Pet Detective Does Publicity Right

Kat Albrecht is living proof of so many practices and principles of doing publicity the right way that gets results.

Kat is a “pet hunter” who searches for lost animals using high-tech tools and the skills of a homicide detective. (She was a police detective before she turned her time to cats, canines, and things that slither and crawl.) Now she trains other pet detectives.

She came to my “Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul: How to Become a Media Sensation” Learning Annex class and took one thing I said to heart—never pass up an opportunity.

She is a model of following one idea to its fruition and then expanding to include almost everything else best publicity practices.

Here is how Kat made herself a media sensation:

She sent a pitch letter to develop an educational television series for the Animal Planet channel. The director of development said their producer wasn’t interested in that idea, but he wanted to know if they could develop a one-hour dramatic television series (budget $800,000 per episode) based upon her life (female cop–turned–pet detective).

“My first thought was ‘No’ because my focus has been to educate pet owners in how to find their missing pets and not to have a fluffy TV show about my life. But I remembered something you said and that is ‘Never pass up an opportunity.’

So I didn’t.”

Instead, Kat insisted she have some creative control and be involved in the writing of the episodes.

A few weeks later one of her volunteers asked if she could call a tiny local paper in Half Moon Bay and ask them to come and do a story.

That tiny article was read by a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, who wrote another article.

The Chronicle article was read by a photographer for People magazine.

People magazine ran a story.

Since then Kat’s been on CNN, National Geographic Explorer, To Tell the Truth, PBS, Extra!, the Today show, and more.

What is amazing about publicity is how fast one thing can lead to another. It is no accident. Kat has done a number of things right:

1.             She’s passionate about her work.

2.             She’s providing a service that no one else does.

3.             She has a story that touches people’s hearts.

4.             She continues to contact her prime media people with fresh angles and ideas.

5.             To get more coverage she leverages the press she has.

6.             She’s open, imaginative, and persistent.

7.             On top of all that, her stories read like detective thrillers. Most of my days go at breakneck speed, but when I see Kat’s email, I give myself a little treat of reading her animal rescue sagas before I get back to business. I applaud Kat and her wild successes!

Persistence pays, as Kat’s story illustrates.

If you'd like to be featured in magazines (that could result in getting booked as a guest on TV since broadcast follows print—meaning that TV producers scour magazines, newspapers and digital content—to find ideas for topics and guests) my team has put together something that may be of interest:

100+ Editorial Calendars (the monthly themes magazines cover) for top national magazines in topic areas including business, health, wellness, food, family, women, men + more—so you can see where you fit in. Plus, how to set up your 12-month publicity plan. Plus the 100-word email + the script to pitch magazine editors in a paragraph. Right here. Enjoy!

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Here are 3 ways that you can learn more about becoming a highly desirable repeat media guest on the top podcasts, panels, presentations, print, radio, TV + blogs to transform your business and brand:

• Check out our publicity and media training blog posts and videos here.

• Schedule a publicity audit to discover your media-readiness + where you already shine.

• Take this course to prepare you for the media spotlight.