3 Marketing Tips to Ensure Success & 3 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Updated for 2026
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2017 and updated in 2026 with refreshed recommendations and additional insights for today’s businesses.
If your marketing plan is not producing the results you need, or if you are just getting started in the planning process, this article offers practical suggestions to help you develop stronger goals, improve execution and achieve better overall results.
SMART Goals + Right Activity Mix + Accountability = Marketing Success
Over my many years in marketing, I have reviewed many marketing plans, as well as business plans with a strong emphasis on marketing. While these plans may look good on paper, they often fail to achieve the desired results over time.
Why?
In my experience, businesses rarely fail because they lack ideas. More often, they struggle because goals are unrealistic, activities become disconnected or no one is truly accountable for execution.
3 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
1) Unrealistic Revenue Expectations
Many businesses underestimate how long it takes to generate sales, penetrate the market or build momentum. Market conditions, competition and customer behavior can shift dramatically over time. Business owners often assume growth will happen faster than reality allows, especially when launching new products, services or marketing initiatives. Setting unrealistic expectations can create frustration and poor decision-making.
2) Lack of Specific Activities That Support Desired Results
For most businesses, it takes more than an attractive website and a basic SEO plan to stay competitive. Are you planning to advertise? Will you use networking, public relations, social media, email marketing or content creation? What tools and materials will support your sales team or customer service staff? How will you stay connected with current clients, prospects and former customers? Marketing plans often fail because businesses define goals without clearly defining the activities required to support those goals.
3) No Serious Accountability for the Plan
Even if goals are clearly defined, the wheels often fall off the bus if no one is responsible for execution. In my experience, successful marketing programs require commitment from top management and consistent follow-through from the team. Great ideas accomplish very little if action items never get completed.
3 Marketing Tips to Improve Results
Now that we’ve discussed some common mistakes, let’s focus on a few things that can help improve your chances for success.
1) Set SMART Marketing Goals
SMART stands for:
Specific – The objective identifies a clearly defined goal, such as increasing revenue, leads or market share by a measurable amount.
Measurable – Goals should be measurable using dollars, percentages, lead generation, website traffic or other meaningful criteria.
Achievable – The goal should realistically align with the company’s capabilities, staffing, experience and available resources.
Realistic – Even if a goal appears achievable, it still needs to make sense based on the amount of time, effort and resources required.
Time Bound – Goals should include deadlines or timeframes such as quarterly, six-month or annual benchmarks.
Example of a Non-SMART Goal
“I want to grow my business.”
Example of a SMART Goal
“I want to increase revenue by 10% this year by adding two new retainer clients. To support this goal, I will attend networking events, stay connected with my existing network, create helpful content and maintain regular communication with clients and prospects.”
2) Select the Right Mix of Marketing Activities
Developing the right marketing mix is critical to achieving your goals. Marketing is as much of an art as a science in my opinion. With strong execution, even relatively simple marketing plans can produce excellent results. On the other hand, a great plan with poor execution, limited creativity or lack of enthusiasm from team members can quickly fall flat. Not every business needs the same marketing strategy. The right activity mix depends on your industry, goals, budget and audience.
3) Make Sure Action Items Get Completed
Companies that experience the greatest success do not simply create marketing plans and put them on a shelf. It is important to layer action items into your calendar, planning process or project management system and review them regularly to stay on track. I typically recommend reviewing progress weekly or every other week at a minimum. Consistent follow-through is often the difference between plans that succeed and plans that quietly disappear.
Closing Thoughts
Even when you set SMART goals and create a strong plan, things do not always work exactly as expected.
When this happens, it is important to evaluate results, review changing market conditions and discuss whether adjustments need to be made. If one activity is producing stronger traction than another, it may make sense to allocate additional time and resources toward what appears to be working.
At the same time, it is equally important to evaluate why certain activities succeeded or failed so you can make better strategic decisions moving forward.
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