Why do photographers need an email list?

Is email marketing still an effective way to grow your photography business? HELL YES! And if you’re still questioning why - this video is for you.

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Since GDPR, more photographers than ever are asking me whether there is any point in them trying to build an email list.

But the new data protection laws have actually made email lists even more engaged than ever before. Because now your subscribers have to genuinely want to be on your email list. You can’t contact them otherwise.

This is what you want!

You want a list of people who want to hear from you

This means that they’re more likely to open and click on your emails. A list of 100 engaged subscribers is way more powerful than a list of 10000 subscribers who don’t even know how they ended up there.

But why?

Why is an engaged list of email subscribers so powerful? What gives an email list more juice than an amazing social media following for example?

Let me outline 9 reasons why email marketing is so powerful:

1. Most of your audience aren’t ready to book

They take their sweet time.

Lots of them will need 7 to 11 touch points with your business before they even get in touch. Without an email list that’s going to be a long and maybe impossible process. How will you make sure they get those touch points?

And you certainly won’t have any control over what they see and when. Enticing them onto your list and sending them great content allows you to stay top of mind and nurture that relationship and, with each email, take them closer and closer to booking you.

There is no better way to build up trust and likability with your audience than to land in their inbox with content that helps, entertains or educates them.

2. Notifications

You get a notification when you get an email. It pops up on your phone screen or you’ll see it in your inbox. You don’t get notified when a business you follow posts to Facebook or Instagram and the likelihood of you seeing it is slim unless they’ve paid to promote it.

3. Emails remain in your inbox

They land there and can be opened and read later when you have time. A social media post is there and gone in a flash and if you don’t have time to give it your attention in that moment you’ll forget about it within seconds.

4. No distractions

Even if you do give some time to a social media post from a business you follow, think of all the distractions when you’re reading it. Think about what’s going on above and below it and maybe even to the side of it. How likely are you to take action on it with all that other stuff going on?

When you click on an email and read it there’s only that email. No one else is competing for your attention on that screen.

5. Cheap reach

Reaching all of your email subscribers is WAY cheaper than trying to reach all of your social media followers. Depending on the email marketing system you choose - it may even be free! (I highly recommend MailerLite and I have full training on it inside the Togs in Business Membership.)

Free contact with your potential clients - that’s pretty spectacular.

6. You OWN your email list

You’re in full control of it. Unlike being at the mercy of social media platforms that can drastically cut your reach or even delete your profile if they want to, meaning you lose your entire audience.

7. Increased website traffic and content distribution

No more putting effort into publishing content to your website that no one sees. You can increase traffic to your website by sending a link out to your email subscribers.

Every time they go to your website to consume a piece of content they are another step closer to booking you. And your email subscribers are 100 times more likely to click on that link than anyone else. Because they know you.

8. The metrics are amazing

Right inside your email marketing system is golden information. You can see who's opening your emails, who's clicking on them. These are your hottest leads and the people you need to connect with on an even deeper level.

Send an offer just for them to tip them gently over the edge.

9. Sell out to your list alone!

If you put the work into building an engaged list of subscribers who enjoy hearing from you - you’ll have the ability to create a real buzz and build-up to your marketing campaigns JUST via your email list.

Business owners who do this can often sell out to their email subscribers alone. No kidding.

I used to run monthly beginner photography workshops which brought me a monthly profit of £1000. I sold 90% of those workshop places to my email list.

These people are primed to buy from you. And they’ll buy from you again and again and again.

Now I know what you might be thinking...

Why would anyone actively sign up to your email list? How do you even get them on there in the first place?

I’ll cover that next week!

But before you go, if I’ve piqued your interest about email marketing, I cover this in more detail in my Marketing Campaigns for Photographers Masterclass. It’s absolutely free and it’s pure training for an entire hour.

You can sign up below.