Whether you’re just starting out or you’re taking your business to the next level, connecting with potential new clients is crucial. Having a strategic approach to your email marketing will help make sure that your efforts pay off with new bookings from those dream interior photography clients. Gone are the days of sending off one nervous email in hopes of that person replying with a shoot request. Instead, get strategic!
Nobody wants to work hard at something for no results. And this is especially true for all your marketing efforts. To give yourself a better chance of seeing results in the form of new clients, it's a good idea to get organized in your outreach! These days, that outreach look a lot less like networking events and a lot more like email campaigns. Email outreach has remained a top marketing avenue for years and is a perfect fit for our current pandemic-restriction days. Plus, if you’re an introvert, it’s a great way of reaching out without having to network or make cold calls.
Even though our ways to market may be limited right now, one thing that hasn't changed is the need to create a connection with the right people. Emphasis on “right people”. If you’re reaching the right people, you have a better shot at finding those dream clients that will make all your marketing efforts worthwhile!
To help make sure that your email marketing campaigns are fruitful, let’s go over some tips to make it all more organized and intentional.
Do your research.
Yes, it’s a numbers game. The more people you reach out to, the better your chances of finding those dream clients. But rather than waste time emailing designers who are clearly not a good fit, why not start by finding all those clients that have better potential to be a great fit? This starts with research.
It can be a Google search, an Instagram search, or some time going through member directories for interior design organizations. Whichever method you choose should include a glimpse at their website, their social media feeds, and a solid grasp of their style of work. If all those pieces feel like a good fit for you, then make note of their contact info!
Organize your info.
Now that you’ve found some designers who seem like a good fit for you, it’s time to gather information. I like to create a spreadsheet to organize all my information. Keep it simple, but be sure to include:
- Business name
- Contact name and their position
- Email address
- Website
- A blank space for a “Yes” or “No” so you can note if they replied to you
- A “Notes” box where you can add any unique comment for them. This could be a unique project name, something you have in common with them, or anything you want to mention or keep in mind when personalizing their email.
Look for common ground.
Even though you’re reaching out via email, your ultimate goal is to create that connection with this potential client. It can really help to have some common ground that instantly connects you to each other. Maybe you share an alma mater, or you have the same hometown, same favorite sports team, or maybe you actually have a friend in common. Some of these common ground items can be found pretty easily by reading the About pages on websites or even by checking out their Instagram accounts! (don’t forget to peek at their stories - that’s where more personal info tends to get mentioned).
Once you have something that connects you to that designer, it’s time to add it into your spreadsheet in the “Notes” section! Ths way you have a reminder of what to mention when you personalize their email.
Use templates and scheduling.
There’s no point in writing a fresh email for each person if most of what you’re saying is the same. Create a template or use your first email as a base and copy/paste into a new one so that you just have to customize the email for your next recipient! This is definitely one of those times when you want to make sure to triple check everything you’ve typed to make sure that the message has really been customized for that designer. After all, nobody likes to see the proof that they’ve received a bulk email!
To help make this task all more doable with our hectic schedules, you can also schedule your emails to go out at specific times. Most email services will allow you to schedule a message for a future send. I personally like to write all my email for the month in one sitting, and schedule them to go out one or two per day. This helps to keep the replies coming back at a steady pace and guarantees that they will never overwhelm me when I’m handling other tasks. Scheduling the emails also means that you can sit down at 1am to write emails, but the designer won’t see that you’re a crazy person sending emails at 1am!
Keep it short and friendly.
We’re all busy, so keep that in mind for your potential clients, too! Introduce yourself, compliment their work, mention any common ground you may have with them, and then let them know that you’d love to work with them on a future project. Provide all your links for them so they can check out your work, and then thank them for their time. This is not the moment to go into your rates, your process, or your policies. Consider it an email with the sole goal of getting on their radar! Once they know who you are, it’s about making sure that you keep popping up o their radar from time to time. Ultimately, they’ll have you in mind for when they do need to hire a photographer!
Track your emails.
It’s hard to be strategic without tracking your work. You can track your emails manually by just marking in your spreadsheet whether you received a reply or not, but you can also use an email service like Mailchimp to send and track your emails. The advantages of using a mailing service are that you can get extra insights like open rates, you can see exactly when and how many times the email was opened, and you can see if they clicked on anything in your email.
Knowing all of this information can also help you decide how and when to follow-up. If you have a designer who opened your email a few times, clicked once or twice, but hasn’t replied, then you can be pretty confident that they’re at least interested. It’s a good reason to follow up with them and see if they click your links again out of continued interest!
Follow up.
If you don’t hear back, it’s still a good idea to follow up with these designers. They may be interested but not have an urgent need for photos. They may have liked your work, but had a crazy busy day and forgot to reply to you. Some will have no intention of replying, but it’s good practice to follow up with them at least once to make sure.
When you follow up, you can let them know that you want to make sure they received your first email. Mention that your links are always there for them if they want to revisit your work (and share your links once more), and let them know that you’re always available if they have any questions or would like to learn more about your rates and scheduling.
My personal rule is to follow up just once and then back off unless the designer replies, but it doesn’t hurt to check in with an email every few months! Interior design projects can be quite long, so by the time that the designer needs to hire a photographer they may have forgotten about you.
Don’t forget social.
One way to stay on a designer’s radar for future work together is by being in their sightline often. This means you want to pop into their inbox from time to time, show up on their Instagram feed pretty regularly, and show up in their DMs by replying to their IG stories. This all helps create familiarity and keeps you on their radar for much longer. In other words, it makes you memorable! As with everything else, be sure to make all your interactions genuine. Don’t add generic comments on their posts just to add something - make sure that what you’re saying is truly what you feel or think.
Don’t give up!
Working with interior designers can be a much longer game than you expect. Especially if you’re coming from a world of family portraits or real estate photography, it can feel like things move so slow! Consider, though, that an interior design project can take many months from design to install. Plus, if the designer you’re targeting is part of a small office, their project load is probably not very big. All this translates to fewer photo shoots per year. Be patient, stay on their radar, and keep on reaching out!
Conclusion
Email marketing can work incredibly well for growing your client list, but it does take time and effort to make it worthwhile. Rather than randomly emailing one or two designers and then dropping the efforts, make a decision to be intentional with your email marketing to interior designers! Once you get into the rhythm and have your spreadsheet and template ready to go, it’ll feel like a breeze to keep on reaching out to potential clients. Pretty soon, you’ll have a roster full of dream clients that are happy to work with you!
xo,
Natalia