|
Member Spotlight: Erik Kent, NJWedding.com What year did you start your business? February 14, 1997 (Valentine's Day!) What background led you to this career? After graduating from Rutgers College in 1992, I went to work for a local weekly newspaper group in advertising sales and quickly learned the business and became manager of the advertising department. With the growth and popularity of the Internet in 1995, I decided to leave the newspaper to start Cranford.com, an online resource and directory promoting the town of Cranford, NJ. My wife, Beth, who worked as an office manager/bookkeeper at an advertising agency, decided to leave her position, and we joined our skills to pursue our dream of creating our own business. Publishing NJWedding.com was an idea that grew out of the enjoyment of our own wedding planning in 1994, and we started to create an online resource that helped engaged couples find local wedding services in New Jersey. What do you consider to be your specialty? With a passion for advertising and marketing, I began to study and understand how to help promote wedding businesses, especially on the Internet. It was important to gain knowledge of how to build an effective web site, creating pages that would be found in the search engines and how to help small business owners with sales and marketing techniques that would help them improve and grow. What is the most challenging aspect of your job? Keeping up with the ever-changing world of wedding planning information and services, understanding specialty markets and continually trying to keep my finger on the "pulse" of the wedding industry in New Jersey and the tri-state area by reading books and magazines, attending and exhibiting at bridal shows throughout the state, and attending seminars and meetings within the wedding and event industry. What is your favorite part of the job? I receive enormous satisfaction from gaining knowledge that our advertisers connected with engaged couples as a result of marketing their services on NJWedding.com, and in the same regards, finding out that a bride booked one or several services as a result of finding them through NJWedding.com. Our goal has always been to connect wedding professionals with future brides and grooms, and make the process as simple and effective as possible. I'm extremely pleased and excited that NJWedding.com will be celebrating 10 years of serving wedding professionals and couples in 2007. I've thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the NJ branch of the ABC as the webmaster, promoter, and speaker/round table leader at the regional conference. Membership in the ABC has given me the opportunity to meet so many different types of wedding professionals, understand various aspects the wedding industry and continually expand our business. Thank you! Name: Erik Kent, Co-Publisher |
from
the Association of Bridal Consultants - New Jersey branch newsletter
