3. Frequently Asked Questions
What wedding vendors want to know about our advertising services
About us
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Step-by-step guide for prospective advertisers
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About the book
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If you have a question that isn't answered here or on the other pages of this advertiser guide,
please let us know. Use this link to send us an email, or give us a call at 910-392-5228 or 888-755-0550 toll-free. Email inquiry form:
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Cover of current edition
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I want to start advertising. How soon will my ad appear?
My cash flow is tight. Can I spread out the payments on my ad?
I'm on a monthly payment plan. Can I pay off my balance early?
I don't have an ad ready. Can you help?
Can you print an ad I'm already running in another publication?
I love the ad you designed for me. Can you send it to another publication?
Can I change my ad in the middle of a two-edition contract?
What is a 'bleed'? Can my ad 'bleed'?
I don't have a website. Should I start advertising now?
I've changed my email address. Can you update my online listing?
Are you affiliated with 'Cape Fear Bride?'
How about 'Carolina Wedding Guide' or 'Perfect Wedding Planner'?
I want to start advertising. How soon will my ad appear?
We create the online listing for a new advertiser as soon as the contract is processed.
That includes links to your web and email addresses and access to sales leads. We'll post your advertisement as
soon as we can design it, or you submit it. Sometimes we'll use a temporary ad -- as simple as a scan of a
business card -- to get a client's website presence started. We'll replace it with the more permanent version
as soon as the advertiser approves the design.
The Cape Fear Wedding book is published twice a year. The print edition
of the ad hits the streets in late May for the Summer-Fall edition, and late November for Winter-Spring.
Bottom line: An ad can start working for you immediately, without waiting for the print
deadline. For an advertiser who signs on early, those extra months of website exposure and access to sales
leads is free, compared to waiting until the last minute to complete a contract.
More on rates and deadlines:
Website advertising:
How we deliver leads:
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Begin advertising now
 to secure online contract form.
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About Cape Fear Wedding
Overview for advertisers
Our staff, history and affiliations
Frequently asked questions
Advertising essentials
Book: The bride's planning "bible"
Online: Website ads and links
Prospects: Fresh, targeted sales leads
Marketing strategies
Matching each vendor's needs
Business basics: first things first
Rates & payment options
Rates, deadlines & specifications
Discounts and monthly installment plan
Other marketing services
Free advertising design service
Optional online ad packages
The Cape Fear Wedding Show
Contract forms
Secure interactive online form
Printable form (PDF format)
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Reserve space
now
for upcoming
Summer-Fall 2012 edition
Sale of advertising space begins in February
for the next edition of Cape Fear Wedding. Sign on early and get immediate online presence
to bridge the months until the next handbook is published.
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My cash flow is tight. Can I spread out the payments on my ad?
Absolutely. We offer a monthly installment option, so you don't need to come up with a lump sum immediately.
You can become a Cape Fear Wedding advertiser for as little as $45.50 a month. On the other hand, if you want to minimize
your total out-of-pocket investment, we offer discounts for pre-payment.
See detailed payment options:
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I'm on a monthly payment plan. Can I pay off my balance early?
Yes. An early pay-off will save you the handling and finance charges built into our monthly rates.
For example, paying off the balance on a quarter-page ad six months early will save $23 compared to continuing to make monthly payments.
Call or email us and we'll give you a pay-off balance.
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I don't have an ad ready. Can you help?
We are known for our advertising design, which is free for our clients. We'll work with you to create an
ad that effectively communicates what you want brides to know about your business. We believe it's important for every
business to have a consistent "brand." We'll help you coordinate your ad's look and feel with your other marketing materials,
including your website, business cards and brochures.
If you don't have a consistent branding strategy, we can help create one. Once we've designed your ad,
we can adapt that design to other collateral materials like postcards, brochures and business cards.
A word about do-it-yourself ad design: Although we do have some advertisers who are talented graphic artists,
most are not. Our clients are experts in event planning or cakes or flowers; we're the experts in graphic design and advertising.
Let us use our skills for your benefit. We would much rather take the time to help you design an attractive and effective ad, than
to have a client who's disappointed with the results.
More on advertising design:
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Can you print an ad I'm already running in another publication?
Cape Fear Wedding's handbook format means our pages and ad dimensions are different from most other
publications. An ad designed for a magazine-format page won't fit properly. Merely shrinking an ad won't work. The proportions
will be wrong and type often becomes illegible.
But we can adapt an existing design to fit our pages. To do this, we need the original artwork (photos and logo) and
fonts used in your ad. Or if you work with an ad agency or graphics firm, their artists can re-work it to match our specifications.
An important fact to remember: For the same visual impact, a half-page ad on an 8.5-by-11-inch magazine page
should be a full page in Cape Fear Wedding. A quarter-page magazine ad is the same size as a half page in our book.
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I love the ad you designed for me. Can you send it to another publication?
Because of our page format, ads in Cape Fear Wedding don't fit in most other publications. So any design
we do must be revised to work in other magazines, newspapers, etc. Our advertising design is a big part of what sets
Cape Fear Wedding apart from our competition. But as a service to our clients, we are happy to offer re-design service and
reprint permission to advertisers who are in good standing.
There is a nominal redesign charge for this service. We don't charge our clients for the original design,
but we must cover the cost of adapting our creative work for use in competing media.
Our advertising designs are copyrighted. Any use in other media requires our express written permission.
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Can I change my ad in the middle of a two-edition contract?
No problem. A number of our advertisers submit a new ad design for each issue. We'll be happy to redesign or
update your ad for you at any time, at no charge. New ads can be posted online at any time.
It's also easy to change the size of your ad. We have clients who start conservatively, with a small ad. As they
use the ad and our sales leads to develop their business, they upgrade to a larger size for the next edition. The cost is simply the
difference in rate between the old and new ad sizes for a single edition.
See detailed rate chart:
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Ad sizes and proportions don't translate directly
between handbook and magazine page formats.
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What is a 'bleed'? Can my ad 'bleed'?
An ad that runs to the very edge of the paper is said to "bleed" off the page. By contrast, most ads are surrounded
by an empty frame of white paper. We encourage full-page advertisers to design their ads to bleed, because it makes a much stronger
visual impact. Bleeds are the standard for national magazine ads. When you're paying for a whole page, you might as well take
advantage of every available square inch.
In designing a bleed, it's important that background colors or images be sized larger than the finished page. When
the ad is printed, the ad is slightly larger than the page dimensions. After printing, the page is trimmed to its final 5.5 by 8.5-inch
size. The extra eighth of an inch image area on each edge is discarded. This ensures that no slivers of white space appear at the edge
of the page. It's also why it's important to keep any type, or critical portions of an image, well within the final "trim" line.
We've seen badly designed ads in which logos, phone numbers or web addresses have been partly cut off when the page
is trimmed.
If you or an agency will be designing your ad, please be sure it's correctly designed for a bleed.
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I don't have a website. Should I start advertising now?
We strongly recommend against it. A website has become an essential business
tool, especially if you're selling services to young adults. We've had new entrepreneurs tell us they
aren't sure what to do first: advertise or build a website.
Our advice: Invest in your website first. (And while you're at it, get yourself
a supply of essential "collateral" marketing materials: business cards, brochures, price lists, etc.)
A new business is unlikely to get a good response from potential customers who can't find it online.
And the sales leads we sell as part of every ad contract aren't much use if a
vendor has nothing to send to brides who've asked for information.
When you're ready to advertise, you'll get good results from Cape Fear Wedding.
But until you're ready, we don't want to take your money. You need it for other things first.
We have detailed advice about essential steps for setting up a new business. This
includes some recommended web-design firms if you need help creating your site.
Go to "Business basics" page:
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The ad at right is printed to the edge: a full bleed.
Ad at left has unprinted white margins; does not bleed.
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I've changed my email address. Can you update my online listing?
Yes, but you can do it yourself, right now. All Cape Fear Wedding advertisers
have a username and password that allows you to log in and edit your online vendor listing. You have complete
control over such details as your business name, address, phone numbers, email and web addresses. This also
updates our records, to ensure we have the best current contact data for all our clients.
You can even post more than one website link for your business. Some clients use this
feature to direct customers both to their main website and to their blog. Or if you're part of a national franchise,
You can set up links to your local site and to the parent company's site.
Advertisers can also update their business categories. For instance, a florist who's indexed
under the "Florists" and "Decorating" categories might want to add "Gifts for Attendants." Any changes made through
your vendor admin page show up instantly on the website.
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Are you affiliated with "Cape Fear Bride"?
No. That title is a start-up magazine published by a company in Norfolk, Va., which also publishes similar
magazines in other communities. A large proportion of the vendors represented in that publication are not based in
the Cape Fear region. Its online listings include dozens of vendors who have been out of business for years, have relocated
or changed names, or are deceased. We regret any confusion caused by an out-of-town competitor's decision to use a name so
similar to ours.
Cape Fear Wedding is owned, written and edited by long-time Wilmington residents who are active members
and supporters of the local business community. We are members of the Greater Wilmington, Greater Topsail and Southport-
Oak Island Chambers of Commerce and the Cape Fear Wedding Association. We are financial supporters of Wilmington Downtown,
Inc. Advertising dollars spent with Cape Fear Wedding stay in our local economy.
More about us and our affiliations:
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How about 'Carolina Wedding Guide' or 'Perfect Wedding Planner'?
Those magazines are locally published competitors to Cape Fear Wedding. We have a friendly
relationship with their publishers. Both are established businesses in the Cape Fear Region and active supporters of local
causes and organizations. Both are charter members of the Cape Fear Wedding Association.
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Advertisers can update their online accounts any time through a secure vendor admin page. Access is protected by password. Edit contact details and business categories. Click image for a closer look.
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About us
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Step-by-step guide for prospective advertisers
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About the book
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