May 1, 2025 • 38 mins
This week on The Whisker Report, Mary, Alex, and Mark welcome the incredibly inspiring Kate Benjamin, founder of Hauspanther, the go-to online magazine for stylish cat living. Known for her keen eye for design and deep love for felines, Kate shares how she turned her passion for aesthetics into a movement known as catification — transforming homes into functional, beautiful spaces that both cats and humans can enjoy. From her beginnings in the design world to becoming a thought leader in feline-friendly interiors, Kate’s story is as creative as it is heartwarming. Tune in to hear how she’s redefining what it means to live in style — with cats!
EPISODE NOTES: Feline Fine Design: Kate Benjamin’s Catified World
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/whisker-report-pet-pr-publicity-pet-life-radio-original--6669416/support.
EPISODE NOTES: Feline Fine Design: Kate Benjamin’s Catified World
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/whisker-report-pet-pr-publicity-pet-life-radio-original--6669416/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the Whisker Report.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
We're a new podcast dedicated to helping anyone in the
pet industry. Whether you're an animal welfare nonprofit or a
for profit pet company, we want to help you get
some pr and buzz for your organization. Hello everyone, I'm
Mary Tan, one of the hosts of the show, along
with alexand Ricard, a French gal who now lives in Vancouver,
(00:38):
just moved there from across the Pond, and she travels
the world in the hopes of Spain and neutering straight
cats everywhere but your alexandlde.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I hope everybody's staying safe if I've seen the American
news with the fire in La So I'm just hoping
everybody is staying safe and that the animals can stay safe.
We're here today with a producer, Mark Winter of Pet
Life Radio, whose demands we get sus to you each
and every week.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Hello, how's everyone?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We are good?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Good?
Speaker 6 (01:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
How are you? Mark?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
I'm good. We had like fun things going on here
this week. I know Mary, you're a newsperson, so you'll appreciate.
We had Chuck Scarborough on What Yeah on Rapport to
the rescue.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Chuck Scarborough.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yeah, he was on with his wife and that was fun.
And then for all you fashionistas, we had Isaac musraki
Onto and he was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh my god, I'm so jelly.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Ugh.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Jill gets great guests.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But she you know, she's still with NBC, or she
not with NBC anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
She's not like a regular, but every so often they
do a special with her. When they have like a
pet special, then she's on.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She is probably one of the first pet tea journalists
for people that don't know she's on the Today Show,
she was a correspondent. She's very very well known. Definitely
one of the first pet journalists probably. I mean I
think I watched her in the eighties. I think the
eighties and nineties were like her big heyday. But that's
(02:18):
so cool, Mark, Yeah, you're doing tons of cool stuff
and more people.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Spread the word. Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Has a bazillion pet podcast there's like a topic for everything.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
And I think I'm gonna talk to our guest from
last week about having a like exotic Pets show with c.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Oh Ethan Ethan.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Haper with Happy Habitat. We love Ethan too. He was
on a previous show, so tune into that show. He's
kind of a goofy fellow. He developed this like hamster
wheel for isn't molky or mooky his hamster Moozi or mootzie.
But you know our I guess this week is pretty
(03:02):
awesome too, write Alex.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, today we have the pleasure of having such an
inspiring woman. I met her at the block Pols convention
in November and I was in absolutely all of her story.
Kate Benjamin has a knife for design and she uses
it to help cats. Kate Benjamin is the founder of
House Panther, and online magazine focused on helping people cadify
(03:27):
their home. Hi, Kate, We're so happy to have you
on the show. Can you tell us how it all started?
How did you get into catification design and how did
you create that word because that's a new word right.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
Yes, yes, and thank you for having me. Always a
pleasure to chat with you guys, some of my most
favorite people in the industry. Yeah. So, ctification is a
word that I coined with Jackson Galaxy, so it's kind
of our brain child together. I had been writing about
cats and designs two thousand and seven, and I came
(04:02):
to that because I had a design background and I
had cats. I was working in the children's product industry,
and I was working for a company that made very beautiful,
modern children's products, and I realized, Hey, how come nobody's
doing this for cats. And so one night I just
started a blog. And that was kind of at the
boom of the mommy blogging industry, you know, in the
(04:26):
two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, and I
just took off. And at the same time, Jackson Galaxy
was kind of coming up as a cat behaviorist and
his show started on Animal Planet, My Cat from Hell,
and he had been reading my blog and he realized
that as a cat behaviorist, he would go into people's
homes and tell them, Hey, you need to do things.
(04:47):
You need to hang shelves and put scratchers here and
add a litter box. And people were like, it's gonna
look awful. I don't want my house to look like
the crazy cat lady. So he tracked me down and said, hey,
you're doing this right. This design piece and I want
to work together, and so let's create this thing called catification,
which is all of the behavior and environmental enrichment side,
(05:10):
combined with design and the actual consideration of what do
the people want, because if the people don't like it,
they're not going to do it, and then the cats
won't have what they need to live their best life.
So it's really about creating an enriched environment for cats
in a way that fits with your style, that you're
not embarrassed to have friends come over and doesn't make
(05:32):
you look like the crazy cat lady.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Can I ask you a question, who do you think
catify their homes the most generation wise? Do you think
it's more gen z who is like pre occupied by
the design and how it fits into their home for
their cats, or is it like millennials or boomers or
older generation.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
I have seen all the generations do it, so I
have had kind of an older readership come up with
me since I started doing this. But as we see
now with social media and lots of people sharing what
they've done in their homes for their cats, tons of
gen z are starting to do it, and especially because
they love their pets so much. Right, cat owners are
(06:13):
just completely over the top and proud of it. That's
the other thing that's shifted since really social media has
made all of this stuff more accessible to everybody is
that people are less afraid to say, I'm a proud
cat owner. Look at my house, it looks great, Look
what I did, Look what I did for my cat,
and how much they love it and it's making their
(06:34):
life better. And so I really have seen this whole range.
I mean, you have sort of older people who have
more money or maybe they're empty nesters, and now they
have these cats, and the cats are getting everything they
ever wanted. And then there's people like me who didn't
have children, right, And I'm gen z or gen X.
I am of classic gen X, and I did not
(06:56):
have children. So my cats are my children and so
they get every thing, you know, and I figure it's
cheaper than college. And then yeah, and then just the
new generations are just seeing it happen more and more.
Jackson and I wrote two books, Cratification and Catify to Satisfy,
and both were New York Times bestsellers. So I think
that says a lot about the interest that people have
(07:19):
taken over the years.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
That's incredible. And so Mary always talks about cats being
second class citizens, right Mary, Yes, dogs.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yes, absolutely, they need to be promoted.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah, And so businesses like yours Kate are showing that
cats matter as much as dogs, right, and that they
need as much or sometimes even more than dogs.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yes, And I think a big piece of that too
is that cat ownership and design is all about the home.
It's about creating that home environment. Because unless you have
an adventure cat, which is definitely the minority, but they exist.
I know you have one and Mary. Yeah, So cats
that go out and about. Cats are at home, and
(08:06):
that's where you spend time with them, That's where you
nurture them. You need to give them the things that
they need to thrive, especially when we're talking about indoor
only cats, which is what I prefer. I believe that
they're safer, you know, if you love them that if
you live in an environment where they are not safe outside,
it's best to keep them inside. So you have to
give them these things that they need to be active,
(08:29):
to keep their minds and their bodies active so that
they live this really fulfilled life. Whereas with dog owners,
all those products are around, like going camping and hiking
and to the dog park, and it's outdoor stuff, so
it was always just it had more attention given to it.
So as somebody writing about and developing products for cats,
(08:50):
it can be a tougher sell. A lot of people
have always traditionally thought, well, cats don't need anything special, right,
Well they do. Yeah, maybe they don't need it to survive.
But do you want your cats to just survive or
do you want them to live their best life?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So I am actually sitting in a room. You can't
see it if you're listening in the podcast, but this
room was designed by Kate and can I tell you
it is the best room in my house.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And the people who use.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It are my foster kittens and Franklin, who Kate alluded
to earlier. He's an adventure Katie. He likes to just
like a super highway so they can run up and
down without ever touching the floor. So just to shout out, Kate,
you were amazing to work with. I have received so
much feedback here in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area because
(09:43):
Kate's design was also featured in our local newspaper, the
Minnesota Star Tribune, and several realtors reached out to me
and like, are thinking about maybe we should focus on
pets as you know, a way to sell homes because
at the last American Pet Products Association press conference last year.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
They talked about how pets, how.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
The Realtors Association have talked about pets are an important
part of somebody's selection in buying a home, and so
it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And Kate, you talked.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
About the dog products, but have you seen a lot
of innovation in the cat space?
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Absolutely so. When I started in two thousand and seven,
there were a few companies that I was aware of
from the United States and several from Europe and Scandinavia
who were already designing beautiful things for cats, wall mounted scratchers,
free standing towers, climbers, shelves, things like that, but not
(10:45):
a lot. I had to really search and then almost overnight,
more and more started to develop, and they at the time,
they were kind of smaller companies, some of the ones
that were already on the scene. Of course, the Refined
Feline and Hepper was around at the beginning. Like I
found his website before he was ready to launch, when
I was searching for things to write about, and I
(11:05):
emailed him and I said, oh, can I cover your
products on the blog? And he created the Hepper pod
that original, like I kind of modern cat design, and
he was like, hey, can you give me like a
day until I work out the bugs on my website?
You know you're fast. So I worked with a lot
of these companies developing over the years, you know, giving
(11:25):
them feedback, helping them promote anything that I thought was
a quality product, so well designed, being esthetically pleasing, but
also really functional, like does it work for the cat?
Does it give them something they need? And does it
work for the pet owner. So that's how kind of
how I defined good design, Like is it easy to clean?
Is it easy to move? Can you switch things out
when they become worn without throwing the whole thing away?
(11:47):
So I found small companies doing this, and then as
time went on, the big players started to take notice, right,
and so companies that normally only focused on dog or
they had like a couple of kind of ugly cat
things where everything was covered with beige carpet, they started
to change. They got rid of the beige carpet. They
started to add new, more stylish things in the current trends,
(12:11):
whatever the colors are that are happening in the interior
design industry that season. And so as those things were
added in different styles, you know, traditional, contemporary, transitional, you know, Boho,
all this different stuff. It became more and more available.
So I do think that there is a lot out
(12:31):
there right now. So I get frustrated when I see
a new cat product company right up there about us
page and they're like, we started this company because there's
just nothing out there for cats that we liked. Well,
if you're saying that, you probably didn't do your research.
So that is one of my pet peeves. There is
a lot out there, doesn't mean there isn't room for
(12:54):
tons of new stuff, great new ideas, innovative things. Plenty
of white spaces left. But the industry has completely changed
since I started in two thousand and seven. There's a lot,
and I want to keep it that way. I want
to keep the innovation going. That was my goal in
starting the blog was to spark the industry to change,
and it has and I want to keep it up.
(13:16):
And I and I keep cats at the forefront, like
you said, you know, give them the spotlight, don't let
the dogs take back over, and you know, just keep
this going because they're so amazing. They're amazing creatures. They
play an important role in our lives. I mean, they've
gotten me through so many life challenges. It's amazing, and
(13:38):
I you know, they're my children, so I just want
to see it keep going.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I actually have a question about so your cat focused right,
and we like your goal is to put cats on
top of the society. But I have a question because
we know the money is mostly in the dog business, right,
Like people who have dogs are more likely to spend
more money. So how important is it for you even
though the money is in a dog business, to keep
(14:03):
it as an only cat focused business.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Well, just I only relate to cats. Really, I've never
had a dog. I mean there's plenty of dogs I've
met and then been like, oh I love you. Your
soul is amazing. I just I've never had a dog.
So they're just a totally different lifestyle. It's not my lifestyle.
It's I'm not outdoorsy. I don't like camping and hiking,
(14:26):
but it's not my thing. I like designing my home
and cleaning it and you know, changing it. Like just
so that's that's my focus. Somebody has got to do
it right, So, you know, I find I find it
frustrating if so. I do events and I have a
lot of products that I design and we make here
(14:48):
in our design studio in Phoenix, and so some it's
certainly the holiday season. I sell my products and I
meet the people who are coming up to my booth,
and it's kind of split. First, the people who I
love are the one who are like, oh my god,
cat stuff. It's always dog stuff, you know, And there's
like ten booths next to me that sell like dog bones,
(15:09):
and so they're so excited. They get it. They understand
it's handmade, they understand it's designed by a cat person,
that it's high quality, it's you know, safe materials, all
that stuff. And then well there's the people on the
other end of the spectrum who just completely don't get it,
and they pick up a cat toy and they're like,
what's this And then they're like, well, do you have
(15:30):
any dog toys? And I'm like, nope, sorry, go that way.
And so then there are the people who have both, right, yeah,
the dog owners who also have a cat, and they
pick something up and they're like, well, I can't buy
it because my dog will just eat it.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So bipetual people, Yeah, how.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Do we get those bipetual people to be a little
more committed to their cat. I'm not really worried about
converting the dog people. That's fine. Just be a dog person,
that's great. I'm a cat person. I get it. But
I think there's some some audience in there that's like, wait,
pay more attention to your cat and what they need.
Don't just get your dog everything that they need.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So part of that is getting Kate's name out there
and promoting her.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And we're we're working with.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Kate now, but we need to take a quick break
and when we get back, we're going to talk about Kate.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Pr questions. We'll be right back. Take a bite out
of your competition.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
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(16:55):
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Speaker 8 (17:13):
Let's Talk pets on Petlife Radio dot.
Speaker 9 (17:16):
Com and we're back with Kate Benjamin, the Cat Style Experts.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
So, first of all, a little compliment for me to
your Kate. I really like the fact that you focus
on cats. I think it shows how authentic you are
and how genuine, and I think you also transmit that.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
When you talk.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
So I heard a really good talk of you at
the Real Talk at Block Poles, and you have incredible
storytelling skills and I want to hear more about that.
How I don't know is it a useful skill to
promote yourself? Do you find it hard to promote yourself?
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Well, thank you. I storytelling. So I've never really thought
of myself as a storyteller until I was pushed into
doing the talk at blog Pause, and I did definitely
put myself out of my comfort zone because it was
about cats, but it was related to sort of my
challenges that I've faced in life with different health issues
(18:23):
and things, and so I definitely feel like that was
a great experience. And Chloe Davida, who's our coach for
those talks, was just an incredible talk coach. She's really
great at storytelling and helping you craft your story. But honestly,
I have had a really interesting story from how this
(18:44):
all happened from the beginning. So I have always enjoyed
telling it, hopefully in a way that people can relate
to or find something that they can hope to follow
their passion and really figure out what is it that
they love and what is their skill set and how
(19:05):
do you turn that into a business. So I think
that as I've told the story over the years, I
mean I feel like it's been so long, it's sort
of like, well, what's the new new chapter in the story,
you know, And so maybe that is a piece of it.
Maybe it is a lot more more speaking, because generally
(19:25):
I've been out there sort of telling my story. It
started early on when I started the blog. It took
off because there was nobody ever had said these words
like hey, we should think about design for cats. So
it got a lot of hype. CBS Sunday Morning sent
a film crew to my house. I was in USA
today and the New York Times everyone was like, what
are you doing? This is different? And so that was
(19:48):
a great, great way. I mean, if you have a
unique story to tell, that is the important thing. You know,
that's how you know, that's what your business should focus on,
and that's where you're passion comes from. I think you know,
that's what is your unique selling point. I mean, that's
the most important thing in any business. You know, what's
your take on it, your editorial perspective, that kind of thing,
(20:10):
on a blog, on a product line, whatever you're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Hey, I just wanted to give some context to people
who don't understand what Blog Pause and Real Talks are.
So last November blog Pause, which is kind of a
content creators conference where you can get tips and tricks
on how to promote yourself. Alex and I and Franklin
my kitty attended. Part of that conference involved a special
(20:35):
evening called Real Talks, and they were ted similar to
Ted Talks, where animal people could tell their stories. And
Kate was one of those stories. She was phenomenal. You're
a phenomenal storyteller. And can I just tell you just
did a whole bunch of storytelling by talking to us,
and you're very good at promoting yourself. And you know,
(20:58):
if you listen to Kate, she's talking about everything with
emotion and through the heart because she truly believes in it,
and that's what you need to do in PR you
need an authoritic story. I know, Kate, you just mentioned that. Kate,
what other kinds of challenges like? It sounds like, you know,
you're one of the first cat people, actually the first.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Cat design person.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
But now I feel like your challenges are constantly having
to reinvent yourself because you can't stay stagnant, right, social
media is constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Tell us about some of your challenges.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Well, it is hard to just keep going, right, but
when I do, I remember how much I love it.
So just just creating content around what cats need in
the home and how you can make it look great.
So big challenge is that there are a lot more
(21:50):
voices out there now either either that's just one thing
they do. There's not a lot of people who that's
all they do, and I welcome them. I'm like, I'm fine,
come do this. We're just going to have different voices.
I'm always going to have more experience if you just started.
So there's that, yes, So let's all just remember the hierarchy.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yes, exactly. Gen X always wins and baby boomers.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
So so you know, there's that, there's the history, and
I but I love seeing I love seeing what new
younger people are doing and the new content and all
this stuff. So it's a question of like, Okay, how
do I freshen up what I've been doing in a
way that is still relevant and you know, can sit
(22:47):
next to the new content without just you know, doing
the same old I mean, blogging is it's you know,
it's not done, but it's definitely not the forefront anymore.
And what was hard for me is that it was
just such a perfect storm. When I started. I had
this background in PR. I was when I was working
at the children's product company. I mentioned I was working
(23:08):
with mommy bloggers all day long, and literally my first
day on the job, I answered the phone. Somebody had
called for the marketing department, which was me, and he said, hey,
would you email me some photos of your products so
I could put it on my blog? And I was like,
what's the blog? So I was lucky to work with
(23:28):
these like major people in the mommy blogging industry, and
a lot of them became my mentors, a few really
in particular, who were outstanding, and they showed me how
to monetize and then blog Pause. The original blog Pause
conference which is all pet content creators before content creator
was a word, before influencer was a word. Then that started,
(23:50):
and then we would get together and we would just
talk about like this world of blogging. So it's like,
now we need to figure out what is the new world?
What are we all going to get together and talk about?
Like there's so many things out there. There's all the
different social media, you know, like what's what's the next
thing that I still want to enjoy doing? Because I
don't want to do something I hate?
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So how do you keep up with it?
Speaker 6 (24:13):
It's hard. I also, over the years kind of transitioned
a few times. Like I started a partnership with Primetime Pets,
which is a company of pet product company out of Texas,
and they at the time did mostly dog products, but
they knew the importance of the cat product industry. I
was introduced to them, and then we formed a partnership
(24:35):
and I had a licensing deal and designed a whole
line of cat products with them, which they distributed all
over the country, all online and stuff, And so that
became my focus for a while. I really got more
embedded in the product side and less in the blogging
and the information side. And now that partnership has ended
and I'm moving on so that I have more freedom
(24:56):
to work with other companies and do my own thing.
And so I'm just sort of reassessing and looking at
my website and sort of needing to figure out, like
what are people looking for online? That's the thing is
when in two thousand and seven there wasn't that much.
There was a lot less on the internet than there
is today, and now it's on our phones, it's everywhere,
(25:20):
you know, And thank goodness, I didn't invest too much
time in TikTok.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yes, I think it's isn't it Sunday that basically there's
a ban on TikTok.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Yeah, I mean it's all still up in the air.
It might change, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, it depends how loud gen Z is.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I'm very happy to live in Canada where TikTok is
not banned yet.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
What except if Canada becomes a fifty per se there's that.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
But Kate, I just want to say though, like social
media might be a challenge for you, but I think
you're still handling it quite well. I mean, how many
followers do you.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Have right now?
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Like sixty thousand or something.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Well, yeah, and I mean that when I you know,
when social media started, Yeah, I was right there because
I was doing it for the brand I was working for,
and then I had started the blog, so you know,
I ramped up Facebook and Twitter right away when they started,
and then as soon as Instagram came on the scene,
jumped on that, and so those numbers got pretty big.
(26:24):
You know, fifty thousand on Facebook or something, and it
got to fifty thousand like right away, and so it
was big, and then then social media really takes hold,
right and then it just starts like that's the focus.
People can come in and start on social media now
and be at seven hundred thousand, a million, two million followers.
(26:46):
And there's also the idea of like that is stressful,
Like you even just having a big email list. Every
time you press send, you're you're a little bit like, well,
I hope there's no typos, and so you get you know,
you get used to it a little bit to a
certain extent. The first time I had a post go
(27:08):
like super viral, like to the mainstream. Normally, I like
to just talk. I like to preach to the choir,
stand my bubble, talk to people who get it. But
something went mainstream and it was about this Japanese house
that had been designed for cats and you know, had
cats stuff everywhere and little places they could climb. And
(27:29):
once that went to the general public and it got
big on stumble Upon. Do you remember stumble Upon. Yes,
it was this weird thing. It was a it was
a browser add on that was kind of like your
for you page, Oh okay, and it would be like, oh,
give me some topics, and then you would just press
it and it would like find a random website. And
so somehow though, if it was able, things were able
(27:52):
to go viral in there, like if people then you
could like it or whatever. I mean, this was like
early social media. This was before Facebook.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Before Alex was born.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Yeah, probably you weren't even alive. So this post went
crazy viral, like like the my page got like a
quarter million page views in a day. Oh my god,
my website. Yeah. But with that came the comments and
the trolls and the people and the cat haters. And
(28:23):
I just remember this one comment from this one guy
who was like, I clean vents for a living, and
I can tell you that a house with that many
cats is disgusting. You're disgusting, And I was like, whoa
first taste of Like how you have to have such
a thick skin. I think people are way more used
to it now because of the stuff that happens online
(28:43):
and in media and comments and stuff like that, but
it's still never fun. You still have to have a
thick skin. And then you have to sort of decide
do I want mainstream? Do I want two million followers?
Because that's not going to be the bubble, that's not
going to be the preaching to the choir. You know,
it's not going to be safe. So how much do
(29:05):
you want to get out there, which is how you
have to grow your business, You have to find new
audiences and reach out to that general population. Or do
you want to stay niche? You know? So I'm kind
of figuring that I'm pretty much sure that I always
want to stay niche. It's just a matter of like
what does my audience want? Now? Who is my audience now?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Like?
Speaker 6 (29:26):
Who? How how does this new generation fit in? How
many of them are paying attention to what I'm doing?
Or am I just the old lady now?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Am I?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
Like people have called me the Martha Stewart of cats, which.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I would love to be the Martha Stewart, but you
need to make her kind of money.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Oh god, yeah, yeah, yeah, so exactly how because businesses,
you know, they're always asking about social media. Do you
see an income coming from social media for you?
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Where uh, it's not really monetized because I don't do YouTube.
I should focus more on YouTube and monetize that My
income over the years, well, at first it was always
very just advertisers because the website traffic was king right,
and then I had advertisers who wanted to get in
(30:14):
front of that. That has shifted website traffic and advertising
isn't necessarily the thing unless you want to put like
one of those ad aggregators on which I don't. I
never have. Also have never used AI to write a
single thing on my blog yay, and that's important to me.
So I don't have a lot of pop up ads.
I don't use AI. It's all like from my heart,
(30:36):
So I now need to sort of look at that,
like do I. So it's always been either advertising on
the blog or relationships with brands. So brands that I've
worked with that know that my readers will respond when
I write about their new products or something. So it's
been you know, email ads and giveaways that they sponsor
(30:58):
or sponsored posts things like that. It's always been really
from the heart content that then different companies have wanted
to partner with. So I just need to keep that
up and then maybe find some new ways like okay,
maybe it's something we're doing together on social media. How
do I charge for that? How do how do you
(31:18):
monitor it? How do you show ROI? All those things? So, yeah,
it's I mean it's hard when you start off when
things kind of happen pretty easily, like because of the
perfect storm, and then and then think the landscape changes.
You just gotta you gotta reinvent, you know, and decide
what's important to you.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, well, we got to take a quick break, but
you are so.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Fascinating, Kate. We're gonna come back with you right after this.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Molly, here's your dinner. That's not your food.
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(32:18):
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Speaker 1 (32:29):
That's cattreetray dot com, c.
Speaker 10 (32:31):
A T t R E E t.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
R a y dot com. Let's talk about let's.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Dunk petal headline.
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Radio catlight radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
And we're back with Kate.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Kate a question about incoming And I know you've mentioned
affiliate links before, and I just wanted to know, as like,
for content creators as well as for businesses, how important
is for you when a brand offers you affiliate links.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
I think that's probably my favorite thing right now because
also like if I'm busy and like doing events or
traveling around the country, or if I have a big
order that I have to produce, I might not have
the time to create the content to you know, to
do what we were just talking about, which is kind
of create that relationship. But then when I have time,
(33:34):
if I can just throw something get together, put an
affiliate link on there, especially if I have the product
in my house and I can really sincerely say I
love this, my cats are using it. Look how great
it looks in my house, Like that should be an
affiliate link, right, because it's genuine content, and so it's
(33:55):
also then super easy. So if brands have have an
affiliate program that's easy to find, either there's a sign
up on their website or there's a link to say
find us in share a sale or a win or
one of the other big ones, I'm going to immediately
just apply and sign up for it, just so that
I have that link. And then if it's something that
(34:17):
I really want to write about, then I'll email them
and I'll say, hey, I just joined your affiliate program.
I'd love a sample of this product, and you know,
if you would like to send them to me. Here's
some examples of other posts I've done with other brands.
And then that relationship is created. But it's not just well,
first of all, free product doesn't pay the bills, and
(34:39):
it's also not just trying to get free product. You
have to show them. You have to, you know, do
the post, send them the link, add to social media,
tag them so that they can see, oh, this is
worth sending her things. And then when she comes to
me with you know, well let's partner. Here's the cost,
then you have the relationship. So I think that's a
(35:00):
really good way to make to start that relationship without
too much commitment. Instead of just going in and saying, hey,
here I am, give me thousands of dollars. You know,
it's like, well, prove yourself, yeah exactly. Even though I've
been doing it for a thousand years, you know, new
companies that may not have done their research might just
be like, uh, who are you? You know?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
No, And affiliate links, yeah, are such a good way
for businesses to track which content creator or influencer is
bringing customers. So I always always recommend affiliate links to
all of our clients when they want to work with
content creators. I think it's a great way to push
the content creator to post in an authentic way as well,
and not to promote it too much as an ad,
(35:43):
but more like in a daily you know, in a
daily basis, like this is the letter I use every day,
so you post about it every day and you just
share your affiliate link and then you can track how
many customers did that content creator bring yep.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Exactly, So, Kate, how can people get a hold of
you and connect with you?
Speaker 6 (36:01):
So the brand is House Panthers spelled Haus with the
German spelling, which is a little shout out to the
German Bowhouse, the birthplace of modern design. So Housepanther dot
com is the main website and from there there's a
link to our online store, and then on all social
media it's house Panther and feel free to reach out
(36:22):
through the contact page if you have any special questions.
I kind of do all sorts of things these days,
the products, the writing, the speaking, the catifying. You know,
I do a lot of homes as well as shelters
and cat cafes. I've done several of those in the
last few years, and just here to answer questions and
maybe look for new things that I'll be launching. I
(36:45):
feel like more of a community based something like maybe
a Facebook group or something where people can actually we
can interact and we can share ideas and we can
do cool stuff and just keep moving cats to the
next level.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
And Elk, Smart and I would be the first three
to join because we all have well, no, Alex has
only one cat, but I have three cats, and Mark
has like eight or nine or ten.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
I have three.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Oh why did I think you had eight?
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I have Dannis, Starlett and Mollie.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
But you have you have a community cats too, don't
you know?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
They were community We had two.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
They're gone now, but I don't know. This past couple
of weeks we had some new ones show up. I
guess they know which house to go to because now
they're sleeping in front of our door.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
It was cold here the past couple of weeks and
I saw like one of them like curled up next
to our house like shivering.
Speaker 7 (37:40):
So you know.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
I have the heating pad for cats that I was
in the garage because the other cats are gone, so
I put it back out there. I warmed it up
and he's sleeping on that. He's there now.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Oh so cute.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Well, if you are interested, you know, Kate is available
for speaking engagements and she will be at Space Cats.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
She's been at so many cat festivals.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
She is one of the most amazing speakers that Alex
and I have heard when it comes to storytelling and
cat To Find your Home well, that's a wrap for
this show. So we are so excited to be doing
this for all of you out there who are making
life better for animals, whether it's cats, which we love, but.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
We love dogs too. A few of us are bipetuals.
So do you have a question perhaps that you.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Want us to answer, will reach out to us on
Instagram or Facebook under Whisker Media and we're going to
try to answer it in a future podcast episode.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
So, as we always.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Say, our cloud and per smart.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
See you later, everyone.
Speaker 8 (38:40):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radios dot com
This is Pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to the Whisker Report.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
We're a new podcast dedicated to helping anyone in the
pet industry. Whether you're an animal welfare nonprofit or a
for profit pet company, we want to help you get
some pr and buzz for your organization. Hello everyone, I'm
Mary Tan, one of the hosts of the show, along
with alexand Ricard, a French gal who now lives in Vancouver,
(00:38):
just moved there from across the Pond, and she travels
the world in the hopes of Spain and neutering straight
cats everywhere but your alexandlde.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I hope everybody's staying safe if I've seen the American
news with the fire in La So I'm just hoping
everybody is staying safe and that the animals can stay safe.
We're here today with a producer, Mark Winter of Pet
Life Radio, whose demands we get sus to you each
and every week.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Hello, how's everyone?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We are good?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Good?
Speaker 6 (01:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
How are you? Mark?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
I'm good. We had like fun things going on here
this week. I know Mary, you're a newsperson, so you'll appreciate.
We had Chuck Scarborough on What Yeah on Rapport to
the rescue.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Chuck Scarborough.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yeah, he was on with his wife and that was fun.
And then for all you fashionistas, we had Isaac musraki
Onto and he was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh my god, I'm so jelly.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Ugh.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Jill gets great guests.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
But she you know, she's still with NBC, or she
not with NBC anymore.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
She's not like a regular, but every so often they
do a special with her. When they have like a
pet special, then she's on.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
She is probably one of the first pet tea journalists
for people that don't know she's on the Today Show,
she was a correspondent. She's very very well known. Definitely
one of the first pet journalists probably. I mean I
think I watched her in the eighties. I think the
eighties and nineties were like her big heyday. But that's
(02:18):
so cool, Mark, Yeah, you're doing tons of cool stuff
and more people.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Spread the word. Pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Has a bazillion pet podcast there's like a topic for everything.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
And I think I'm gonna talk to our guest from
last week about having a like exotic Pets show with c.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Oh Ethan Ethan.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Haper with Happy Habitat. We love Ethan too. He was
on a previous show, so tune into that show. He's
kind of a goofy fellow. He developed this like hamster
wheel for isn't molky or mooky his hamster Moozi or mootzie.
But you know our I guess this week is pretty
(03:02):
awesome too, write Alex.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, today we have the pleasure of having such an
inspiring woman. I met her at the block Pols convention
in November and I was in absolutely all of her story.
Kate Benjamin has a knife for design and she uses
it to help cats. Kate Benjamin is the founder of
House Panther, and online magazine focused on helping people cadify
(03:27):
their home. Hi, Kate, We're so happy to have you
on the show. Can you tell us how it all started?
How did you get into catification design and how did
you create that word because that's a new word right.
Speaker 6 (03:40):
Yes, yes, and thank you for having me. Always a
pleasure to chat with you guys, some of my most
favorite people in the industry. Yeah. So, ctification is a
word that I coined with Jackson Galaxy, so it's kind
of our brain child together. I had been writing about
cats and designs two thousand and seven, and I came
(04:02):
to that because I had a design background and I
had cats. I was working in the children's product industry,
and I was working for a company that made very beautiful,
modern children's products, and I realized, Hey, how come nobody's
doing this for cats. And so one night I just
started a blog. And that was kind of at the
boom of the mommy blogging industry, you know, in the
(04:26):
two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, and I
just took off. And at the same time, Jackson Galaxy
was kind of coming up as a cat behaviorist and
his show started on Animal Planet, My Cat from Hell,
and he had been reading my blog and he realized
that as a cat behaviorist, he would go into people's
homes and tell them, Hey, you need to do things.
(04:47):
You need to hang shelves and put scratchers here and
add a litter box. And people were like, it's gonna
look awful. I don't want my house to look like
the crazy cat lady. So he tracked me down and said, hey,
you're doing this right. This design piece and I want
to work together, and so let's create this thing called catification,
which is all of the behavior and environmental enrichment side,
(05:10):
combined with design and the actual consideration of what do
the people want, because if the people don't like it,
they're not going to do it, and then the cats
won't have what they need to live their best life.
So it's really about creating an enriched environment for cats
in a way that fits with your style, that you're
not embarrassed to have friends come over and doesn't make
(05:32):
you look like the crazy cat lady.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Can I ask you a question, who do you think
catify their homes the most generation wise? Do you think
it's more gen z who is like pre occupied by
the design and how it fits into their home for
their cats, or is it like millennials or boomers or
older generation.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
I have seen all the generations do it, so I
have had kind of an older readership come up with
me since I started doing this. But as we see
now with social media and lots of people sharing what
they've done in their homes for their cats, tons of
gen z are starting to do it, and especially because
they love their pets so much. Right, cat owners are
(06:13):
just completely over the top and proud of it. That's
the other thing that's shifted since really social media has
made all of this stuff more accessible to everybody is
that people are less afraid to say, I'm a proud
cat owner. Look at my house, it looks great, Look
what I did, Look what I did for my cat,
and how much they love it and it's making their
(06:34):
life better. And so I really have seen this whole range.
I mean, you have sort of older people who have
more money or maybe they're empty nesters, and now they
have these cats, and the cats are getting everything they
ever wanted. And then there's people like me who didn't
have children, right, And I'm gen z or gen X.
I am of classic gen X, and I did not
(06:56):
have children. So my cats are my children and so
they get every thing, you know, and I figure it's
cheaper than college. And then yeah, and then just the
new generations are just seeing it happen more and more.
Jackson and I wrote two books, Cratification and Catify to Satisfy,
and both were New York Times bestsellers. So I think
that says a lot about the interest that people have
(07:19):
taken over the years.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
That's incredible. And so Mary always talks about cats being
second class citizens, right Mary, Yes, dogs.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yes, absolutely, they need to be promoted.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Yeah, And so businesses like yours Kate are showing that
cats matter as much as dogs, right, and that they
need as much or sometimes even more than dogs.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yes, And I think a big piece of that too
is that cat ownership and design is all about the home.
It's about creating that home environment. Because unless you have
an adventure cat, which is definitely the minority, but they exist.
I know you have one and Mary. Yeah, So cats
that go out and about. Cats are at home, and
(08:06):
that's where you spend time with them, That's where you
nurture them. You need to give them the things that
they need to thrive, especially when we're talking about indoor
only cats, which is what I prefer. I believe that
they're safer, you know, if you love them that if
you live in an environment where they are not safe outside,
it's best to keep them inside. So you have to
give them these things that they need to be active,
(08:29):
to keep their minds and their bodies active so that
they live this really fulfilled life. Whereas with dog owners,
all those products are around, like going camping and hiking
and to the dog park, and it's outdoor stuff, so
it was always just it had more attention given to it.
So as somebody writing about and developing products for cats,
(08:50):
it can be a tougher sell. A lot of people
have always traditionally thought, well, cats don't need anything special, right,
Well they do. Yeah, maybe they don't need it to survive.
But do you want your cats to just survive or
do you want them to live their best life?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
So I am actually sitting in a room. You can't
see it if you're listening in the podcast, but this
room was designed by Kate and can I tell you
it is the best room in my house.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
And the people who use.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It are my foster kittens and Franklin, who Kate alluded
to earlier. He's an adventure Katie. He likes to just
like a super highway so they can run up and
down without ever touching the floor. So just to shout out, Kate,
you were amazing to work with. I have received so
much feedback here in the Minneapolis Saint Paul area because
(09:43):
Kate's design was also featured in our local newspaper, the
Minnesota Star Tribune, and several realtors reached out to me
and like, are thinking about maybe we should focus on
pets as you know, a way to sell homes because
at the last American Pet Products Association press conference last year.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
They talked about how pets, how.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
The Realtors Association have talked about pets are an important
part of somebody's selection in buying a home, and so
it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And Kate, you talked.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
About the dog products, but have you seen a lot
of innovation in the cat space?
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Absolutely so. When I started in two thousand and seven,
there were a few companies that I was aware of
from the United States and several from Europe and Scandinavia
who were already designing beautiful things for cats, wall mounted scratchers,
free standing towers, climbers, shelves, things like that, but not
(10:45):
a lot. I had to really search and then almost overnight,
more and more started to develop, and they at the time,
they were kind of smaller companies, some of the ones
that were already on the scene. Of course, the Refined
Feline and Hepper was around at the beginning. Like I
found his website before he was ready to launch, when
I was searching for things to write about, and I
(11:05):
emailed him and I said, oh, can I cover your
products on the blog? And he created the Hepper pod
that original, like I kind of modern cat design, and
he was like, hey, can you give me like a
day until I work out the bugs on my website?
You know you're fast. So I worked with a lot
of these companies developing over the years, you know, giving
(11:25):
them feedback, helping them promote anything that I thought was
a quality product, so well designed, being esthetically pleasing, but
also really functional, like does it work for the cat?
Does it give them something they need? And does it
work for the pet owner. So that's how kind of
how I defined good design, Like is it easy to clean?
Is it easy to move? Can you switch things out
when they become worn without throwing the whole thing away?
(11:47):
So I found small companies doing this, and then as
time went on, the big players started to take notice, right,
and so companies that normally only focused on dog or
they had like a couple of kind of ugly cat
things where everything was covered with beige carpet, they started
to change. They got rid of the beige carpet. They
started to add new, more stylish things in the current trends,
(12:11):
whatever the colors are that are happening in the interior
design industry that season. And so as those things were
added in different styles, you know, traditional, contemporary, transitional, you know, Boho,
all this different stuff. It became more and more available.
So I do think that there is a lot out
(12:31):
there right now. So I get frustrated when I see
a new cat product company right up there about us
page and they're like, we started this company because there's
just nothing out there for cats that we liked. Well,
if you're saying that, you probably didn't do your research.
So that is one of my pet peeves. There is
a lot out there, doesn't mean there isn't room for
(12:54):
tons of new stuff, great new ideas, innovative things. Plenty
of white spaces left. But the industry has completely changed
since I started in two thousand and seven. There's a lot,
and I want to keep it that way. I want
to keep the innovation going. That was my goal in
starting the blog was to spark the industry to change,
and it has and I want to keep it up.
(13:16):
And I and I keep cats at the forefront, like
you said, you know, give them the spotlight, don't let
the dogs take back over, and you know, just keep
this going because they're so amazing. They're amazing creatures. They
play an important role in our lives. I mean, they've
gotten me through so many life challenges. It's amazing, and
(13:38):
I you know, they're my children, so I just want
to see it keep going.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I actually have a question about so your cat focused right,
and we like your goal is to put cats on
top of the society. But I have a question because
we know the money is mostly in the dog business, right,
Like people who have dogs are more likely to spend
more money. So how important is it for you even
though the money is in a dog business, to keep
(14:03):
it as an only cat focused business.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Well, just I only relate to cats. Really, I've never
had a dog. I mean there's plenty of dogs I've
met and then been like, oh I love you. Your
soul is amazing. I just I've never had a dog.
So they're just a totally different lifestyle. It's not my lifestyle.
It's I'm not outdoorsy. I don't like camping and hiking,
(14:26):
but it's not my thing. I like designing my home
and cleaning it and you know, changing it. Like just
so that's that's my focus. Somebody has got to do
it right, So, you know, I find I find it
frustrating if so. I do events and I have a
lot of products that I design and we make here
(14:48):
in our design studio in Phoenix, and so some it's
certainly the holiday season. I sell my products and I
meet the people who are coming up to my booth,
and it's kind of split. First, the people who I
love are the one who are like, oh my god,
cat stuff. It's always dog stuff, you know, And there's
like ten booths next to me that sell like dog bones,
(15:09):
and so they're so excited. They get it. They understand
it's handmade, they understand it's designed by a cat person,
that it's high quality, it's you know, safe materials, all
that stuff. And then well there's the people on the
other end of the spectrum who just completely don't get it,
and they pick up a cat toy and they're like,
what's this And then they're like, well, do you have
(15:30):
any dog toys? And I'm like, nope, sorry, go that way.
And so then there are the people who have both, right, yeah,
the dog owners who also have a cat, and they
pick something up and they're like, well, I can't buy
it because my dog will just eat it.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
So bipetual people, Yeah, how.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Do we get those bipetual people to be a little
more committed to their cat. I'm not really worried about
converting the dog people. That's fine. Just be a dog person,
that's great. I'm a cat person. I get it. But
I think there's some some audience in there that's like, wait,
pay more attention to your cat and what they need.
Don't just get your dog everything that they need.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So part of that is getting Kate's name out there
and promoting her.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And we're we're working with.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Kate now, but we need to take a quick break
and when we get back, we're going to talk about Kate.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Pr questions. We'll be right back. Take a bite out
of your competition.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
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Speaker 8 (17:13):
Let's Talk pets on Petlife Radio dot.
Speaker 9 (17:16):
Com and we're back with Kate Benjamin, the Cat Style Experts.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
So, first of all, a little compliment for me to
your Kate. I really like the fact that you focus
on cats. I think it shows how authentic you are
and how genuine, and I think you also transmit that.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
When you talk.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
So I heard a really good talk of you at
the Real Talk at Block Poles, and you have incredible
storytelling skills and I want to hear more about that.
How I don't know is it a useful skill to
promote yourself? Do you find it hard to promote yourself?
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Well, thank you. I storytelling. So I've never really thought
of myself as a storyteller until I was pushed into
doing the talk at blog Pause, and I did definitely
put myself out of my comfort zone because it was
about cats, but it was related to sort of my
challenges that I've faced in life with different health issues
(18:23):
and things, and so I definitely feel like that was
a great experience. And Chloe Davida, who's our coach for
those talks, was just an incredible talk coach. She's really
great at storytelling and helping you craft your story. But honestly,
I have had a really interesting story from how this
(18:44):
all happened from the beginning. So I have always enjoyed
telling it, hopefully in a way that people can relate
to or find something that they can hope to follow
their passion and really figure out what is it that
they love and what is their skill set and how
(19:05):
do you turn that into a business. So I think
that as I've told the story over the years, I
mean I feel like it's been so long, it's sort
of like, well, what's the new new chapter in the story,
you know, And so maybe that is a piece of it.
Maybe it is a lot more more speaking, because generally
(19:25):
I've been out there sort of telling my story. It
started early on when I started the blog. It took
off because there was nobody ever had said these words
like hey, we should think about design for cats. So
it got a lot of hype. CBS Sunday Morning sent
a film crew to my house. I was in USA
today and the New York Times everyone was like, what
are you doing? This is different? And so that was
(19:48):
a great, great way. I mean, if you have a
unique story to tell, that is the important thing. You know,
that's how you know, that's what your business should focus on,
and that's where you're passion comes from. I think you know,
that's what is your unique selling point. I mean, that's
the most important thing in any business. You know, what's
your take on it, your editorial perspective, that kind of thing,
(20:10):
on a blog, on a product line, whatever you're doing.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Hey, I just wanted to give some context to people
who don't understand what Blog Pause and Real Talks are.
So last November blog Pause, which is kind of a
content creators conference where you can get tips and tricks
on how to promote yourself. Alex and I and Franklin
my kitty attended. Part of that conference involved a special
(20:35):
evening called Real Talks, and they were ted similar to
Ted Talks, where animal people could tell their stories. And
Kate was one of those stories. She was phenomenal. You're
a phenomenal storyteller. And can I just tell you just
did a whole bunch of storytelling by talking to us,
and you're very good at promoting yourself. And you know,
(20:58):
if you listen to Kate, she's talking about everything with
emotion and through the heart because she truly believes in it,
and that's what you need to do in PR you
need an authoritic story. I know, Kate, you just mentioned that. Kate,
what other kinds of challenges like? It sounds like, you know,
you're one of the first cat people, actually the first.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Cat design person.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
But now I feel like your challenges are constantly having
to reinvent yourself because you can't stay stagnant, right, social
media is constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Tell us about some of your challenges.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Well, it is hard to just keep going, right, but
when I do, I remember how much I love it.
So just just creating content around what cats need in
the home and how you can make it look great.
So big challenge is that there are a lot more
(21:50):
voices out there now either either that's just one thing
they do. There's not a lot of people who that's
all they do, and I welcome them. I'm like, I'm fine,
come do this. We're just going to have different voices.
I'm always going to have more experience if you just started.
So there's that, yes, So let's all just remember the hierarchy.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yes, exactly. Gen X always wins and baby boomers.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
So so you know, there's that, there's the history, and
I but I love seeing I love seeing what new
younger people are doing and the new content and all
this stuff. So it's a question of like, Okay, how
do I freshen up what I've been doing in a
way that is still relevant and you know, can sit
(22:47):
next to the new content without just you know, doing
the same old I mean, blogging is it's you know,
it's not done, but it's definitely not the forefront anymore.
And what was hard for me is that it was
just such a perfect storm. When I started. I had
this background in PR. I was when I was working
at the children's product company. I mentioned I was working
(23:08):
with mommy bloggers all day long, and literally my first
day on the job, I answered the phone. Somebody had
called for the marketing department, which was me, and he said, hey,
would you email me some photos of your products so
I could put it on my blog? And I was like,
what's the blog? So I was lucky to work with
(23:28):
these like major people in the mommy blogging industry, and
a lot of them became my mentors, a few really
in particular, who were outstanding, and they showed me how
to monetize and then blog Pause. The original blog Pause
conference which is all pet content creators before content creator
was a word, before influencer was a word. Then that started,
(23:50):
and then we would get together and we would just
talk about like this world of blogging. So it's like,
now we need to figure out what is the new world?
What are we all going to get together and talk about?
Like there's so many things out there. There's all the
different social media, you know, like what's what's the next
thing that I still want to enjoy doing? Because I
don't want to do something I hate?
Speaker 2 (24:11):
So how do you keep up with it?
Speaker 6 (24:13):
It's hard. I also, over the years kind of transitioned
a few times. Like I started a partnership with Primetime Pets,
which is a company of pet product company out of Texas,
and they at the time did mostly dog products, but
they knew the importance of the cat product industry. I
was introduced to them, and then we formed a partnership
(24:35):
and I had a licensing deal and designed a whole
line of cat products with them, which they distributed all
over the country, all online and stuff, And so that
became my focus for a while. I really got more
embedded in the product side and less in the blogging
and the information side. And now that partnership has ended
and I'm moving on so that I have more freedom
(24:56):
to work with other companies and do my own thing.
And so I'm just sort of reassessing and looking at
my website and sort of needing to figure out, like
what are people looking for online? That's the thing is
when in two thousand and seven there wasn't that much.
There was a lot less on the internet than there
is today, and now it's on our phones, it's everywhere,
(25:20):
you know, And thank goodness, I didn't invest too much
time in TikTok.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yes, I think it's isn't it Sunday that basically there's
a ban on TikTok.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Yeah, I mean it's all still up in the air.
It might change, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Yeah, it depends how loud gen Z is.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I'm very happy to live in Canada where TikTok is
not banned yet.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
What except if Canada becomes a fifty per se there's that.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
But Kate, I just want to say though, like social
media might be a challenge for you, but I think
you're still handling it quite well. I mean, how many
followers do you.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Have right now?
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Like sixty thousand or something.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Well, yeah, and I mean that when I you know,
when social media started, Yeah, I was right there because
I was doing it for the brand I was working for,
and then I had started the blog, so you know,
I ramped up Facebook and Twitter right away when they started,
and then as soon as Instagram came on the scene,
jumped on that, and so those numbers got pretty big.
(26:24):
You know, fifty thousand on Facebook or something, and it
got to fifty thousand like right away, and so it
was big, and then then social media really takes hold,
right and then it just starts like that's the focus.
People can come in and start on social media now
and be at seven hundred thousand, a million, two million followers.
(26:46):
And there's also the idea of like that is stressful,
Like you even just having a big email list. Every
time you press send, you're you're a little bit like, well,
I hope there's no typos, and so you get you know,
you get used to it a little bit to a
certain extent. The first time I had a post go
(27:08):
like super viral, like to the mainstream. Normally, I like
to just talk. I like to preach to the choir,
stand my bubble, talk to people who get it. But
something went mainstream and it was about this Japanese house
that had been designed for cats and you know, had
cats stuff everywhere and little places they could climb. And
(27:29):
once that went to the general public and it got
big on stumble Upon. Do you remember stumble Upon. Yes,
it was this weird thing. It was a it was
a browser add on that was kind of like your
for you page, Oh okay, and it would be like, oh,
give me some topics, and then you would just press
it and it would like find a random website. And
so somehow though, if it was able, things were able
(27:52):
to go viral in there, like if people then you
could like it or whatever. I mean, this was like
early social media. This was before Facebook.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Before Alex was born.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Yeah, probably you weren't even alive. So this post went
crazy viral, like like the my page got like a
quarter million page views in a day. Oh my god,
my website. Yeah. But with that came the comments and
the trolls and the people and the cat haters. And
(28:23):
I just remember this one comment from this one guy
who was like, I clean vents for a living, and
I can tell you that a house with that many
cats is disgusting. You're disgusting, And I was like, whoa
first taste of Like how you have to have such
a thick skin. I think people are way more used
to it now because of the stuff that happens online
(28:43):
and in media and comments and stuff like that, but
it's still never fun. You still have to have a
thick skin. And then you have to sort of decide
do I want mainstream? Do I want two million followers?
Because that's not going to be the bubble, that's not
going to be the preaching to the choir. You know,
it's not going to be safe. So how much do
(29:05):
you want to get out there, which is how you
have to grow your business, You have to find new
audiences and reach out to that general population. Or do
you want to stay niche? You know? So I'm kind
of figuring that I'm pretty much sure that I always
want to stay niche. It's just a matter of like
what does my audience want? Now? Who is my audience now?
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Like?
Speaker 6 (29:26):
Who? How how does this new generation fit in? How
many of them are paying attention to what I'm doing?
Or am I just the old lady now?
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Am I?
Speaker 6 (29:33):
Like people have called me the Martha Stewart of cats, which.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
I would love to be the Martha Stewart, but you
need to make her kind of money.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Oh god, yeah, yeah, yeah, so exactly how because businesses,
you know, they're always asking about social media. Do you
see an income coming from social media for you?
Speaker 6 (29:53):
Where uh, it's not really monetized because I don't do YouTube.
I should focus more on YouTube and monetize that My
income over the years, well, at first it was always
very just advertisers because the website traffic was king right,
and then I had advertisers who wanted to get in
(30:14):
front of that. That has shifted website traffic and advertising
isn't necessarily the thing unless you want to put like
one of those ad aggregators on which I don't. I
never have. Also have never used AI to write a
single thing on my blog yay, and that's important to me.
So I don't have a lot of pop up ads.
I don't use AI. It's all like from my heart,
(30:36):
So I now need to sort of look at that,
like do I. So it's always been either advertising on
the blog or relationships with brands. So brands that I've
worked with that know that my readers will respond when
I write about their new products or something. So it's
been you know, email ads and giveaways that they sponsor
(30:58):
or sponsored posts things like that. It's always been really
from the heart content that then different companies have wanted
to partner with. So I just need to keep that
up and then maybe find some new ways like okay,
maybe it's something we're doing together on social media. How
do I charge for that? How do how do you
(31:18):
monitor it? How do you show ROI? All those things? So, yeah,
it's I mean it's hard when you start off when
things kind of happen pretty easily, like because of the
perfect storm, and then and then think the landscape changes.
You just gotta you gotta reinvent, you know, and decide
what's important to you.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, well, we got to take a quick break, but
you are so.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Fascinating, Kate. We're gonna come back with you right after this.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Molly, here's your dinner. That's not your food.
Speaker 10 (31:54):
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Speaker 1 (32:29):
That's cattreetray dot com, c.
Speaker 10 (32:31):
A T t R E E t.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
R a y dot com. Let's talk about let's.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Dunk petal headline.
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Radio catlight radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
And we're back with Kate.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Kate a question about incoming And I know you've mentioned
affiliate links before, and I just wanted to know, as like,
for content creators as well as for businesses, how important
is for you when a brand offers you affiliate links.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
I think that's probably my favorite thing right now because
also like if I'm busy and like doing events or
traveling around the country, or if I have a big
order that I have to produce, I might not have
the time to create the content to you know, to
do what we were just talking about, which is kind
of create that relationship. But then when I have time,
(33:34):
if I can just throw something get together, put an
affiliate link on there, especially if I have the product
in my house and I can really sincerely say I
love this, my cats are using it. Look how great
it looks in my house, Like that should be an
affiliate link, right, because it's genuine content, and so it's
(33:55):
also then super easy. So if brands have have an
affiliate program that's easy to find, either there's a sign
up on their website or there's a link to say
find us in share a sale or a win or
one of the other big ones, I'm going to immediately
just apply and sign up for it, just so that
I have that link. And then if it's something that
(34:17):
I really want to write about, then I'll email them
and I'll say, hey, I just joined your affiliate program.
I'd love a sample of this product, and you know,
if you would like to send them to me. Here's
some examples of other posts I've done with other brands.
And then that relationship is created. But it's not just well,
first of all, free product doesn't pay the bills, and
(34:39):
it's also not just trying to get free product. You
have to show them. You have to, you know, do
the post, send them the link, add to social media,
tag them so that they can see, oh, this is
worth sending her things. And then when she comes to
me with you know, well let's partner. Here's the cost,
then you have the relationship. So I think that's a
(35:00):
really good way to make to start that relationship without
too much commitment. Instead of just going in and saying, hey,
here I am, give me thousands of dollars. You know,
it's like, well, prove yourself, yeah exactly. Even though I've
been doing it for a thousand years, you know, new
companies that may not have done their research might just
be like, uh, who are you? You know?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
No, And affiliate links, yeah, are such a good way
for businesses to track which content creator or influencer is
bringing customers. So I always always recommend affiliate links to
all of our clients when they want to work with
content creators. I think it's a great way to push
the content creator to post in an authentic way as well,
and not to promote it too much as an ad,
(35:43):
but more like in a daily you know, in a
daily basis, like this is the letter I use every day,
so you post about it every day and you just
share your affiliate link and then you can track how
many customers did that content creator bring yep.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Exactly, So, Kate, how can people get a hold of
you and connect with you?
Speaker 6 (36:01):
So the brand is House Panthers spelled Haus with the
German spelling, which is a little shout out to the
German Bowhouse, the birthplace of modern design. So Housepanther dot
com is the main website and from there there's a
link to our online store, and then on all social
media it's house Panther and feel free to reach out
(36:22):
through the contact page if you have any special questions.
I kind of do all sorts of things these days,
the products, the writing, the speaking, the catifying. You know,
I do a lot of homes as well as shelters
and cat cafes. I've done several of those in the
last few years, and just here to answer questions and
maybe look for new things that I'll be launching. I
(36:45):
feel like more of a community based something like maybe
a Facebook group or something where people can actually we
can interact and we can share ideas and we can
do cool stuff and just keep moving cats to the
next level.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
And Elk, Smart and I would be the first three
to join because we all have well, no, Alex has
only one cat, but I have three cats, and Mark
has like eight or nine or ten.
Speaker 5 (37:09):
I have three.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Oh why did I think you had eight?
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I have Dannis, Starlett and Mollie.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
But you have you have a community cats too, don't
you know?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
They were community We had two.
Speaker 5 (37:21):
They're gone now, but I don't know. This past couple
of weeks we had some new ones show up. I
guess they know which house to go to because now
they're sleeping in front of our door.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
So oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
It was cold here the past couple of weeks and
I saw like one of them like curled up next
to our house like shivering.
Speaker 7 (37:40):
So you know.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
I have the heating pad for cats that I was
in the garage because the other cats are gone, so
I put it back out there. I warmed it up
and he's sleeping on that. He's there now.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Oh so cute.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Well, if you are interested, you know, Kate is available
for speaking engagements and she will be at Space Cats.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
She's been at so many cat festivals.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
She is one of the most amazing speakers that Alex
and I have heard when it comes to storytelling and
cat To Find your Home well, that's a wrap for
this show. So we are so excited to be doing
this for all of you out there who are making
life better for animals, whether it's cats, which we love, but.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
We love dogs too. A few of us are bipetuals.
So do you have a question perhaps that you.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Want us to answer, will reach out to us on
Instagram or Facebook under Whisker Media and we're going to
try to answer it in a future podcast episode.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
So, as we always.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Say, our cloud and per smart.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
See you later, everyone.
Speaker 8 (38:40):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radios dot com
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