{"id":8904,"date":"2026-10-29T12:29:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T12:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mariosouto.com.br\/?p=8904"},"modified":"2026-10-29T14:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:55:46","slug":"prioridades-no-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mariosouto.com.br\/en\/2026\/10\/29\/prioridades-no-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"What to prioritize in marketing when everything seems urgent?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is a common situation in many companies: the marketing department has goals to achieve, campaigns to develop, business opportunities to generate, and results to report. Yet throughout the week, it has to interrupt its planned work to handle a constant stream of requests from other departments.<\/p>

The sales team needs a presentation by tomorrow. HR requests materials for an internal campaign. Leadership wants to announce something immediately. An event requires promotional materials. Someone identifies a website change that cannot wait.<\/p>

Individually, many of these requests make sense. The problem begins when they are all treated as top priorities.<\/p>

In smaller teams, this dynamic can consume virtually the department's entire operational capacity. Marketing works hard, delivers constantly, and still struggles to make progress toward the objectives it will ultimately be measured against.<\/p>

The challenge is not simply to do more in less time. It is to decide what deserves to be done first, what can wait, and what should not consume resources at that moment.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

When marketing becomes the department that does everything<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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In many organizations, marketing is seen as the department responsible for any communication-related need.<\/p>

This includes activities that fall within its responsibilities, but also one-off requests that arrive without planning, context, or an assessment of their impact.<\/p>

The result is often a fragmented workflow. A campaign is interrupted to produce a presentation. Performance analysis is postponed because an urgent design request comes up. A demand generation initiative takes a back seat to a series of internal materials.<\/p>

The team remains busy, but its work becomes driven primarily by the order in which requests arrive or the influence of the people making them.<\/p>

It is important to recognize that supporting other departments is part of marketing's role. A well-crafted sales presentation can help close deals. Internal communication can be essential during organizational change. An event can create valuable opportunities for relationship building and sales.<\/p>

The point is not to eliminate these requests. It is to understand their value and decide how they fit into the company's priorities.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>

Without these criteria, marketing risks becoming a production hub for materials rather than actively contributing to business growth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Before prioritizing tasks, you need to define objectives<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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Effective priority management is impossible without clarity about what marketing needs to achieve.<\/p>

If a company aims to generate more sales opportunities, for example, certain initiatives will be more relevant: improving acquisition campaigns, developing content that attracts potential customers, optimizing conversion pages, or strengthening lead nurturing.<\/p>

If the main challenge is brand positioning, priorities may be different: reviewing the value proposition, gaining a deeper understanding of target audiences, differentiating communication, and strengthening how the company is perceived in the market.<\/p>

In both cases, the work begins with understanding the business, not choosing the tools.<\/p>

A company that fails to define clear objectives ends up prioritizing whatever seems most urgent, most visible, or easiest to execute.<\/p>

That is why marketing planning needs to establish a connection between business objectives, strategic initiatives, and operational activities.<\/p>

A plan should not simply be a calendar of posts, campaigns, and events. It needs to explain what results the company intends to achieve, why certain initiatives were chosen, and what resources will be required.<\/strong><\/p>

This approach also helps answer an essential question: if a new request comes in today, which activity will be dropped to make room for it?<\/p>

When this trade-off is not discussed, the cost of the interruption remains invisible.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

How to decide what to prioritize in marketing<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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A practical way to organize priorities is to evaluate requests based on five criteria.<\/p>

1. Alignment with business objectives<\/h3>

The first question should be: does this activity contribute to a relevant business objective?<\/p>

This does not mean that every deliverable needs to generate sales directly. Brand building, retention, customer relationships, customer experience, and corporate communications can also create value.<\/p>

What matters is being able to explain the value expected from that initiative.<\/p>

2. Expected impact<\/h3>

Between two activities aligned with the strategy, which one has the greatest potential to deliver results?<\/p>

Improving a page that generates most of the company's sales opportunities may have a greater impact than creating a standalone piece of content for a low-priority initiative.<\/p>

This assessment does not require absolute precision. Often, well-founded estimates and an acknowledgment of uncertainty are enough.<\/p>

3. Genuine urgency<\/h3>

Urgency is not the same as importance.<\/p>

A request may have a tight deadline because it involves an opportunity that will genuinely disappear. But it may also be urgent simply because someone submitted it too late.<\/p>

Distinguishing between these situations is essential.<\/p>

Marketing should not ignore deadlines, but it needs to question whether the urgency comes from a genuine business need or a failure in planning.<\/p>

4. Effort and resources required<\/h3>

An apparently simple task may require several hours of work, approvals, external vendors, or the involvement of other people.<\/p>

Assessing the effort involved helps prevent small requests from accumulating and compromising more important projects.<\/p>

It also helps identify opportunities for standardization, automation, and delegation.<\/p>

5. Consequences of postponing the activity<\/h3>

Not every request needs to be handled immediately.<\/p>

Some can be rescheduled without significant consequences. Others depend on a commercial deadline, an organizational obligation, or a decision that cannot wait.<\/p>

Evaluating what happens when a task is postponed helps establish more rational priorities.<\/p>

These five criteria can be applied using a simple spreadsheet or during a weekly meeting. The goal is not to create bureaucracy, but to provide consistent reasoning for decision-making.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

An example: two people, many requests, and a growth target<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t
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Imagine a company with a two-person marketing department.<\/p>

The main goal for the quarter is to increase the number of qualified sales opportunities. To achieve this, the team has planned to improve digital campaigns, review conversion pages, produce strategic content, and track results in the CRM.<\/p>

On Monday, five additional requests come in:<\/p>