Why Your Email List Is Failing You (And How to Fix It)

with Laura Esmond 

About This Episode

If you have an email list that feels like it is just sitting there — people opted in, you send something occasionally, and then nothing really happens — this episode is going to reframe the whole thing for you.

Laura Esmond is a portrait photographer with 26 years of experience and the founder of Get Rooted group coaching. In this follow-up to her guest episode on The Motherhood Anthology podcast, Laura gets into something she dropped into the TMA Facebook group that sparked a lot of questions: how she built her email list to over 4,000 people with open rates above 50%, click rates above 30%, and consistent bookings directly from email — and why almost none of it came from a lead magnet or a paid ad.

The answer is community marketing. Not the kind that lives on Instagram. The kind that happens in actual rooms with actual people — dance studios, country clubs, women's networking events, real estate partnerships, library storytimes. Laura walks through five specific community approaches her studio used, why she never charged for the events themselves, and what the difference really is between a warm lead and a soft one. She also shares the one thing she always does before sending a single email to a potential partner — and why brownies have been part of her marketing strategy for years.

This is a longer conversation but every part of it is practical. Grab a notebook.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Why the size of your email list is not the point — and what actually determines whether it converts
• The difference between a warm lead and a soft lead, and why it changes everything about your open rates and bookings
• How Laura's studio used country club events to collect engaged emails from exactly the right families
• Why dance studios are one of the most underutilized marketing partnerships in portrait photography
• What a Headshot Happy Hour is and how it puts you in a room full of women who will refer you for years
• How a real estate agent partnership became one of Laura's most reliable long-term referral sources
• What Laura did with her studio space every week that kept a steady stream of new mothers walking through her door
• Why she never charged for community events — and exactly what she was charging for instead
• The brownies-before-email rule and why humans don't get ignored the way emails do
• How to take one concrete first step this week without overhauling your entire marketing strategy

Key Topics Covered

Warm Leads vs. Cold Leads

Not all email subscribers are the same. Someone who opted in for a freebie is a starting point — you still have to earn their attention. Someone who met you in person, watched you work, and handed you their email in a real conversation is already yours. Laura breaks down why that distinction is the entire reason her email list performs the way it does.

The Five Community Approaches

• Country club events — photographing member gatherings to collect engaged emails from young families
• Dance studio pop-ups — hosted as client appreciation for the studio, not as a revenue event for Laura
• Headshot Happy Hours — quick professional headshots at women's networking events as a community value-add
• Real estate agent partnership — showing up, supporting, and building a long-term referral relationship
• Studio events — monthly Storytime with the local library and weekly lactation classes for new mothers

The Brownies Rule

Before you ever send an email to a potential partner, stop in. Bring something for the staff. Ask to speak with the owner or the person in charge of client happiness. The pitch is simple: let me help you show your clients how much you appreciate them. Emails get ignored. Humans don't.

Links & Resources

Get Rooted Group Coaching

For portrait photographers ready to build a client process that earns — ordering meetings, product pricing, and the full system: lauraesmond.com/getrooted

Mentioned in This Episode

10 Tips To Be Seen — lauraesmond.com/beseen

Follow Laura

Instagram: @reeseandcoportraits

Website: lauraesmond.com

Loved This Episode?

Leave a review! Share it with a photographer friend who has an email list that isn't doing what it should — this one will reframe the whole conversation for them.

And come say hi to Laura on Instagram at @reeseandcoportraits — she actually reads her DMs.

Keywords: email list for photographers, community marketing, portrait photography business, in-person marketing, photography studio marketing, warm leads, motherhood photographer, email open rates, Get Rooted, Laura Esmond, The Motherhood Anthology