Achieving the Best Photography Newsletter that Your Clients Will Actually Read
Email marketing is without a doubt one of the most effective ways of generating repeat business and attracting new photography clients. The best way to go about email marketing is by providing valuable content to your clients that will actually be of interest to them, and by having an informative and entertaining newsletter, you can achieve this. That said, there are some challenges involved with producing newsletters that your clients will take the time to read.
The problem is that people often get swamped with emails and advertisements. As such, many people are quick to delete newsletters before they ever read them. Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks that you can employ to ensure that your clients are not only opening your newsletters but following up with you afterward and sending business your way.
This article will go over the best techniques that you can use right away to generate more engagement from your photography newsletters, resulting in repeat business, new clients, and ultimately more revenue.
What is a newsletter?
From a marketing point of view, a newsletter is an email that you send out to your clients that lets them know what's going on with you, provides some useful and entertaining content, and ideally includes an offer or promotion that entices them to follow up with you and send some business your way.
There are numerous different types of newsletters that you can send out to people, but as a professional photographer, you should aim to let people know that you have a promotion coming up that they might be interested in; you should let them know when that promotion is occurring, and how they can take advantage of it to save money on their photography needs.
Why should you be sending out photography newsletters?
Some people think that email marketing is old-fashioned, but this is simply not the case. The truth is that if people are genuinely interested in photography, then there's every reason to suspect that they will be interested in your newsletter. This is, of course, assuming that it has some valuable content for them.
If you go about crafting and sending your newsletters in the right way, then email marketing is one of the very best ways to generate repeat business, find new clients, establish yourself as an expert in your industry, promote your company, and ultimately increase your revenue, all of which are worthwhile endeavors.
What should you include in your photography newsletters?
All too often, email marketers jump straight into a sales pitch which is a huge mistake. Of course, your aim is to generate business from your email marketing campaigns, but the best way to go about this is by first providing something of value to your clients, such as a piece of informative content that teaches them something or an entertaining piece of content that they’ll enjoy reading.
When people feel as though you've given them something of value for free, they are much more likely to reciprocate and return the favor; therefore, after you have provided some insight or entertainment to your clients in your newsletter, feel free to include a promotional pitch that lets them know of an upcoming event that you're holding, offers them a discount on a photo session, or allows them to book a mini session for their families at a good price.
You'll be surprised at how effective this strategy can be when done correctly. In fact, most of the largest companies in the world spend millions if not dozens of millions of dollars every year on email marketing, and it's not because it doesn't work.
How can you ensure that people open your newsletters?
Some people, particularly those who are new to marketing, are under the impression that they need a super catchy title or tagline for their newsletter, but this is a mistake. If the heading on your email seems spammy or clickbaity, people simply won't open it. What's worse is that there's a very good chance they will flag your email as spam, which is the best way to ensure that none of your future emails reach them either.
Instead, you should focus on crafting a genuine and authentic title that relates to the content of your newsletter, and whenever possible, you should personalize the newsletter to that individual client; there are a ton of apps that can automate all of this so that you don't have to spend hours typing out each individual newsletter in order for it to come across as authentic and personalized.
If you have a special promotion going on or are offering one of your photography services at a discounted rate for your current clients, then feel free to include this information in the title of your email, but if you're planning to do this, then you should also send out other newsletters that simply feature valuable content without any sort of sales aspect being evident in the heading, otherwise people will feel like you're only trying to sell them something, and this will almost always result in them blocking your account and flagging your emails as spam.
How to boost engagement with your photography newsletters
As mentioned, there are a few ways that you can boost engagement from your photography newsletters. The first way is by providing valuable content to the reader. You might consider offering some tips and tricks on how they can improve their own photography, or you could showcase one of your recent photo sessions that was particularly interesting.
Of course, the ultimate aim of sending out your newsletter is to drum up some new business, and the best way to do this is by having an enticing offer for your loyal customers. By letting people know that you're running a promotion or have a special deal just for them, then they're much more likely to take action immediately; this is especially true if there's a time limit attached to the offer.
So you might want to say something like “save 15% on a portrait session from now until the end of the month,” or “earn a free mini session when you refer friends and family.” Coupon codes are another great way of boosting engagement and generating new revenue from your existing clientele. An example of this would be something like “save 10% on your next photo session with coupon code XYZ2022.”
In any event, the goal of your newsletter is threefold. First, you want to provide people with some useful or entertaining content relating to photography. Next, you want to give people a reason to engage with you immediately and book a photo session, oftentimes a discount or promotion will be the best way to do this. Finally, you want to position yourself as an expert in the field of photography so that if people aren't ready to book a photo session right now, they will have you on their mind the next time they are in need of photography services.
Things to avoid when sending out newsletters
There are also a number of things that you'll definitely want to avoid when sending out your newsletters. As discussed above, you'll definitely want to avoid coming up with headings for your emails that sound overtly sales-oriented, spammy, or clickbaity.
You also need to be highly selective about when you send out your newsletters. Sending out a newsletter once every two weeks is okay, providing that those newsletters always have fresh content and something valuable to offer your clients.
Sending out a newsletter every two hours is not okay and will certainly get your messages a one-way ticket to the spam folder. Remember, you want your clients to think favorably of you, so do whatever you can to avoid coming across as a salesperson. You want them to think that your newsletters are fun and entertaining, or at the very least educational; the promotions that you're offering should always seem secondary to your clients.
Summary
Sending out newsletters is one of the best ways to promote your photography business, keep your existing clients interested in the services you're offering, generate repeat business, and establish yourself as an expert professional photographer. That said, there are a number of rules that you should follow in order to boost engagement and minimize the risk of ending up in a spam folder. By following the advice outlined in this article, you'll be able to retain your current customers, generate new clientele, and ultimately grow your photography business online.
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