Email Marketing for Family Photographers: How to Stay Legally Legit

How to Make Your Email Marketing Legally Legit as a Family Photographer

Written by Paige Griffith, J.D. of The Legal Paige

Marketing is the lifeblood of a business, and email funnels are one of the most powerful ways family photographers can get the word out about their offerings and services. But do you know how to legally obtain and keep customer emails? What about how to honor unsubscribe requests? If you don’t know how to market legally through your email list, don’t worry. The Legal Paige has you covered! Here are three legal email marketing tips for your family photography business.

1. Email Lists and CAN-SPAM Act Compliance

Email funnels are a great way to gain new clients and get your services in front of them. However, when you are collecting data like emails from consumers, you want to make sure you are doing it the right way! The CAN-SPAM Act is the legal framework that governs commercial email messages in the United States. It requires businesses to include certain information in their marketing emails, such as a physical mailing address, whether an email is an ad, whether the information in the email is true, an opt-out mechanism, and whether businesses honor opt-out requests promptly. Failure to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act can result in significant fines per email, so it’s important that when you have an email list, you follow these rules.

2. Opting In and Opting Out of Email Lists

One of the most important parts of complying with the CAN-SPAM email list requirements is ensuring that people in your email funnel have actually opted in to receive marketing emails. For instance, if you have a guide where you require someone to put in their email address to access it, and you want to use their email for a marketing funnel, first make sure they understand that they are agreeing to that when they put in their email. Pro tip here: put in a little disclaimer on your pop-up or opt-in form that says something like “By submitting your first name and email address into this form, you agree to receive marketing emails from [Your Business Name]. You may opt out at any time.”

Additionally, if someone wants to unsubscribe from your email list, make sure you honor that request. The three main things you need to remember for opt-outs are:

First, make the unsubscribe button clearly visible in every email. Second, ensure you have an email address or phone number listed for your business at the bottom of the email as an easy way to contact you to get off the email list or change an email address. And third, honor the opt-outs promptly. Once a consumer unsubscribes, that person should no longer receive emails from your business.

3. Email Collection Best Practices

It is important when you are growing your email list to collect emails in an ethical and legal way. Consumers must explicitly opt into your email list. This means that an Instagram DM with a consumer’s email is not enough. The same goes for someone who just emails you from your contact form. The only exception to this is if you have an express checkbox or “I agree” tab that the person clicks before officially submitting their inquiry to you on your contact page.

Also, don’t send out a slurry of emails all at once. This is ultra “spammy” and can be a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act if you send out too many emails at once. Usually, sticking with 1 to 3 emails a day is sufficient and passes muster under the law.

The best way to collect email addresses is through some type of lead capture software. This is usually done as an incentive for people to give you their email addresses in exchange for a special freebie, guide, or discount code that they can use for their own personal or business benefit. The best way to do this legally is to send them to a link where they can enter their email address and opt in (with the proper legal disclaimer), just as we discussed above.

If you need a recommendation for a great email marketing platform, I use Flodesk, and you can get a sweet discount code here

Ready to Level Up Your Email Marketing?

Now that you have the fundamental knowledge for ensuring you are gathering emails in a legal way, you can build on this foundation by creating an email marketing system that works for your family photography business week after week. If you want more guidance on building out your marketing workflows (including email), check out The Family Photographer’s Marketing Society for marketing guidance.

And for more resources on running and growing a sustainable family photography business, visit my business resources page.

Meet Your Favorite Marketing Strategist and Business Coach for Family Photographers (Dolly DeLong Education)

Hi, I’m Dolly DeLong, a Nashville-based family photographer, marketing strategist, and systems educator for family photographers who want structure, clarity, and consistency in their marketing.

My photography journey began in 2006, and over the years, I built a sustainable family photography business while navigating motherhood, client work, and the realities of running a solo creative business. Along the way, I discovered something unexpected: I loved the backend just as much as the creative side.

What started as organizing my own workflows turned into helping other family photographers simplify their marketing, build repeatable systems, and stop relying on last-minute posting or panic marketing.

Today, I focus exclusively on helping family photographers intentionally market their businesses (not with trends but with consistently showing up).

I offer two ways to work with me:

• The Family Photographer’s Marketing Society: a systems-first membership that provides a clear weekly marketing cadence for Instagram and email, so you always know what to focus on without starting over.

• 1:1 Strategic Marketing Support for established family photographers who want hands-on guidance in building a sustainable, SEO-supported marketing system.

Through my blog, podcast, and YouTube channel, I teach family photographers how to think like marketers, plan ahead, and create marketing rhythms that support both their business and their family life.

I still photograph families around Nashville because it’s one of my greatest joys. But helping family photographers build calm, consistent marketing systems that actually fit real life is a close second.

I’m so glad you are here, reading this blog, listening to the podcast, or watching the embedded YouTube video. I hope this educational content was helpful. Please let me know what future systems content you would like me to create!