The Realities of Pitching and Persistence in PR

By Annsley Ferrari, Novitas Communications

About a year ago, I joined Novitas Communications to help with calling and pitching stories. As a stay-at-home mom who genuinely enjoys working, but doesn’t have the hours for a full-time role, it felt like the perfect fit. I’m also someone who can comfortably talk to a brick wall, so I figured, how hard could it be to talk to people whose job is communication?

It turns out… harder than you’d think, especially, when you’re starting from ground zero.

For a society with endless forms of communication, we really don’t seem to want to actually talk to each other.

If I’m working through a list of 50 reporters, here’s what that typically looks like:

• Around 30 don’t have working phone numbers
• 14 go straight to voicemail (with, so far, zero return calls)
• Four are… less than friendly
• And maybe two actually pick up the phone

Two.

I often hear, “Well, did you send an email?” Yes, of course we sent an email.

But when reporters are getting hundreds of emails a day, there’s no guarantee ours was ever seen. Most people think PR is just sending an email and hoping for the best. And yes, we send the email. But when inboxes are overflowing, hope isn’t much of a strategy.

So we’ve adapted.

We don’t rely on outdated media lists. We track down the right people. We tailor every pitch so it actually matters to them. And we follow up strategically, because timing is half the battle.

Basically, we do the part no one else wants to do. 

But here’s the thing: when I do get someone on the phone, when a real conversation happens, when we can build a genuine relationship? Those are the stories that take off.

Those are the pitches that turn into coverage.

Those are the moments that remind me why you have to persist in the game of PR.

Because PR isn’t just about sending emails and hoping for the best. It’s about showing up again and again, navigating dead ends, awkward calls, and unanswered voicemails… all for the chance to connect with the right person at the right time and to build a relationship that translates to incredible storytelling.

Everyone wants to go viral. Everyone wants their story heard.

But the stories that actually get told?

They’re the ones backed by persistence.