Email marketing is a potent tool for photographers, but I find many photographers underutilise it in their businesses.
Email marketing is an ace up your sleeve, from helping you enhance your client experience at various stages of the client journey to using it to build trust, gently sell, and encourage repeat business.
If you know people keep talking about email marketing but don’t see how it could work for your photography business, this post was written just for you.
Because the way a wedding photographer can use email marketing will be very different from how a Newborn photographer will use it.
But before I dive into which email marketing platform I would suggest and how to use it in your photography business, let’s see why you have some resistance to getting started in the first place.
If starting email marketing for your photography business makes you roll your eyes…
I totally get why you might have resisted getting started on email marketing – the thought of sending words into the abyss with no double taps or encouraging comments to keep you going – can feel kinda meh.
Plus, the thousands of crappy newsletters that plague our inboxes are enough to put anyone off.
But do you have one email newsletter you receive that you cannot wait to read? I’m gonna take a wild guess that you have at least one or two newsletters that are an absolute joy to read?
Someone who shifts your perspective or who you deeply resonate with.
Emails where you don’t feel like you are being sold to all the time, where you feel like you know the person, and they truly get you?
If you said yes, wouldn’t you love to make someone else feel that way? Instead of worrying about being too “salesy” and annoying people in their inbox, can you think of a few ways you could add value?
- Could you help them discover the perfect secluded spot for their elopement, with no tourists and jaw-dropping views, only one hour away from the city?
- Could you share your own experience of motherhood, which deeply resonates with your past clients (and future ones) so you are the first photographer to come to mind for a family shoot?
- Or could you make them laugh till they cry by sharing helpful resources (in a fun way) while they are on the hunt for the perfect wedding photographer?
Maybe, just maybe, your brain is starting to explode with ideas, and you feel kinda excited about the thought of using email marketing in your photography business?
Email marketing can be super fun, help you connect with your audience, and keep your brand front of mind. It’s private; you don’t need to feel exposed and trust me if one person reaches out to say what an impact your email had on their day (it feels better than 1000 likes on Instagram).
PLUS – you have no idea how much of an impact one tiny email can make in someone’s life.
Obviously, it’s a wonderful way to sell your photography services – where people will only be too excited to hear what you offer.
Okay, so now that you may be feeling a little more open to using email marketing as a photographer (possibly even a little bit excited at the thought), let’s dive into how to use it in your business, depending on what type of photographer you are.
Email Marketing for elopement & wedding photographers
You may feel hesitant to use email marketing. I mean, you already have to navigate social media, and you get a ton of referrals from past clients and venues, right?
But what happens when you get busy in the summer or just want to ease off on showing up on socials? You might have noticed that some couples are booking later and later these days.
This is why I love encouraging wedding and elopement photographers to use email marketing at the beginning phase of their client journey. To have an opportunity to dive deeper with their potential clients and help them understand if you are the best-fit photographer for them. Because let’s face it, eventually you get to a stage where you only wanna work with your dream clients, and so helping potential couples know if they would be a good fit is really important to you being able to do your most creative work.
Using email marketing to build trust and do some gentle selling
Focus on creating a helpful freebie or resource for potential clients.
I bet you already have a ton of helpful resources on your website. From blog posts to planning guides, there are a lot of ways you can build trust with your potential clients. Creating a freebie or opt-in is another way to deliver value to your potential clients and help them get a feel of what it would be like to work with you as their photographer.
Create something that aligns with your brand values, give couples a taste of what it would FEEL LIKE to work with you, and help your client at the early stages of planning an elopement or wedding.
Take some time to think about what your potential client needs to be ready to work with you—for example, finding a venue or vision for their wedding or a guide on how to choose the right photographer.
So often, I see resources that are for later on in the client journey, and so your client has probably already chosen a photographer—the best resources will help them at the beginning stages of their planning journey.
The simpler, the better. You want the freebie you create to leave an impact (and not overwhelm people with too much information).
Next is to create a gentle welcome & nurture sequence.
Think about how you can continue to nurture the relationship with a couple who has viewed your website and has decided to download your free resource? How do you want to guide them in making the decision about whether or not you are the perfect photographer for them? It really is that simple.
I suggest creating 3-5 emails after your freebie has been delivered, introducing yourself, talking more about how you can support them, and continuing to deliver value to their inbox.
This will all depend on your brand and your ideal client, but you can use these few emails to connect with them – do you have any other blog posts or resources they might find helpful? Can you offer any perspective shifts, or help them not take this whole wedding planning stuff so seriously.
And finally, the invitation to work together.
Obviously, the invitation to work together would be sprinkled throughout the welcome and nurture sequence, but I invite you to encourage your subscribers to really consider whether you are the right photographer for them.
Remember, you only need a few clients per season. You use email marketing very differently from a course creator, so the main thing you want to do is guide your subscribers to decide whether to work with you. This means infusing as much of your personality and brand into every touch point as possible.
I would only worry about sending out monthly newsletters if you enjoy keeping up with current and past clients or if it makes sense for your business model.
For example, I have one client who offers other types of photography, so it makes sense for her to continue nurturing relationships with her clients).
You can see how my client Danielle uses email marketing in her photography business—click here to view how we created a simple sales funnel.
Email marketing for Newborn & Motherhood Photographers
Okay, so if there is one type of photographer who can most benefit from email marketing, I would say it’s newborn, motherhood, and family photographers.
Your clients will grow and evolve with you, and what a wonderful, wholesome way to build that relationship with your clients over time.
Obviously, you need to find ways to add people to your list (take a look at what I suggested for wedding and elopement photographers above), but you could also focus on adding the wonderful clients you have worked with.
Using email marketing to nurture past client relationships and encourage repeat business
I highly encourage you to send a regular newsletter for newborn, motherhood, and family photographers.
Again, this starts with knowing and understanding your brand magic and, of course, your clients. I always suggest creating some sort of template that makes it easy for you to find a rhythm for sending out regular newsletters.
Use your brand values as a source of inspiration for what content you could share and how you want to connect with your readers. You might feel comfortable sharing your own story and journey through motherhood, or perhaps you want to share your clients’ stories (with their permission, of course), helping everyone feel connected and less alone during their journey through parenthood.
You could also use your newsletter to promote upcoming sessions and availability.
The main aim or goal around email marketing is to encourage repeat business, which is why regularly sharing your availability and why it is so important to continue documenting children’s lives could be a recurring theme in your email newsletters.
I encourage you to develop and nurture the relationship instead of only selling, but feel free to invite your clients to work with you again.
Remember, you could also have readers who didn’t choose to work with you but are now having another baby and can see the value of working with you. That is why I think it is such a potent tool for your photography business.
Seasonal sales and promotions
If you have an engaged list of newsletter subscribers, offering seasonal sales will be much easier. Think about your autumn or holiday-inspired mini sessions. Maybe you want to give a discount on albums leading up to Christmas—all of this will be so much easier if you have a list of subscribers who cannot wait to hear and buy from you.
Email Marketing for brand and product photographers
Again, similar to newborn and motherhood photographers, you can use an email newsletter to showcase your work and build long-lasting relationships with your clients.
There are so many ways you can use email marketing as a brand or product photographer (everything I have mentioned earlier can be implemented in your business), but you could also use it to grow your income.
Using email marketing to build long-term partnerships and increase your revenue
Send regular newsletters to keep your clients updated with industry trends and inspiration for the next shoot.
Is there anything better than working with clients you love repeatedly?
Imagine how much time you could save on social media apps if your clients kept coming back to you over and over.
Pouring your energy and effort into something like email marketing, where you know your reader is guaranteed to see your email (as opposed to social media and the algorithm not showing your post to all of your followers), can be a better long-term strategy to invest your time into a regular newsletter.
You can use your email newsletter to share things you notice in your client’s industry and how brand or product photography can help solve problems potential and past clients might be experiencing.
Share case studies and portfolio highlights
Another way to use email marketing is to share your work to inspire your readers. Instead of just sharing your portfolio, you could dive deeper and share your client’s goals and how your work helped them reach them. You could offer them tips and advice on how to create reels on social media that complement the images you provided them or how to get the most out of their photographs.
The point here is to stay in front of mind so that when they are ready for their next shoot, you will be the only person they reach out to, and it will feel like connecting with an old friend.
And finally, you could use it to generate additional income.
I bet your skillset goes far beyond photography – perhaps you have any idea brewing about an online course for how to film reels for beauty products, or how to do your own brand photography at home. You can start offering additional services like coaching clients on being more visible in their business and on social media.
Launching additional offers will be much easier than relying only on social media if you have an engaged list of subscribers who already love and respect your work.
Okay, now you can see how to use email marketing, but where do you even get started, and what platform should you choose?
Flodesk is the perfect email marketing platform for photographers.
There are so many reasons why I love Flodesk, but one reason you will love it is because of how visual it is! Let’s quickly dive into the reason why Flodesk stands out as opposed to some of the other email marketing platforms like Mailerlite or Mailchimp:
- The stunning visual templates available: As a photographer, you need to be able to tell a story through imagery. Flodesk makes this so easy with its pre-made templates and layout blocks. You can also add your branding, colour palette, and custom fonts to Flodesk (so there’s no need to make things look pretty on Canva; you can do everything right in Flodesk).
- It’s super user-friendly: Okay, so finding the time to dedicate to your email marketing is hard enough; you don’t want to use up all that energy and time on a fiddly interface. Flodesk’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes creating beautiful-looking emails easy! Plus, you can create your own templates to save you a ton of time! I help my clients with this all the time.
- It’s affordable. Yes, some of the other platforms might look like a better deal with their free plans, but every time you actually make something, you end up having to upgrade to a higher plan. Flodesk offers you one plan, and you can use all of its features for as many subscribers as you like. It’s straightforward and transparent—which is huge for me!
- The features: Flodesk has some pretty powerful automation and workflows, and their latest link actions feature makes me love them even more. Plus, you can even sell digital products with their checkout feature. Honestly, I have been with Flodesk since the start, and I just love how they are always listening and getting better and better!
- Their education and resources: Yeah, if email marketing is new to you, there is a wealth of resources to help you get started, including Flodesk University, which is so helpful.
As you can tell, I am a big fan, and I always encourage heart-led photographers like you to use Flodesk. Here is an affiliate link for 50% off your first year!
Has this post inspired you to use email marketing (Particularly Flodesk) in your business?
It truly is a way to have a more sustainable marketing strategy, and can help you build your photography business in a slow and gentle way. Giving you more opportunities to nurture future, current and past client relationships.
Whether you use email marketing to help you book your dream clients or continue to work with people who trust your creativity and work, email marketing can help you reach your business goals in a way that feels nourishing and full of intention and meaning.
If you are looking for a bit of inspiration on how you can use email marketing as part of your sales funnel or marketing strategy and want to dive a bit deeper / gather some inspiration – you can read how Danielle (an alternative Scottish wedding photographer) created a signature brand experience from the moment you land on her website – from a custom resources page packed with personality, to her alternative wedding guide – couples looking for a fun, boujee, “whole shebang” kinda experience will immediately fall in love with her badass approach to wedding photography. Click here!
You can also find out more about working with me 1:1 if you need help waving goodbye to all the “should do” lists and getting your business working for you (not against you)!
