If you're searching the internet for wedding professionals and you stumble upon a website that has the MY KPW badge link, you should know a few things about the vendor you're checking out:
1. Their quality of work speaks for itself. Some of the MY KPW vendors have been in the business for years and some have just gotten started. I remember starting KPW 7 years ago and with very little experience under my belt, a very noteworthy publication took me "under their wing" and allowed my company to grow and expand exponentially faster then I could have myself. Because of that lesson, I am always looking for raw talent that is either fresh on the scene or perhaps hasn't had the means or income to get involved with editorial and advertising exposure. I want all brides to have the best vendors to choose from, regardless of their age and time in the business. Talent is talent.
2. The selection process was not just a matter of flipping through a magazine and finding pretty advertisers to call. At KPW we have either worked with these vendors before, we have met and known a vendor for years but haven't had the opportunity to work with them, someone we work with on a regular basis HIGHLY recommends a vendor, a vendor is on numerous preferred vendor lists- not in a pre-paid packet, or a vendor has been recommended more than once from a vendor who is booked for a wedding date. Most will have detailed websites to search through, but some don't have the marketing or financial means to make a glamorous website. This doesn't remove an ounce of ability from a vendor, so don't always judge a book by its cover in this department.
3. The purpose of the MY KPW badge link is to not only represent a hand-selected group of high quality vendors, but to also create a relationship between each of them, like a family. Everyone involved with MY KPW wants each participating vendor to be as successful as possible, and helping a bride find other wedding professionals through MY KPW is a great way to support a fellow MY KPW family member.
4. In addition to being a cutting edge wedding resource, MY KPW is also giving each participating vendor the opportunity to donate a portion of their yearly fee to one or any combination of three charities- JDRF, ACS, and SPCA. Being slightly selfish, I am a Type 1 diabetic, I have Thyroid cancer, and you all have probably seen or heard of our dog, Lola- VP of operations at KPW. I have always wanted to give to these three charities but as a small business owner, at the end of the year there isn't always a significant amount of money left over. With MY KPW, we can take a small amount from our profits from each vendor and it will add up in a BIG way. At the end of the year, we will be presenting the three charities with a check during our annual MY KPW gala. So there's something really great about each of these vendors because they know that part of their fee goes straight to charity.
There is always a fine line between editorial and advertising and people will want to know if this is a paid membership. I want to answer this question openly so you know where MY KPW is coming from:
- Yes, each participating vendor pays a monthly fee to be a part of MY KPW. Anything that is so technologically driven costs money to design, implement, and keep up. We will be expanding the website with podcasts, live chats with vendors, and other exciting options once the site launches in January. There are quite a few websites and magazines that have exclusive lists and members, and each and every one of them charge a fee to become a member.
-The difference with MY KPW is that we have the ability to hand select the vendors we invite into our family so there is an actual exclusivity to the website and community. We are finding the highest quality vendors in all four price points and are limiting the number of vendors per category to give each bride the best of all the options out there. We have no intentions of becoming a larger wedding resource, inviting more vendors each year. We want to keep the number down so brides don't have to sift through twenty vendors to find the right one. Instead we are going to enrich the MY KPW family, providing brides with more information about each vendor, showcasing the vendors through photos, audio and video media formats, live chats, podcasts, and maybe even a flagship studio someday...
- I fully believe that sales and editorial departments should be one in the same. The challenge, when dealing with print media especially, is the cost of the design and printing. It costs so much money to make a magazine; sales people have to take anyone they can get to sign a contract in order to pay the bills. That sacrifices the quality of advertisers and doesn't always allow those vendors to be asked for editorial submission. So the person who is paying to have the magazine printed and distributed isn't getting any editorial credit, and a vendor with either a name brand or someone who is worthy of editorial is given stories and photo shoot opportunities but didn't financially contribute to the magazine's creation. I know that some vendors, myself included when I first started out, really appreciated editorial opportunities that weren't tied to buying an ad, however, I see taking an advertisement out as a thank you to the magazine for the opportunity to get direct exposure through editorial coverage. Brides know you pay for an ad and they also know you are asked to give your editorial opinion. The benefit of MY KPW being an online resource instead of a magazine is that the overhead of producing a website isn't nearly the overhead of producing a magazine, therefore we can be very selective in who we invite to become part of the MY KPW family. Better yet, we can create endless editorial opportunities for our vendors- providing a springboard for creativity when vendors decide what they want to write about, what types of photos they want to submit, etc. Magazines are somewhat tied down to page formats and they have to include the most popular story lines- bouquets, tabletops, honeymoon information etc. While we completely agree that those subjects must be covered, and MY KPW will be filled with all of the same content, we think it's important for each vendor to have a voice. They should be able to write a blog post or expert advice column on what is pertinent to their industry today, no matter how small a detail it might appear to be in the big overall wedding picture. Brides are so smart and savvy these days, and they are looking for much more information than ever before. MY KPW will provide all of that and more, while inspiring and educating all the while.
So for now, if you see the MY KPW badge on a vendor's website, take a minute and click through to the current MY KPW blog to learn about what vendors have joined the family, check out their blogs, read some of the interviews, look at the beautiful images, and stay informed with what's new and exciting in the design and creation of the MY KPW family.
