WeddingWire has teamed up with Meebo, one of the largest social media companies on the web, to provide a new real-time vendor to vendor chat feature within your WeddingWire account. Now you can ask questions, get feedback, or simply communicate with vendors you know from anywhere across the country. Whether you are updating your Storefront or perusing the Vendor Education Center, the chat feature will be visible in the lower right hand corner of your account so that you can easily connect with other vendors.

Don’t see any buddies on your list? Simply connect with other vendors through the Vendors I Know tool, located in the “My Community” section.  Once the connection is approved by the other vendors, their names will show up on your buddy list.

The new Meebo feature also allows you to gather all of your friends on a single buddy list from within your WeddingWire account, so you can communicate in real-time across different IM platforms and social networks, including AIM, Twitter, and Facebook Chat.   All you have to do is log-in to your Meebo account from within the new vendor chat bar to access your accounts.  And if you don’t have a Meebo account, you can easily register for an account and then connect with your various IM and social network accounts straight from the new vendor chat bar.

Log-in to your WeddingWire account and check it out today!

Check out our new WeddingWire commercial to see why over 100,000 vendors have joined the WeddingWire Network.

It’s a busy time of year at WeddingWire headquarters.  We have been traveling all over the country sharing our industry knowledge, meeting and networking with vendors like you, and of course reaching out to brides!

Here are a few places we have been:

2009 Catersource and Event Solutions Conference & Tradeshow
Last week, WeddingWire attended the 2009 Catersource and Event Solutions Conference & Tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV.  It its 16th year, this educational conference and tradeshow brought together catering professionals from all over the world.  This year’s conference featured numerous sessions on how to market, staff and manage catering companies and provided professionals with the skills and networking opportunities needed to support business and increase bottom line.

WeddingWire had the opportunity to meet many of the catering attendees during the Tradeshow and Wedding Networking event.  The trip was very successful and we look forward to all the new members joining the WeddingWire network!

Association of Wedding Gown Specialists
Sonny Ganguly, WeddingWire’s Chief Marketing Officer, attended the annual meeting for the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists in San Antonio, TX, this past weekend.  Sonny presented on Reaching Today’s Wired Bride, and then also led round table discussions on internet marketing, social media, and site traffic.

Running of the Brides
Filene’s Basement is most famous for its annual Bridal Gown Events called “Running of the Brides,” where brides-to-be can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on designer wedding gowns.  WeddingWire teams up with Filene’s Basement to promote and support these events in numerous locations throughout the year. Here the video from last Friday’s NYC Event.  Check out the WeddingWire users wearing “The Best & The Bridest” pink t-shirts in the front of the line!

Houston Wedding Showcase
WeddingWire sponsored and attended the Houston Wedding Showcase last Saturday. The Houston Wedding Showcase is a one-stop wedding planning show for engaged couples in the Houston area and is produced by two bridal show producers that have a combined 25 years of experience in the industry. This year’s February show was a huge success, attracting thousands of brides.  WeddingWire is proud to be a sponsor of this fresh and innovative bridal show in one of the country’s largest bridal markets!

Stay tuned for more WeddingWire events!

What is the difference between marketing and advertising? Although it seems like a simple question, it is very common to confuse the definition of the two.

By definition marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, and delivering offerings that have value for consumers and society at large (American Marketing Association).  Marketing is the first step in developing a product or service.  Seth Godin said it perfectly in his recent post, “Just about every successful product or service is the result of smart marketing thinking first, followed by a great product that makes the marketing story come true.”

Advertising is the act or practice of calling public attention to your product, service, need, etc. (dictionary.com). Advertising includes paid ads, which can be online, in print, on billboards, etc. Advertising is a main component of marketing.

A good way to look at it is to think of marketing as a pie, in which you have slices that include advertising, market research, product branding, interactive media, SEO, sales strategy, lead generation, consumer involvement, customer support, and more.  Marketing is everything you do as a small business to facilitate a connection between your business and your consumer.

Our goal at WeddingWire is to provide the platform for vendors in the wedding industry to do both.  As a vendor you can create an account and build your Storefront, which helps you create and communicate your product offerings to your consumers (engaged couples).  Our vendor catalog, which is listed off of numerous networks (i.e. Martha Stewart Weddings, BridalBuds, WeddingAces), serves as a means of advertisement for your business for all incoming engaged couples to see.

What are your thoughts on marketing and advertising? Share your feedback in the comments sections!

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards! This new annual award program, launched at the beginning of the week, is unlike other award programs in our industry in which winners are selected by the company.  This year’s winners were determined exclusively by recent newlyweds from the WeddingWire community through survey results and reviews.  This year’s high-performing winners represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community.

We want to thank all the winners for their hard work and dedication to the wedding industry!

Remember…reviews are one part of the nomination process, so don’t forget to invite your 2009 clients to review your services on WeddingWire in order to put you one step closer to being eligible for 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards!  Simply visit the Marketing section of your WeddingWire account to invite your past clients to review your services.

So you have all these great images uploaded to your WeddingWire Storefront, why not show them off? All tagged vendor images are published to the Ideas section for brides to see! Brides currently have the ability to search the Ideas section images, save their favorite images to their binder, and will soon also have more ways to integrate your images into their planning experience! And since your business name is linked to all your tagged images, this serves as another way to reach our community of brides.

Log-in to your WeddingWire account today and start tagging your images!

WeddingWire recently launched two blog communities for engaged couples.  The best part is the vendor catalog is featured on each blog, making it easy for incoming brides (and grooms) to find you!

• Bridalbuds.com - Real wedding experiences, wedding planning tips, DIY projects, and more from current engaged couples going through the planning process along with advice from newlyweds who have previously been in their position.

• WeddingAces.com - Firsthand knowledge and experiences straight from the experts of the wedding industry!  The diverse group of wedding bloggers featured on WeddingAces are actively involved within the WeddingWire network, blogosphere, and wedding industry.

Become a fan of our new sites on Facebook: BridalBuds and WeddingAces!

On this historic 56th Presidential Inauguration Day, I invite you to visit www.WedWeCan.com.  Our ‘Wed We Can’ campaign, which launched today, focuses on the change WeddingWire has brought to online wedding planning.   Seeing as the internet has revolutionized the way engaged couples can plan their weddings,  WeddingWire provides the technology for engaged couples to simplify and streamline their planning process and easily connect with vendors like you!

Check out the site and press release!

Want to become WeddingWire Rated? Get 3 or more of your past clients to review your services and you become eligible to place the WeddingWire rated logo on your website! It’s a great way to let your past clients speak on your behalf - especially before the flux of new brides hits in the New Year!

Visit the Marketing section of your WeddingWire account today to get started!

In my recent post I talked about the importance of using images to build out your WeddingWire Storefront.  Well, now you will find it much easier to do so!  With the newly enhanced Vendor Portfolio, your WeddingWire online image gallery, you can:

1. Save Time: Upload multiple images at the click of a mouse!
2. Get Organized: Click and drag images to put them in the order YOU want on your Storefront.
3. Tag your images: Simply choose a description or keyword “tag” to categorize your images, making them easier to share.

And in case you need even more incentive to start posting images, we will soon be publishing all tagged images to the Ideas section for brides to find you!  Brides will be able to search the Ideas section images and save their favorite images to their account.  And with your business name linked to all of your tagged images, this serves as yet another way to get your business name out there and reach brides!

Visit your Vendor Portfolio today and let the uploading, organizing, and most importantly tagging begin!

The My Wedding in a Week contest in Philadelphia, presented by My 106.1 and WeddingWire, concluded last Friday as the winning couple, Lisa and Victor, walked down the aisle of the Columbus Ballroom in the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, and then celebrated with friends and family over a Champagne Brunch.  Starting on October 3, the winning couple had 7 days to plan their wedding live on the radio with WeddingWire and our team of professionals from the Philadelphia area, including The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants.

All and all the event was a huge success thanks to My 106.1 and the team of professionals who worked very hard (and very quickly) to make Lisa and Victor’s dream come true!  WeddingWire would like to sincerely thank everyone at My 106.1 and the participating vendors for making this event a complete success from start to finish!

Participating vendors included:

Check out the My 106.1 contest page for highlights from the event!

For those that haven’t noticed yet, our 2008 WeddingWire Rated badges are available to place on your website.  These badges are meant for your websites and blogs so potential clients easily click through to your reviews (our system generates the code that will link it to your reviews automatically)

You can find this badge in your account by logging in > click on Marketing > click on WeddingWire Rated.  Just paste the code onto your website.  It’s that easy!

Do you have the Rated badge on your website or blog? Leave a comment with the link!