Some vendors are joining MY KPW without hesitation, without even knowing me personally or even speaking to me on the phone. Others have worked directly with KPW in the past and know what we're about and are graciously supporting us. Some vendors are also very interested but are hesitant because we are a new resource and the technology behind MY KPW hasn't been created in the wedding industry so although it might be very impressive to some, it can also be a bit daunting as well. A vendor emailed me this morning asking some questions about MY KPW and I responded right away with my thoughts for the morning. After re-reading the email I realized that many other interested vendors might want to know my responses and also see what other vendors are asking about so I'm going to copy and past the email below for you to ponder....
Q: It would be a little bit of a leap of faith to jump in and since it takes a while to establish a web ranking etc, is it possible to offer a discount for signing up in advance of the launch date?
A: It is certainly a leap of faith to join since we're not live yet!! And it's even more challenging for those vendors who don't know the KPW brand or myself personally so I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and considerations. We are not offering any discounts to vendors who are joining in advance of the launch date and we are not giving any discounts to any vendors at all. I have been taken advantage of in years past as a vendor myself where my advertising dollars were apparently not as valuable as some other vendors and I paid a higher price for my advertisements compared to others. I am learning from my own experiences and using anything negative and turning it into a positive. I know that means some people won't join and I completely understand that, however I want to stay open, honest and as transparent as I can for everyone to be fair. The advantage of joining early is simply that there is limited space and we will close each market once they're full. This has already happened in MA, NH, and ME and although NYC is pretty empty right now, I haven't had any time to devote to learning and interviewing vendors. I have decided to sell this website completely on my own, as the owner and creator as I understand it the best and I came up with every little nuance. It wouldn't be fair and family-like to have a random sales person call you on a whim so I'm doing it.. trouble is there are only so many hours in a day.... and I have my own current clients I"m finishing up with, and oh yeah, a 10 month old who has discovered how to stand up and balance on things around our house! THe other benefit for early joining is participation on the MY KPW blog... we are featuring real weddings, vendor spotlights, other editorial coverage, etc etc. Anything that you would like to write about or images you'd like us to post- to get the word out and to get links to everyone's websites and blogs in advance. We have a very serious SEO company who has worked hard on my own KPW website and its ranking so we are working with them again for MY KPW.
Q: When would you charge the cc, in January or now?
A: You can get charged either now or anytime between now and January, whatever you prefer. Everyone is a small business in New England and I respect that. I don't work in the winter at all, completely weddings only at KPW so we have money now and save it through the winter so if it was me I would pay now.. but if you prefer to start payments in January, not an issue at all- just write it on your contract and we'll start charging according.
Q: Is the one month discount offered for an annual purchase or something else?
A: Yes, if you pay in full, at any time between now and January 1st you will save a month's payment.
Q: What is the percentage donated to charities?
A: We are currently donating 5% to the charity of your choice, although we hope to increase that over the next few years.
Q: Are you planning any print advertising? blog sponsors or anything like this?
A: We are not planning on any print advertising- I think it's a waste of my vendor's money and resources since you can't track distribution properly and they are SO expensive. We will have a major google adwords campaign- somewhere in the 2-3k a month- that will allow for searches such as NYC wedding photographer, CT wedding cake, NH wedding makeup, as opposed to NH wedding resource. Brides are looking specifically and even though they're expensive, they're imperative to include for your benefit. I know that this helps the natural search engines so eventually we won't have to spend so much money on adwords but in the beginning it will help. We will continue blogging on MY KPW as well as keep up with our Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn accounts to get people to the site daily. THe biggest way we'll get people to MY KPW will be the badge that every vendor has to have somewhere on their website or blog. I don't care what page, doesn't have to be an important one at all... the more websites that have links to one single URL, the better the natural searches- it's as simple as that. We will be going to the largest wedding shows in each state as well for two reasons- 1 for the less expensive markets in each state to actually help those brides, and 2 to get many many people to go home and type in our URL... same result as above. I know this sounds a big grass roots but it's the least expensive and most effective way to get people to find us and we already have an average of 125-200 hits to the blog daily and we don't have any SEO to the blog itself.
Q: What about a listing only?
A: A listing only- not sure if I understand... there is only one way to advertise on MY KPW... becoming a member allows you to have your vendor directory and access to as much editorial coverage as you'd like. I'm a firm believer in everyone paying the same and have the same opportunity to be seen by incoming brides. There is no option for premium space, no banners, and if you hit refresh everyone randomizes in order... you can always stand out by contributing more images and more editorial but otherwise everyone has the same directory, etc etc.
Q: I think your idea is fantastic but I also think it's a little expensive. For instance, Brooklyn Bride is $300 a year. Most like Wedding Wire, Snippet and Ink and NY Mag are free to list. Any thoughts?
A: I haven't heard too many vendors saying that this resource is too expensive since we're giving each vendor so much more than any other resource on line and compared to print we're much much less expensive. THere is simply a huge difference between our resource and what it has to offer. No other online directory is as extensive in terms of information, photos, media, tagging, blogging, and you can also change your directory every 5 minutes if you want to. We are also giving each vendor an editorial voice so you can share anything and everything as you see it throughout the year. No resource allows that, they have a submission process. We already think you're fabulous, that's why we invited you and because of it we want to hear what you have to say and see what you've been up to. The technology is so advanced as well that no resource comes close to our capabilities. You tag every image so a bride can learn about the vendors involved and the color, season and style of each image throughout the site, right on the spot. THe galleries are sorted by tags as the bride requests, the site interacts and follows the bride throughout her clicks, learning what she's focusing on so it can direct her to certain vendor directories or stories that might help in her planning. It was actually really difficult for us to come up with pricing because there is nothing to compare MY KPW with.. we wanted to be competitive with the Knot which I don't think is a solid investment for vendors because they allow anyone on it and they have way too much information to share with each bride and it's not customized. When a bride signs up and she tells MY KPW that she's getting married in NYC and has 50-80k to spend, she's only going to see those vendors and all of the editorial coverage is provided from those vendors as well so everything she's inspired by is reasonable, affordable, and attainable.
So there are my answers, sorry to write a novel! This is what happens when I eat, drink and sleep MY KPW and really really believe in its potential. I want a resource that educated brides, inspires them with attainable information, and to support vendors through editorial coverage, honest and open lines of communication, and I want to create a family where people can feel good knowing we're not taking advantage of their money, treating someone better because we "like" them more, and we want to show you what you're getting from MY KPW. You have constant analytics to see who came to MY KPW and how, who clicked on your directory, who clicked through to your website, how clicked on your advice or images- maybe an image really speaks to a bunch of brides and you didn't realize it. You could take that image and put it on your blog homepage or website... we want to help everyone out because there are PLENTY of weddings out there and we should all support one another. Too many magazines and online resources create this competition where people get very caddy towards each other and I think it's just silly. I won't always get a bride because of a personality conflict or who knows and I want to be able to recommend someone else that I think would work out better for them... what's wrong with that?
Let me know what other questions you might have, we can always speak live too if you'd like~ looking forward to hearing from you soon!
KP
There you have it. Until our next chat...
KP
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