Proven Photography Marketing Strategies to Book More Clients | Bob Coates on Building a Thriving Studio

Pat Miller: 00:00

I'm Pat Miller and this is The Professional Photographer Podcast. What is marketing? Sounds like a simple question, and it can be answered simply by saying, letting people know who you are and what you do and getting them ready to spend big bucks with you. And every time you turn on YouTube, you're hit with another whiz bang marketing idea that's newfangled and exciting and AI powered. And that's all cool, but on today's show, we're going to talk about proven strategies that just flat out work. Bob Coates is our guest and he's taken care to send press releases the right way, influence clients before they hire you the right way, how to work with partners and show them what you're worth, how to make people understand what they're getting into when they walk into your studio by showing off your accolades and laying out your work in front of them, and just a pile of strategies that just work to let your current and future clients know that you're the real deal and they should be choosing you. If you're tired of big ideas that maybe don't work, this is an episode that's absolutely going to pay off. Bob Coates is our guest. He's standing by. We'll talk to him next. Bob, welcome to The Professional Photographer Podcast. How are you today?

Bob Coates: 01:26

I am somewhere beyond fabulous.

Pat Miller: 01:28

That's a good place to be. Is that where you live every day? Someplace beyond fabulous?

Bob Coates: 01:32

Sometimes I make it to splendiferous. But, you know, that's always the goal. But if your brain believes what it hears. So, if you're feeling kind of funky and you say, I'm beyond fabulous; your brain hears that enough times, it goes, "Well, I guess we're beyond fabulous. Okay, let's go there."

Pat Miller: 01:48

I love it. If someone hasn't met you yet, tell us who you are and what you do.

Bob Coates: 01:52

I'm a professional photographer, educator, author, based in Sedona, Arizona with my best friend and wife, Holly, she makes it possible for me to do everything I do. And I've traveled around the country teaching. I write articles for magazines, for webzines. You know, I try and I think my raison d'être, or that's the French way–I'm probably not saying it right–but my reason for being is to be an educator.

Pat Miller: 02:23

And that's taking all the knowledge that you've earned over the years and then sharing it with other people. Some people are drawn and called by that. Why are you called by that? To teach others and share.

Bob Coates: 02:34

There's just something about seeing the light bulbs go off on, you know, when you're teaching, especially when you're teaching live, when you see, oh, and somebody goes, oh, I get it. Oh, and you're just like, okay, cool, we got there. And it also makes me learn a lot more because you need, in order to teach, you need to learn many different ways to say the same thing, because people learn in different ways. You know, you got to find the hook that's in that person's head.

Pat Miller: 03:04

And isn't that sometimes the most frustrating and exciting thing that, oh, if I explain it this way, it's going to connect with that one person. It's almost like a puzzle that you have to figure out for yourself.

Bob Coates: 03:15

Yeah, but again, that makes it, you know, if I'm not successful in that particular class, then I have to research it and figure it out what it is, and then it becomes part of my, my teaching for the future. So everything builds upon, you know, standing upon my own shoulders of the past of teaching.

Pat Miller: 03:34

Today, we get to learn from you about marketing and your statement, marketing is king. Why do you feel that way?

Bob Coates: 03:42

I was not a very good photographer when I first started, but I was a great marketer. So, therefore, I had a business. If you can get your name out there, if you can get in front of people, let them know what you do. You know, marketing is sharing what you do for the most part. But there's lots of little weird tricks and things that you can do to make that happen.

Pat Miller: 04:08

And we get to talk about that later in the episode. But I'm curious about the balance that some people come to their studio with, that they're really obsessed with beautiful photos and not so obsessed with telling their story and getting attention. Do you see that on the whole in the photography community?

Bob Coates: 04:27

Oh, yes. Many times over the years. I would always, even–I teach many different things like Photoshop and lighting and over the years, I've taught a lot of things and what I learned to do was I would meet marketing ideas into those programs because when you'd say to somebody, oh, this is going to be a marketing program. Oh, no, that's not. I want to learn how–and exactly what you said, I want to make pretty pictures. And people are like, that's not going to make you money unless people know that you know how to make pretty pictures. So, the marketing is really the big deal.

Pat Miller: 05:08

And you simplify it by saying, just getting your name out there is one way to think about it. And one thing that captured my attention when you explained some of what you believe is your attention on press releases. Almost no one talks about press releases. Let's start there.

Bob Coates: 05:22

Well, they don't work. They don't work, or that's what I hear. That's what people say. They don't work. And they don't–it takes work to make a press release work. So number one, I think I got some stuff here. So number one, when you're doing press releases, let's say it's for you've won an award, and PPA will give you a nice little press release. So there you go. You got a press release from PPA, but this is so generic. This is so Bob Coates won blah, blah, blah, of Sedona, Arizona. It's just–the secret is, what did you win it for? If it was for a commercial award, can you find the person that bought that image from you, get quotes from them, get their feedback. If you want an award for images or something, it's the people that were in the photograph, why were they excited? Or why did the judge from Ohio or from California appreciate what you said? What do they have to say about your image? It's not you saying, hey, I'm pretty good. I won an award. It's, wow, it's amazing. I won this award. And I'm just, you know, so and so from Ohio said, you know, Bob's use of color and, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You get quotes from people about your and build it into a story and make sure you include the images. Because when I first started doing press releases, all I would include would be the headshot, and there'd be a headshot and article. And you know what? They'd make a whole lot more space. When you send four images and your headshot in, that also makes it possible for the publication to use it in different ways in different places. So if they have, oh, man, I got 12 column inches to fill. Oh, look at that. And I can make these images whatever size I want to fit with the text. And now I've got 12 column inches, whereas if you just set them the headshot and the thing, you might get three column inches. So the idea is to make it easier for the publication to do the work. Personally, when I do them, I write in their style. I look at their, you know, their publications. I read their articles. I read the things that come in in different places and then write to that style. But again, it's not me talking about me; it's other people talking about me, just like I was interviewed by you, let's say.

Pat Miller: 08:07

So that's where people get tripped up. We think about telling our story, but it sounds like an easy way to think about this is, here's what people are saying about the thing that happened. I happen to be the person that did it. Is that a fair way to summarize it?

Bob Coates: 08:21

That's perfect. On successful-photographer.com, I have a section on press releases, and then there's a whole bunch of samples of things that actually got printed. But then there's also ways to think about how you're going to write those press releases, and it makes a big difference. Now, I live in a small town, so I have that advantage. So you're not going to do this for the New York Times unless you're really lucky. And it's possible. And if you don't try, you'll never get there. But when people say that press releases don't work, These are all press releases from over the years, I mean, and then I've got another pile over here. So anyway, you get the idea. Press releases do work when you write them properly. You can court the editor. You can say, hey, you know, I'd like to take you out to lunch and how can I make it easier for you? Or how can I make things better for you with my press releases? You know, say, hey, I'd love to buy you lunch. Would you like a cup of coffee or an adult beverage, whatever. Networking and people knowing people make a big difference as well. And then once you start doing it, just because one doesn't get printed doesn't mean they weren't interested. It means that it didn't fit with what they have going on right now. So you keep them coming out every six weeks, every two months, you get something out to your people. And then things start to happen because it's still sitting there, it's done, it's pretty much ready, it's written properly. The language is proper. The text is proper. If you put all of that together where it's like, oh, gosh, you know what? I remember when I worked with Bob's last one, it was really easy. Oh, yeah, you know, you include a Word file, you include the images that are camera ready to go to press. Again, you make it easy for them to help you out.

Pat Miller: 10:28

You dropped a nugget in there that I want to make sure we call out. I think people may think about a press release for their one big annual thing. We do holiday mini sessions for charity, and I'm going to send a press release. But you said every six weeks to two months. Are we generating stories and staying on a theme so we're in their email box over and over and over again to try and build a relationship?

Bob Coates: 10:50

Absolutely. That's one reason why over the years that I competed in image competition. Image competition is a fabulous way to generate a press release. But again, without writing it in more of a friendly way, a more interesting way, it's going to be a problem. It's just going to be, oh, Jesus, there's that thing for PPA again. Oh, well, okay, Bob, I'm glad you won another award, but if there's a story that goes with it. The commercial people or what it took to make that. Oh, man, when I tried to make this image, I had to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And when I took it around and showed it to my client, my client said, I mean, I'm sort of paraphrasing really quick here, but the idea is there's a whole story around that image that won an award versus, oh, I won an award. Does that ring the bell?

Pat Miller: 11:53

Absolutely. I love this conversation because it is refreshingly traditional. A lot of the marketing ideas or exposure opportunities we're hit with right now are AI-powered, blah, blah, blah. But this is a press release, and if you do it right, it works because the people that we're reaching out to, they still need stories to tell, and you're providing a story to tell, not a thing thing that happened to you. So I love that. Let's move beyond press release.

Bob Coates: 12:22

Let's just keep going there for just a second.

Pat Miller: 12:25

Sure, go ahead.

Bob Coates: 12:25

Just because once a press release appears, the first thing I do is scan it and put it into Facebook and put it up on Instagram and move it on. Again, I'm not promoting quite so much now as I used to, but that was the way I always–anything that I got once it was there, then I would leverage that in other ways to make sure that it was seen and people knew. And even though I wrote every word of all of these press releases, because they were printed–even if it said according to a press release, because it was printed, it was in there. And then the other thing is, go to the areas where you can, small entertainment papers, weekly papers in small towns that surround where you are. Don't try and hit the big ones right away, but once you get a pack of these, then when you show those to the people later, then there's a good possibility and be like, oh, boy, he's been printed a lot. I wonder why. And then you get a chance to get in with the bigger people, too.

Pat Miller: 13:30

That's awesome. Another great tip. I appreciate that. Let's go beyond press releases. What are some other practices that are sometimes overlooked by photographers?

Bob Coates: 13:38

When I was doing weddings, that was something that was pretty big. Almost everybody supplies their vendors with images, so one of the ways you could do that was, oh, here you go. You know, I just want to let you know, here's. Here's a stack of 5 x 7s. And boy, doesn't that look pretty bad. Okay, so I had these made up. Oh, wow. And so, and then, oh, wait a minute. Once that's made up, it's made up so that I could do an art piece on the front. The picture goes inside, and our pictures go inside, and they get an invoice. And you'd be like, sending them an invoice? They're gonna pay for it. No. Oh, wait, let's make it even prettier. So what's going to gather more attention? This is a nice little, hey, just wanted to say thank you for, you know, working with me at the wedding and blah, blah, blah. Here you go. Then they have to touch this soft velvet. I don't know if it's velvet or whatever, crushed velvet, but it's embossed in gold. And then, the thing is embossed in gold. So by the time they get into here, they've already seen logo and main, 1, 2, 3, 4 times, just even to get to there. And then your logo is also on the invoice. And with the invoice part, I learned from Doug Box, who was an amazing marketer as well. And essentially, people don't know the value of what you're giving them. And he said, you give them an invoice, you mark it up, you know, tell them exactly what it's going to cost to do that, whether it be using them online or doing physical prints. Just wanted to say thank you. This is what these are worth. But at the bottom, you say professional courtesy and you zero it out. But then they know what the value Is. And what I found was after I did that, venues were inviting me out to lunch. Hey, Bob, can we buy you lunch? Florist was like, hey, can I get you a bunch of flowers for your wife? You know, just to say thank you to you. And I'm like, okay. So it was once they realized what the value of what you were offering and sharing with them, like, they're all like, oh, well, everybody gives me pictures. Yeah, here's what the value of this is made a huge difference. Knocking on doors, networking with your community groups, like your Chamber of Commerce. Hey, how you doing? I'm Bob. And then don't tell them what you do. Ask them what they do. You become a much more interesting person when you shut your mouth.

Pat Miller: 16:49

Isn't that the truth?

Bob Coates: 16:50

Because I can talk. And I'm like, okay, I talked all night long. That person is really interesting. I really want to spend more time with them because they let me babble. No, but I mean, that's a tendency for when you go to those things, you're like, oh, I want to give you my card. I want to tell you what I do. Be interested in other people. And the more interested you are in other people, the better your response is going to be from those folks that you're networking with.

Pat Miller: 17:24

You shared in the validation folder that you are charging them this much and then zeroing it out at the bottom to show how much you're worth. And you've shared in other venues that charging enough really sets off a lot of your marketing activity that if you are a low-priced product, it's tough to get the word going. So you're a believer in having higher healthy rates to help spread the word for the studio.

Bob Coates: 17:49

Absolutely. You know, a lot of people when they first come in, go, "Oh, I'm not really good, so I'll do it for this much." And when I first got into the business and decided to become a professional photographer, I lived in the Virgin Islands at the time, and I went to every photographer and said, can I carry your stuff for six months? Oh, no, I'm not going to teach you my secrets. Oh, okay. You don't want free labor for six months in exchange for that. Okay. And then, a little while later, it was like, well, could you tell me what you charge for this? You know, if I'm shooting this liquor bottle, and what should I charge for that? And it's well, I'm not telling you my pricing. Why won't you tell me your pricing? Because you're going to undercut me. No, I'm trying not to undercut you. And so then I'm charging $50 an hour and working my butt off because I'm a really good marketer, and at the end of every month, I'm not making any money. So then I tried to work more to make up for more volume in order–wait, that still didn't work. Then I joined American Society of Media Photographers and I got the ASMP Business Bible, and I read the first four chapters and I went, holy crap. I'm not making any money because I don't charge enough for what I'm doing. And it takes much more to do what you do than you think. And as a rookie and as a new person, you tend not to charge enough, and who wants to actually support somebody who's doesn't know what they're doing? So I found over the years that if I–now you can price yourself out of a market as well. And things change. I mean, obviously with digital and people having their own iPhones and that kind of stuff, you still have to deal with that kind of stuff. But I find that at some point when COVID hit, people would say, "Well, Bob, you know, I can't afford this anymore as well, you know." Here's a person that might be able to do it for you for that. And then they came back because they were like, oh, my gosh, your stuff was so much better. So be commensurate with your skills.

Pat Miller: 20:08

We're communicating to the clients what we're worth when we share a higher rate. And you believe that when they enter the studio and they show up, the validation continues. So how are you validating a higher rate and. And what they can expect for that higher rate when they walk into the studio?

Bob Coates: 20:26

If you look around, if you look behind me, these are, you know, awards that I've won over the years. And people see that stuff and they're like, "Oh, my goodness." When I was doing weddings and was a little bit earlier and didn't have quite so many awards, I did have an award case and it was just gently lit. My degrees are all framed professionally, just like you would at a, if you go into a doctor's office or a CPA office, you're going to see those frame degrees. So those are all–and it's all subtle. The other thing that I did was, and again, it depends on what you're doing, but in this case, this was at weddings and stuff. There would be a book just sitting on the coffee table. And this is a cover photo that I did. And as you opened it up and go through it, you would see articles that I've written over the years. And at the time, instead of that, there was some wedding articles. You know, writing I found really was very, very helpful in getting my name out there and again, showing what I've done. Matter of fact, I'm now looking at this article here. I've just totally reprised this. I wrote this back in 1996 and I just reprised it with a new way of building that little set for commercial work. And you know, when I teach that, it's like, hey, you can use some blue tape and you can put this together with some old print that you have laying around. And then you can put it together, put a piece of glass on there, and, ooh, you can make some cool stuff.

Pat Miller: 22:04

Very cool. What about the power of testimonials? How you go about getting those?

Bob Coates: 22:07

Oh, my goodness, testimonials. Hold on, let me see if I can reach testimonials.

Pat Miller: 22:11

Oh, we got a good one. We're going deep, people. Let's get this.

Bob Coates: 22:21

Here we go. Going back in here. I am not used to working with ear earbuds here. Testimonials, how do you get them? Ask, hey, when somebody gets their work or sees their albums, you say to them, and they're they're like, oh, so laudatory and so excited and stuff. You say, hey, would you mind putting that in an email? And sending it to me would be really helpful for me. And I'd certainly appreciate that. And you give them a couple of days, and then while they were talking, right after you finish talking to them, you, you jot down what it was they said. All the little things and their little exclamations. When you don't get something in a few days, you say, hey, did you get a chance to do that? "Oh, I'm really busy." You know what? I know you're really busy. I kind of jotted down some notes I wrote from–does this sound like what you said? And I send them an email, and they go, "Oh, yeah, you can use that." Boom, you now have the testimonial. And then also, you get the cards and you get the letters, and well, if you do a good job, you do. But mostly asking; don't be afraid to ask when somebody starts to become laudatory to you. Hey, would you mind sharing that with me in an email or send me a little note? And then you've got those. And then, of course, there was another book that was on the table in the studio where it was all testimonials. To take that to a different level, kind of a cross between what we were just talking about, putting together good solid marketing pieces. So this was from when–I found this one; this was one that I used when I was speaking, and I was trying to get speaking gigs. So, you know, it's put together professionally. We've got cards. We've got a Bob Coates Photography pen in there. We've got the story. We've got the information. So, this was something that I was passing out. Nowadays, where did that go? Nowadays, you might use your flash drives. So the flash drive is professionally done with the logos and the websites on there. The pen has the logo, the email and the website on there. Again, it's those, those little touches that I think make a big difference. So taking that to another level of when I would sign a contract with my wedding clients. Okay, this doesn't have a picture on it, but I'll show you momentarily what it looks like when you have a picture on it. So I would have a generic wedding image on there or if I'd already done an engagement session with them, I would do an artsy-fartsy image of them together on here. And then inside, when it's time to sign the contract again, nice little pen, Bob Coates Photography pen in a nice little case. The contract is printed on really nice paper. And then there's all of these. I would have four sheets. This would go home with them. So I called it–this is what I call the stick. And I don't have the other one, but basically, it would be four pages of all the press releases that I kind of made into a way to say, hey, this is not just me saying that. And then, and there was a six-page article done for Professional Photographer magazine. That's my cover photo. And even though this was back in 2001, I used it for quite a number of–I'm still using it now apparently. But you get the idea. Again, professionally shown. And if we go, here's the one I do for my Milky Way Workshop clients. So this is the idea. You just use some Herma Fix and kind of stick that on there, makes this look really professional. Okay, so it's just a Photoshop thing with again, something a little bit different. That's a little planet. I wrote an article about little planets. So when my clients come on this side, it's note paper for them. And then, here's a whole set of articles that I've written about the Milky Way in the night sky for people. Again, this is a stick. They've come. They've spent money with me and gosh, you know, it was kind of just that next little level of okay, he's a pro. He knows what he's talking about. Yeah.

Pat Miller: 27:17

This decision that I'm going to make is worth it. The quality of these photos are–they're pre-qualified to know that these photos are going to be done by a master professional because you're priming them this whole time to understand the value that you're about to present them. That's fantastic stuff. So, it's been a great conversation on marketing. I feel like we are in overtime now because I want to talk to you about personal projects. You've shared that you're always doing personal projects to grow and improve the business. How would you define that and what are some of the things you do?

Bob Coates: 27:49

Personal projects are one of the ways that I generate press releases because as I want to learn something different, you know, especially over the years, a new Photoshop technique or whatever. Like, it never snows here in Sedona. Maybe once or twice, 6 to 9 inches every other year is kind of how I describe it. But one year, the snow came down, it was maybe 12 inches. And usually, when you're just about to pick up your camera and take this beautiful snow covered picture, the sun comes out and it goes. But for some reason the clouds stayed just enough in front of the sun, but there was plenty of light. So I went running around to all my clients and I photographed their businesses with the snow, and then I made sample Christmas cards and I made different things. One of my people that I wanted to work with is a place called Tlaquepaque, and it's a Mexican shopping village. And they have a really nice gate and the snow was covering, so I did a really super art image of it. Again, anytime I want to learn something and work with it, then I try and leverage it and see if I can sell it in some way, shape or form. And whether Tlaquepaque bought It or not, for me to show this to somebody else and say, hey, would you be interested in something like this for your business? See this kind of–I don't have a sample of that one, by the way, but they saw it. They bought it for advertising and marketing. They bought two prints for two off site owners that weren't there. She's like, hey, can I get two prints? I believe I can make that happen. They cost this much. And it was like, yeah, no problem. Okay, so again, leveraging things. When I went to my dad's funeral a few years ago. He was still delivering Meals on Wheels to people. And he was like 83 or so, and he was delivering to the old folks. And he had a next door neighbor named Genevieve Munson. And I asked her, you know, I knew I would never see her again because this was my last visit to that spot. And I said, would you mind if I made your portrait? She was just the quintessential 90-year-old lady with the hair all, oh, my goodness. It was just something that I wanted to do. And while I was doing that, I said, is there anything important that you would like to hold and have in your image? And so I ended up doing this. So again, creating this for art. When I came back to Sedona, I went to–and the local Meals on Wheels. Yeah, there we go, the local Meals on Wheels place. And I said, the Sedona Community Center. I said, hey, I have this image. I would like to sell it and have all the proceeds come to the community center in honor of my dad. Okay, so we raised about $2,500. And then the fact that the Bible is in there, it kind of and shot it down. Because what's that Bible doing in this non sectarian place? Ooh. okay, so with that kind of shot that down, the director said, "Hey, Bob, you know, could you do a different image?" And I'm like, really? Well, maybe, maybe I could photograph a flower, and wouldn't make anybody angry with that. So we ended up, and I was like, oh well, one flower. You know, who's going to buy one flower? So we'll go back here. So again, personal project, I did a calendar called Flowers for Food. So, basically, I did a full calendar and you know, tried to be really totally, and you can probably see most of them; they're really different. You know, each one had its own little art piece. This one right here was, if you look, the roses make this the let me call you sweetheart song, I'm in love with your machine. Let me hear you whisper that you'll buy the gasoline. Keep the headlights glowing and your hands upon the wheel. Let me call you sweetheart I'm in love with your automobile. My dad used to sing that all the time. So that was like my super tribute to him. That was February. So anyway, we sold–actually, I'll say I sold. I sold advertising on the back. And each business got a month, and then they got a certain number of calendars. And I went back to those people. We ended up raising about $15,000 doing this calendar. But it got printed because I was sharing the project with somebody I had–was at a Kodak Elite awards ceremony, and I had an image that was in there. And I was talking, so I said, had them on my iPad and I said, oh, here's a project that I'm working on. I was sharing it with people, telling them what I do. And the guy said, "Hmm." He says, "I work with Kodak, and we just put together a new printer. If we gave you calendars, would you be willing to let us use those?" It was like, "Oh, yes, let's go." So the calendars were paid for just by, you know, again, sharing that. So another personal project, this one was–smebody came to me and said, if you've ever seen the movie Calendar Girls, it was basically a bunch of little old ladies who wanted to get a new couch for their waiting room at the hospital. And they did this nude project. And every one of these is, you know, just totally–let's see, do we have a full? No, we don't have a full one. But just to give you an idea, essentially every image was out there. Everybody was nude, but, you know, tastefully covered in some way, shape or form. You know, we're just having some fun. It was quite a project. So again, that's a Rembrandt, by the way. And I would never ask anybody to do anything I wouldn't do. So I put myself on there as well. But anyway, we raised quite a bit of money for the Sedona Arts Center with that. And originally, they asked me, "Well, what would you charge for that?" And I said, oh, probably, you know, that's probably about $10,000 to put all that together and do the production, put everything going, and they actually agreed. And actually, no, I said, well, I'll tell you what, let's make it $5,000 and then I'll take a percentage of the sales, and they agreed to that. And then what I did was once the calendar again sold probably about the same amount of, you know, raised about 12 or $15,000. And I donated the money back to the Sedona Arts Center. So I got to hang out with hoi polloi at the big dinners and. Oh, you're a big donor. Okay. Yeah. So again, networking and getting your name out there and being in the place they. Matter of fact, the weird part was the director came back to me and said, you know what? If we didn't sell a single calendar, we just kicked it because we got two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of placement in national international art magazines. And it really helped put Sedona that one more level up on the map.

Pat Miller: 35:39

Great ideas on marketing, getting our name out there. If someone's inspired to take action of the things we've talked about or maybe something that we haven't talked about, what would be the best first action to generate some ROI on some marketing activity?

Bob Coates: 35:53

Knock on doors. What do you do? Again, it depends on what you do. So if you're a wedding photographer, go knock on the wedding venue doors, or make an appointment. Don't just show up necessarily. It's kind of like getting into a gallery. If you just show up and you're like, you're not showing that you're respecting their time. So, make an appointment, get in, bring your book, bring your albums. If it's commercial work, again, bring your book, maybe find something that's similar to their product and create something really different and cool and say, ooh, I was doing this personal project on this, and I know you sell watches. Look at what I can do. Was that something that you would be interested in? Again, sharing what you do, do the personal project to take it to that next level, and then go see if you can sell it. But you got to have the skills first. I remember the first time somebody asked me to photograph jewelry. Oh, sure, I can do that. Twenty-four hours later, I'm still, oh, no, I can't–that doesn't look good at all. You know, I managed to muddle my way through, but it's good to have the skills before you start.

Pat Miller: 37:10

We're not done learning from you. You're creating some new content for Imaging or for PPA rather. Can you give us an idea of what you're creating and when we might be able to see it?

Bob Coates: 37:18

I don't know when you might be able to see it. Last year, we filmed three hours worth of photographing the Milky Way here in Sedona. Right now, I'm working on and that was put out for PPA to begin with. There was a little teaser at the last convention, but they're building a whole new platform and website. So, there's a lot going on that should be coming out in the not too distant future. And then right now I'm doing–I've started the new thing where it's, I call it Shutter Buggy Rides. Shutter Buggy is the name of my boondocking vehicle, and it's Shutter Buggy Rides tavel photography and boondocking with PPA photographer Bob Coates. And I travel, and I can talk to you while I'm driving in the car. We have video coming through this, going to a place, walk and talk in the videos, doing stuff, and then processing afterwards. So I've got three locations that are set to be coming up. Sedona, of course, because it's pretty close. Flagstaff, and then I also did a trip over to the City of Rocks in New Mexico. And then hopefully, that'll cover the 80 minutes that I'm supposed to produce. Then we'll go from there.

Pat Miller: 38:39

I'm sure it's going to be great. Great ideas today. Great conversation. Bob, thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate it.

Bob Coates: 38:44

Oh, you're very welcome. Thanks for having me.

Pat Miller: 38:46

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of The Professional Photographer Podcast. Was I wrong? Bob nailed it. If you do any one of those things, you're going to grow the studio. And that's what this is all about. Our show is about helping you build a better business. So hopefully you're going to take some of his guidance and run with it. Now, before you go, can you do me a favor? Please like and subscribe this episode and comment because that way we know. What did Bob say that's going to stick with you? Those comments are key because they help us build better shows for the future. And if you're not yet a member of Professional Photographers of America, you're missing it. PPA offers incredible resources like equipment, insurance, top-notch education and a supportive community of photographers ready to help you succeed. It's perfect for photographers who are are serious about growing their business in a sustainable and profitable way at PPA. You belong here. Discover more about membership at ppa.com that's ppa.com I'm Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community, the publisher of the Small Business Summary newsletter, and your host of the show. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you right here next time. Take care.