This summer, our Germany-based sports/lifestyle photographer Christian Brecheis emailed our producer Craig Oppenheimer to discuss his new work. He was also interested in obtaining new clients outside of the snowboarding realm. While Christian’s winter sports portfolio is very strong, he’s now also developing lifestyle work that can be applied to a wider client range, and he wanted this new work to get in the hands of the right people.
Being a foreign photographer wanting more US-based clients, Craig and Christian discussed the need to market to a wide range of creatives. This would hopefully increase the chances of connecting with agencies/magazines that shoot internationally or have travel budgets. In the past, Christian had been using a newsletter type e-promo that highlighted recent projects and linked back to his website. The promos lacked elements of his brand, had small images, were overly wordy, and went out to only a small list of contacts. So Craig’s first recommendation was for Christian to sign up with the list service Agency Access/ADBASE, which would give him access to the contact information of appropriate prospects, help target his lists, and supply him with a platform to fulfill email blasts.
Old Promo:
Around the same time, we also advised Christian to work with our director of photography, Sean Stone, and designer, Peter Clark, to develop a promo that would integrate his work into a cohesive, nicely designed emailer. Sean took charge of the image selection. After a few conversations, Sean and Christian decided to come up with several themed image groupings. Their selections would then be used to divide Christian’s work, allowing the promos to work with both his newer lifestyle projects as well as the sports work Christian had always been shooting. They came up with six themes that would carry Christian throughout the year, aiming to present the work in coordination with potential clients’ schedules (for example, sending out a winter sports promo in the Fall, when many clients are putting together winter themed shoots). So now, instead of a wordy monthly newsletter, Christian’s emailers would act more like spotlights on his latest work.
For the design, Christian expressed that his main concern was being able to put larger images into the new promo since they had been quite small in the newsletter. Peter was more than happy to oblige, agreeing the images would look better larger. He also filled Christian in on limitations and web standards for creating email promos and how to make the most of them. Peter also went about integrating Christian’s existing brand elements from his website and print promotions to create a more cohesive overall look to the emails.
Once the promo design was nearing completion, Craig worked with Christian to develop a list in ADBASE of around 1,000 prospects at agencies and design firms who hire photographers specializing in the outdoor apparel, travel, tourism, and sporting. Christian’s spotlight promo was then delivered to this list.
The promo has been successful so far, getting a large number of opens and click throughs. Now Christian is currently following our marketing plan by creating another promo—this time introducing more of his lifestyle work—that will be sent out in 6-8 weeks. As he continues to test shoot his new creative vision for lifestyle work, we will be assisting him with his future promo design and list building to make sure they’re seen by the right people.
Need help creating a new email campaign? Send us an email.