In the Press |
When Relationship Marketing is Better Than Selling - by Andy Ebon
Earlier this week, I brought Wedding University to Greater Cleveland (Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown). The sponsoring organization was Today’s Bride, a 21-year old company providing a total package of wedding marketing opportunities, including website, bridal shows, and publications.
At one level or another, all businesses want new prospects to become customers and existing customers to invest more in a product or service. The day before the all-day seminars, a skeptical local business questioned the intent of the host in a public Facebook post: paraphrasing “Isn’t this just going to be Today’s Bride trying to sell us more advertising.”
The ever-so-vigilant, Anna Herman (Something New Entertainment) chimed in to praise this blog, and my approach to educating wedding industry businesses.
Anna Herman got it. And, happily, so did my hosts, from Today’s Bride.
The goal of seminars, such as these, is to provide information and coaching to help local area businesses be more effective marketers. Simply put, driving traffic to a website is really effective only if the client website is up-to-date, optimized, and easily navigable. Offering thorough circulation of a magazine is more helpful to businesses that have well-designed, intelligent ads. And attracting thousands of brides to wedding shows does the most good for companies that have planned for the show, create a glorious
presence at the show, interact well with prospects, and follow up after the show.
The Today’s Bride staff performed the following functions:
- Organize
- Promote
- Host
- Introduce Speaker
- Mingle
- Provide Hospitality
- Register Attendees
- Show Appreciation
The things they did NOT do, were:
The results become quite clear. Some 70+ attendees absorbed a myriad of information, at a modest expense, in a compressed time frame. Different people learned different things, depending on their own knowledge base.
They never felt as though they were being sold to… because they weren’t.
This mindset should apply to all wedding businesses in working with clients and referral source. The process of educating a client, directly or indirectly, about your area of service, will always make them a better client and improve the relationship.
What are you doing, one-to-one, or for a group, to enlighten, inform, educate or motivate your audience?
If you’re not consciously doing that, periodically, maybe it’s time you should.
Thank you to the entire crew at Today’s Bride.
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority Read the full article
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Neotropolis - The Business of Brides Episode 112
Ohio’s wedding industry brings in $2 billion a year, but it’s not immune to the poor economy. Find out how northeast Ohio vendors are surviving this industry’s unique challenges.
by Paula Kritz on January 25, 2010. Watch the episode now >>
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20TH Anniversary Press Release
Today’s Bride is proud to announce its 20th anniversary in supplying up-and-coming brides in Northeast Ohio with the latest and most efficient wedding planning resources. Founded in 1989 by Jim and Denise Frericks, Today’s Bride has grown from a regionalized bridal publication to a leading full service, multi-dimensional bridal resource and marketing provider which
includes 4 semi-annual bridal fashion trade shows, online state-of-the-art wedding planning tools, and bi-annual publications in both the Greater Cleveland and Akron/Canton areas.
Over the past twenty years, Today’s Bride has partnered with hundreds of vendors such as photographers, videographers, caterers, florists, disc jockeys, musicians, dance studios, ceremony sites, and bridal gown shops to provide thousands of brides in Northeast Ohio with the resources to plan the perfect wedding. Today’s Bride extends its gratitude to all of the businesses who have been with Today’s Bride Magazine since its conception twenty years ago: American Commodore Tuxedo, Studio South Photography, Sheraton
Suites, Reeves Cake Shop, Nelson’s Photography, Rosewood Carriage Service, Rustic Hills Country Club, American Federation of Musicians, Miller’s Party Rental Center, Jerry Clay Photography, Country Lakes Party Center, St. Michael’s Woodside, Tuxedo Junction, and Cirino Photography.
More recently, Today’s Bride has also created regional and national working partnerships with Newsnet5.com and WeddingWire.com to enhance their online (www.TodaysBride.com) wedding tools. These upgraded planning tools enable every up-and-coming bride to create budgets, guest lists, seating arrangements, and timelines, manage desired vendors and publish personal wedding websites all in one central website.
“As we celebrate our twentieth anniversary, I cannot help but reflect upon and thank the hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of brides-to-be who have made us the #1 wedding guide over these past many years,” says Jim Frericks, CEO and chief editor of Today’s Bride. While Today’s Bride begins courting another generation of marrying couples, Jim notes that “our success depends on the success of the many fine companies that advertise with Today’s Bride Magazine & Bridal Shows, and we’ll continue
to be the region’s innovative leader in the ever-changing wedding industry.”
This summer, while hundreds of couples are reciting their marriage vows, Today’s Bride is already looking ahead toward the 2010 and beyond wedding seasons busily preparing for its annual October and January bridal show extravaganzas and new, updated editions of the magazine. After twenty years, it’s easy to see that Today’s Bride will continue to be the leading resource in the bridal market for years to come.
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Press Release - Todaysbride.com and NewsNet5.com Announce New Wedding Website Partnership
As Northeast
Ohio’s premier bridal planning website, Todaysbride.com has joined NewsNet5.com
as the exclusive Wedding website for Northeast Ohio Brides.
Fairlawn, OH,March 5, 2008—TodaysBride.com, Northeast Ohio’s strongest wedding website, and www.NewsNet5.com, the official website for Cleveland/Akron’s WEWS NewsChannel 5 television station, announced today they have joined together to provide wedding assistance to hundreds of Northeast Ohio brides-to-be. TodaysBride.com will serve as NewsNet5.com’s official WEDDING website portal. This partnership spearheads an initiative to provide brides-to-be with the most reliable and comprehensive online wedding resources
right at her fingertips. TodaysBride.com website is host to how-to articles on every wedding topic, planning timelines, access to hundreds of local wedding business resources, features of Real Weddings submitted by real Northeast Ohio brides, idea photo galleries (wedding cakes, flowers, bridal gowns, & more), monthly e-newsletters, up-to-the-minute Today’s Bride Bridal Show Schedule, downloadable wedding planner, and the latest decorating & fashion ideas to help plan the wedding of their dreams.
Today's couplesspend a tremendous amount of time and energy searching the internet to create their perfect day. The combination of planning their wedding along with keeping up on the latest news presents a highly attractive opportunity for both Todaysbride.com and NewsNet5.com. Brides who rely on Today’s Bride’s content for wedding- related inspiration and ideas will be able to plan, and manage every step of the process. Todaysbride.com and NewsNet5.com have created a seamless experience for engaged couples
and a great platform for marketers that will significantly strengthen both positions on the internet.
Northeast Ohio hasalways counted on NewsNet5.com for breaking news in the Greater Cleveland & Akron areas to help them plan their day. Now engaged couples and their families can count on NewsNet5.com to provide them with all the tools to plan their wedding,” said Jim Frericks, editor and CEO of Today’s Bride Magazine & Shows. "We look forward to this wedding/news relationship. Weddings are big news and it’s exciting that we are linking the best of both websites."
ABOUT TODAYSBRIDE.COM Founded in 1989 Today's Bride revolutionized publishing by being one of the first wedding web sites in the nation in the early 90’s and was nationally recognized as a leader in the market. Its goal was to provide engaged couples with comprehensive vendor search and easy-to-use online planning and community tools. Today, www.todaysbride.com averages over 11,000 unique visitors and just over 40,000 page views per month. For a Northeast Ohiobridal/wedding niche market, these numbers are huge
and attribute to the overall success of the magazine and bridal shows. By joining with NewsNet5.com the ability to reach thousands of Northeast Ohio brides will not only ensure the success of Todaysbride.com and NewsNet5.com but increase the exposure of over 300 of Today’s Bride Magazine’s online advertisers.
Today's Bride isproud to celebrate 19 years in the wedding industry and is widely considered the "bridal authority" in the Northeast Ohio area.
Contact: Colleen Ahern, 330-670-9545 ext 12 or cahern@todaysbride.com
Story featured in the West Side Leader March 13, 2008 - click here to view online
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