Prioritizing the"Big Rocks" in Marketing Isn't So Easy

Over the last few years I've been using Stephen Covey's metaphor of "Big Rocks" to convey the importance of prioritization in the marketing profession and with my teams. To me, "Big Rocks" are the areas of marketing focus we must prioritizing first because both marketing and the broader business leadership believe it will meaningfully move the business forward. And to be clear, by "Big", I don't necessarily mean more expensive or time consuming. As you will have seen in the video, we must not fill up our limited capacity with small grains of sand, otherwise we will have nothing left for what truly matters. As an aside, this metaphor is also great for rethinking prioritization in the broader context of our lives, which was the original intent of the video/concept.

In my personal experience, and through the perspective I’ve gained as a mentor, I see prioritization as a key area of improvement for many marketers -- myself included. So why is this prioritization so hard for marketing professionals? I thought it would be worthwhile to explore some of the root causes (although not exhaustive) that I see/hear and include my thoughts on how to possibly address them.

Exploring Root Causes

1. Living in the marketing bubble

First, the individual marketer may be taking a siloed “intra-marketing” approach to their work, focusing too much on optimizing on pure marketing metrics vs tangible business impact. For up-and-coming marketers especially, you should be careful that you aren’t so focused on learning the craft of marketing that you miss the whole point of why you are doing what you are doing. In the tech world, this would be like an engineer developing an application, but not understanding the business benefit of the new technology (which happens all the time actually). Marketers have a tendency to come across as naive if they are stuck in their own bubble. Leaders must watch out for this and help their team see the business impact/value of their team’s work.

2. Lacking business context / understanding

Second, the individual may be unable to see/understand the real business context/strategy that surrounds their work or their teams – in other words, the “why” for their role. Marketers should remain curious about their organization’s business model/strategy. They should understand the customers and their needs. They should know the offerings and participate in crafting the value proposition. Marketers should stay on top of the trends shaping the industry. Ultimately, it is essential that individuals understand how their role aligns with these aspects of the organization, and if they don’t, they must speak up. With this context, the prioritization and dialogue with the business will become seamless -- you will hopefully start to speak the same language.

3. May I take your order?

Third, the individual (or their leadership) may have positioned marketing as an “order taking” function. I may be biased here, but in my view any experienced successful CMO (or CEO) would tell you that taking this approach dramatically limits the value an organization can get out of their marketing investment (people and programs). Marketers must nip this expectation right away while maintaining a strong sense of urgency and agility in their work. Marketing is a team sport on many levels, but don’t let the lines blur so much through your collaboration that the organization get confused with the value of our distinct profession. Marketing is not sales. Marketing is not offering management. And Marketing is not client delivery. Importantly, don’t think that simply becoming better at saying “no” is the answer. You should want your colleagues to understand that you are in the boat with them and not in the business of pushback. The reality is that marketing does have a diminished position in some companies, so you and your management may need to earn the respect first before tapering off the order taking model. Demonstrating your ability to remain focused on your customer's needs and the company’s core revenue model is great common ground to change this mindset.

4. Navigating stakeholder complexity

And finally, many individuals struggle with stakeholder management. Of course, managing stakeholders is a core responsibility of the CMOs/Executives in an organization – sometimes referred to as providing “air cover.” However, high performing marketers at all levels take personal ownership for improving relationships and communication that are required to serve the interests of a complex organization. This is easier said than done and it is most certainly a skill that requires significant patience. In my view, simply picking up the phone or walking down the hall to an office to speak directly can solve many problems, as opposed to waiting for calendars to align or specific meetings to occur.

Taking Action

Every organization has pressures, shifts in strategy, and competing interests that impact a marketer’s ability to prioritize (and many other roles). However, given that marketing is expected to be a convening function in many companies, it’s imperative that we take it upon ourselves to acknowledge and address these root cause issues that are pervasive in our profession.

With the help of your management team and your own leadership you should be able to address these issues that may be impacting your ability to prioritize and set focus. In my experience, being transparent about the common pitfalls with your peers in other functions is a great way to help them better understand our reality in marketing (maybe even have some empathy). Once you’ve gotten a handle on this, you can now use many available technics to support ongoing prioritization.

I’ve outlined some of my favorite technics below.

Aligning on Big Rocks

• Use the video to get all on the same page with what is meant by Big Rocks
• Partner with sales to identify and select 3-4 high impact marketing initiatives
• Fill remainder of your capacity with the smaller tactical needs of the business.
• If your aligned on 3-4 motions it will drive more impact than 50 tactical items.

Aligning on Urgent vs Important

• Use “Eisenhower Matrix” to drive ongoing prioritization as business changes.
• Use matrix with stakeholders to stay aligned - debates should be expected.
• Layer on “complexity” to ensure you are properly assigning resource(s).

Acting on 2 Minute Rule

• If an action takes < 2 minutes, it should be done at the moment it's defined.
• Allocate portion of the day to close these actions — not all day, not next day.
• This must not be your only MO, as it will effect your attention on Big Rocks.

I hope this article sheds some light on a very important topic that I believe is limiting many in our profession (and their organizations) from achieving their full potential in marketing. I look forward to your thoughts, feedback and different perspectives on this.

Inspiration/Credits

Stephen Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Dwight D Eisenhower / Laura Scroggs Article - Eisenhower Matrix

David Allen - Getting Things Done

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