I seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time telling PRs that, no, I don’t have plans to run a feature about low-alcohol beers/restaurants with sunny terraces/hotel picnic baskets (delete as you see fit) but that I will keep the email on file in case I change my mind.
This is normally a lie. I don’t keep anything on file because if I did, the filing cabinet would be the size of the Central African Republic.
Not literally, you understand. I’m not such a luddite that I haven’t heard of the cloud.
But if I started keeping a file on one thing, I’d have to start keeping a file on another, and another, and another. If best places for sunny terraces, why not vegan cereal bars, and farmhouse cheddars, and killer kombucha brands, etc, etc. Before I knew it, it would be keeping files on everything and it would become completely out of hand.
So I delete your emails, safe in the knowledge that I’ll still be able to find them for 60 days should I need to put a feature together. The problem then is not so much one of filing as of having a decent recall system.
This is where you come in. Don’t be afraid to label things in an obvious way. If you write the words “best outdoor terraces” I will be able to find it again. If you write “coolest places to sit out hot city nights” I might not.
It doesn’t always pay to be creative.
