Email Marketing in Senior Photography

I have heard so many times that the real money maker in your business is in having an email list. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social platforms can shut your account down and there is nothing you can do about it, but you own your email list. So it is profitable to start building a list because you can nurture those people, show them a little bit of your life and your business, and then hopefully earn their trust so they do business with you. Of course, most photographers probably hope to gain clients that come back over and over too. 

But can you use email marketing in a senior photography business? Technically, we do not have repeat senior clients. However there are lots of other ways we can use email marketing in our senior photography business. Here are a few ideas:

1. Offer value with seniors and upcoming seniors

Just like in our social media accounts, we should not always be trying to sell ourselves and our businesses. We should be sharing our recent with our followers, but we should also be sharing things that bring them value. If we capture emails from sophomores or juniors, we have opportunities to share value with them before they ever become a senior. Even if a senior gets on your email list, you can still nurture them and bring them value to build trust before they book another photographer. There are several ways you can bring them value. A few ideas are sharing:

• Local boutiques you like (to shop at for senior photos but also for just everyday wear)Before and afters with hair and makeup artist – and why it’s good to have professional hair and makeup done for sessions
• Favorite locations to shoot photos in the area
• Things to look for in a senior photographer
• New client closet pieces you’ve gotten (if you have one)
• Posing tips
• Prop ideas for sessions
• How to actually book a session with you

2. Build a Senior rep team

Another way to use email marketing in your business is to build a senior rep team. You can have upcoming seniors join your “VIP” list to gain first access to your application and other information about your team. Using your email list for this creates a bit of exclusivity and sense of urgency for people to actually want to see what’s going on. As your applications get close to going live, you can create a lot of social media buzz about it and encourage everyone to join your list so they can get all the details. Then you can create email workflows that will give those upcoming seniors info on your business and also your team.

3. Share recent work

You can also use your email list to share your recent work. Creating buzz around your past sessions could be really great marketing for other seniors to book you. You could simply share images in your emails if you wanted to. However, you could also share links to a YouTube video, Tiktok, or Instagram Reel or maybe even share your latest blog post that features a senior session you’ve had. You can share your work on your social media platforms too, but the algorithm may not always show your posts. Sending it to your email list is a great way to make sure you stay top of mind. 

Email Marketing in Senior Photography

There are many more ways to use email marketing in your senior photography business, but these ways would keep you busy. Once you create emails, you can build them into workflows or drip campaigns to stay in their inbox on a relatively consistent basis. You don’t have to show up every day or every week, but give enough content to the audience in your list so can grow to know you, like you, trust you, and eventually hopefully book you. 

I use Flodesk for my own email marketing. It is kind of like Canva for emails. I find it to be a really beautiful email platform that offers lots of fonts and graphics. You can be as bland or exciting as you want in Flodesk. An awesome thing about Flodesk too is they offer a 50% off program with a referral link making the program just $19/month FOR LIFE. The only caveat is that their lifetime offer is ending November 2. So if you want to jump into this steal of a deal, act fast but it’s going away. ***The price drops to $17.42/monthly if you pay for the subscription annually. 

Join Flodesk by clicking here.

I would love to hear more ideas you have for using email marketing in your senior business. Drop me a comment here or send me a DM so I can hear your ideas.

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