At a local event, I sat through a talk by a self-proclaimed street photographer. But instead of focusing on gritty urban landscapes, he zeroed in on the people walking through them – capturing moments that felt personal, intentional, and oddly familiar.

Why am I telling you this story? How does it relate to email marketing? You'll find out in a second. 

When someone asked him how he chose what to photograph, his answer unexpectedly hit home – not as a creative philosophy, but as a killer strategy for email marketing.

Here’s the gist: he didn’t photograph what he found interesting. He focused on what would sell. What would connect. What would land with the right audience.

Sounds familiar?

Over-optimised for no one

The photographer went on to quote someone who claimed, “SEO is dead.” That line alone made the room shift. But the meaning ran deeper: his issue wasn’t with SEO itself, but with the way photographers – and marketers – start following generic advice to the letter.

You’ve seen it. The over-optimised subject lines. The “proven” email structures repeated to death. The subject lines that technically follow best practices, but feel like they were spat out of a machine.

That kind of formulaic thinking creates content that pleases algorithms, not people. And in email marketing, people are the only thing that matters.

Forget the masses – target your people

The key takeaway from the talk was simple: 100% of your efforts should go towards your potential audience. Not everyone. Not the loudest segment. Not what another brand is doing. Your people.

In email, that means resisting the urge to design a newsletter or pick a template just because you like it. That slick dark mode design might make you smile, but will it work for your 55+ demographic?

Those emojis in the subject line might seem fun – but will your B2B audience click or cringe?

We’re not here to please ourselves. We’re here to connect, convert, and deliver value. That means putting your subscribers’ needs and expectations first – always.

Past and current subscribers aren't enough

One of the more radical points the photographer made was that he paid no attention to his past clients – and gave little thought to current ones. They were, in his words, “already nailed.”

Now, while we wouldn’t go quite that far in email, there’s something to it.

We often get caught up in over-serving existing subscribers and forget to create with our ideal future subscribers in mind. Who are you trying to attract? Who do you want to add to your list next month? How are you shaping your messaging to resonate with them?

That’s the edge email marketers need.

Guerilla marketing for the inbox

The photographer described his approach as a kind of “guerrilla marketing” – a term that’s too cool not to borrow. His point? Everything he created had to convince someone. It had to be intentional, agile, and emotionally precise.

That’s exactly how we should treat our emails.

It’s not just about design, or open rates, or whether your ESP tells you a subject line is “good.” It’s about showing up in someone’s inbox with something that feels personal. Human. Relevant.

Not over-polished. Not over-optimised. Just real.

In the end, email marketing – like any form of communication – is about selling to specific people. Not just pressing “send” and hoping for the best.

It’s about forgetting what you like and focusing on what works for them.

That’s when the magic happens.