Newsletters
Newsletters drop into my inbox far too frequently. Many go unread, but there are few which I always read – either right away, or I store in a safe place for reading later. The word on the marketing street for the last few years has been content, content and more content. This is a catch-all term for the marketing collateral. The focus on producing the right content has been good at missing the real point which is all about engaging your customers to encourage them to spend their money.
Great images sell products and luckily this is your sweet spot as a photography guru. Where should you put this great imagery though? Your website is an obvious place. Along with your social media platforms too of course, including linking it to your blog if you have one. But have you thought about newsletters? Do you even have a newsletter?
Great images sell products and luckily this is your sweet spot as a photography guru.
Newsletters have made a comeback in the last few years. They’re a solid marketing tool which consumers and subscribers have control over, both in terms of frequency and makeup. They are cheap to produce and send out, MailChimp is a good platform to use, and can be easily linked into our website. theimagefile jumped on this bandwagon some time ago and you can sign up for our ‘Updates and Offers’ newsletter by clicking here. The key here is control. Consumers want as much of it as possible in such a fragmented shopping landscape.
- Curated goodness. Newsletters give you a great opportunity to put your best foot forward on a regular basis. The content does not have to be about your work or you pushing sales, although this would be helpful of course! Your personality and offering insight into areas of photography and style can place you as a source of knowledge. This develops trust which is the holy grail for sales.
- Capturing data. Social media is great. It’s a free tool, but regularly unresponsive in relation to the number of people supposedly following your activity. Brands resort to paid campaigns to capture more attention. People have to sign up with an email to your newsletter and tracking what they click on your newsletter. Taking them to certain parts of your website gives you an insight into what they are interested in. This activity can inform what goes into the next newsletter or how you post on social media.
- News. It is an obvious thing but you are passing on your news and linking into other events and businesses via your newsletter. This shows your ecosystem to your network, confirming their thoughts and showing you are on their wavelength. Developing that trust.
- Agile and responsive. You may do a weekly or monthly newsletter, and people can choose that frequency, but that does not stop you sending out ad hoc ones to take advantage of a new saving you can pass on to your customers or a news event that people can take advantage of through ordering their own style of selfie or whatever is fashionable. Of course, you may be proud to show off some recent work you have just completed.
The important thing to remember is not to abuse the medium by writing too much or sending too often. Quality over quantity. People like the reliability of knowing when they will receive it. Two companies in the outdoor market benefit greatly from always sending their weekly newsletter on the weekend when people are thinking of when to go out, where and what to listen to when they are doing it.
