behalf of other readers who wish to contribute their own experiences to the blog.
The intention for the blogging community is to be an online space where brides can glean information and inspiration for their wedding planning.
A few of the current daily themed posts include "Honeymoon Mondays," "Real Wedding Wednesdays," and "Ask a PWG Wedding Vendor (APWGWV)."
As incentives for working with the Wedding Blog, the Perfect Wedding Guide will offer a number of link-building opportunities, a byline and photo for each author, and additional opportunities for gaining exposure within the broader blogging community.
The Perfect Wedding Guide is currently holding a search for bloggers who can contribute their interest and knowledge in fashion & beauty, fitness, DIY projects, celebrity weddings, design & décor, wedding etiquette & advice/feedback, budget weddings, general wedding planning, photography, and catering.
To read more on this topic and how to get involved, visit: http://www.perfectweddingguide.com/pr/2010/05/the-perfect-wedding-guide-announces-their-invitation-for-bloggers-to-contribute-to-their-web-site/
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Check Out Our New Category Listings
| Perfect Wedding Guide continues to evolve with the needs of the marketplace. We've recently updated our market home pages and our vendor profile pages. Now, our IT Department has just released our new CATEGORY PAGES!
It's easier than ever to decipher between our Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze listings than ever before. We have easier paths to vendor web sites, vendor listings, and contact information.
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Getting Social with Email Marketing
| Leverage social media and email marketing to
build stronger customer relationships
by Ron Cates, Constant Contact Development Director, Southwest Region
You use email marketing to reach your customers. You might be using social media to connect with them too. But are you enjoying the best of both worlds and getting the most out of your online marketing efforts by leveraging the two in one unified communications strategy? By doing so, you can drive those on your email list to "like" your Facebook page or follow your tweets on Twitter. At the same time, your presence on these networks can help drive subscribers to your coveted email list.
Read the rest of the article here.
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Print is Alive and Well
| Much has been said about the death of print in the media over the past year. Magazine closings have been widely reported on and there are bloggers predicting the demise of print in favor of newer media such as social networking and online! Below is the link to the article that explains the new ad campaign by the major magazine publishers that some of you have seen and sent to me. It is really good!
As publishers of a print product -it is important that we understand the power of print and the role it plays in our future. We are in the midst of revamping our print product for 2011 and these factors along with many more are helping us make decisions for the future. Some "overall conclusions" from "HOW MEDIA DRIVE ONLINE SUCCESS: INCREASING WEB TRAFFIC AND SEARCH" are:
ˇ Magazine ads had a major impact on building web traffic
ˇ Magazine ads generated web traffic at each stage of the purchase funnel
ˇ Including a URL in magazine ads significantly increased web visits
ˇ Marketers selected magazines as the most effective in driving consumers online
Think about it-if you are trying to drive Brides to your website -how do you do it? Businesses need outside sources to drive web traffic especially if they are not highly ranked with the search engines. Not all of our vendors can afford to spend enough on Pay-Per-Click to be on page 1-so they need to find alternative ways to drive brides to their website. Print is an effective medium to accomplish that goal.
Furthermore - all research shows media mixes are far more effective than single media usage. We know that brides are tactile; they like to see it, feel it, and touch it, before they buy it. In other words, brides need to see it online, feel and touch it in the stores, read about it in magazines....then buy it.
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| Happenings in the Industry | Congratulations to Joey Oliver on his new position as Catering and Suites Manager for Legends Hospitality, operators of BB&T Ballpark for the Winston Salem Dash. He welcomes you to tour the facility for bridal luncheons, rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions and corporate events. 6/7/10
Congratulations to Alicia Perry of Bib's Downtown for winning the Vendor's Choice Award for their beautiful display at the Winston Bridal Show on May 23. Honorable Mention awards went to Dewey's Bakery and Stella & Dot Jewelry. The winners were voted on by show vendors for best overall booth display. 5/31/10
We are very proud to announce that Pepper Moon Catering received the Retailer of the Year Award given by the Guilford Merchants Association and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. 5/26/10
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