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Angie Mandl is a Los Angeles-based photographer who specializes in Brand Narrative photography with an eye for telling stories through product and lifestyle visuals. An established photographer, she has had steady work with national clients such as Grown Brilliance and has been featured in Forbes magazine. However, relocating from the East Coast to LA created a need to establish herself in a new geographic region. She reached out to Wonderful Machine and signed up for our Marketing Partner service to help her research and network with both national and California-based companies and create a marketing strategy that would ensure a steady online presence.
As a Marketing Consultant at Wonderful Machine, I help freelance photographers like Angie develop outreach strategies, identify compatible companies, and build contact lists tailored to their goals. My experience as both a freelance photographer and a corporate advertising/marketing professional allowed me to create a personalized client list that aligned with Angie’s objectives.
Our Marketing Partner service is a long-term collaboration designed to help photographers develop and implement a strategy to grow their business. Using the most current industry data, analytics, and critical research, we match photographers with their ideal clients. We build contact lists, develop email campaigns, and help photographers nurture relationships with potential clients.
Angie and I began working together in February 2024, dedicating the first month to getting to know each other and building her marketing plan. From March through August, we launched targeted, monthly email campaigns to the list I created, intending to send regular email newsletter campaigns to her entire client list.
At the start of our partnership, we identified five client categories to target based on her past experience and interests: jewelry, skincare, yoga, wellness, and editorial. The goal was to help Angie connect with both local and national companies that matched her sustainable and ethical values.
With Angie’s main challenge being the need to establish herself in a new city, we focused on introducing her work to new clients. Each month, I researched companies within the industries we selected and sent them introductory emails with a sample of Angie’s work.
One process I’ve implemented with Angie is organizing her email marketing campaigns into separate sequences. For example, I created a campaign specifically for jewelry clients. When new jewelry contacts were found, I could quickly and efficiently add them to the email sequence to introduce Angie. Throughout this process, we focused on showing a diverse selection of work from Angie’s portfolio.
We met monthly to review our target categories and address any questions Angie had about her business. While I worked independently to build lists and draft emails, Angie created image postcards at her convenience, allowing her time to focus on her photography. I handled most of the administrative tasks, such as sending emails and reporting, to keep the project running smoothly.
Angie was very motivated and proactive. She regularly sent LinkedIn requests to follow up with new contacts and even sent her own email introductions to clients. Additionally, I encouraged Angie to set up test shoots as part of her marketing plan to execute ideas she had for brands she wanted to pursue. One of her clients, Wildbloom, even used images from a test shoot on their website and later inquired about a paid shoot!
While Angie hasn’t yet secured work directly from our email campaigns, she has used the presence to maintain relationships with her current clients and nurture contacts. She also started a successful monthly email newsletter that updates her list of her most recent work and has driven engagement with both replies to the email and click-throughs to her website. She’s consistently invested time and resources into her brand — adding new equipment, producing test shoots, and actively growing the client relationships we’ve built. She has laid the groundwork for future client relationships, particularly with companies aligned with her values. One promising outcome from the campaigns was a response from Athleta, who expressed interest in considering her for future projects.
We successfully launched all five of Angie’s marketing campaigns, helping her build a solid client list that she can nurture over time. Moreover, monthly check-ins provided Angie with the accountability she needed to stay on track, complete test shoots, and consistently reach out to potential clients.
Angie was happy with the results and has committed to sending monthly email newsletters to continue checking in with the contacts and developing those relationships.
Working with Emily has been the gift that keeps on giving. Not only has she helped elevate my brand, but her feedback and insights have consistently moved my work forward. Her knowledge and understanding of the industry have greatly impacted my business growth over the past year.
One of my top priorities as a marketing partner is to keep my photographers motivated and supported. Photography can be a solitary profession, so I make it a point to ensure the photographers feel like they have someone in their corner, rooting for their success.
See more tips from the experts @wonderful_at_work.
Further Reading
Case Studies: Marketing Partner
Expert Advice: Marketing Misconceptions
Expert Advice: Email Marketing Services