Email marketing might, at first glance, seem like a small part of the general marketing efforts for photography business owners, yet it is vital and highly influential in gaining more attention to your brand and what you have to offer.
Of course, we have a large variety of options to choose from when it comes to selecting a platform to manage our email marketing efforts.
We’re hoping this article can provide valuable insight into the best options for this on the market. We did the research so you don’t have to!
How valuable is email marketing?
Email marketing is something you don’t want to mess up as a business owner. Most people’s inboxes are flooded with nonsense and information that fails to be read by the majority of their owners.
That doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time though – especially if you do it well!
In fact, email marketing is a great opportunity for you to stand out against the stereotypical emails and build better relationships the people who read them!
Great email marketing will allow you too…
- Connect with your audience consistently
- Add valuable insights, nurturing your audience to resonate with your brand more
- Nurture people who aren’t clients (yet) into someone who would want to buy from you
- Sell products and services to current clients and past clients to increase your total spend per-client
- Increase sales and bring in the money you need to live the life of your dreams!
Having the right tool for the job is essential for making this all happen!
Email Marketing Platforms vs. Other Email Platforms
So, here’s the thing – you will want to use a dedicated email marketing platform if you are looking to create actual marketing campaigns and newsletters that can be sent in bulk to users on your email subscriber list, and typically in a format that is more visually pleasing and branded than “other” options out there.
If true email marketing is not a big part of your business, it’s something to certainly consider, but to simply send emails you can work just fine in your regular email program or a CRM software. This would include some “light” campaigns as you might do to just follow up with open inquiries.
Our suggested use for “real” email marketing tools will be to send out periodic newsletter (like on a monthly basis), as well different types of campaigns to provide education, as well as special offers and opportunities to connect with you to buy things like additional services, wall art and prints, albums, and more.
We just wanted to make this clear before diving into our email marketing platform suggestions!
Let’s get started on that now!
So, let’s dive into our recommended email marketing platforms for photographers!
The Best Email Marketing Platforms for Photographers
Flodesk:
- Key Features: Drag and drop email builder, automation workflows, customization, analytics and reporting, integration with other software photographers are using, email templates for design, solid community and support
Flodesk is a top choice for email marketing, particularly for creatives and small business owners like photographers, due to its ease of use and focus on aesthetics.
The platform offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop email builder with beautifully designed templates that can be customized without any coding knowledge. This design-centric approach helps users create professional-looking emails that align with their brand’s aesthetic effortlessly.
Flodesk’s automation features allow users to set up workflows for consistent communication, such as welcome sequences and lead nurturing emails. The visual workflow builder simplifies the automation setup, making it accessible even for beginners. Extensive customization and personalization options enable users to tailor their emails to their audience, enhancing engagement and building stronger subscriber relationships.
The platform includes essential analytics and reporting tools to track campaign performance, offering insights into open rates, click-through rates, and subscriber growth.
Unique to Flodesk, they use a flat-rate pricing model that is simple to understand, and allows for list growth without increasing costs.
They also provides strong community support and resources such as tutorials and webinars, aiding users in maximizing the platform’s potential. Overall, their blend of ease of use, design focus, powerful automation, and transparent pricing makes it an excellent choice for enhancing email marketing efforts.
Mailchimp:
- Key Features: Easy-to-use drag-and-drop email builder, customizable templates, audience segmentation, A/B testing, marketing automation, analytics.
Mailchimp is a leading email marketing provider, and is one of the more commonly known brands.
In fact, if you think about “email marketing”, this is probably one of the first companies that come to mind!
In our experience, they offer a lot when it comes to bulk emailing, including automations, integrations with a lot of different software, and a high level of customizability for creating templates. Additionally, they have great resources for A/B testing, a method used in marketing to figure out what does and doesn’t work.
Mailchimp’s pricing can be a bit of a challenge for some, so it depends on the size of your audience and what your goals ultimately are. They’re very well-rounded and offer a ton of resources!
Constant Contact:
- Key Features: Email templates, list segmentation, marketing automation, tracking and reporting, social media integration, e-commerce tools.
Constant Contact is another great option for your emailing campaigns. They offer a simple, easy-to-use platform for all your email marketing needs.
If you’re new to email marketing, this might be one of the better options as they cater more towards beginners.
They offer phone support, too, making the process all the smoother if you need an extra level of assistance.
They provide the automation, integration, and additional marketing tools that you would want in a platform as well. Constant Contact utilizes a drag-and-drop method to email template building that turns the experience into a relatively fast and easy journey that can be kind of fun!
ConvertKit:
- Key Features: Email automation, customizable landing pages, subscriber tagging, visual automation builder, integrations with popular tools.
ConvertKit doesn’t offer as many gadgets as something like Constant Contact, however, their value is in their accessibility. They also offer a free version, not just a free trial.
So, depending on your email marketing needs, this may be a good choice for you.
Sometimes, it’s not about getting the tool that has the most tricks and gadgets, but rather getting the tool that fits best for YOU!
This goes beyond email marketing platforms, too.
Don’t think that a product isn’t as good if it doesn’t offer as many features as another. Sometimes simplicity is where it’s at.
ConvertKit offers some advanced automation features, which paired with a simplicity in their features elsewhere, ends up providing a very smooth and easy experience for small businesses looking to add email marketing to their strategy.
AWeber:
- Key Features: Email templates, drag-and-drop editor, autoresponder follow-ups, subscriber segmentation, analytics, integrations.
AWeber is known for its versatility, being used by business owners across a variety of fields and industries. They offer great analytics and integrations. Automation does a lot of the “heavy lifting”, to quote their own website. If something with a lot of versatility and capabilities, which can be overwhelming for some, interests you, then you should check it out.
Their free version withholds a lot of the bells and whistles, however, it’s still a decent resource and totally usable for a lot of small businesses.
GetResponse:
- Key Features: Email marketing, marketing automation, landing pages, webinars, e-commerce tools, segmentation, analytics.
GetResponse is affordable but also does a good job when it comes to providing a platform for your email marketing plans. Its email builder is a single page and it provides customizable templates with a drag-and-drop function. They’re highly accessible with their basic format and approach to email marketing automation and integration. GetResponse’s primary mission is to create a platform that is both easy to use and affordable. This would be a good choice if you are looking for something less complex and if your email marketing strategies are more on the backburner compared to other marketing channels.
MailerLite
Active Campaign
Brevo
Conclusion
As we discuss in our course Marketing for Photographers, email marketing, along with the many other areas, is an essential component to developing good marketing systems for your brand and business.
Upfront, choosing an email marketing platform can be a bit stressful. When you do find a good fit for your business, the process becomes more streamlined and automated, lessening the required time on your end to market via email.
Ultimately, we care about not just making you successful and profitable, but also reducing your own time and energy required in the day-to-day operations. This would free you up in order to devote more time to what you care most about!
If you have any further questions about choosing a email marketing platform (or related subject) feel free to join our Facebook group!
Chris is a SEO professional with a passion for helping photography businesses succeed online. With years of experience in the industry, he has a proven track record of increasing website traffic, improving search rankings, and driving revenue growth for his clients.
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