May 12, 2025 • 37 mins
This week on The Whisker Report, co-host Alexane Ricard flies solo while Mary Tan is off managing her cat Franklin’s latest modeling gig—because hey, someone’s gotta pay the bills! Joined by Pet Life Radio producer Mark Winter, Alexane previews her upcoming TNR-focused podcast Saaving the Streets (yes, that’s “saaving” with two A’s—stay tuned for the story!). Plus, our special guest is the talented Leeza Hernandez of LeezaWorks, a cat-loving illustrator whose muse, Nigel, happens to look just like Alexane’s own feline. Lisa shares how she went from book illustration to launching her own brand, and dishes on her first-ever cat art show, Space Cats, in Florida.
EPISODE NOTES: Leeza Works It: Cat Art, Nigel the Muse & Space Cats
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/whisker-report-pet-pr-publicity-pet-life-radio-original--6669416/support.
EPISODE NOTES: Leeza Works It: Cat Art, Nigel the Muse & Space Cats
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 (00:14):
Welcome to the Whisker Report. We are podcast dedicated to
helping anyone in the pet industry, whether you're an animal
welfare or a for profit pet company, get some pr
and bus for your nonprofit or business. I am Alexandrika
one of the hosts of the show. My co host
Mary Town is not here today because she's taking her cat, Franklin,
(00:35):
to a modeling gig. So this week is just myself
and our fabulous producer Mark Winter feed Life Radio. Who
is the man who gets such to you kittten every week?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
High word Hi, Alex, and so Mary's hiding out this week?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Huh yeah, Well, you know, Franklin needs to pay the bills.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Too, so putting the cat to work.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I know.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
She was like, Alex, I gotta work. So it's okay,
can do it.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm able, You're able. I mean, I'm excited because we're
having a brand new podcast that's going to be starting
called Saving the Streets.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I wonder who's behind that.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
A great host, which is you. So we're excited about
that that's going to be starting soon.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, it will be a podcast only about TNR and
rescuing cats, so just a bit different than this one,
but I'm very excited for it. Thank you, Mark.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Oh yeah, we're excited too. Even though saving is spelled
with two a's. I don't understand why, but you'll look
mind that. I'm sure you'll understand. You know, we're so
honored to be part of the pet Life Radio Network
and we're here to show you that you can do
pr for yourself, and we are here to help you
every week.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
And today we have a special guest. We have a
great artist with us on the show, Lisa Hernandez, the
woman behind Lisa Works. Lisa started as a book illustrator
and she now has her own cat illustration business and
I actually own a couple of her prints. So the
inspiration behind her prints is a cat called Nigel, and
(02:07):
Nigel looks exactly like my cat, so that's why I
own so many prints.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Lisa also just had her first cat show, Space Cats.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
In Florida, and I want to hear all about it. So, Hi, Lisa,
thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Hi, Alex Tima, thank you so much for having me today.
We're so happy you're here. So tell us a bit
about yourself. Oh, gosh, well, I mean there's a lot
so over the years, boys made art and my career
my background was in graphic design and has been for
many years, and I've worked in the publishing industry newspapers, magazines, books,
(02:43):
things like that over many years. And back in I
would say the mid twenty ten, so somewhere around twenty
fourteen or fifteen, I just started doodling more and more
cats and illustrating more and more cats. And at the
same time, I was also looking into just expanding my
(03:03):
freelance business in illustration and design, which was the Leaser
Works entity, and somewhere my love of cats and my
art just kind of started melding together. And back in
I think it was bending kind of approaching twenty seventeen,
I'd heard about a cat convention that was happening in
(03:24):
New Jersey. I was living in New Jersey at the time,
called the Catsbury Park Cat Convention, which was run by
the Casbury Park Cat Cafe, which is in Asbury Park,
New Jersey, and I saw the advertisement for it, I
was like, Oh, this sounds very fun, Like I want
to go what is a cat convention? I want to
go to a cac convention. And then I saw they
had a call for vendors, and I had just recently
(03:47):
published at the time a children's book called Catnapped, and
so I was like, oh, maybe I should get a
booth as a vendor and do office signing and maybe
sell some prints. I had a few pieces of cat
art as well at the time, and so I just
kind of went out on a limb really and took
that leap of faith, and honestly, I've I've never looked
(04:08):
back since it was a huge success. I sold out
of all my prints in the first day, had to
go home that more, which was amazing, and so I
tried it again the following year just to see whether
or not that was and had equal success. And then
that's kind of began my cat convention career. So since then,
pandemic aside, I've been traveling to different CAC conventions, whether
(04:32):
it be in the Midwest or on the East coast
or I also do cackn Out in LA and I
just make stickers, print artwork. I have the plushy of
Nigel Now, heat chains, you know, all those kinds of things.
But it's all based on my illustrations. And I go
to these cat conventions as a vendor, and that's sort
of where you know, that kind of developed and evolved.
(04:56):
Then the pandemic happened, and the only thing that was
really occurring during the pandemic was cat Con from Your Couch,
which was an online event. I participated in that two
years in a row. And then as we were coming
out of the pandemic, and they were the first to
do their in person show again and I was out
there in LA for that. But what I noticed that
was happening was everything was starting to open up, but
(05:18):
not on the East coast, not in New Jersey, you
know it was and that went by twenty twenty two,
twenty three. Even when I started to reach out about
in early twenty four, there were no plans with cat Camp,
which is Jackson Galaxies one now DC, which happens down
in DC. And even at that early in twenty twenty
(05:40):
three or twenty four, Catsbury two what hadn't had plans
at the time. I wonder, why, do you know why?
I just don't know if anybody felt ready enough, or
perhaps they just had moved on to other things. I'm
not really no one really gave me an answer. But
then I talked more with DJ up at Catsbury Park
Dean Bornstein there, and so he and I decided what
(06:02):
if we tried something, you know, And so he wanted
to revive the Catterbury Park Cat Convention up in New Jersey.
And since the pandemic, I had moved south to Florida,
and I said, well, maybe I could try something down here. Yeah,
and I live in on Space Coast, which is on
the east side of Florida near the Kennedy Space Center,
(06:24):
and ask him, you know, and all of that. So
so we sort of joined forces to announce these two events,
and I decided to name the one down here space Cats.
It made sense and I didn't get really fun. Yes,
you know, that's kind of where it all started. Really yeah,
(06:44):
well that's amazing. I'm so happy for you, and I
can't wait to hear all the details. But we do
have to take a quick break to pay for this show,
so we'll be back in a second.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an adam pet Life Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
With over seven million monthly listeners.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Pet Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlife Radio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Com and we're back with Lisa Hernandez. So I'm so
happy to hear about Space cats and I was wondering
where the name was coming from. So thank you for
excitating that. So how to turnout.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Of the event?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Were you happy with it? Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean,
you know, planning a public event like this, And I
want to be clear too, this was a cat convention,
not a cat show, so we didn't have people bringing
cats to be judged or anything like that. It really
is about awareness and education and sort of just improving
and enriching the lives of your feline companions, or helping
(08:24):
in the community with the feral cat community population and
things like that too, whether it's rescue, adoption, fostering, t
and R, all those things and so so we have
a great turn out, I mean for a first event,
which is nerve wracking because you just don't know who's
going to show up, right, Yeah, And we probably had
around I would say it was about eight hundred people
(08:45):
over the course of the two days, a little more
on the Saturday. It was a little busier on the
Saturday than the Sunday, but for a first event that
you know, we did a little pr and a little marketing,
but not a ton. Yeah, I think that was I
think that was great. I mean, I couldn't have asked
for better. Honestly, that's so amazing. And I've seen that.
I mean, you know, I've heard about you a lot
(09:06):
in the community from you know, Kate Benjamin from House Panther.
She raves about you. I know Kayla and Nick absolutely
love you. From surf for Kat, Nathan and Sterling also,
like I only hear good things about you. So I'm
really glad we have this chat today.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
But I also know that it was very important for
them to show their support and to come to your show.
So I was just wondering how important it was for
you to have them like as influencers, and do you
think you did bring a crowd.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh absolutely. I mean, first of all, let me say
that I could not have pulled this off without the
help of certainly Kate for sure. She and I met
at see Now a couple of years ago, and we
hit it off instantly and we've become great friends. And
she has this type of event and experience, and so
I have business planning event experience, but not public so
(09:58):
we kind of join forces a little bit, and she
really did help was very instrumental in some of the
smaller details that perhaps I wouldn't have thought about necessarily,
also helped taught me off, you know, like it'll go
a little stressful at times. So she was great to
just say, Okay, here's what we're gonna do, here's the plan.
But yeah, honestly, if it wasn't for Kate Benjamin, Nathan
(10:23):
Stirling Nick and Kaylor Sir, for kat laurre Ley who
was one of our other speakers, and Ellen Carroza who
is the cat LVT, you know, and if it wasn't
without that support, and that just is a testament to
this community that we're in with the cat community, and
these people that I know or have met or have
become friends with over the last few years. Then it
(10:45):
wouldn't it just wouldn't have been the success that it
was for an inaugural event. They all took and including
the vendors too, and the staff and the volunteers. Everybody
just showed up and with this belief in the event.
I remember Kayla telling me, we want to help, we
believe in this event, we want to support you, and
(11:06):
it really brought it to my eye because it just
goes you. It just goes to show in this cat
community that we're a part of, how much everybody cares
because it isn't about me. It wasn't about me. Well,
and to a certain extent, it really wasn't about the
event Space Cats itself. It was about bringing the community
together of cat lovers, cat experts, cat advocates, and really
(11:30):
broadening and expanding that community so that we can build
together and just continue to help our feeline companions in
all these different capacities. And that's that's the passion, right,
That's what everybody has. It's all for that. I keep
saying this, but it's all for the love of cats. Yeah,
and yeah, absolutely they were instrumental in helping bring bring
(11:52):
the people out. They helped get the word out. They
helped me with or Kate especially helped me with some
of theization or a lot of other organization. Yeah, it
was definitely a team a team effort and it paid off,
it really did. I'm so happy to hear that. I am. Yeah,
I was watching all of their stories to see what
(12:13):
was happening because I couldn't make it. Yeah, I had
to take a couple of days off after the I
broke my ankle, and so once it was done, I
had to take a couple of days off and just
kind of rest and decompress a little bit. But I'll
get back on the social to do all the highlights
and stuff this weekend, which yeah, yeah, we took a
lot of pictures, a lot of videos. So you know
(12:34):
that's good, it's good content to promote it for next year. Absolutely, yes.
So talking about promotion, how did you promote Spacecat Like,
what were your first steps into promoting a first cat event? Well?
It really I mean I live in the Instagram space,
my Leasa works account is you know, That's how I've
(12:56):
connected with all these cat community friends and what not.
So it started there for me and when I decided
I was going to try my hand at doing this event.
I reached out to a lot of my fellow vendor
friends who are also on the circuit, and I said,
this is my idea. What do you think And they
(13:16):
all just went, yes, do it, go for it. And
so I didn't do a ton at the beginning because
I was spent more time behind the scenes trying to
find venues and then get those speakers organized and figure
out all those kinds of you know, logistics and details.
And originally Space Cats was meant to happen in October.
(13:37):
At the end of October we got hit with a
couple of hurricanes. There was a lot of devastation, certainly
due west of where the convention Center is, over near Tampa,
and it didn't sit right with me that we hold
this CAT convention two weeks after all these catastrophic events
were happening. And so, you know, thankfully the convention center
(13:58):
worked with me and we were able to push it
back to January. And it did work out to be
a blessing in disguise for many reasons, because we were
able to get a few more vendors, and we were
able to promote it a little bit more so with
the help of Wisker Media and sending out some press releases,
you know, putting those together, doing a little bit on
(14:19):
social and then starting the account for space Cats on
Instagram as well as Space Cats Florida, having all those
fellow vendors and speakers sharing it as well into their
stories and me resharing it. That definitely brought some good
traffic that way. And then with the press releases sending
(14:40):
out to local news outlets and media, we've got some
good coverage. But I will say most of the sort
of the pr things didn't really start to happen until
closer to the date of the event. And I think
that's typical with the event planning, right. It's like, if
you're doing it four months prior, off six month prior,
you're not going to get much of a response because
(15:02):
it's too soon. It's too early, and a lot of times,
especially with these public events like this, some people decide
on the fly, oh we've got having to do this weekend,
let's see what's going on locally. What I did do
was I ran a Facebook at campaign the week before
the event. Okay, yeah, that was great, Like we're we
(15:24):
have we had little to no budget for I get
marketing and advertising, I guess you could say. So we
had to get a little creative with it. And again
thanks to the support of everybody involved to get that
word out. Two things that I did. One was I
did get some flyers printed and I just literally drove
before I broke my ankle. I just drove around pet
(15:45):
groomers and veterinarian officers and pet shops like look, you know,
mum and pop stores and coffee shops and things like that.
And she said, hey, is it okay? Can I put
a batch of flyers out? Like, oh yeah, this is
so great? You know, So that was good. I did it.
I think it was like a thousand fliers a couple
of hundred bucks to print them, and just that's amazing
(16:06):
because you're going to the community, so you're trying to
reach the community. So that's very good. That's one of
the best advice we can give. Yeah. Yeah, Kate, Kate
helped she could have done an cat fest last year,
and she said that was one of the things that
helped with when she was marketing her event too, And
so you know, I thought, all right, let's give it
(16:27):
a try. I mean, pan the pavement as they say, right.
So it's just getting out there and getting into the
community and putting posters up and fliers. And at first
I felt a little uncomfortable because I go, oh gosh,
there's anybody going to want to do that for me,
like put a stack of flies out. Everyone was great.
I'm like, yeah, of course, all this sounds like so
much fun. Of course a can event like people love it, yes,
(16:48):
And a lot of the groomers that I went to
were mostly dog groomers, but a lot of their dog
clients have cats as well. So you just you just
got to get a little creative and think slightly outside
of the box. Don't let the idea that, oh, well
it's a dog rumor that there they don't know cat people.
Everyone knows cat people, rightly. Yeah, So we did that
(17:09):
and then the Facebook campaign, I just ran it for
a week prior. I think next year I might do
it maybe ten days to two weeks prior, because we
did get some good traction with it. I think we
got a reach of about forty five thousand accounts within
a you know, a fifty to one hundred mile radius
of the events, so that was more effect. That actually
(17:30):
surprised me. That was more effective than I thought it
would be.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah, I'm not surprised because I do see a lot
of events on facebooks and sometimes I decide last minute
or I should go to that. So yeah, that's really good.
And also one thing you mentioned about pr I definitely
advise people when they have an event, just in the
press release, maybe like ten days to a week prior,
but not beforehand because you know, journalists are so busy.
(17:53):
If they see the date's not like in the upcome
like in the coming days, they just forget about it.
So you will get ridge like right before the event.
But that's what you need to expect.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's funny because I was
gonna ask you this question about when. So for me,
it was it was all about an event, right, and
just sort of promoting that event and marketing that event.
We did a little bit. I'd like, you know, now
that we've gone through the first year, it's like ready
for next year. What I want to do with that one?
What makes a sort of an effective press release? Because
(18:27):
is it you know, are we looking to just promote
the event? Does there need to be a lifestyle human
interest aspect to it? I know with one in press
release I did was really about my journey and how
I'd have gone from artists to vendor to founder of
a convention. You know, it's sort of just the journey
that I took to get to that point. Like tell
(18:50):
tell me, like, what what do you think makes an
effective press release, especially for small businesses.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, so it's definitely storytelling. You can't just send a
presolage just to promote your product. It's not gonna work
because it's not newsworthy. So what I tell people is
that in the first sentence, you should answer the question
why should anyone care? So I think you telling your
whole story is really good because you know, you're like
a it's your first event, So that's very exciting even
(19:18):
for journalists, you know, even like people would want to
know how did it go? Like it's your first Yeah,
it's another part of your business. So and also, you know,
just thinking because I saw Kayla and Nick's presentation about
you know, how to train a cat travel or how
to like harness train them. This is also storytelling and
this is very newsworthy to be like, hey, if you
(19:39):
come to space Cats, there's gonna be a Nick and
Kayla from Netflix from that Netflix show and they're gonna
teach you how to travel with your cat. That is
very newsworthy because people are gonna care about that, and
they're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Want even people who don't have cats. I think they
will want to see, like can a cat really be trained?
I never knew that. So, yeah, just think about like
why would anyone care? And what makes your events feels
worthy all them that. Yeah, so we just have to
take a quick break for our sponsors and then we'll
be back.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Begging to hear more of your favorite show. All full
episodes of all our shows are available on demand. Go
to pedlife Radio dot com to feed our entire lineup
of possum ped podcasts. Also dig us up in iHeartRadio
and iTunes. Let's Talk Pats lived only from pet Life Radio.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let's Talk Past, Let's Done Pets on pat Life Radio, Headline.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Radio at live radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And we're back. And Lisa, you're doing quite good on
social media. I've seen that you have, you know, you
have really great engagement and you have a bit of following,
and so I was just wondering if you can give some,
you know, small tips for small businesses. I would love
to get some small tips I think you have to. Well,
(21:12):
one thing I've learned personally is to not let the
algorithm get inside your head. Yeah, I think that a
lot of artists. I do a lot of illustrator coaching
and mentoring, and one thing I help them with is
building their social media presence. And one thing I'm always
saying to them is, like, educate yourself and be aware
(21:32):
of the algorithm because it does change often. Don't become
so obsessed that it actually gets in the way of
your progress. Instead, focus on like you said about the
press releases, focus on the storytelling. Focus on who your
followers are, like who do you want your followers to be,
and create a feed or a series of posts and content.
(21:56):
I guess you can call it the haters to them, right,
It's not about It's not about me, It's about my followers.
I've got three types of followers, and owing your audience
I think is really crucial as well. So I have
the art directors and the buyers. Where I work in
art licensing and I'm designing for products that or illustrating
(22:16):
children's books. My second audience I have are cat lovers,
who are my customers who buy my prints and my artwork.
And then my third audience are fellow illustrators who are
looking to grow their own art based business. And so
when I'm creating posts, and now, of course I've got
a little bit in there about space cats, which really
(22:37):
is just an extension of everything else I do, I
would say that that goes to the customer cat lover
audience as oppose to the other two. So when I'm
creating posts, whether it's a real behind the scenes or
I'm just showing a bit of the process, or perhaps
I'm sharing tips for somebody for an illustrator to or
(23:00):
I'm creating a new piece of art. Anything where I
can ask questions to my audience helps gagement, right, So
if I've got two pieces of art, it's the same image,
but perhaps I can't decide on colors. I'll put it
to my audience and ask them to weigh in whether
it's a pole in my stories or whether it's a
(23:22):
caption in the post, and I ask people to drop
a comment which one do you prefer red or blue?
Or you know, do you have any other suggestions? Are
you teen blue? Are you teen red? Like things like this,
and then I might tie in, you know, the most
popular print color, like whatever wins vote. I might then
do a little giveaway or something of that print just
(23:43):
as a thank you. But I think it's important to
know who your audience is. Create those bods with your
audience in mind, because it's about how, like, especially if
you have products to sell, right, you don't go in
with that hard sell right off the bat, like we're
already just st but just sharing some kind of background
story or something and then letting them know how this
(24:06):
print might benefit them. A lot of my customers will
be like, oh my gosh, my cat does that all
the time, and they relate, so they buy the print
because it reminds them of their own cat or the
cat's behavior and things like that. So that's one thing,
is knowing your audience and being able to create content.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
I feel like from where you're saying, you're not only
posting to show something, You're actually trying to connect with
your audience, which is really important. It's connection.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Absolutely, It's all about building relationships, and so the engagement
isn't just about whether or not they're liking my post
or they're commenting, but it's also about how I respond
to that too, right, Yeah, So I'll replied just about
every comment I can. I'll always shoot dms to people,
But then I'll also go on other people's accounts and
(24:54):
let them know how much I thought that was a
great post or a print or some artwork or you know.
So I think that you've got to put as much
out as what you want to come back in, and
so it's a it's an ongoing conversation. And I think
consistency is another thing. So posting once a day or
once every other day, keep consistent and keep doing all
(25:18):
the interactions and things, because it does help. It does
make a difference. And I know this because back in October,
with the whole hurricane situation, I took about a month off.
I didn't post for a month. I just had to
step back. I had to just take a break brain wise,
you know whatever fair enough, and my reach dropped and
(25:38):
you know, everything went quiet. But the moment I woke
up one morning, I was like, Okay, I'm ready to
get back to it. I think sometimes you can burn out,
and so you know, you just got to give yourself
a little bit of a break. I came back to it,
started back up again, was posting, felt fresh, felt re
renewde and reinvigorated and reach is back up there again.
(25:58):
So it's it does it proved itself? Like when you're consistent,
when you show up and you show up for your audiences,
that they will respond and that's what you look for.
That's engagement and that's the interactions. And I love that.
I absolutely love that. How important do you think it
is that people have a face behind an account, So
you are the face behind your own account.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
People know who they're talking to. And I know, for example,
I'm talking.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
About rescues because we usually get that from rescuers. They're like, well,
this account is not about me, right, it's about the cats.
But I always tell them, yeah, but it's still about
you because you're rescuing the cats. And you know, some people,
even small businesses, have a hard time showing themselves or
promote themselves as the person behind the brand or the rescue.
What would you tell them? I would say that people
(26:46):
are inspired by people, right that when I see somebody,
I see some behind the scenes footage of and maybe
it's not you, the owner of the business, but perhaps
you're highlighting one of your team members, and that this
person selflessly comes gets up at four am to be
at the rescue at five am to do all the
(27:07):
litter cleaning and to feed the cats and wash the balls.
And perhaps it's just a little behind the scenes footage
of them at work and you're singing their praises as
one of your team members, and that you know. To me,
as I'm watching this, and I do, I think one
hundred percent of my My for you pages is just
(27:28):
all cats and cat rescue anywhere I know the same.
And it's like, I love watching that and see, I
just think it's so admirable to see people taking time
out of their own lives for the sake of another
cause or a bigger cause. And I find that inspiring
because it leaves me feeling like, well, what else can
(27:48):
I do to give back to the community, What else
can I do to help? Maybe I can create a
new print, Oh and I can donate some money to
this rescue or that. I think it's important, but it's
a pro choice. I just think that the human connection,
we all crave that, and we're in such a digital
world faceless accounts. To me, I just don't have that
(28:11):
connection with Yeah, you know as much. I mean, I'm
not talking about like when you're looking at pictures of
cats and rescues necessarily, but I love to see who's behind,
who's doing the work behind the scenes, and how those
teams come together to make that operation happen. So yeah,
I don't know. Personally, I think it's important, but everyone's different.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
No, I agree with you, I can, and that's my advice.
Every time we have a rescue on the show and
they're like, how do I get my engagement higher? And
I'm like, well, do you talk to your audience? They're like, well,
we just show the cats are for adoption, and I'm like, yeah,
but I do they know who you are?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
No? I'm like, well, maybe just show a bit of
who you are, you know, even if you're not actually
showing your face, maybe just show like part of your
body doing things so at least people see, you know,
human hands or you know, somebody walking or something. So
definitely or even just yeah, from over the shoulder, somebody
playing with the cat to you know, like or like
you say, grooming or feeling or giving some love like
(29:07):
some chin. Well, we're not all we're not all camera
ready like Sterling on Nathan. We don't all have that,
you know, capacity to be so comfortable in front of
the camera, but we can all show something so people
can relate to, so really good advice. Okay, well we're
coming to the end of the show, So do you
have any other questions? I am an open book for you. Okay,
(29:29):
Well I did have some social media questions, you know,
because I'm I'd love to for you to explain just
kind of the crossover between social media and PR. Right,
Like social media, I mean the word social is supposed
to be the giveaway and the idea of this socials
connections and things like that. But you know, we all
(29:50):
see whether it's Instagram or TikTok or something that people
are pushing products, people are pushing events, people are pushing
business and things like that. But I'm curious as to
how you appro or view the connection or the crossover
with social media and PR work. Yeah. So you know,
PR is all about public relations. So it's about your
(30:12):
own you know, image, your own reputation, and how you
can get that out there basically, and that's how like
we connect with journalists or you know, we ask them
to promote our business or events.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
So social media is definitely a tool for PR and
we use it quite a bit to Well, there's two things.
So first of all, i'd say social media is the
best way for you to shape your brand's reputation because
you can do it in your own words, so there's
no journalist to you know, take words out of your
mouth and saying them in another context. This is really
(30:48):
the place where you can tell your own story, So
storytelling one hundred percent, and just yeah, be genuine on
social media so people know who you are. It's also
the place where you can actually build emotional connections with
your audience. So whereas you know, maybe they've seen you
on an interview or they've seen an article of you, well,
(31:09):
then they can keep that emotional connection and keep follow
that one on your social media. And then it's also
a great tool to contact journalists. You know, you can
connect with them on Twitter x now, but even Instagram
you can follow them and you know just like reply
to their stories or like if they share an article,
(31:30):
just like be involved with them and you will have
higher chances to get coverage. And then the last point
where we use social media a lot is in influencer marketing.
So influencer help you know, widen your audience and you know,
spread the word about whatever you're promoting, and they do
that on social media. So, yeah, social media is getting
(31:54):
bigger and bigger in PR, it didn't used to.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I know Mary still has a bit of a hard
time with social mediaca because she's like the older PR
and I'm like the newer PR, and so I am
doing all that part and I'm telling her no, like,
we need to use social media, we need to use
influencer marketing. This is the new way people get their information. Right.
Some people don't even read the newspaper or they don't
(32:17):
watch TV anymore, but they will watch those small clips
on TikTok. So, yeah, social media is a new PR.
How do you go about you know, you've mentioned the
influencer social media, Like can you expand on that a
little bit? Like what do you mean by that? And
then how would a small business, say somebody like me
ye who maybe has a small budget, Like, how does
(32:41):
that work? Is it always paid? Is it? Like I
would love to know a little bit more about that.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Right, Yeah, but definitely it's not always paid. It really
depends on the influencers. So you have a few different
kinds of influencers, right, you have like macro influencers, big influencers,
medium influencers, so there's a few wrange. When talking with
small businesses, I always advise to reach out to the
micro influencers, so maybe under fifteen to twenty thousand followers.
(33:07):
Those are the people you need to target because they
are the people who might not charge you or charge
you a very small amount which you can afford. And
I think with influencer it's the same. You need to
build a relationship. So it's you know, maybe you follow
one and you really like what they're doing, you really
love their cat. Maybe for you, they have a black
cat that look exactly like Nigel, so you're like, oh
(33:29):
my god, we should partner because you know that would
be incredible, And because usually those black cat influencers have
a lot of black cat followers, which is right, some
of your target audience. So I would definitely reach out
to these people, and you know, be very genuine about
my approach. I think if you see, for example, that
an influencer is really into rescuing and is helping shelters,
(33:50):
maybe mention, hey, you know, I'm also helping shelters in
this way, and I rescue, and I think our values align.
So I would love to collaborate with you. I think
it's really important to find genuine influencers because that's where
you'll get the most results.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
You know, some influencers are only there to get paid
to make content, and you know, it's fine, but that
might not be the ones you want to reach out to.
You might want to reach out to the ones who
might not do a lot of collabs, maybe the ones
who really choose specific brands that really align with their
values and so that means their audience actually really trust them,
And I think that's where you want to go. But yeah,
(34:27):
there's a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Who would do a giveaway for free. A lot of
influencers will do giveaway for free if you offered to
send them, you know, a package of prints and be like,
could you just maybe like once a week when you're
filming your apartment and you have a print in your apartment,
can you just like film it? I think yeah. The
most useful campaign we've seen is when people don't actually
(34:48):
promote the product, but they more like do natural content.
Then the content like the product appears in the background
and that's when people are like.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Oh my god, I love that print. Where did you
get it? So, yeah, whereas if an influencer dress post
like you know, they just take a picture of your
prints on the table and be like, hey, this is
this and I got it there, people might be interested,
but they will only see it once and then I'm like, yeah,
it's a paid call up. Anyway, it's really genuine, and
you know, they just see it all the time in
(35:17):
the background. That's when people are like, wait, actually I
really like that, prind it's smart that yeah. I know.
I talked a lot about that with with Kayla about
the harnesses, and you know, her product is amazing. I mean,
I'm a huge fan of the Harnesses. I use it
every day on my cat. And that's what she was saying.
(35:38):
She was like, when people really like our product, and
we're also very genuine, we will send a harness to
an influencer and then people will ask that influencer, what
did you get that harness? It looks amazing. You know.
It's when the audists actually ask the influencer. That's when
you're winning, because you don't even have to tell them
all right, I gotta make a talent notes now, well,
a good thing. You can listen to this podcast over
(35:59):
and over again.
Speaker 8 (36:00):
Published sure, okay, well, thank you so much guys versus
a rap for this show and we're so excited to
be doing this for all of you out there.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
So, Lisa, if you want to just tell people where
they can find you, that would be amazing. Oh yes,
of course. So if you want to find me on Instagram,
it is Instagram dot com, slash, Lisa Works, l E
E Z A W O r K S or one
word and Lisa works dot com. And then obviously if
you're interested in next year's Space Cats that's also on
(36:35):
Instagram as Spacecats Florida or one.
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Word Yay, stay tuned because that will happen then.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I hope I can make it. Say yes, yes, I'm
very excited. I think next week we're going to start
talking about dates. Amazing. Well, we'll look out for that.
And for all of you out there who are making
life better for the animals. If you've got a question
you want us to answer, reach out to us on
Instagram with Facebook under the Whisker Media and we'll try
to answer in a future podcast episode. And as we
(37:03):
always say, our cloud and personis Let's
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlight Radios
dot com
This is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Whisker Report. We are podcast dedicated to
helping anyone in the pet industry, whether you're an animal
welfare or a for profit pet company, get some pr
and bus for your nonprofit or business. I am Alexandrika
one of the hosts of the show. My co host
Mary Town is not here today because she's taking her cat, Franklin,
(00:35):
to a modeling gig. So this week is just myself
and our fabulous producer Mark Winter feed Life Radio. Who
is the man who gets such to you kittten every week?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
High word Hi, Alex, and so Mary's hiding out this week?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Huh yeah, Well, you know, Franklin needs to pay the bills.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Too, so putting the cat to work.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
I know.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
She was like, Alex, I gotta work. So it's okay,
can do it.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm able, You're able. I mean, I'm excited because we're
having a brand new podcast that's going to be starting
called Saving the Streets.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I wonder who's behind that.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
A great host, which is you. So we're excited about
that that's going to be starting soon.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, it will be a podcast only about TNR and
rescuing cats, so just a bit different than this one,
but I'm very excited for it. Thank you, Mark.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Oh yeah, we're excited too. Even though saving is spelled
with two a's. I don't understand why, but you'll look
mind that. I'm sure you'll understand. You know, we're so
honored to be part of the pet Life Radio Network
and we're here to show you that you can do
pr for yourself, and we are here to help you
every week.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
And today we have a special guest. We have a
great artist with us on the show, Lisa Hernandez, the
woman behind Lisa Works. Lisa started as a book illustrator
and she now has her own cat illustration business and
I actually own a couple of her prints. So the
inspiration behind her prints is a cat called Nigel, and
(02:07):
Nigel looks exactly like my cat, so that's why I
own so many prints.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Lisa also just had her first cat show, Space Cats.
Speaker 5 (02:15):
In Florida, and I want to hear all about it. So, Hi, Lisa,
thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Hi, Alex Tima, thank you so much for having me today.
We're so happy you're here. So tell us a bit
about yourself. Oh, gosh, well, I mean there's a lot
so over the years, boys made art and my career
my background was in graphic design and has been for
many years, and I've worked in the publishing industry newspapers, magazines, books,
(02:43):
things like that over many years. And back in I
would say the mid twenty ten, so somewhere around twenty
fourteen or fifteen, I just started doodling more and more
cats and illustrating more and more cats. And at the
same time, I was also looking into just expanding my
(03:03):
freelance business in illustration and design, which was the Leaser
Works entity, and somewhere my love of cats and my
art just kind of started melding together. And back in
I think it was bending kind of approaching twenty seventeen,
I'd heard about a cat convention that was happening in
(03:24):
New Jersey. I was living in New Jersey at the time,
called the Catsbury Park Cat Convention, which was run by
the Casbury Park Cat Cafe, which is in Asbury Park,
New Jersey, and I saw the advertisement for it, I
was like, Oh, this sounds very fun, Like I want
to go what is a cat convention? I want to
go to a cac convention. And then I saw they
had a call for vendors, and I had just recently
(03:47):
published at the time a children's book called Catnapped, and
so I was like, oh, maybe I should get a
booth as a vendor and do office signing and maybe
sell some prints. I had a few pieces of cat
art as well at the time, and so I just
kind of went out on a limb really and took
that leap of faith, and honestly, I've I've never looked
(04:08):
back since it was a huge success. I sold out
of all my prints in the first day, had to
go home that more, which was amazing, and so I
tried it again the following year just to see whether
or not that was and had equal success. And then
that's kind of began my cat convention career. So since then,
pandemic aside, I've been traveling to different CAC conventions, whether
(04:32):
it be in the Midwest or on the East coast
or I also do cackn Out in LA and I
just make stickers, print artwork. I have the plushy of
Nigel Now, heat chains, you know, all those kinds of things.
But it's all based on my illustrations. And I go
to these cat conventions as a vendor, and that's sort
of where you know, that kind of developed and evolved.
(04:56):
Then the pandemic happened, and the only thing that was
really occurring during the pandemic was cat Con from Your Couch,
which was an online event. I participated in that two
years in a row. And then as we were coming
out of the pandemic, and they were the first to
do their in person show again and I was out
there in LA for that. But what I noticed that
was happening was everything was starting to open up, but
(05:18):
not on the East coast, not in New Jersey, you
know it was and that went by twenty twenty two,
twenty three. Even when I started to reach out about
in early twenty four, there were no plans with cat Camp,
which is Jackson Galaxies one now DC, which happens down
in DC. And even at that early in twenty twenty
(05:40):
three or twenty four, Catsbury two what hadn't had plans
at the time. I wonder, why, do you know why?
I just don't know if anybody felt ready enough, or
perhaps they just had moved on to other things. I'm
not really no one really gave me an answer. But
then I talked more with DJ up at Catsbury Park
Dean Bornstein there, and so he and I decided what
(06:02):
if we tried something, you know, And so he wanted
to revive the Catterbury Park Cat Convention up in New Jersey.
And since the pandemic, I had moved south to Florida,
and I said, well, maybe I could try something down here. Yeah,
and I live in on Space Coast, which is on
the east side of Florida near the Kennedy Space Center,
(06:24):
and ask him, you know, and all of that. So
so we sort of joined forces to announce these two events,
and I decided to name the one down here space Cats.
It made sense and I didn't get really fun. Yes,
you know, that's kind of where it all started. Really yeah,
(06:44):
well that's amazing. I'm so happy for you, and I
can't wait to hear all the details. But we do
have to take a quick break to pay for this show,
so we'll be back in a second.
Speaker 6 (06:55):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an adam pet Life Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
With over seven million monthly listeners.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Pet Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlife Radio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Com and we're back with Lisa Hernandez. So I'm so
happy to hear about Space cats and I was wondering
where the name was coming from. So thank you for
excitating that. So how to turnout.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Of the event?
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Were you happy with it? Oh my gosh, yeah, I mean,
you know, planning a public event like this, And I
want to be clear too, this was a cat convention,
not a cat show, so we didn't have people bringing
cats to be judged or anything like that. It really
is about awareness and education and sort of just improving
and enriching the lives of your feline companions, or helping
(08:24):
in the community with the feral cat community population and
things like that too, whether it's rescue, adoption, fostering, t
and R, all those things and so so we have
a great turn out, I mean for a first event,
which is nerve wracking because you just don't know who's
going to show up, right, Yeah, And we probably had
around I would say it was about eight hundred people
(08:45):
over the course of the two days, a little more
on the Saturday. It was a little busier on the
Saturday than the Sunday, but for a first event that
you know, we did a little pr and a little marketing,
but not a ton. Yeah, I think that was I
think that was great. I mean, I couldn't have asked
for better. Honestly, that's so amazing. And I've seen that.
I mean, you know, I've heard about you a lot
(09:06):
in the community from you know, Kate Benjamin from House Panther.
She raves about you. I know Kayla and Nick absolutely
love you. From surf for Kat, Nathan and Sterling also,
like I only hear good things about you. So I'm
really glad we have this chat today.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
But I also know that it was very important for
them to show their support and to come to your show.
So I was just wondering how important it was for
you to have them like as influencers, and do you
think you did bring a crowd.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Oh absolutely. I mean, first of all, let me say
that I could not have pulled this off without the
help of certainly Kate for sure. She and I met
at see Now a couple of years ago, and we
hit it off instantly and we've become great friends. And
she has this type of event and experience, and so
I have business planning event experience, but not public so
(09:58):
we kind of join forces a little bit, and she
really did help was very instrumental in some of the
smaller details that perhaps I wouldn't have thought about necessarily,
also helped taught me off, you know, like it'll go
a little stressful at times. So she was great to
just say, Okay, here's what we're gonna do, here's the plan.
But yeah, honestly, if it wasn't for Kate Benjamin, Nathan
(10:23):
Stirling Nick and Kaylor Sir, for kat laurre Ley who
was one of our other speakers, and Ellen Carroza who
is the cat LVT, you know, and if it wasn't
without that support, and that just is a testament to
this community that we're in with the cat community, and
these people that I know or have met or have
become friends with over the last few years. Then it
(10:45):
wouldn't it just wouldn't have been the success that it
was for an inaugural event. They all took and including
the vendors too, and the staff and the volunteers. Everybody
just showed up and with this belief in the event.
I remember Kayla telling me, we want to help, we
believe in this event, we want to support you, and
(11:06):
it really brought it to my eye because it just
goes you. It just goes to show in this cat
community that we're a part of, how much everybody cares
because it isn't about me. It wasn't about me. Well,
and to a certain extent, it really wasn't about the
event Space Cats itself. It was about bringing the community
together of cat lovers, cat experts, cat advocates, and really
(11:30):
broadening and expanding that community so that we can build
together and just continue to help our feeline companions in
all these different capacities. And that's that's the passion, right,
That's what everybody has. It's all for that. I keep
saying this, but it's all for the love of cats. Yeah,
and yeah, absolutely they were instrumental in helping bring bring
(11:52):
the people out. They helped get the word out. They
helped me with or Kate especially helped me with some
of theization or a lot of other organization. Yeah, it
was definitely a team a team effort and it paid off,
it really did. I'm so happy to hear that. I am. Yeah,
I was watching all of their stories to see what
(12:13):
was happening because I couldn't make it. Yeah, I had
to take a couple of days off after the I
broke my ankle, and so once it was done, I
had to take a couple of days off and just
kind of rest and decompress a little bit. But I'll
get back on the social to do all the highlights
and stuff this weekend, which yeah, yeah, we took a
lot of pictures, a lot of videos. So you know
(12:34):
that's good, it's good content to promote it for next year. Absolutely, yes.
So talking about promotion, how did you promote Spacecat Like,
what were your first steps into promoting a first cat event? Well?
It really I mean I live in the Instagram space,
my Leasa works account is you know, That's how I've
(12:56):
connected with all these cat community friends and what not.
So it started there for me and when I decided
I was going to try my hand at doing this event.
I reached out to a lot of my fellow vendor
friends who are also on the circuit, and I said,
this is my idea. What do you think And they
(13:16):
all just went, yes, do it, go for it. And
so I didn't do a ton at the beginning because
I was spent more time behind the scenes trying to
find venues and then get those speakers organized and figure
out all those kinds of you know, logistics and details.
And originally Space Cats was meant to happen in October.
(13:37):
At the end of October we got hit with a
couple of hurricanes. There was a lot of devastation, certainly
due west of where the convention Center is, over near Tampa,
and it didn't sit right with me that we hold
this CAT convention two weeks after all these catastrophic events
were happening. And so, you know, thankfully the convention center
(13:58):
worked with me and we were able to push it
back to January. And it did work out to be
a blessing in disguise for many reasons, because we were
able to get a few more vendors, and we were
able to promote it a little bit more so with
the help of Wisker Media and sending out some press releases,
you know, putting those together, doing a little bit on
(14:19):
social and then starting the account for space Cats on
Instagram as well as Space Cats Florida, having all those
fellow vendors and speakers sharing it as well into their
stories and me resharing it. That definitely brought some good
traffic that way. And then with the press releases sending
(14:40):
out to local news outlets and media, we've got some
good coverage. But I will say most of the sort
of the pr things didn't really start to happen until
closer to the date of the event. And I think
that's typical with the event planning, right. It's like, if
you're doing it four months prior, off six month prior,
you're not going to get much of a response because
(15:02):
it's too soon. It's too early, and a lot of times,
especially with these public events like this, some people decide
on the fly, oh we've got having to do this weekend,
let's see what's going on locally. What I did do
was I ran a Facebook at campaign the week before
the event. Okay, yeah, that was great, Like we're we
(15:24):
have we had little to no budget for I get
marketing and advertising, I guess you could say. So we
had to get a little creative with it. And again
thanks to the support of everybody involved to get that
word out. Two things that I did. One was I
did get some flyers printed and I just literally drove
before I broke my ankle. I just drove around pet
(15:45):
groomers and veterinarian officers and pet shops like look, you know,
mum and pop stores and coffee shops and things like that.
And she said, hey, is it okay? Can I put
a batch of flyers out? Like, oh yeah, this is
so great? You know, So that was good. I did it.
I think it was like a thousand fliers a couple
of hundred bucks to print them, and just that's amazing
(16:06):
because you're going to the community, so you're trying to
reach the community. So that's very good. That's one of
the best advice we can give. Yeah. Yeah, Kate, Kate
helped she could have done an cat fest last year,
and she said that was one of the things that
helped with when she was marketing her event too, And
so you know, I thought, all right, let's give it
(16:27):
a try. I mean, pan the pavement as they say, right.
So it's just getting out there and getting into the
community and putting posters up and fliers. And at first
I felt a little uncomfortable because I go, oh gosh,
there's anybody going to want to do that for me,
like put a stack of flies out. Everyone was great.
I'm like, yeah, of course, all this sounds like so
much fun. Of course a can event like people love it, yes,
(16:48):
And a lot of the groomers that I went to
were mostly dog groomers, but a lot of their dog
clients have cats as well. So you just you just
got to get a little creative and think slightly outside
of the box. Don't let the idea that, oh, well
it's a dog rumor that there they don't know cat people.
Everyone knows cat people, rightly. Yeah, So we did that
(17:09):
and then the Facebook campaign, I just ran it for
a week prior. I think next year I might do
it maybe ten days to two weeks prior, because we
did get some good traction with it. I think we
got a reach of about forty five thousand accounts within
a you know, a fifty to one hundred mile radius
of the events, so that was more effect. That actually
(17:30):
surprised me. That was more effective than I thought it
would be.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Yeah, I'm not surprised because I do see a lot
of events on facebooks and sometimes I decide last minute
or I should go to that. So yeah, that's really good.
And also one thing you mentioned about pr I definitely
advise people when they have an event, just in the
press release, maybe like ten days to a week prior,
but not beforehand because you know, journalists are so busy.
(17:53):
If they see the date's not like in the upcome
like in the coming days, they just forget about it.
So you will get ridge like right before the event.
But that's what you need to expect.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's funny because I was
gonna ask you this question about when. So for me,
it was it was all about an event, right, and
just sort of promoting that event and marketing that event.
We did a little bit. I'd like, you know, now
that we've gone through the first year, it's like ready
for next year. What I want to do with that one?
What makes a sort of an effective press release? Because
(18:27):
is it you know, are we looking to just promote
the event? Does there need to be a lifestyle human
interest aspect to it? I know with one in press
release I did was really about my journey and how
I'd have gone from artists to vendor to founder of
a convention. You know, it's sort of just the journey
that I took to get to that point. Like tell
(18:50):
tell me, like, what what do you think makes an
effective press release, especially for small businesses.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, so it's definitely storytelling. You can't just send a
presolage just to promote your product. It's not gonna work
because it's not newsworthy. So what I tell people is
that in the first sentence, you should answer the question
why should anyone care? So I think you telling your
whole story is really good because you know, you're like
a it's your first event, So that's very exciting even
(19:18):
for journalists, you know, even like people would want to
know how did it go? Like it's your first Yeah,
it's another part of your business. So and also, you know,
just thinking because I saw Kayla and Nick's presentation about
you know, how to train a cat travel or how
to like harness train them. This is also storytelling and
this is very newsworthy to be like, hey, if you
(19:39):
come to space Cats, there's gonna be a Nick and
Kayla from Netflix from that Netflix show and they're gonna
teach you how to travel with your cat. That is
very newsworthy because people are gonna care about that, and
they're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Want even people who don't have cats. I think they
will want to see, like can a cat really be trained?
I never knew that. So, yeah, just think about like
why would anyone care? And what makes your events feels
worthy all them that. Yeah, so we just have to
take a quick break for our sponsors and then we'll
be back.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Begging to hear more of your favorite show. All full
episodes of all our shows are available on demand. Go
to pedlife Radio dot com to feed our entire lineup
of possum ped podcasts. Also dig us up in iHeartRadio
and iTunes. Let's Talk Pats lived only from pet Life Radio.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Let's Talk Past, Let's Done Pets on pat Life Radio, Headline.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Radio at live radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And we're back. And Lisa, you're doing quite good on
social media. I've seen that you have, you know, you
have really great engagement and you have a bit of following,
and so I was just wondering if you can give some,
you know, small tips for small businesses. I would love
to get some small tips I think you have to. Well,
(21:12):
one thing I've learned personally is to not let the
algorithm get inside your head. Yeah, I think that a
lot of artists. I do a lot of illustrator coaching
and mentoring, and one thing I help them with is
building their social media presence. And one thing I'm always
saying to them is, like, educate yourself and be aware
(21:32):
of the algorithm because it does change often. Don't become
so obsessed that it actually gets in the way of
your progress. Instead, focus on like you said about the
press releases, focus on the storytelling. Focus on who your
followers are, like who do you want your followers to be,
and create a feed or a series of posts and content.
(21:56):
I guess you can call it the haters to them, right,
It's not about It's not about me, It's about my followers.
I've got three types of followers, and owing your audience
I think is really crucial as well. So I have
the art directors and the buyers. Where I work in
art licensing and I'm designing for products that or illustrating
(22:16):
children's books. My second audience I have are cat lovers,
who are my customers who buy my prints and my artwork.
And then my third audience are fellow illustrators who are
looking to grow their own art based business. And so
when I'm creating posts, and now, of course I've got
a little bit in there about space cats, which really
(22:37):
is just an extension of everything else I do, I
would say that that goes to the customer cat lover
audience as oppose to the other two. So when I'm
creating posts, whether it's a real behind the scenes or
I'm just showing a bit of the process, or perhaps
I'm sharing tips for somebody for an illustrator to or
(23:00):
I'm creating a new piece of art. Anything where I
can ask questions to my audience helps gagement, right, So
if I've got two pieces of art, it's the same image,
but perhaps I can't decide on colors. I'll put it
to my audience and ask them to weigh in whether
it's a pole in my stories or whether it's a
(23:22):
caption in the post, and I ask people to drop
a comment which one do you prefer red or blue?
Or you know, do you have any other suggestions? Are
you teen blue? Are you teen red? Like things like this,
and then I might tie in, you know, the most
popular print color, like whatever wins vote. I might then
do a little giveaway or something of that print just
(23:43):
as a thank you. But I think it's important to
know who your audience is. Create those bods with your
audience in mind, because it's about how, like, especially if
you have products to sell, right, you don't go in
with that hard sell right off the bat, like we're
already just st but just sharing some kind of background
story or something and then letting them know how this
(24:06):
print might benefit them. A lot of my customers will
be like, oh my gosh, my cat does that all
the time, and they relate, so they buy the print
because it reminds them of their own cat or the
cat's behavior and things like that. So that's one thing,
is knowing your audience and being able to create content.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
I feel like from where you're saying, you're not only
posting to show something, You're actually trying to connect with
your audience, which is really important. It's connection.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Absolutely, It's all about building relationships, and so the engagement
isn't just about whether or not they're liking my post
or they're commenting, but it's also about how I respond
to that too, right, Yeah, So I'll replied just about
every comment I can. I'll always shoot dms to people,
But then I'll also go on other people's accounts and
(24:54):
let them know how much I thought that was a
great post or a print or some artwork or you know.
So I think that you've got to put as much
out as what you want to come back in, and
so it's a it's an ongoing conversation. And I think
consistency is another thing. So posting once a day or
once every other day, keep consistent and keep doing all
(25:18):
the interactions and things, because it does help. It does
make a difference. And I know this because back in October,
with the whole hurricane situation, I took about a month off.
I didn't post for a month. I just had to
step back. I had to just take a break brain wise,
you know whatever fair enough, and my reach dropped and
(25:38):
you know, everything went quiet. But the moment I woke
up one morning, I was like, Okay, I'm ready to
get back to it. I think sometimes you can burn out,
and so you know, you just got to give yourself
a little bit of a break. I came back to it,
started back up again, was posting, felt fresh, felt re
renewde and reinvigorated and reach is back up there again.
(25:58):
So it's it does it proved itself? Like when you're consistent,
when you show up and you show up for your audiences,
that they will respond and that's what you look for.
That's engagement and that's the interactions. And I love that.
I absolutely love that. How important do you think it
is that people have a face behind an account, So
you are the face behind your own account.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
People know who they're talking to. And I know, for example,
I'm talking.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
About rescues because we usually get that from rescuers. They're like, well,
this account is not about me, right, it's about the cats.
But I always tell them, yeah, but it's still about
you because you're rescuing the cats. And you know, some people,
even small businesses, have a hard time showing themselves or
promote themselves as the person behind the brand or the rescue.
What would you tell them? I would say that people
(26:46):
are inspired by people, right that when I see somebody,
I see some behind the scenes footage of and maybe
it's not you, the owner of the business, but perhaps
you're highlighting one of your team members, and that this
person selflessly comes gets up at four am to be
at the rescue at five am to do all the
(27:07):
litter cleaning and to feed the cats and wash the balls.
And perhaps it's just a little behind the scenes footage
of them at work and you're singing their praises as
one of your team members, and that you know. To me,
as I'm watching this, and I do, I think one
hundred percent of my My for you pages is just
(27:28):
all cats and cat rescue anywhere I know the same.
And it's like, I love watching that and see, I
just think it's so admirable to see people taking time
out of their own lives for the sake of another
cause or a bigger cause. And I find that inspiring
because it leaves me feeling like, well, what else can
(27:48):
I do to give back to the community, What else
can I do to help? Maybe I can create a
new print, Oh and I can donate some money to
this rescue or that. I think it's important, but it's
a pro choice. I just think that the human connection,
we all crave that, and we're in such a digital
world faceless accounts. To me, I just don't have that
(28:11):
connection with Yeah, you know as much. I mean, I'm
not talking about like when you're looking at pictures of
cats and rescues necessarily, but I love to see who's behind,
who's doing the work behind the scenes, and how those
teams come together to make that operation happen. So yeah,
I don't know. Personally, I think it's important, but everyone's different.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
No, I agree with you, I can, and that's my advice.
Every time we have a rescue on the show and
they're like, how do I get my engagement higher? And
I'm like, well, do you talk to your audience? They're like, well,
we just show the cats are for adoption, and I'm like, yeah,
but I do they know who you are?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
No? I'm like, well, maybe just show a bit of
who you are, you know, even if you're not actually
showing your face, maybe just show like part of your
body doing things so at least people see, you know,
human hands or you know, somebody walking or something. So
definitely or even just yeah, from over the shoulder, somebody
playing with the cat to you know, like or like
you say, grooming or feeling or giving some love like
(29:07):
some chin. Well, we're not all we're not all camera
ready like Sterling on Nathan. We don't all have that,
you know, capacity to be so comfortable in front of
the camera, but we can all show something so people
can relate to, so really good advice. Okay, well we're
coming to the end of the show, So do you
have any other questions? I am an open book for you. Okay,
(29:29):
Well I did have some social media questions, you know,
because I'm I'd love to for you to explain just
kind of the crossover between social media and PR. Right,
Like social media, I mean the word social is supposed
to be the giveaway and the idea of this socials
connections and things like that. But you know, we all
(29:50):
see whether it's Instagram or TikTok or something that people
are pushing products, people are pushing events, people are pushing
business and things like that. But I'm curious as to
how you appro or view the connection or the crossover
with social media and PR work. Yeah. So you know,
PR is all about public relations. So it's about your
(30:12):
own you know, image, your own reputation, and how you
can get that out there basically, and that's how like
we connect with journalists or you know, we ask them
to promote our business or events.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
So social media is definitely a tool for PR and
we use it quite a bit to Well, there's two things.
So first of all, i'd say social media is the
best way for you to shape your brand's reputation because
you can do it in your own words, so there's
no journalist to you know, take words out of your
mouth and saying them in another context. This is really
(30:48):
the place where you can tell your own story, So
storytelling one hundred percent, and just yeah, be genuine on
social media so people know who you are. It's also
the place where you can actually build emotional connections with
your audience. So whereas you know, maybe they've seen you
on an interview or they've seen an article of you, well,
(31:09):
then they can keep that emotional connection and keep follow
that one on your social media. And then it's also
a great tool to contact journalists. You know, you can
connect with them on Twitter x now, but even Instagram
you can follow them and you know just like reply
to their stories or like if they share an article,
(31:30):
just like be involved with them and you will have
higher chances to get coverage. And then the last point
where we use social media a lot is in influencer marketing.
So influencer help you know, widen your audience and you know,
spread the word about whatever you're promoting, and they do
that on social media. So, yeah, social media is getting
(31:54):
bigger and bigger in PR, it didn't used to.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I know Mary still has a bit of a hard
time with social mediaca because she's like the older PR
and I'm like the newer PR, and so I am
doing all that part and I'm telling her no, like,
we need to use social media, we need to use
influencer marketing. This is the new way people get their information. Right.
Some people don't even read the newspaper or they don't
(32:17):
watch TV anymore, but they will watch those small clips
on TikTok. So, yeah, social media is a new PR.
How do you go about you know, you've mentioned the
influencer social media, Like can you expand on that a
little bit? Like what do you mean by that? And
then how would a small business, say somebody like me
ye who maybe has a small budget, Like, how does
(32:41):
that work? Is it always paid? Is it? Like I
would love to know a little bit more about that.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
Right, Yeah, but definitely it's not always paid. It really
depends on the influencers. So you have a few different
kinds of influencers, right, you have like macro influencers, big influencers,
medium influencers, so there's a few wrange. When talking with
small businesses, I always advise to reach out to the
micro influencers, so maybe under fifteen to twenty thousand followers.
(33:07):
Those are the people you need to target because they
are the people who might not charge you or charge
you a very small amount which you can afford. And
I think with influencer it's the same. You need to
build a relationship. So it's you know, maybe you follow
one and you really like what they're doing, you really
love their cat. Maybe for you, they have a black
cat that look exactly like Nigel, so you're like, oh
(33:29):
my god, we should partner because you know that would
be incredible, And because usually those black cat influencers have
a lot of black cat followers, which is right, some
of your target audience. So I would definitely reach out
to these people, and you know, be very genuine about
my approach. I think if you see, for example, that
an influencer is really into rescuing and is helping shelters,
(33:50):
maybe mention, hey, you know, I'm also helping shelters in
this way, and I rescue, and I think our values align.
So I would love to collaborate with you. I think
it's really important to find genuine influencers because that's where
you'll get the most results.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
You know, some influencers are only there to get paid
to make content, and you know, it's fine, but that
might not be the ones you want to reach out to.
You might want to reach out to the ones who
might not do a lot of collabs, maybe the ones
who really choose specific brands that really align with their
values and so that means their audience actually really trust them,
And I think that's where you want to go. But yeah,
(34:27):
there's a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
Who would do a giveaway for free. A lot of
influencers will do giveaway for free if you offered to
send them, you know, a package of prints and be like,
could you just maybe like once a week when you're
filming your apartment and you have a print in your apartment,
can you just like film it? I think yeah. The
most useful campaign we've seen is when people don't actually
(34:48):
promote the product, but they more like do natural content.
Then the content like the product appears in the background
and that's when people are like.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Oh my god, I love that print. Where did you
get it? So, yeah, whereas if an influencer dress post
like you know, they just take a picture of your
prints on the table and be like, hey, this is
this and I got it there, people might be interested,
but they will only see it once and then I'm like, yeah,
it's a paid call up. Anyway, it's really genuine, and
you know, they just see it all the time in
(35:17):
the background. That's when people are like, wait, actually I
really like that, prind it's smart that yeah. I know.
I talked a lot about that with with Kayla about
the harnesses, and you know, her product is amazing. I mean,
I'm a huge fan of the Harnesses. I use it
every day on my cat. And that's what she was saying.
(35:38):
She was like, when people really like our product, and
we're also very genuine, we will send a harness to
an influencer and then people will ask that influencer, what
did you get that harness? It looks amazing. You know.
It's when the audists actually ask the influencer. That's when
you're winning, because you don't even have to tell them
all right, I gotta make a talent notes now, well,
a good thing. You can listen to this podcast over
(35:59):
and over again.
Speaker 8 (36:00):
Published sure, okay, well, thank you so much guys versus
a rap for this show and we're so excited to
be doing this for all of you out there.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
So, Lisa, if you want to just tell people where
they can find you, that would be amazing. Oh yes,
of course. So if you want to find me on Instagram,
it is Instagram dot com, slash, Lisa Works, l E
E Z A W O r K S or one
word and Lisa works dot com. And then obviously if
you're interested in next year's Space Cats that's also on
(36:35):
Instagram as Spacecats Florida or one.
Speaker 5 (36:37):
Word Yay, stay tuned because that will happen then.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I hope I can make it. Say yes, yes, I'm
very excited. I think next week we're going to start
talking about dates. Amazing. Well, we'll look out for that.
And for all of you out there who are making
life better for the animals. If you've got a question
you want us to answer, reach out to us on
Instagram with Facebook under the Whisker Media and we'll try
to answer in a future podcast episode. And as we
(37:03):
always say, our cloud and personis Let's
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlight Radios
dot com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.