How I Gained Over 5 Thousand Email Subscribers

3 years ago I never thought I would see over 5 thousand email subscribers on my email list! Over 5 thousand people voluntarily signed up to receive email updates from me! Once I figured out how to get them to subscribe, the numbers have steadily risen by 10 to 15 new subscribers daily!

This post contains affiliate links. You may read my affiliate disclaimer here.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you some juicy secret, or that there is a super simple easy button to get subscribers. Take notice of my numbers:

There are 365 days per year, and if I receive 10 subscribers per day, that’s only 3,650 right? And I started 3 years ago.

So it took me at least a year and a half to figure it out.

At least a year and a half of trial and error, frustrations, and literal tears.

The ONE thing I did not do? I didn’t give up. I kept at it. I kept testing out different processes, and different strategies.

I am the type of person that falls victim to instant gratification. My patience level is about a 4 out of 10 most of the time.

I didn’t have an easy button. Yes I read A LOT. I did a lot of research. But you know what sucks? There really isn’t much out there for PHOTOGRAPHERS!!

There are all kinds of small businesses out there and so much information on how to grow an email list for them, but there is hardly anything out there for us. I had to take the information I had, and alter it to fit for a photographer.

Why is an Email List so Important?

• The most obvious reason lately why an email list is so important, it has been very clear over the last couple of weeks that your social media account can be terminated. This is NOT a political article. But a fact. If you have your business on social media, and your account was suspended, it absolutely affects your ability to access your business accounts. I will repeat this until I am blue, but you can not rely on social media for business. Yes, absolutely you should be on there because that is where your clients and potential clients are. But you can not rely on it.

With an email list, you own your list. Your list of email addresses can not be taken away from you.

• Social media posts disappear after a certain period of time whereas email requires a physical action of deletion. Social media posts are a dime a dozen. You read it, you might interact with it, and then continue scrolling. It's jumbled up with tons of noisy comments, tons of ads on the right side of your newsfeed, notifications popping up left and right for game requests, or the drama on Suzy’s post from yesterday that you are so ready to just not hear about anymore. Not to mention the fact that if people are not interacting with your business page posts, they just don’t get seen.

Then... There is email.

Go to your inbox and open up an email. That’s it. JUST the content of that one email. No distractions. Just you and the sender. This is your chance to get the message across with NO distractions.

• Another reason to use email marketing is the connection you can build with your client. I have a list of opt-ins called my VIP List. These are people that have opted into my newsletter because my photography VIP list gets notified FIRST of anything going on. If I have a model call, a special on photo sessions, or a special in my print store. The VIP list gets FIRST dibs. When you get special treatment, it feels good right? You feel like a...Very Important Person. And that creates a connection.

Connections = Sales

• Not only will you start to build connections with your list, you will begin to find your tribe! You will find your ideal clients, and weed out the ones that aren’t a good fit for you. Of course we want to be able to book everyone. But not everyone is a good fit for us. We are always in search of the clients that will value what we have to offer. And not just offer in our business, but what we have to offer as a person. Our job as a photographer is not only to find clients, but to build a connection with them as well. Email marketing allows you to do that in a more personal way than social media ever can.

Click here for help with what to write in your newsletters!

No you should never use your regular yahoo or gmail account. You do need to have a platform to send out newsletters from. As your business grows, you are going to need to measure what works, and you will need to see what isn’t working so you can stop wasting your time on it. Mailerlite is the perfect option for this because it is free up to 1000 subscribers. Once you hit 1000 subscribers, you should be making a good income from your offers that you would be able to upgrade to the paid options. Which are very inexpensive. Only $10 per month until you hit 2,500 subscribers.

You Can make Money From Your Email Marketing

One thing I always tell beginner photographers is that it takes time to build your know like and trust factor. It takes a potential client approximately 7 times to be exposed to you and what you offer, before they start to really look into what you have to offer. Email marketing is a great way to establish that trust and authority. You don’t always have to send out newsletters saying “book me now! Book me now!”.

Show them you know what you are talking about by offering tips, and advice for photo sessions. As you are talking about these tips and advice, you can work in a strategy called affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is where you join an affiliate program, you share your specific link to that product or service, your viewer makes a purchase using that link, and you make a set commission from their purchase. You should never share a product or service that you have never tested out. In other words, never make recommendations for products or services that you yourself do not know, like, or trust.

As you are building your connections and trust, you are building your income as well.

If you enjoyed this article and are excited to learn more about email marketing as it becomes available from me, I would love for you to join my email list so you will be one of the first to know when these articles are released!