Never Break A Deadline
This is another of our tips that we’ll contradict next week. But read on.
First, yes, absolutely honor the reporter’s stated deadline when he or she sends out a query. Maybe you set aside the query and planned to get to it, and then it got buried, and then before you knew it, the deadline passed and – Oh no! – you see you should have sent your pitch in by 2 pm pacific yesterday!
Well, you’re running a business, aren’t you? You’re not in the business of being a PR agent! And you so, so perfectly fit the profile that the reporter’s looking for! Shoot, the reporter’s probably not finished with the story anyway, who’re we kidding?
So you make the best of it, and toss off a quick-as-a-minute, teeny, tiny, pitch anyway, right?
No.
But how about if you say, “I know this is past your deadline but I really have a service/product/piece of news that perfectly fits your story and I was buried in deadlines of my own until now – so this is the earliest that I could respond to your query.”
Stop right there! Hey, we really mean it.
No.
It’s just bad form to send in a pitch after a stated deadline. Plus, you sound apologetic no matter how you couch your excuse. You’re likely to annoy the heck out of the reporter, and bottom line – you’re being disrespectful of his time and process.
Do you really want him to write about you now?
So don’t break the deadline. That’s Rule Number One.
But there’s a second rule about deadlines to follow just as scrupulously: Rule Number Two: Never stick to a deadline. More on this next week.
One Response to “Never Break A Deadline”
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As an editor, I appreciate your rule about deadlines. Interestingly, though, occasionally a source falls through, or a story falls short and we editors are left trying to fill in the blanks right on deadline. I would suggest a late pitch be couched this way to an editor… “In the off chance that a source fell through and you need an additional source, or you’re trying to pull together a sidebar, I can help…”