Do you send out a monthly email newsletter for your photography business? If so, kudos to you, this is another great way to “touch” your clients and prospects each month to keep your photography studio and your brand on their radar.
Perhaps the idea raises thoughts of, “I’d love to, but that’s all I need – more administrative work to keep me away from taking photographs!”
But then again, we need people in front of our cameras, right? In order to get those people where we want them to be, we need to market our services and get their attention. Not only that, we need to keep their attention once we’ve earned it.
If you aren’t sending out a newsletter, there are plenty of reasons why you should. Before I committed to sending one out myself, like many others, I was expecting Facebook, Twitter and my blog to do all the work that a newsletter should do. After all, it’s no big task to write a short blog entry to announce special portrait sessions. Adding a status update to Facebook is easier still and as for Twitter, well anyone can write 140 characters in their sleep, right? Plus, those things are a lot more fun than writing a newsletter – that sounds too much like being a journalist.
The problem with this approach (apart from being somewhat lazy) is that the people receiving your numerous status updates and tweets are just not paying attention to them as much as you would like them to. Your updates become lost in a continual parade of tweets and announcements that slide past your contacts glazed eyes all day long, small fish in a very big pond of other [mostly] small fish.
I’m sure you don’t need me to point out how frustrating it can be from a business standpoint to “yell” at Facebook and Twitter continually with no appreciable results. The reason people are not responding to us could very well be that we’re using social media incorrectly. Ideally, Facebook & Twitter should be used in a social way to augment and amplify our marketing message – instead, we appear to be using them as vehicles to carry our whole marketing message. Imagine if Walmart tried to deliver everything to their stores in VW Beetles, simply because everyone else thinks VW Beetles are cool. Theoretically, it could be done, but the vehicle is simply not suitable for that type of job, and it would not be the best business decision for Walmart.
So, here are 8 reasons why you probably need to send an email newsletter…
Reason #1: Concentrated Information
When someone opens your newsletter, they’re focused purely on that one thing (or at least as much as we can hope for in today’s age). They probably scan it for interesting headlines, and then an article on the benefits of wall portraits might catch their eye to read in more detail. Even if they don’t click any of the links, the amount of time they spend looking at it is enormous compared to a tweet, which now seems as insignificant as a blink.
The benefit of having your marketing information concentrated in a newsletter is that the reader has a chance to think about what you’re saying. They might read that interesting piece you wrote about your emotional approach to wedding photography. The overall message you want to convey becomes stickier when presented in a concentrated way like this, so the readers stand a better chance of remembering it afterwards.
Reason #2: Professional
A properly written email newsletter just looks more professional, and is one of the factors that can help set you apart from your competitors. When presented with a newsletter that appears polished, clean and professional, the reader will take more notice of what you have to say. In short, a professional newsletter adds credibility to you and your business and gives you more authority in your field.
Reason #3: Engaging
As long as it’s written correctly, your newsletter will be more engaging to your clients and will be much more effective than a barrage of status updates and tweets. If you are consistent (extremely important) and send one out on time every month, you will find that people become more engaged as time goes by, and will (hopefully) look forward to receiving it.
Consistency is a key factor – you do need to stick with it and keep going. You’ll find it’s exciting to send out the first one or two, then it gets more difficult and you might feel despondent at a poor response after the third or fourth one. But don’t give up. I guarantee that people are reading them and if you show that you’re in for the long haul, you will get responses.
Engaged clients, people who enjoy reading your newsletter, may also be more likely to pay attention to your other forms of marketing, such as Facebook posts, tweets etc. This is one of the huge benefits of marketing yourself through multiple channels – your name becomes more familiar and you start to become noticed and wanted.
Reason #4: Brand Loyalty
Along with engaging your clients comes the idea of brand loyalty, a powerful by-product of trust. If your clients trust you, they will buy from you again, and they will refer you to others. A good newsletter both educates and entertains your clients, augmenting their feelings of trust in you and your brand, leading to repeat business and brand loyalty.
Reason #5: Brand Recognition
Your newsletter can also help with brand recognition in your local marketplace. This is concerned more with how people perceive you and your business and how easily they recognize you. What are the things that enable people to recognize your photography business? It could be your style of photography, how you communicate your personality, the colors and fonts you use, the type of finished product you specialize in, and your logo of course.
All of these should be consistent across your whole business – including your web site, business cards, stationery, and your newsletter. By bringing your newsletter format into line with everything else, you are reinforcing your brand and improving its recognition.
Reason #6: Measurable Results
Before I get onto this one, a note of caution: If you’re sending out your own email newsletters, either manually or through a mass-mailing program, then stop! Unless you’re an IT person and really know what you’re doing, there is absolutely no need to waste your valuable time to reinvent the wheel, it’s already been done – and very effectively too. Even if you are a talented IT person, just go with those who specialize in doing this – concentrate on what you should be doing: Creating beautiful imagery!
I’m sure you already know that sending out email newsletters to anything more than a handful of people by yourself is a nightmare (probably one of the main reasons so many small businesses like photographers give up on it).
This is why I can’t stress enough the importance of using a reputable email marketing company, such as Constant Contact or iContact. They are dedicated to making sure your emails get through, provide amazing analytical metrics, and can ensure that you stay on the right side of the anti-spam regulations. The cost to you is minimal and well worth it. They even provide a wealth of templates with which to build your newsletters. One of the really great features is the ability to have HTML versions of your newsletters where others can see them directly without having to receive an email.
Measurable results includes such things as:
- How many emails were opened (open rate)
- Which email addresses were invalid (bounces)
- How many people clicked the links in your newsletter (click through rate)
- The number of times your newsletter was forwarded (forward rate)
- How many decided to opt-out (opt-out rate)
These are invaluable in giving you clues on how your clients are behaving and the kind of things they might respond to, allowing you to fine tune future mailings. For example, you can see exactly who clicked the link to a specific promotion and then further target those people with a more concentrated message.
Reason #7: It’s Not Easy To Write
This may not sound like a great reason to write a newsletter, but it’s one of the best ones out there! We already know that most photographers are not sending out regular newsletters to their clients. Some, with nothing but good intentions, start out boldly and then stop after a couple of issues because they either get discouraged at the lack of immediate results, or find that it’s harder to write than they first thought.
That, oddly enough, is great news for the rest of us. Being successful in business is not normal, nor is it easy. If writing a newsletter was that easy, everyone would do it and then it would not be as effective. But, if we force ourselves to tackle the task and get it done in as professional way as possible, I believe there are great rewards.
Yes, it takes time to write and format the email. Yes, it takes effort to think up articles. Yes, it takes a concentration of will to force ourselves to think creatively and not produce a newsletter that’s a sales letter (see next section). But, it is worth it to separate yourself from the pack.
Reason #8: People Want To Hear From You
The last reason on my list (but I’m sure there are many more) is that your clients really do want to hear from you! They like to get to know you personally a little better, find out what’s happening in your business and, more importantly, it makes them feel more appreciated.
If you keep your newsletters fresh, infused with your personality and, above all, interesting to read, your readership should grow nicely over time and your business will start to see positive results. Just don’t expect it to be an overnight success – it does take time.
One thing I will say is that your newsletter should NOT be a sales letter. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a sale, monthly offer, or promotion by itself is a newsletter. Your readers will soon grow tired of receiving nothing but sales information and will quickly unsubscribe from reading it, leading to a damaged brand. This is probably more suitable in another article all by itself, so I’ll close this post for now.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this – if you did, please forward it on to someone else you think might benefit from it, through Twitter or Facebook etc.
Before I go, I’ve also set up a new Facebook Page for Zenologue, so you might want to check that out and join our fans.
Marketing email newsletter, facebook, Marketing, newsletter, photography business, social media, twitter
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