How one email blast made me $16k
and the three steps to newsletter success for pet photographers
Hint: It’s not really about the actual email!
Earlier this year I sent a very rough email to my old mailing list. It has about 2000 subscribers but none of them had heard from me in two years (since I moved to Italy)!
It was plain text email, and it said very casually something like, “I’ll be back in Australia for a few weeks and have just six shoots available. If you’re interested, check out this link. P.S. If you’re interested in knowing what I’ve been up to.. well.. I run The Pet Photographers Club and this is what that means”. (I name dropped our features in the New York Post and the Daily Mail etc, and overall made myself look like quite a big deal!).
The six spots filled immediately.
Five were repeat clients.
One, a name I didn’t recognise.
When I jumped on a call with this new client, I learned that she’d been on my mailing list since entering a Facebook giveaway many years ago. The offer back then was something like $50 to book the shoot and receive a bonus $200 in credit. This years offer, $1500 to book which included 20 files (or a print credit).
Clearly I was asking for a much bigger commitment from her this year, but despite having had access to a better value offer in the past, she decided now was the time.
That client spent $4990, my highest spender of the trip.
(By the way, you can watch that order appointment here: Fly on the Wall to a real client ordering appointment.)
She booked this time because of the sense of urgency, which is sometimes referred to as scarcity marketing.
This strategy works very well to get warm leads (clients that already know and trust you), to book now.
Bitsa Bernard was founded on this type of marketing. First with my fundraising calendar in 2012, then shortly after I travelled Australia creating a book (I even hung posters in shop windows to get bookings!), way before self-publishing was cool for us pet photographers! Of course back then I had no idea why it worked, and my average sale was certainly not $2775!
Back to this client though, the sense of urgency for her came from the combination of my limited time in town with limited spots available, and that her dog is getting older. The thing to remember though, is that she didn’t need to have the shoot with me, she could have called any of the pet photographers in Adelaide. So why me? Because she trusted me from the past Facebook interactions and emails (plus I’m a big deal! I name dropped the New York Post article remember!).
The other bookings were repeat clients who, just like this new client, booked in because it was a limited time opportunity and since they are past clients, they like and trust me. Again, it was that scarcity marketing working for me.
I invoiced over $16k in that trip back, and if I had more time for additional shoots, that number could have been even higher.
The marketing cost. $0. Just one simple email, and a landing page.
So, how can you successfully implement something like this?
Step 1.
Spend time on building brand awareness (remember that mailing list has 2000 subscribers) and trust.
These things fall into what we call “passive marketing”. It’s things like attending events with your ideal client, engaging in the local community, being active on Social Media etc and it’s all about getting known, and making sure that your audience chooses you when they-re ready to book!
Step 2.
Create/grow your mailing list.
You can do that with things like giveaways and a strong lead magnet on you website and store it in a simple excel file, or use something like Mailite, Mailchimp, Sendinblue etc. There’s no need to send a newsletter every week or anything. Once a quarter is fine! Or just when you have an irresistible offer (see step three) for those warm leads (thanks to step one).
Step 3.
Announce a reason to book now- your scarcity offer.
That might be a special price, a special session type/theme/location or a project for someone to get involved with like an exhibition, calendar or book.
(Get more marketing help here)
Now, if you’ve been reading this and you’re thinking “Geez, Kirstie. you lost me at “ideal client” or “lead magnet”- you might want to take look at our Business Foundations Challenge.
The next one starts on the 12th September and we cover things like:
Business set up (getting insurance, bank accounts etc)
Getting to know your ideal client
The client experience/workflow
Pricing
Getting known and earning trust
Booking clients
What to say and when (complete with phone call scripts and email templates)
and sales!
It’s for pet photographers either new to business (first 18 months), or not yet started.
If that’s you, you can find out more here: foundations.thepetphotographersclub.com
And if not, what are you waiting for? Go get to it! Your passive marketing strategy and then scarcity offer isn’t going to implement itself!
Author
Kirstie McConnell |
Founder
The Pet Photographers Club
When Kirstie launched her pet photography business in Australia in 2012, the genre was barely a thing. She spent the next years at the forefront of this niche, marketing not just her own business, but the concept of pet photography. Each year she photographed around 100 dogs, cats and horses per year to create wall art and albums for pet-parents.
Now based in Italy, she continues to offer pet photography to her clients back in Australia on return trips, but otherwise spends her energy helping other pet photographers build a business which will allow them to follow their dreams.
Internationally recognized as a leader in the industry, she hosts the podcast, workshops, courses and business events for The Pet Photographers Club which she co-founded.