Welcome to minis Made Easy, the podcast that's all about making your mini sessions simple, profitable and stress free. I'm Rebecca Rice, and I've helped 1000s of family photographers, just like you, build thriving businesses through mini sessions. Somewhere along the way, my students started calling me the queen of minis, and I'll gladly own it, because I love showing photographers how to maximize their time and profits while working smarter, not harder. Whether you're brand new to the world of minis or you've been running them for years and are ready to level up if you're in the right place, from pricing and marketing to posing and workflows, this is your one stop shop for everything minis. So grab your favorite drink, get cozy, and let's dive in. You're just one episode away from transforming your business. You
music. Hello friends. Welcome back to another episode of the minis Made Easy podcast. In today's episode, we're talking all about the power of using an email list to book out your mini sessions. This is going to be a great episode. It's something that I'm really, really passionate about, and it's so fun because I hear Student Success Stories revolving around their email list probably most often, like it's one of the things that students talk about in their wins, and I think it's because it's the most surprising to them. They are always surprised with how well email marketing does for helping them book out their minis. And then they get really excited, and they share that with me. And so, of course, I love hearing student wins, and I always kind of laugh when they are so surprised. They're like, I tried it. I tried the email thing. And it's amazing, because I can send out one email and make $1,000 that day. I'm like, Yeah, imagine that. And so today we're gonna talk all about how to utilize an email list for booking out your minis. Now, if you're listening and you do not have an email list yet, hang tight with us. Because, number one, I would say it's time to start your email list immediately today. Don't waste time start your email list today, because it's only gonna grow from here, but also, don't get like, too overwhelmed. The things that I'm going to suggest are going to be like, starting points for you to be able to, first of all, how to grow your email list, what to send. I know it can be really overwhelming, and you're like, I don't want to be annoying to people, but I'm telling you, the power of email marketing is just it is the highest converting avenue for marketing, way, way above social media. I'm telling you, it can be so powerful. Now if you are looking for an email marketing platform, we're going to get into all the good things, of like, why I love email marketing, what to send, how to grow your email list, things like that. But if you don't have an email marketing platform that you love, I'm telling you my all time favorite is flow desk. I like to call flow desk the Canva of email marketing platforms, because it is so easy and beautiful to use. They have amazing templates, drag and drop features. They've got everything you need to start and grow your email list to be able to send out newsletters, create freebie opt ins, like literally anything that you could possibly need for your email marketing. Flow. Desk has it, and they do such an amazing job. They're always adding new features. It is just, I love, love, love, flow desk as a company as a whole. And so I have linked in the show notes, a link if you want to check them out for free. They are just amazing. I'm telling you, I like could sing flow desks praises all day, every day, but I'll stop talking about flow desk, and we can get into why email marketing is a gold mine for mini sessions. Okay, so the very first thing you need to know is your email list is the place where you're gonna find your warmest leads are people that like you, they know you and they trust you, and they are just waiting for an opportunity to book with you. So by utilizing an email list that is the fastest and the easiest way to book your warmest leads, because you're guaranteed to drop into their inbox every single time you send an email. Now with social media, we cannot say the same, because when you post on your Instagram stories, I mean, you go look at your analytics, and you tell me, is that the most effective way to reach your misleads because of the algorithms, only about 4% of your followers actually see what you post, on your stories, on your feeds, all the things, it is very, very low, and there's nothing we can do about that, because we don't control the algorithms. And so that's one reason. I love email marketing is that you don't have to fight against algorithms. You are guaranteed to drop into your email list inbox every single time you hit send. And so it is for that reason, email marketing has a higher conversion rate than social media. You're able to land in their inbox every single time and convert those warm leads by giving them opportunities to book. Another thing that is really powerful about email marketing is that you're able to kind of build a personalized connection with your email list. It's almost like your own little community that you're able to you know, you can send out more personal stories, or kind of dive deeper or whatever. There's so many ways that you can utilize your email list and your newsletter, and those people have agreed to give their email to you and for you to drop in their inbox. And so they want to hear from you. They do like you, they do know you, and they do trust you, and because of that, they want to hear from you. And so when you send those booking emails, you are way more likely to get bookings through your email list than from any other platform. So if you're like, Okay, Rebecca, I get it. I see the power behind the email list. What do I even send to them? Okay, great question. So first off, you can start looking at some kind of consistent content. Now I'm not saying you have to email your list weekly. I think for family photographers, weekly emails is just overkill. There's no reason that they need to hear from you every single week, but I would look at like a monthly email newsletter, and in this newsletter, you can include, like, kind of a roundup of what's been going on in your business. You can give them a look of, like, what's coming up. If you have, like, you're going to be opening bookings for spring minis soon, or you're looking at different locations, or, you know, whatever it is, you can update them in this newsletter, you can give them, just like personal life update of the girl behind the camera or man behind the camera, give them a little insight into what's going on in your life. And you can use this also as an opportunity to educate your clients. Maybe you're giving helpful tips, or, you know, you're explaining parts of your client experience. There's so many different things that you can do in your newsletter, but I think sending one email every month is plenty for growing that like know and trust, for staying top of mind, because even if they don't open your email, they are seeing your email hit their inbox, and you are staying top of mind as their photographer, so that when it comes time for photos. You're the one that they're thinking of. Now, when it's mini season and it's time to start getting bookings, there's a handful of emails that I highly suggest sending. The first would be like a teaser email, and this is letting them know that minis are going to be opening soon, let them know that they need to watch their inbox that as VIPs, because I like to call my email list, my VIP email list, because everybody loves to be a VIP. And as a VIP, they get early access to your mini sessions, and so send this teaser email a little bit a few days a week before you officially launch your minis, so that they can be keeping a lookout, so they can be building excitement, like there's so many great things that come with it. Then we have our now booking email. This is our launch day. You're ready to launch your mini sessions. You're gonna send them an email letting them know that they have first dibs on all of their spots before you open up to the public, build excitement there. Just show the kind of exclusivity of them being a VIP and the perks behind it that's going to be in your now booking email. And then there's two more emails that I want you to send that I think that people often neglect and you're missing out on so much opportunity by only sending the now booking email and then not sending anything else. And I think the reason that photographers do that is that we kind of freak out of like, well, I don't want to be annoying. I don't want to, you know, just overwhelm their inbox or be like, spammy, so I'm just gonna send the now booking email. But I would ask you, what are the odds that maybe they they missed that email? Maybe they saw it but didn't open it, or didn't realize what it was? So there's two other emails that I want you to send to keep you top of mind and to catch the stragglers that maybe missed that first email. Okay, so the first is an email letting them know that spots are going fast. This is like the update email. And so we're letting them know, you know, half my spots are gone, or however many spots are gone. Spots are going so fast. If you want to book, you need to book now. And so it's giving them
urgency. It's showing that we are in demand. Okay? It's social proof. Show. Knowing that people are actually booking your spots. So you're gonna do the update email, and that's gonna be like, two to three days after you do your now booking email, and then you're gonna do like, a final push email, and this is right before you open up to the public. You're gonna send one last email of like, last chance to book before I open to the public. It's really pushing that urgency and getting in front of people that maybe they missed you're now booking email. Maybe they missed your update, but they would pay attention to a last call email where your subject line has, you know, that red alert emoji or whatever, that they're like, oh, wait, what did I miss? And so those are the four emails that I would say makes a huge difference in getting those bookings that you don't want to just send the now booking and leave it at that you're missing so much opportunity in the rest of the campaign that you could be sending Now, if you're like, Okay, Rebecca, how do I get people onto my email list so that I have people to send stuff to. Great question. The very first place that I would start is with past clients. Okay, so any of your past clients, you cannot just add their emails to flow desk or whatever email marketing platform you're using that is against law. They have to implicitly opt in to your email marketing platform. Now what you can do is you can reach out to all of them individually, and you can say you can invite them to join your email list. You know, you can let them know. Hey, I'm reaching out to all my past clients. I'm starting something brand new. It's my VIP List. Would you like to be part of my VIP List and talk about the perks of being a VIP. They get early access to all mini sessions. They get, you know, exclusive behind the scenes. Look at what's coming up, things like that. And if you explain what a VIP is, nine times out of 10, they're gonna say, Yes, of course, I'm into your list. And so then you can add them into flow desk. Another thing that you can do is when you're shooting sessions, at the end of your session, you can ask them if they would like to be added to your VIP email list. You can also do this when you're booking the session. You can have it be a spot in their contract where they do a little check box or whatnot. Or you can ask them straight up as their booking of like, great. Your bookings gone through. One last thing, would you like to be added to my VIP email list and then explain the perks? And, like I said, nine times out of 10 they're gonna say yes. That is past and current clients. Another thing that you can do is you can use social media to grow your email list so you can post on your stories and kind of do, like a teaser of, I have spring minis coming up. They're going to open to my VIPs soon. Are you a VIP would you like to join the VIP list? Drop your email here, and you can put, like the little question box in your stories, where they can type their email, and that is permission for you to add them to your email list. So you can do that. And then another thing that you can do is you can offer a freebie, and you can talk about it on your social media or in Facebook groups or whatever. And maybe it's like my top five tips for stress free family photos or a freebie about how to choose outfits for spring minis or whatever. There's so many different things that you can do, but basically it is a downloadable PDF, and you can set it up. Flow desk has just such a seamless process to be able to do this, where you have an opt in form that basically that's where they put in their first name and their email address, and then when they hit submit, they then get sent the PDF download. And so that's a really great way to grow your email list from people who you get to, just like, serve them well, and then, you know, give them that tips for stress free family photos. And then they are now on your email list, and you can nurture them through that monthly email build like no trust. And then when it's time to book, they're on your list and they get early access. So those are a few ways. One more, like, bonus way that you can grow your email list. It's one of my favorites, is you can run a giveaway. And this is not your typical giveaway, like on social media, where it's like, like my post, follow and tag three friends to enter. That's not what I'm talking about, because at the end of the day, that does nothing towards your business. It's very much like vanity metrics, and that doesn't help you at all. And so what I would suggest is run this giveaway, but tell people to enter the giveaway, they have to fill out your opt in form, so they put in their name and their email, and that adds them to your email list. And then you can announce the winner via email. So it gets them used to opening up your emails. If your emails hit spam, it makes them move it to their primary folder, things like that. That is a really great way to grow your email list. And in the giveaway, you could give a. A mini session spot, for example, that is a really effective way to do it. And some people are like, well, then you just get people that want free sessions, not necessarily. Some of my most loyal mini session clients who book year after year after year came from a giveaway that I did in my early years. And so I'm telling you, it can be a great way to grow your email list really fast with really great potential clients. And so that's, you know, growing your email list. Now, some action steps that I want you to take. Number one, if you do not have an email list yet, start building one today. Okay, go grab my flow Desk link, create a free account. Go try it out and start building that email list. Once you have your email list, I want you to do one thing you know, this week or next week, to grow your email list. Whether you are doing a freebie or you're posting to your stories with your little question box, or you're doing a giveaway. Do one thing, to grow your email list. Okay, I'm telling you, it is the fastest and the easiest way to book clients. And it really is as easy once you start building up your email list, you can get to the point where you send your now booking email and you book, you know, 1015, spots, just like that, so easily, and it requires almost nothing from you at that point. And so that is a great place to be, but you don't get there overnight. You have to start your email list and then commit to do one thing to grow it. And I'm telling you, it can just be so amazing for your mini sessions. So hopefully this was helpful for you. I want you to take this and implement it. Don't just listen to it and then do nothing with it. Implement it. And I'm telling you it's gonna make such a huge difference in your business. I can't wait to hear about it. If you have any questions for me about email marketing or about flow desk or whatever, shoot me a DM on Instagram at Rebecca Rice photography, and I would love to help you out. So yeah, with that, we'll go ahead and end and I'll see you next week with another episode. Bye, guys,
