The Nature of Media Deadlines

Your reputation is generally based on two things: the quality of your work, and how well you meet deadlines. Sure, you can do great work, but if you don’t turn your projects in on time, you won’t get many repeat customers/clients.

Deadlines. We all face them, and they can make for a very stressful and anxiety-ridden time. Even the most organised and systematic among us will occasionally face deadlines that make us stay up late and get just a little bit worried that this may be the one we miss. That’s the nature of media deadlines.

Why meet deadlines? Well firstly, it’s the line beyond which you’re dead if you haven’t done your work. But that’s the negative side. On the positive side, meeting deadlines ensures smooth workflow, facilitates timely communication and makes you a team player because people may rely on your involvement.

What does it mean to meet deadlines? Meeting deadlines is as important as the task, it means compromising and sacrificing your time to get things done within the desired period set out for the task. It also means having proper processes on how you plan to execute a particular task within a project or the project itself.

We need to respect and value people's time. Understanding and respecting not just your job but also those of the people who are involved in the process is as important.

Public Relations deadlines are linked with media deadlines (i.e. we don't make them up for fun). Journalists work according to schedules and they are given certain tasks with clear turnaround times (i.e. to source & write stories or even interview for stories for their publications).

Journalists may turn to PR for content and create a deadline for editorial submission that we need to adhere to. If you miss that deadline you actually inconvenience the journo as well as the publication because they now have to make other arrangements to fill the space before their print or go-live deadline. Some of these deadlines may come up at the last minute and you need to be prepared to respond at short notice.

How do you make sure you meet deadlines and prevent opportunities from falling through the cracks? Here are some essential tips on how to manage deadlines:

1. Care about deadlines, respect and value people’s time.
2. Keep a list of projects & deadlines.
3. Communicate a clear deadline to yourself and others
4. Break down the project, have a start and complete date for each step.
5. Block off adequate time to complete and review your work.
6. Give yourself extra time to follow up.

People usually underestimate the time it takes to mentally switch gears. Working with media requires you to meet constant deadlines and it is a demanding activity. Some people thrive in this sort of environment, especially when they know some of the tricks to meeting deadlines. Have you got what it takes?