How hard could it be to spot a marketing failure? After all, some of the most famous and successful companies have been guilty of making major marketing faux pas online. Indeed, nearly every major corporation at this point has committed some sort of regrettable gaff on social media. Yet the truth is, most marketing errors aren’t obvious or cringeworthy. Instead, many companies might not realize they’ve even made a mistake at all. To that end, today we’ll explore three common marketing failures –– and what your business can do to correct them:

Brand loyalty isn’t what it used to be. Indeed, according to Forbes, only seven percent of millennials identify as “brand loyalists.” This shouldn’t surprise many business owners. After all, modern shoppers have more options to satisfy their wants and needs now than ever before. As such, factors like convenience and price have seemingly overtaken brand recognition as a deciding factor in the purchase process. However, many businesses still find ways to cultivate customer loyalty and use it to great effect. To that end, here are several high-profile brand loyalty examples that can provide valuable lessons for small business owners across industries: 

Though we’re loath to admit it, agile marketing can’t fix every problem a business may have. Of course agile marketing has its limitations, like anything else. But that doesn’t stop others from promising the sun, the stars, and the moon when pitching a new agile marketing plan. As a result, there are plenty of people out there who don’t know what an agile marketing agency does in the first place. After all, saying your service covers “everything” isn’t helpful in the slightest. Rather, agile marketing agencies focus on implementing strategies based on data collection. We’ll explain further below:

Across the internet, social media campaigns run the gamut from inspiring to downright dreadful. Indeed, no business can afford to ignore their social media efforts or to put them on the backburner. In many instances, how your social media team crafts content and interacts with customers will have a direct influence on your company’s reputation. As such, if you’re currently running bland, boring, cookie-cutter social media campaigns, then –– odds are –– plenty of people are going to think your business is also bland, boring, and cookie-cutter. Fortunately, you can avoid this and instead create social media campaigns that provide massive benefits for your business. Here are five tips you can use to get started:

It’s never too late to learn something valuable. Business owners of all ages and experience levels can benefit from agile marketing –– but many don’t know what agile marketing is. Sure, you may have heard the term and have a vague understanding of agile marketing, but plenty of professionals would struggle to describe what the agile marketing process actually entails. Not to worry, though. At Leap Clixx, we’re agile marketing experts and are more than happy to explain how agile marketing works in practice. Here then is a quick breakdown of what you can expect when you partner with an agile marketing firm:

Change is the ultimate constant. Whether in business or in life, people, places, and things are always undergoing continual change. However, the rise of the internet has, well, changed how people deal with change. Once upon a time, when a business decided to proceed with a set plan of action, it was difficult to gauge the merit of that strategy until it had played out to a conclusion. Professionals didn’t have access to instant statistics and customer feedback like they do now. Since modern business owners do have access to that intel though, agile marketing was developed to help companies market themselves more effectively –– and react to changes that occur all the time.

In order to be successful in business you’ve got to stand out. You need to bring something to the table that no one else can, and –– most importantly –– you have to tell people about it. Developing the most effective product or service on the market won’t do your company any good if you’re unable to accurately convey why your leads should do business with you. That’s one reason why many businesses are beginning to prominently feature value propositions on their websites –– even on their homepages in some instances. A value proposition is a brief statement that sums up (1) how a product solves a problem, (2) the benefits that product provides, and (3) why that product is superior to the competition. Striking the right balance in a value proposition can be difficult, though. Write content that’s overly detailed you’ll lose your readers’ attention; write something too broad and your reader won’t understand what your product does. Here then are a few value proposition examples that run the gamut –– so you can see how to form one that works for your company:

Ambiguity almost always accompanies failure. Not knowing how you’re going to complete a given task is a frustrating experience. Not knowing the point of an assignment is even more draining and infuriating for employees. That’s why businesses that set SMART goals tend to enjoy greater success in marketing, advertising, and sales than companies that neglect this vital process. We’ve talked about SMART goals before on our blog, but for the uninitiated, SMART stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Today though, we’re going to take the extra step and provide you with three SMART goal examples and how to build similar goals for your company: 

Every successful business owner understands the value of setting objectives for themselves and for their team. Marketing is no different. If you want to see significant increases in sales numbers or brand awareness, then you need to put a plan in place to achieve those goals. But how do you set realistic marketing objectives? What’s the best way to determine what’s reasonable for your company to achieve, and what isn’t? And why does that matter in the first place?

Every company takes their marketing efforts seriously these days. Indeed, success in marketing is too lucrative to ignore, and attaining the best possible results is imperative to the long-term viability of your business. However, given the amount of time and money companies spend to market themselves, you’d think that every business would have a fleshed-out method for measuring marketing ROI. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. On the positive side, there are plenty of ways for businesses to get started, though. With that in mind here are a few softwares that can help you determine your marketing ROI: