EMAIL MARKETING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: 11 TIPS TO BUILD LOYALTY AUDIENCE

A well-planned email marketing strategy paired with a high-quality photo website will help you develop your business. According to statistics, 59% of users pay attention to email newsletters and make purchases based on them. Plus, 80% of business experts say email marketing helps retain customers.

With a good email marketing strategy, you can keep in touch with loyal customers, attract new ones, create a newsletter and notify clients about updates. Email marketing for photographers will help you build a personal brand, and communicate with people.

Read this article to learn how to build a powerful and effective email marketing strategy for photographers. Besides, we will tell you what tools can be useful for working with emails.

1. Build a Subscriber List
First, you need to create an email database. The main goal is to arouse recipients’ interest and make them subscribe to the newsletter. To build a customer base, you need to get the email address of each target customer you chat with online or over the phone.

There are several ways to promote your mailing list:

• a pop-up window on your landing page;
• a box in the right sidebar of your blog;
• an email signature;
• Facebook (News - Alert) page;
• at the end of published blog posts.

Try using these tools to create a subscription form:
Sumo. You can create a form to collect contacts with no coding skills. The tool integrates with sites on WordPress and Shopify platforms. The service also supports a scrolling feature that becomes available after users reach a specific spot on your landing page.

Optin Monster is a powerful tool to help you create custom sign-up forms and pop-ups. You can add a link to the site. When a user clicks on it, they will see a pop-up box.

2. Increase Sign-up to Your Email List

To increase the number of subscribers, you can make your subscription form stand out. Besides, you can create high-quality content for a newsletter to attract users. If you want to collect as many email addresses as possible, you need to come up with a lead magnet – a unique offer or a gift in exchange for a subscription. You can give your clients a free ebook, checklist, or photo tips. A collection of free photo editing presets works great as well.

Check out our ideas:

Resource guide. You can create a checklist of 10 things users need to take into account to choose a wedding photographer. Alternatively, you can make a file with the best outfits for a photoshoot.

Checklist. If you specialize in newborn photography, you can create a list of 10 reference shots that parents can take in the first six months after the birth.

Discount code. You can also offer a discount on your services or provide users with a promo code.

Free product. In addition, you can create a gift for your clients, for example, an album.

3. Divide Users into Different Groups

Through segmentation, you can create several subscriber categories to send relevant emails to a specific group of people based on interests. One of the most useful email marketing tips for photographers is to analyze the purchase history, engagement rate, demographics, and location.

Thus, if you are into wedding and family photography, you can divide your contact list into several categories. Try to create relevant content for specific categories of readers to keep them interested.

For subscribers who didn’t open your emails during the last month, it is worth creating a re-engagement strategy aimed at the specific group of users. Besides, do not forget about the most active users, give them gifts or interesting content to reward their activity and get feedback.

To optimize your workflow, you can try using user segmentation software, such as Campaigner, Mailchimp, Sendinblue.

4. Choose a Third-Party Email Marketing Software

An email marketing software allows you to track emails and analyze their effectiveness. You can view statistics to find out either the number of open emails or users who clicked on the link. However, before choosing a service, you need to evaluate the scale of the contact base.

If you're just getting started with email marketing for photographers, MailChimp is an intuitive and affordable option for you. You can use a free version of the software that allows you to manage up to 2000 contacts and send 12,000 emails per month. The software allows you to quickly create subscriber lists and structure emails using plain text and drag-and-drop templates.

ActiveCampaign is a more powerful email marketing automation software. It offers various built-in automation tools to customize emails for separate groups of users. The program stands out with 850+ integrations with the most popular software. All packages include data migration and implementation services.

Moosend is an affordable program that allows you to pay either by the number of subscribers or by the number of emails sent based on the more suitable option for you. The software offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface for creating engaging emails for your audience.

5. Share Informative Content

Your content and theme should depend on the season. You should send out newsletters during quiet periods to increase bookings when your income is low. During more active periods, prioritize booking to your mailing list. Before the big holidays, you can create a special offer or gift for the special occasion. Thus, you can offer a discount for a romantic photo session before Valentine's Day.

When it comes to your regular schedule, you should send a newsletter at least once a month to keep your followers up-to-date.

Check out topics for your photography email marketing:

• Submit recipes with your photos if you are a food photographer.
• If you’re passionate about photo editing, create easy-to-follow tutorials.
• Travel photographers can submit some behind-the-scenes footage.

You can gather more ideas by analyzing email newsletters from other brands or your competitors. Feel free to subscribe to other brands' newsletters to follow what they send to users and get inspired.

If you want to increase your brand reputation and customer loyalty, avoid mistakes in your emails. You can use third-party resources to check grammar, such as Grammarly. It will allow you to understand how easy it is for users to read and understand your text. Hemingway helps you analyze the language you are using. It will also indicate long or overloaded sentences in the text if any.

6. Pay Attention to the Subject Line

Don't ignore the importance of the subject line. The subject line of the email should accurately convey what you’re going to tell your subscribers.

You can follow the general guidelines for blog titles. For example, using numbers and questions in the subject line grabs the attention of users. Besides, create the subject no longer than 50 characters so that it is fully readable. To make your followers enjoy your content and brand, you should choose relevant headlines.

7. Make Your Emails Visually Attractive

You should choose images for emails that are no more than 600 pixels wide. If you are using a large picture, the email will be cut off on the preview panel and smartphones. Keep an eye on the weight of the images. Users cannot download too heavy images. The ideal ratio is 80:20.

Use one call to action per email. You can add links to your social networks and website every time. Typically, brands include links in the footer of an email. However, you shouldn't ask users to do multiple actions. We recommend segmenting emails with different calls to action such as downloading a PDF, signing up for an e-learning course, etc.

If you want to create a responsive email, you can use HTML email template builders or editors:

BEE. The program allows you to use ready-made letter templates. You can also customize the width of the column structures from a specific set. BEE keeps projects in the browser storage.

Stripo. This free email template maker offers drag-and-drop and HTML editing modes. Users access a library of content modules to store frequently used email elements and components. Besides, the software comes with a built-in photo editor to create attractive banners.

Chamaileon. This online email editor delivers a mix of structure and content elements. Since the software offers advanced styling options, you can create interesting designs for your photography email marketing. Moreover, Chamaileon offers a variety of responsive templates to use for newsletters.

8. Use Email Funnels to Gain Client
An email funnel is a sequence of automated emails. You can set up a funnel to send a series of emails to strengthen relationships with your subscribers. A typical funnel consists of 5 emails sent per week.
If you are a wedding photographer, you can create a funnel for your followers:

• first letter – tips to choose a location for shooting;
• second – tips for choosing a shooting style;
• third – posing tips and how to choose a decor;
• fourth – share your feedback or examples of work from the portfolio;
• fifth – tell about the shooting process and invite for a consultation.

9. Make a Mailing Schedule

In addition to the format, it is also important to select the timing of the emails. You can use such services as Mailchimp, Sendinblue, GetResponse to schedule emails in advance. Make sure not to send more than 1-2 emails per month. Your goal is not to lose touch with your customers, however, you shouldn’t annoy them either.

Besides, decide on the time of day to send the newsletter. According to the statistics, most users read emails at 10 am (when they come to work) or at 1 pm (during lunchtime). You can focus on research data to select the right time. Alternatively, experiment with different options to find out the most suitable time for your audience.

You shouldn't take long pauses between sending newsletters so make sure to send them more often than once in 3 months. The main goal of email marketing for photographers is to keep in touch with existing and potential clients and build your brand awareness. You can hardly maintain a good relationship if your clients rarely hear from you.

10. Avoid the Spam Box (News - Alert)

To prevent your emails from getting to spam, check out these email marketing tips for photographers:

• Share your content with users, so they know what to expect and how often you send out emails.
• Ask users to add you to the contact list.
• Use clear and understandable subject lines.
• Don't use spam words like "100%", "Free" and "Click here". Avoid using capital letters.
• Add a noticeable unsubscribe link to your emails.

You can check if your newsletter gets into spam by using different services, like Google (News - Alert) Postmaster, MailBoxValidator, QuickEmailVerification, MxToolBox.

11. Learn More About Your Subscribers

Google Analytics helps you get to know your audience better. You can find out such details as location, age, and gender. Through data analysis, you can create more relevant content as well as determine the best time and day for your newsletter.

About the Author

Eva Williams is a New York photographer and journalist for FixThePhoto. She has been promoting her services using email newsletters for several years. Eva often uses various programs, including photography email marketing software, and writes detailed reviews on them.