FOLLOW EVERY PUBLICITY OPPORTUNITY

Dear Friends,

Thanks to all of you who wrote in with your fascinating publicity success stories. I'm planning to feature more of them in the next few newsletters.

This issue will be short since I'm a tad squeezed for time developing my new class, "Want to Be a Millionaire? How to Get the Life You Want with the Talent You Have" about talking your way to the top using sound bites in business, in the media, or in presentations, in between meeting with clients and squirreling myself away in my office writing my book. (O.K. sometimes sitting under the plum tree with the hummingbirds and Mr. Grey, the wild tom cat with half an ear bitten off, who owns our backyard. He doesn't bug me. I don't bug him).

I had some great practice taking my own sound bite advice celebrating my Nana's 90th birthday in Niagara Falls NY last week. Try getting in a 10 second phrase let alone a word into the conversation with 75 Italians all talking and waving their arms around in between mouthfuls of linguini.

Sound bites aside I wanted to share with you the intriguing story of Kat Albrecht, Pet Hunter, who searches for lost animals using high tech tools and the skills of a homicide detective (Kat was a police detective before she turned her time to cats, canines and things that slither and crawl.)

Kat is a model of following one idea to its fruition. She came to my "Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul: how to become a media sensation" class and took one thing I said to heart—never pass up an opportunity. Here's how she is making a herself a media sensation.

In her own words....

Warmly,

Susan

"Hello Susan, I just wanted to drop a note to tell you how much I appreciated your workshop through the Learning Annex. I have listened to your tapes and found the information helpful in my future quest for obtaining publicity.

I was too busy to drop you a note after you seminar because I immediately got to work on reaching my goals! I pushed forward to develop my new business which I named "PEThunters" and have been working on my business plan. I finished the manuscript on my book Pet Hunter: Why I Track Poodles, Not Perpetrators...

But the most fascinating opportunity was when I was contacted by a television production company who responded to my pitch to develop an educational television series for the Animal Planet.

The director of development called me back and said that their producer was not interested in that idea, but he wanted to know if they could develop a 1 hour dramatic television series (budget $800,000.00 per episode) based upon my 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 t.v. show about my life.

BUT I REMEMBERED SOMETHING YOU SAID and that is "NEVER pass up an opportunity." So I didn't. I told them that I would be interested and that I would want to have some creative control and be involved in the writing of the episodes. We are only in the beginning stages of this process and will see just where it goes from here, but I wanted to say "thank you" for your advice!

[My note: Kat was featured on Animal Planet and the series is still in the works.]

I spent nearly $1,500.00 on my media campaign (hired a publicist, paid Bacon's Media for 900 labels, printed 900 color photographs of my bloodhound, 900 stamps, etc.) and it was only printed in two local papers in tiny columns.

Yet the PEOPLE Magazine article originated when one of my volunteers asked if she could call a tiny local paper in Half Moon Bay and ask them to come and do a story on us. That tiny article was read by a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle who came out and wrote an article about us. The Chronicle article was read by a photographer for PEOPLE Magazine. So here I spent all this money trying to get massive media exposure and failed---and yet the one single phone call to the a weekly newspaper in nowheresville might be what cracks open the PET HUNTER story!

It just points back to what you told us in class many months ago---NEVER pass up an opportunity! Back when my volunteer asked if she could call the local paper I didn't think it would do much good--who knew!

I am booked for appearances in June on CNN on a show called "Business Unusual," will be featured on Lifetime TV's new show, "The Things We Do For Love," and will be filmed for the show, "National Geographic Explorer!

BTW, I followed your suggestion about checking the Oprah web site every Monday and have sent countless e-mails in response to their "Be on the Show" section. I'm glad I was persistent because it looks like it may have paid off! I completed a 90-minute telephone interview with an Oprah producer on Tuesday and shipped a box full of news clippings, videos, and photographs. On Thursday, I received e-mail from one of the production companies that has film footage of my dogs tracking a missing dog. They said that the Oprah producer had called them asking to use the footage and that my story WAS selected for the show. But I haven't received official confirmation from the Oprah show itself yet---and I won't believe it until I am standing in the Harpo Studio! Will keep ya posted."

What's amazing about publicity is how fast one thing can lead to another. It's no accident.

Kat did 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's open, imaginative and persistent.

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

6. She leverages the press she has to get more coverage.

On top of all that her stories read like a detective thriller. 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!

P.S. If you have a lost pet or know of someone who does contact Kat to search and rescue your beloved friend.

Kat Albrecht, Pet Hunter
831.335.9055
Email Kat Albrecht
http://www.pethunters.com
"Police Detectives Training Pet Detectives"

To be on her newsletter list send her an email with "Subscribe" in the subject line.

Thanks to everyone else who contributed who I couldn't mention here. I appreciate your efforts!

Keep writing me. Persistence counts as Kat's story illustrates. Or as Annie Dillard says, "Perseverance leads to truth."