Email Marketing for Photographers: Mistakes You Should Avoid Making

1) Emailing without permission (don't be a spammer).  

The first thing you need to do is make sure you have permission to send someone an email. Even sending out mass emails without an ESP can be considered spamming. What is an ESP? ESP stands for Email Service Provider.  Some examples of email services providers are Active Campaign, ConvertKit, Mail Chimp, or MadMimi. 

2) Don't only send promotional emails (provide valuable content)

Email marketing is great for sending out offers and special promotions, but you don't want to only be sending out those types of emails. Make sure you are including valuable content for your subscribers. Sending out content that is of value can help "nurture" your email list. It can help position you as the expert in your area. Also be educating your email subscribers with valuable content, this can make your photography sessions go smoother. 

3) Not collecting leads (have an opt-in)

Your email list is a valuable asset to your photography business. If you are not collecting leads you are missing out on a big percentage of new business. Plus, considering that email marketing has one of the highest returns on investments, you could be wasting a lot of money if you're not collecting leads.  It's not enough just to say "sign up for my email list" anymore.  You need to have something called an "opt-in". This is simply something you offer someone in exchange for getting their email address. 

Your opt-in (also called a lead magnet) can be a special offer for a photography session, a checklist for their session, a guide of tips, be a .pdf of your welcome guide. I love how Shana Carter Photography is using her senior welcome guide as a way to collect emails. She has a link to her sign up form on her Instagram profile.  

If you need help creating your lead magnet, check out these done for you email lead magnets. 

4) Not using e-mail the right way (use it to grow your photography business)

I've found that a lot of photographers are collecting emails but don't know how to use email marketing to get more photography clients.  Or they may find it time consuming to know what to write in their emails every time. If you have an email service provider that has the ability to send emails on autopilot you can set up an email funnel with a set of emails to go out whenever someone opts-in or signs up for your list.  Use these pre-written emails to get started.  Simply copy and paste them into your email service provider and set it to start sending whenever someone signs up for your email list. 

5) Not looking at analytics (make sure you watch your metrics so you can know what's working and do more of it)

Analytics and data are a big part of marketing whether it comes to facebook marketing, email marketing and even blogging. You need to know your metrics. That's why it's important when you're choosing an email service provider to choose one that has the ability to show and track your email metrics. Two metrics that you will need to start tracking right away are open rates and click thru rates. Think about this... if someone is not opening your email, they will definitely not be clicking on any content in your email. Therefore it's important that your emails get opened. 

Want to learn more about email marketing? Check out my email marketing course here. 

If you haven't downloaded the FREE email marketing checklist you can grab it here. 

Additional Email Marketing Resources:

• Email List Building Guide
• Bundle of 21 Pre-Written Emails
• Email Marketing Calendar
• Email Marketing Online Course for Photographers
• Pre-Written Emails
• Pre-written Email Lead Magnets