In an ideal world, a marketing leader’s day is full of meaningful work made up of goal-oriented tasks and strategically aligned projects that ultimately impact the success of the organization.
It’s a beautiful picture. Unfortunately, we know better.
While each day may start with the best of intentions, this is not our reality. All day, every day, we are inundated with URGENT (!) marketing requests that take our eyes off the prize and that often add no real value to our organization.
The endless stream of requests for ads, brochures, posters, invites and other marketing materials from directors, doctors and administrators causes us to lose focus.
It’s time we flip our focus.
As difficult as it can be to do, marketing leaders must draw a line in the sand. We must drive a shift in focus from volume to value, knowing the number of tasks we achieve in a day means nothing if we fall short on achieving our major goal. When we add value, we make ourselves — and our time — more valuable. And we make marketing more valuable to the organization.
This doesn’t mean we refuse to help other departments. It means we fiercely protect and prioritize our time, focusing first on the work that will make the most positive impact on our organization as a whole. When we flip our focus from high volume to high value, we are acknowledging that the mission of the marketing department is critical to the success of the organization — and we need other departments recognize and get behind that as well. After all, if we aren’t leveraging our resources for the greater good, then the organization is primed for failure. And, if the organization fails, we all fail.
Shifting a cultural mindset from volume to value is not easy. But it is critical — to your organization’s success, to your team’s success and to your own success. When your brand, engagement, reputation and growth are firing on all cylinders, so is your organization — so let’s make an impact where it counts.
