Compromise. Cutting corners. Shortcuts. Accelerated timetable. Last-minute.

These are words that fill our days as marketers. And it would be foolishly idealistic (not to mention absolutely unrealistic) to suggest that we should eliminate them from our vocabularies. If we could, we already would have! But I believe we have let the pendulum swing too far and it’s up to us to right it.

Sometimes doing it right needs to matter more than doing it right now. We’ve become too responsive. We let the marketplace jerk us around. We let our competitors’ actions dictate ours. We have to stop that. We need to take back the control. We need to do what is right. When it’s right.

I’m not suggesting that every marketing initiative needs to be the Mona Lisa. Nor am I saying you should ignore the marketplace or your competitors. But be honest: Do you even really take the time to stop and think, “Ideally, how would we do this?” or “What’s possible?” I think most marketing pros have gotten so used to being overburdened, under-resourced and pressed for results that you don’t even consider those questions. And that is costing you market share and money.

So how do you blend the reality of your world and this idealistic notion of doing it right? Identify a couple of efforts as being so significant that you will not compromise. They have to be done right. Another strategy to consider: Do less but do it better. Free up time and resources to concentrate your energies on a tactic or two that could really move your business if given the right depth of your attention.

Think of it as going both deep and wide. It’s much more effective than just spreading ourselves too thin.

Drew McLellan is Top Dog at McLellan Marketing Group and the author of “99.3 Random Acts of Marketing.” He can be reached at Drew@MclellanMarketing.com.