While most of us in this day-and-age handle our communication via email or other less personal methods, when pitching media, oftentimes it helps to pick up the phone. I have found that you may get the answer you are looking for just by taking the time to call vs. email. Because it's so easy for PR people to shoot off an email, reporters' inboxes are uber full. They cannot keep up. But few PR people pick up the phone anymore and doing so may just help you stand out. If anything, you'll get a response from the reporter more quickly, you don't have to wait for them to respond, and you can ask follow up questions about why or why not they're interested and if there may be a better source to contact.

If you're going to call a reporter, remember, the first few seconds of your phone call is crucial. To make it pitch perfect, practice, practice, practice! Here's how I handle an important phone pitch:

1. I ask permission. The first thing I do when a reporter answers is introduce myself and ask them if they have one minute for me to tell them why I called and decide if we should continue talking. I can usually get a reporter to agree to hear my one minute pitch and then tell me what they'd like to do post-pitch.

2. I write out my pitch. A loose script helps me stay focused and mention all the key points. Keep it concise and to the point.

3. I end my one minute pitch with a question. Shall we continue talking about this? Are you the right contact for this type of thing? Etc. Come up with a clear and distinct future that the two of you can agree to - whether it be to send them more information, contact their editor or colleague, or follow up with them at a better time when they can talk to you more about it. Clear next steps will help you know what you need to do to get the story rolling.

Here's an example:

If you sent a reporter a pitch about covering a local event, you can say, "Hi, This is Anne with the XYZ Company. May I have one minute of your time to tell you why I called?" When they agree, say, "Thank you for that. I work with the Children's Hospital and wanted to let you know about the ABC event benefiting the 10 million children with diabetes. The event is next weekend at XYZ Park in Springfield. Mayor John Smith will be there for the ribbon cutting ceremony - and as you know - his daughter has diabetes too. I wanted to see if your station would make a news crew available for this event? ... And I think my one minute is just about up? What do you think?"

Bottom line - practice makes perfect, ask permission to pitch, and always end with a question. As you do more phone pitches, you'll get better and more comfortable - I promise! Just be confident, do your research, rehearse and remember, these reporters get hundreds of pitches monthly; if you mess up or get a hostile reporter, at least you got in some good practice. Don't sweat it. Good luck!